Looking for and english speaking, japanese-learning penpal

[curiosityshop]

Seeing as most of us are beginners here, I thought it might be a good idea having a e-penpal that spoke english, but was also learning japanese so that our conversations would be on the same level. We could write emails to each other in japanese (e.g. if one of us isn't good with kana, we could provide one text in kana, followed by the same text in romaji?).

If we start off simple and build on it, then we could learn new vocabulary from each other. And to check that we got the correct meaning, we could send back a translation with our reply. e.g:


Mr.A: Konnichiwa! Watshi wa gakusei dewa arimasen.

　こんいちわ！　わたし　は　がくせい　でわ　ありま せん


Mr.B：Did you write: "Hello! I am a student."

Konnichi wa! Watashi wa mo gakusei desu.

こんいちわ！　わたし　は　も　がくせい　です。

Mr.A: Almost! I was saying: "Hello! I am not a student."

ect...

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So yeah, if anyone's interested let's go ahead! I doubt our conversations will be realistic, but we could ask each other stuff to practice what we know (e.g. I'd ask you what time you start work/school , send you a map and ask you for directions to something, invite you to non-existant events ect...)

We could do this here, or we could do it by email. If we're able to have proper conversations, then it might be worth chatting over the webcam in (although I have to say, I am excruciatingly slow when speaking)

[Sashimister]

Originally Posted by curiosityshop

Seeing as most of us are beginners here, I thought it might be a good idea having a e-penpal that spoke english, but was also learning japanese so that our conversations would be on the same level. We could write emails to each other in japanese (e.g. if one of us isn't good with kana, we could provide one text in kana, followed by the same text in romaji?).

If we start off simple and build on it, then we could learn new vocabulary from each other. And to check that we got the correct meaning, we could send back a translation with our reply. e.g:


Mr.A: Konnichiwa! Watshi wa gakusei dewa arimasen.

　こんいちわ！　わたし　は　がくせい　でわ　ありま せん


Mr.B：Did you write: "Hello! I am a student."

Konnichi wa! Watashi wa mo gakusei desu.

こんいちわ！　わたし　は　も　がくせい　です。

Mr.A: Almost! I was saying: "Hello! I am not a student."

ect...

----------------------------------------------

So yeah, if anyone's interested let's go ahead! I doubt our conversations will be realistic, but we could ask each other stuff to practice what we know (e.g. I'd ask you what time you start work/school , send you a map and ask you for directions to something, invite you to non-existant events ect...)

We could do this here, or we could do it by email. If we're able to have proper conversations, then it might be worth chatting over the webcam in (although I have to say, I am excruciatingly slow when speaking)

Just a few corrections and some advice.

You made a few mistakes in your Japanese sentences and trust me, most of them were made because you use romaji. Abandon romaji today and you will learn Japanese faster and more properly. It isn't even part of written Japanese to begin with. Once you're hooked on romaji, it will usually be too late.

こんいちわ? You only got 3 out of 5. It's こんにちは. It's such an important phrase, probably the most important. Problem is if you're writing it こんいちわ, chances are you are also saying it wrong.

でわ　＞　では

わたし　は　も　がくせい　です makes little sense. What did you want to say? There are no spacings between words in Japanese, either. If you wanted to say "I am a student, too.", then drop that は.

Finally, I wouldn't do this in PMs if I were you. I would do it in the threads where everyone can see it, including native speakers like myself. Not a few JF members unfortunately claim to know Japanese when they only know very little. You let one of them work with you in PMs and you will be in deepest trouble without even noticing it.

[curiosityshop]

Oops, sorry, I was writing this really quickly because it was so late, I wasn't really paying attention to the kana I was using. (I didn't know that dewa was actually written de ha in kana o.o, thanks for the correction!)

As for the spaces, I prefer using them just to make things clearer. It still takes me about 10 years to read and understand one sentence in kana, so i'd like to make it a teeny bit easier until I get the hang of it xD

I suppose it's probably a good idea to make it public, come to think of it. I can't believe I made so many mistakes in such a simple sentence XP

[haucyan]

Hello
Yeah, Japanese is not easy to learn for us as a non-native speakers. It's so great if we could show public and then be advised and corrected by JPE friend and then improve our Japanese.

