[putasmileon]

i feel like an idiot for asking.. TTOTT

but..hm..does kanji come from chinese characters?? >_____<

That's not a dumb question.

Yes, Kanji is derived from Chinese characters. Many people say that kanji is Chinese characters. Howeveer, "while kanji are essentially Chinese hanzi used to write Japanese, there are now significant differences between kanji and hanzi, including the use of characters created in Japan, characters that have been given different meanings in Japanese, and post WWII simplifications of the kanji" (Wikipedia).

[krnxdreamer]

kk~ thanks for clearing that up for me~ ^-^

[la folie]

omg =_= i should have came in here in october when i jsut started to learn Japanese.

everyone here is so O_O goood



can anyone tell me the translation for "what the heck" and "damn it"? i always hear it in jdramas but never really remember it x_x
(no i dont want to swear in Japanese -.-" im just curious)

[krnxdreamer]

mm..more about kanji.. heh.. ^-^''

so..when writing kanji..should you learn chinese??? or if you're learning kanji overall??

anndd theen..how would you pronounce kanji? on or kun? or either?? o_O

or is there a certain reason to use each depending on the situation??

ooowaah! its hard.. >_<...''

[putasmileon]

mm..more about kanji.. heh.. ^-^''

so..when writing kanji..should you learn chinese??? or if you're learning kanji overall??

anndd theen..how would you pronounce kanji? on or kun? or either?? o_O

or is there a certain reason to use each depending on the situation??

ooowaah! its hard.. >_<...''

As forementioned, Chinese and Kanji have their subtle differences. Therefore, when you learn Chinese, it may or not be applicable for learning Japanese Kanji. If you do learn Chinese, you would be able to write most characters in Kanji (some have different writings, characters just in Japanese, etc.) but usage and pronunciation would be a challenge. If you plan on learning Chinese, then learning Japanese, it may make learning Kanji simpler, but if you want to learn Japanese, learning Chinese wouldn't be a huge priority.

Kanji is pronounced either kun or on. For the most part, when you have two Kanji characters together, they all use the on pronunciation. Sometimes, characters only have an on or kun reading. Then when you use Kanji by itself, (like one character) it uses the kun reading. This is for the MOST part. It'd be extremely awkward if you use the wrong pronunciation and sometimes even incomprehendable.

[smilene]

Thanks so much Tamago86!!!

[Tamago86]

omg =_= i should have came in here in october when i jsut started to learn Japanese.

everyone here is so O_O goood
can anyone tell me the translation for "what the heck" and "damn it"? i always hear it in jdramas but never really remember it x_x
(no i dont want to swear in Japanese -.-" im just curious)

what the heck - 何だよ! nan da yo!

damn it! - ちくしょう!・しまった! chikushou / shimatta!

chikushou is harsher than shimatta

[~SWEETwhispers~]

Hm, what does "suki" mean? Is it the girl form of I love you or something???

[luzCONTROL_7]

Suki (好き) = Like
Doesn't matter if your girl or guy.

: )

[la folie]

what the heck - 何だよ! nan da yo!

damn it! - ちくしょう!・しまった! chikushou / shimatta!

chikushou is harsher than shimatta

i thought it's jikushou xD well thanks for clearing up xD

[krnxdreamer]

mm >_____<

what's the difference between...
name-san
name-kun
name-chan
and just the name??

mm..i know that ...-san is for respect and older epople and such..but yeeaa..waah! lerning japanese on your own is hard... -__-''

[fantasiimaker]

mm >_____<

what's the difference between...
name-san
name-kun
name-chan
and just the name??

mm..i know that ...-san is for respect and older epople and such..but yeeaa..waah! lerning japanese on your own is hard... -__-''

-san is basically "Mr." or "Mrs." I believe, and generally used for people above or on the same level as you.

-kun is usually for males who are younger, but could also be around the same age as you. Most usually for high school level and below? Though there are exceptions. And in certain cases (such as a manager to his employees), kun can be used for females.

-chan is for young children, girls, and possibly friends if you feel like attaching the title.

-Just the name...is when you're extremely close and comfortable with that person; for example, your boyfriend/girlfriend when you've been together a while, or your best friend, etc. At this point, most people still use only the last name I believe the first name only with nothing attached is..like the ultimate level of closeness?

I may not be 100% correct on those, but they're my current take on how to address people. And each of them have deviations from the general rule...you really have to get a feel for them from listening to how they're used, and then it gets pretty easy =)

Hope that helped a bit.

[Tamago86]

Girls also like calling their close guy friends first name+chan, they do it to their boyfriends alot too..It's a cutesy thing

[coolieever]

haha, im just curious... how do you say 'flying pig' in japanese? romanized and in japanese... thanks

[Tamago86]

haha, im just curious... how do you say 'flying pig' in japanese? romanized and in japanese... thanks

飛んでいる豚 (tondeiru buta)

or 空を飛んでいる豚 (sora o tondeiru buta) if you need it to be clear, because 飛んでいる (tondeiru) means both flying and jumping

[stellabella]

^ he asked that in the korean thread too

anyway, i was just wondering...is japanese the same as korean when it comes to fitting different speaking styles to a person's profile? Like is there formal speech and not so formal speech...that you use towards certain people....and, is it a must use?

[SophiaSan]

^

haha yeah it is

like using verbs:
SHIMASU-TO DO

informal SURU
formal SHIMASU

its the same! you have to be very formal to elders!

[Tamago86]

Yea I think Japanese and Korean are most alike in that they share the same honorific system..

Take the verb to to go
Informal: 行く iku
Regular: 行きます ikimasu
Passive Polite: 行かれます ikaremasu
Honorific: いらっしゃいます irasshaimasu
Humble: 参ります mairimasu

Quite a few verbs like this one even have different types of verbs you must do to express honorific or humble. There are also more ways to express honorific and politeness too, like since 書く kaku doesn't have a special verb like how 行く has いらっしゃいます you have to say お書きになります o kaki ni narimasu. When talking about 'doing X' you would also say 書いていらっしゃいます kaite irasshaimasu instead of 書いています kaiteimasu. There's also something which is both honorific and humble which is お書きします o kaki shimasu which means like "I'll humbly write it for you". And then there's お書きください o kaki kudasai, which is a common polite way to say please write it.
So it would be
To write
お書きします o kaki shimasu
書く kaku
書きます kakimasu
書かれます kakaremasu
お書きください okaki kudasai
お書きになります okaki ni narimasu



So yes it's complicated and there's quite alot of forms and politeness levels but you need to know them if you're ever thinking of working in Japan, but even native Japanese struggle with it everyday so if you're a foreigner and try your best but can't pull it off perfectly no one is going to get mad at you

[RiA]

i was trying to analyze あなたがいらなくてさびしいです。 (i miss you)
i know that さびしい means sad / lonely, but i'm a bit confused w/ いらなくて.

what is the dictionary form of the verb, いる　for います (meaning to exist)？ how about くて? help me out with the conjugations... o_o;;

[Mugen]

what does 俄然強め means? i dont really get it when my friend says it and that points to herself and just laughed it off