Questions

[KoiFishie]

Hey everyone, I'm new here. I just started learning Hiragana yesterday >_< I already have vowels and k/g + vowels down, but I have some questions.

Is there a software I can download which lets me type in Hiragana on the computer?
What's the Romanji for "good"? Ii?
What's the Romanji for "no"? Ie or Iie?
Romanji for "red"? Aka or Akai? Is the i at the end silent?
Romanji for "big"? Ookii or oki or okii or ooki?
Romanji for "air"? Kuki or kuuki?
Romanji for "airport"? Kuukou or kukou?

I'm having trouble with the double vowels. I know you're supposed to pronounce the previous hiragana for twice as long, but when you translate it to Romanji I don't know if you're supposed to write the second one or not.

Thank you!

BTW, Romanji does mean Romatization right? If it doesn't I'm going to feel really dumb >_<

[masaegu]

good = ii
no = iie
red = aka (the color red)
= akai ('red' the adjective) the final i is NOT silent
big = ookii
air = kuuki
airport = kuukou

Remember that Japanese written in romaji is an artificial language, not a natural language. There is no one correct system to writing Japanese words in romaji. Take the romaji spelling for "airport", for exacmple. I said that it would be 'kuukou' because in kana it would be ku-u-ko-u (4 kana). However, you will see people writing it as 'kukou' or even 'kuko'. But that shouldn't matter too much because romaji is NOT one of the three writing systems in Japanese. All that is important is for you to know that in Japanese, we write 'airport' as '空港' with two kanji, and if the writer is young and hasn't learned those kanji in school yet, he will write 'airport' as 'くうこう'.

I seriously suggest that you not use romaji in your Japanese studies. It will slow you down if anything. I've assisted several dozen non-Japanese in learning Japanese in the last 20 years. Believe me, the ones that relied on romaji the most heavily have been the slowest learners of Japanese.

Finally, romaji does NOT mean Romanization. Japan will never be Romanized. lol Romaji, instead, means romatization.

[KoiFishie]

Oh thanks! That helps a lot. I use Romanji in my notes. For example, I'll write the kana for king and underneath I'll right ou. I don't know if that's relying on Romanji too much? Also, how did you get your computer to write くうこう? The only way I can do it is by copying and pasting :P

Thanks again, I understand now.

[MMM]

If you are running XP, then go here...http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/d...displaylang=en

[masaegu]

You seem to be ok with your use of romaji now. However, once you have mastered Hiragana, that should replace your romaji.

About getting my pc to type in Japanese, I didn't have to do anything. I am a Japanese man living in Japan. PC's sold in Japan come with a Japanese typing capability、so we don't have to add anything to the PC. I am sure, though, someone esle on this Forum will be able to answer that particular question very soon.

にほんごのべんきょう、がんばってね！

[KoiFishie]

どうもありがとう! (hope that's right...)

I think you said something along the lines of Good luck with your Japanese, keep going at it? Haha remember, I'm still learning. Thanks though!

I'm having trouble with the download. When I type in microsoft word, only boxes show up. Except the numbers, the numbers work fine. Help?

Sorry if I'm being a bother

[MMM]

Do you have the language bar with Japanese?

[KoiFishie]

Originally Posted by MMM

Do you have the language bar with Japanese?

I'm sorry, I don't know what that is :/ Haha I'm pretty computer-stupid.

[mekisikojin]

Originally Posted by KoiFishie

I'm sorry, I don't know what that is :/ Haha I'm pretty computer-stupid.

Its not that hard! First go to Microsoft Corporation

Then type "japanese IME" on the microsoft website's "search" tab

After that click on the first result "Office XP Tool: Global IME (Japanese) "

Click on validate, then download. after that open the file you've just downloaded and the installation should begin.

This is in case you have a windows xp PC

hope this helps