[trashstar]

tsukino hikari, utsutsuno yume

Light of the moon, dream of the reality

I think utsutsu is reality or actuality; correct me if I'm wrong^^

thank you ^^

[TOKYO TINA]

I was wondering how people remember the Hiragana characters? I'm taking Japanese class right now and its really hard for me to remember most of them. Is there something that anyone does to make them remember them faster? Sorry if my grammars bad.

[dr jung]

I was wondering how people remember the Hiragana characters? I'm taking Japanese class right now and its really hard for me to remember most of them. Is there something that anyone does to make them remember them faster? Sorry if my grammars bad.

Well, I think if you are in the beginning stage of learning, keep using it, practicing writing the characters, would help you remember. I mean, if you write them once, and then that's it, you obviously are not going to remember anything.

Whenever you have time, make a quick chart/table/etc, write whatever you remember. Then, if you have time to look at the actual hiragana chart, you can try to learn the ones that you forgot or something.

Practice makes everything perfect.

[keauxz]

I have a friend, shes a girl and she is 2 years older than me. I am 21 and shes 23.

In korean, if a girl is older than me i would call her nuna.

In Japanese, could I call her onesan? I know that means older-sister but could i use it as a friend also? Please let me know, i dont' want to call her my sister but i want to call her oneesan as reference to a girl older than me.

haha it'll probably make her laugh, but i want to try it.

so...could someone help me

[mango_x]

can someone tell me if the word 'kawai' has a meaning in japanese because i know that kawaii means cute and kowai means scary. hmm and i know there's a japanese piano company called kawai so can anyone tell me if it has a meaning in japanese

[Tamago86]

can someone tell me if the word 'kawai' has a meaning in japanese because i know that kawaii means cute and kowai means scary. hmm and i know there's a japanese piano company called kawai so can anyone tell me if it has a meaning in japanese

no..the only way it's used would be as someone or someplace's name

[Maxx]

so...could someone help me

I'm pretty sure you can call her oneesan
I usually call my japanese (girls) friends neechan
or I would ad nee after their name ex: Hiromi-nee
But I would make sure she's okay with you calling her that.

[Tamago86]

Japanese people don't usually call older girls 'oneesan', I've never seen it done before while living and studying there, and checked with some Japanese friends on it to be sure...Japan isn't as strict as Korea when it comes to age distinction, you'll see people calling friends 20 years older than them casually like they do people their age

It's more common, in a school or work setting, to call an older person 'senpai', but this still isn't used anywhere as much as things like nuna are in Korean. So be careful how you try to translate one culture into another, you might get weird looks. If you really feel you need to be polite, just stick with name-san, or if you want affectionate name then name-chan is ok too

[cRoSsTaGe]

Can someone tell me the difference between 言う and 話すand how to use them? I'm a lil confused here. Thanks so much!

Btw, is it appropriate to ask in this thread...can someone recommend me good japanese-english(or E-J or with chinese) dictionary?

[Tamago86]

Can someone tell me the difference between 言う and 話すand how to use them? I'm a lil confused here. Thanks so much!

Btw, is it appropriate to ask in this thread...can someone recommend me good japanese-english(or E-J or with chinese) dictionary?

言う - say
話す - speak

何を言いましたか? What did you say?
彼は話しましたか? Did he speak?

mostly the same differences as say / speak in English

[Becca*]

I'm taking beginners Japanese in university right now, just wondering how long it took you guy to memorize hiragana and katakana? (for someone non-native to Japanese)

and I need help with using ikimasu and kimasu in the right context
like if a mother was calling her son in the other room to come for dinner, would the son use ikimasu as in he's going? or kimasu as in he's coming?

[Tamago86]

I'm taking beginners Japanese in university right now, just wondering how long it took you guy to memorize hiragana and katakana? (for someone non-native to Japanese)

and I need help with using ikimasu and kimasu in the right context
like if a mother was calling her son in the other room to come for dinner, would the son use ikimasu as in he's going? or kimasu as in he's coming?

depends on point of view
he's going to his mother from a neutral point of view
but from the mother's point of view he's coming...so it sounds like they'd want you to use kimasu here. ikimasu/kimasu usually depend on the location/direction in reference to the speaker

it should take you a week to memorize hiragana and katakana if you do it seriously, a few days if you're fast

[trashstar]

I'm taking beginners Japanese in university right now, just wondering how long it took you guy to memorize hiragana and katakana? (for someone non-native to Japanese)

it took me around 3 days to memorize hiragana but i have yet to learn katakana

[cRoSsTaGe]

言う - say
話す - speak

何を言いましたか? What did you say?
彼は話しましたか? Did he speak?

mostly the same differences as say / speak in English

Thanks Tamago86!!

