I just started taking some self-taught japanese lessons via internet.I always wanted to learn this language cause I always liked it’s sound.It’s beeing fun.I’m planning to start getting some REAL lessons in September.
Anyone here interested/knows (about) this language?
I took a semester of introductory Japanese my first semester of college, and got my ass handed to me on a platter. That is one hard language to learn, good luck.
[quote=“GehnTheBerserker”]I just started taking some self-taught japanese lessons via internet.I always wanted to learn this language cause I always liked it’s sound.It’s beeing fun.I’m planning to start getting some REAL lessons in September.
Anyone here interested/knows (about) this language?[/quote]
Isn’t your native language and English enough for you Gehn?
Yeah, Japanese is one of the most kickass languages ever. It’ll be hard as hell to learn though, trust me. Asian languages are hell… x_x
I don’t really know any of the language, except for “チーズ”, which is Japanese for cheese 
I’ve considered learning the language but the characters look really complex and time-consuming to write. How do Japanese kids cope in school?!
Well Portuguese is considered one of the toughest languages in the world 
Geoff: No. I wanted to learn Japanese ever since I was 11.Ill have lots of free time next year (school year) so now is the time to start.Granted I hate french,but I always wanted to learn new languages.
After Computer Science ,Linguistics would be the area to follow for me.
I know some, but I am horrible at reading tre Kanji, I kinda stopped learning some time ago, I am currently learning American Sign Language.
Sure… 
If that really did work I would buy it but I don’t think they can change the simple fact that I don’t have good memory…
I can understand simple stuff like what’s written in your sig.
i am gehn?
that pimsleur program does work, but learning the language fluently in a month is like a best case scenario or if you are really focussed on learning it. i think you’d probably be able to learn in 2 months time and it really is less tedious than text book linguistics.
Does that count as “Am I Gehn”?That’s what I mena anyways…
Anyways,Therium - you used this thing?If so could you tell me what it’s all about?
well those two phrases technically mean the same thing in english, it’s just how the culture uses them that makes them seem different but yeah, in japanese that would be am i gehn/i am gehn?
i only used it for about 4 days while i was in japan but even after that short amount of time, i felt my understanding of the language was such that i was able to figure out a lot of words that weren’t even covered in the section of the program that i was in. it’s kinda like if you were learning english and were taught the word “exploration” and lets say you already knew the word “cave”… then you saw the word excavation and were able to put it together that “ation” made it some kind of act and cav related it to caves. you might not figure out the entire meaning of what was said, but you get the jist of it and if you understand the context of the conversation, it’s not that hard to figure it out
i do plan to get the full program for myself once i have a little more time/money… don’t you want to be like the CIA agents???
Don’t even start me on net biz…
That sounds good.I was just looking for an opinion seeing how that smelled like too much…
well if you don’t get it, i’ll tell you about it when i do
It’s impossible to learn a language fluently in a month. No language is that simple.
But, it’s possible to learn it proficiently enough to maintain a conversation in a month.
If you have any Japanese questions, feel free to ask
This just doens’t fit into my head…
Even with english…
In a month?Only if you work 18 hours a day methinks…
Anyways first question for you guys :
what is the purpose of “wa” in a sentence?
I read this example sentence - “Nihon-go desu” - where the guy mean “I’m japanese” and he didn’t use wa… or watashi for that matter…
You can learn to do it in a month if you complete immerse yourself in the culture. Not necessarily by moving there, but by only hanging out with Japanese-speaking people, etc. I’ve seen it done.
As for the sentence below, it doesn’t mean “I’m Japanese.” It means “(This/that is) the Japanese language.”
In Japanese, the subject is often only implied by the context of the sentence, therefore it is often missing. The particle “wa” (actually spelled “ha” in Japanese, but I’ll let you get to that later) is the verb “to be” in this situation. You would only need it if you were to write out the entire sentence, including the subject:
“Kore wa Nihongo desu.” (This is Japanese.)
I’ll give you another example where the subject is left out of the sentence.
“Sutoa ni ittekimasu.” -> “I’m going to the store.”
It lacks the subject, and the “wa.”
I’ve been told that the “wa” expression was a difficult one to understand…
So does the “desu” need a “wa” in the sentence?Is their relation symbiotic?
Btw I’ve been pronouncing “wa” by saying “oo-ah”, is that right?
Hey, well, what a coincidence! In anticipation of my taking Japanese when I go off to college this fall, I’ve been doing a bit of studying on it myself these past few weeks, so if you want the first impressions of a basically teacherless student I can give ya plenty
I could be wrong but I think the purpose of “wa” is that it marks something as being nominative ( as in “I” instead of “me”). You’ll have to correct me, Abadd, but I was under the impression that “desu” was the “be” part, and if it didn’t exist it would be just because it was understood.
But in regards to your question Gehn, desu doesn’t need a wa. I can say just “Amerika-jin desu”, unless it was necessary to specify exactly who was American, where I’d have to say “Watashi wa Amerika-jin desu.” Am I right?
As far as pronunciation goes, you would be saying “wa” wrong if it were two syllables, as the “w” is consonantal, just like an English one. (but its a close enough approximation if you can’t make a “w” easily.)
I’m pretty sure there’s a sight that gives all the japanese phonemes in the IPA, but I just can’t remember where. Anyway I’m pretty sure I’ve memorized them so if you have any questions there I should be good.
PS, If you find anything good about Japanese, I’d love to here it. I think its a really cool language…