日本の方以外なら、日本語がとても勉強しにくいそうで す。
ウェッブサイトで日本語を相談すると日本人の友達から 日本語を調整など貰えながら日本語をだんだん進んでい ると思います。

[curiosityshop]

T_T *sniffle* did I mention I cant read much kanji? Give me about 10 days to translate your sentence, then I'll start writing my reply...D:

Edit: Oh right...used online dictionary to translate the first sentence, so it's pretty much a translation of what you wrote. You're pretty advanced to be able to say such difficult stuff in japanese! Did you use a dictionary at all to find the word for non-native and words like 'public' 'advised' and 'corrected'? o.o'

[MuRaSaKiiNkI]

ザー。仰（おっしゃ）るとおりだよ～

日本語（にほんご）のペンパールがあるのはとてもいい と思（おも）うな。でも、日本語レベルが別（べつ）だ から、難（むずか）しいのかな。。。

漢字（かんじ）が分（わ）かれないと、Eudict.comを使（つか）ったいいな。

中村（ナカムラ）キマニと申（もう）します、どうぞよ ろしくね～

一月（いちがつ）、日本（にほん）へ行（い）くつもり です。三年間（さんねんかん）、日本語を勉強（べんき ょう）したがあるので、日本の中学生（ちゅうがくせい ）のようですが、まだ下手（へた）だな。。。アニメと 漫画（まんが）と小説（しょうげつ）と書（か）くこと が大好（だいす）きだよ～でも、煩（うるさ）い人と賑 （にぎ）やかな所（ところ）が嫌（きら）いだなあー。

Eメイルが ky.nakamura@yahoo.com
Skypeのイドが kimani.nakamura

じゃね～

村ちゃん

P.S. I also think this would be better as a thread rather than PMs :P just sayin'

[BakaTensei]

how do you write hiragana,katakana and kanji in posts? or are yous using a different programme and copy and pasting or maybe even have your actually computer set to japanese

[MuRaSaKiiNkI]

Originally Posted by BakaTensei

how do you write hiragana,katakana and kanji in posts? or are yous using a different programme and copy and pasting or maybe even have your actually computer set to japanese

Depending on your PC or Mac edition, you can find a pack online, like this one I used Microsoft XP Japanese Pack. You can then write by using the program to translate romaji to hiragana/katakana/kanji. It's pretty cool! :P You don't need to cut or paste anything, it's like regular typing.

[curiosityshop]

Ok, this is a work in progress, and I'm having to look every other word up, so i might not finish this in one go.

ザー。仰（おっしゃ）るとおりだよ～

"zee(?!). you're presenting/looking at it right(?)'

日本語（にほんご）のペンパールがあるのはとてもいい と思（おも）うな。

"I think a Japanese language penpal is a very good (idea?)."

でも、日本語レベルが別（べつ）だ から、難（むずか）しいのかな。。。

"However, because of the difference in japanese levels, it might be hard"?

漢字（かんじ）が分（わ）かれないと、Eudict.comを使（� �か）ったいいな。

"For kanji you don't understand, use Eudict.com"?

中村（ナカムラ）キマニと申（もう）します、どうぞよ ろしくね～

"My name is Nakamura Kimanito, pleased to meet you"

一月（いちがつ）、日本（にほん）へ行（い）くつもり です。

"I am going to Japan in one month?"

((Laptop running out of battery, will continue tomorrow))

三年間（さんねんかん）、日本語を勉強（べんき ょう）したがあるので、日本の中学生（ちゅうがくせい ）のようですが、まだ下手（へた）だな。。。

"I've been studying Japanese for 3 years because (something about middle school student) but I'm still poor at it."?

アニメと 漫画（まんが）と小説（しょうげつ）と書（か）くこと が大好（だいす）きだよ～でも、煩（うるさ）い人と賑 （にぎ）やかな所（ところ）が嫌（きら）いだなあー。

"I love anime, manga and written novels, but I find noisy people and lively places unpleasant."

じゃね～

"see you later"

村ちゃん


Wooh! I did it! With lots of help from the dictionary xD Ok, time for a reply I suppose @_@　I'll post it in a different reply.

[MuRaSaKiiNkI]

Originally Posted by curiosityshop

Ok, this is a work in progress, and I'm having to look every other word up, so i might not finish this in one go.

ザー　=　zaa, or "let's see..."
仰（おっしゃ）るとおりだよ = I agree with you! :P
Correction: "I think [having a] Japanese language penpal is very [good]." (omou na is "I think," but a conversational form)
Correction: "My name is Nakamura [Kimani], pleased to meet you" (The と is a particle, and not part of my name, if it was, it would be in katakana)
Correction: "I [plan on going] to Japan in [January]?" (つもりです is "I plan on" and 一月 is January, 今から一ヶ月 "is one month from now")