You fool = Baka, (A group of fools = bakas?)

[p0002q]

Originally Posted by MMM

You guys realize the OP does not read Japanese, right?

haha, yes this.

Also not trying to learn the entire language. was just telling someone at work what Baka meant... (he says "baka" words a lot lol)

So he asked me if bakas meant a group of people... I really didn't know and had no luck finding out.

And yes, I have no clue what those symbols translate too...

Also, I see conflicting information... one says Bakas, some say no

But after reading everything, it seems like there is no "Bakas" just baka... i think !?

[RobinMask]

Originally Posted by p0002q

But after reading everything, it seems like there is no "Bakas" just baka... i think !?

Yes, that's basically it.

To be honest the other posters have much more experience in Japanese than I do, and their advice was very accurate, so I can't really add anything to what's been said. Basically you can't pluralise in foriegn languages the same way you can in English. "Idiot" becomes "Idiots", but in Japanese there is no simple adding on an 's' to make a plural. "Baka" is both 'idiot' and 'idiots'. You can change the sentence itself, or adapt the word, as people have already said to make the plurarl more obvious, but there is no 'bakas'.

[KyleGoetz]

Originally Posted by Supperman

single-plural
fool-fools
馬鹿－馬鹿等（ばから）
馬鹿者－馬鹿者ども
馬鹿者－馬鹿者達

The Japanese suffixes which are equivalent to pleural-indicating "s" or "es" in English would be "ら”, "ども", or "たち（達）".

Hope this helps.

So you aren't native Japanese, right? I don't know anyone who uses kanji for ばか or for the pluralization suffixes. My understanding is that only poor writers do.

You never answered the question the previous time I asked a few days ago, but I swear I've seen you claim to be a native speaker somewhere on here before.

Edit This isn't meant to be an attack on you. I just like to keep track of who "ultimate authorities" here are. I even wrote a script for myself that highlights known native speakers' names so I can see which posts get automatic credibility. I'm asking because I've been trying to tell for sure if you are or not for quite some time. Regardless, your Japanese is very good—I can tell that much. I just can't tell if it's native, and occasionally there's been something that makes me wonder.

[KyleGoetz]

Originally Posted by p0002q

haha, yes this.

Also not trying to learn the entire language. was just telling someone at work what Baka meant... (he says "baka" words a lot lol)

So he asked me if bakas meant a group of people... I really didn't know and had no luck finding out.

And yes, I have no clue what those symbols translate too...

Also, I see conflicting information... one says Bakas, some say no

But after reading everything, it seems like there is no "Bakas" just baka... i think !?

The end of it all is that there are ways of pluralizing it, but you probably shouldn't in your case. Just look around the room obviously, take a big deep breath, and yell "baka" with the same type of body language you would have had you yelled "you guys are all so stupid!" in English.

[chryuop]

Originally Posted by KyleGoetz

So you aren't native Japanese, right? I don't know anyone who uses kanji for ばか or for the pluralization suffixes. My understanding is that only poor writers do.

You never answered the question the previous time I asked a few days ago, but I swear I've seen you claim to be a native speaker somewhere on here before.

About the plural suffixes I don't know, but I am sorry to go against you since I got a couple of books that use 馬鹿 in kanji (in fact I had to look on the dictionary since I didn't recognize them.)

[RobinMask]

Originally Posted by KyleGoetz

So you aren't native Japanese, right? I don't know anyone who uses kanji for ばか or for the pluralization suffixes. My understanding is that only poor writers do.

You never answered the question the previous time I asked a few days ago, but I swear I've seen you claim to be a native speaker somewhere on here before.

In a fit of procrastination I think I found the quote you're looking for:

Originally Posted by Supperman

edit) This is what I think, as a native-Japanese speaker.

[jesselt]

Supperman is a native speaker Kyle...


I've seen another native speaker here write 有り難う before as well. Not everyone fits into a box.

[KyleGoetz]

Originally Posted by jesselt

Supperman is a native speaker Kyle...


I've seen another native speaker here write 有り難う before as well. Not everyone fits into a box.

Hey, jesselt! I feel like I haven't seen you around in a while!

Also, I think I've seen masaegu question whether he's native before, too. I could be misremembering that, though.

[jesselt]

I'm still around, just not posting with questions as much because I'm focusing on my final semester of University

[masaegu]

Originally Posted by KyleGoetz

Also, I think I've seen masaegu question whether he's native before, too. I could be misremembering that, though.

I kinda remember that as well when the guy in question had just joined JF. lol I think that native speakers, including myself when I'm not paying enough attention, may tend to give you guys phrases that we ourselves wouldn't use in natural situations but are rather "translated" from English. The reason that we could even do this without much effort is that, in the process of our English studies, we all got used to using "unnatural, translated Japanese" in English classes that one would not hear anywhere else.

BTW, 馬鹿 is 100% 当て字. I never use it myself. If you write it in kanji, you might impress kids but not the better writers.