[KAME]

ah im in the process of learning japanese at college right now. i already knew most of the hiragana beforehand and we're finished that chapter.. and we're starting katakana soon.. It looks so confusing =(

[akira53]

ところでハワイではどんなスポーツが人気がありますか？日本では剣道はあまり人気がありません（残念）。日本では、野球 (baseball?)、サッカーがとても人気があります。サッカーはワールドカップの影響もあってとても人気があります。(soccer became more popular because of the world cup?)あと、相撲も人気があります。最近は、モンゴル人の力士がとても強く、今の横綱（チャンピオン）は、モンゴル人です。相撲は日本の国技だけど日本人の力士が弱く (I recognize this character but I can't find it in my dictionary ) なったのは悲しいことです。また、コニシキアケボノのようなハワイの力士がいなくなったことは残念です。
話は変わりますがロビンさんは日本に対してどのようなイメージをもっていますか？
ロビンさんは日系何世ですか？私は日系の人は、本当にすばらしい人達だと思います。I don't really understand what he's trying to say here...bear with me here, my grammar is slowly coming back, lol
また、第二次世界大戦 (?!)の時の話を聞くととても辛かっただろうと思います。だから、ロビンさんの先代の方はとても立派な方だと思います
私は10月にハワイに行きますが、日系人に関する資料館を訪問しようと思っています。
He also talked about typhoons...in Japan is it just considered a severe storm (like a tropical storm?) or could it be a hurricane as well?
もう一度よろしくお願いします！

[Tamago86]

"By the way what kind of sports are popular in Hawaii? In Japan Kendo isn't that popular (a pity). But baseball and soccer are very popular. Soccer especially is very popular due to the effects of the world cup. And sumo wrestling is also popular. Recently there's been a very strong mongolian sumo wrestler who has attained the rank of yokozuna (sumo grand champion). Sumo wrestling is the national sport of Japan and it's sad that the Japanese people have become weaker than others at it. Sad that we don't have any strong players anymore like Konishiki Akebono from Hawaii.
Anyways to change the topic, what do you think of when you think of Japan?
What generation Japanese-American are you? I think Japanese-Americans are truly amazing people. I think the stories of what happened to them during WWII were very tragic and they had to go through alot, so I think your ancestors were very great people.
I'll be going to Hawaii in October, and I'm thinking of visiting a museum about Japanese-Americans."

野球 = yakyuu - baseball
サッカーはワールドカップの影響もあってとても人気があります - 影響 - eikyou - effect. 影響もあって = 影響もある
弱く = 弱い yowai - weak
ロビンさんは日系何世ですか?私は日系の人は、本当にすばらしい人達だと思います。 何世 means 'what generation', for example 二世 is 2nd generation,　三世 is third generation, etc. So 日系何世 would be 'what generation japanese-american' and if if you said 日系二世 that would mean you're 2nd generation Japanese-American.
第二次世界大戦 - dainijisekaitaisen World War II (literally 第二次 dainiji 'second', 世界 sekai 'world' 大戦 taisen 'big war')

In Japan a typhoon is a typhoon =D

[Godotology]

is "de" the equivelent to the Korean "eh suh"? or is "ni" closer to "eh suh"

[last song]

my uncle had been teaching me japanese, but for various reasons he stopped about 2 years ago and i never picked it back up. some of the knowledge is still there, but i don't know the characters, thus can't read or write it with any particular ease...

so that's my excuse for asking a translation of all you people, lol.
could someone please tell me what this means?

あなたの夢見るほど強く。 常に。。。

also, how would you say 'A Blue Ocean, A White Moon'?

thank you very much.

[lillianbillion]

can anyone translate this for me?

omae wa buta degozaimasuka?

:D:D THANKS