The Japanese Language Help Thread

[NyaChan]

You have to be more specific. What sort of English-to-Japanese chart?

yeah, cause uh, there's no way anyone could make a complete English-to-Japanese chart, if your looking for something to translate words, either buy a English/Japanese dictionary or use sites like Jim Breen's WWWJDIC. If you want to have a chart for the symbols, you have to specify which ones, hiragana or katakana. Kanji would be out of the question because there's so many and can mean various things and be read many ways based on what they're joined with.

[Pikachu Boy]

a chart that shows basic English to Japanese translation like colors and numbers and greeting words

[NyaChan]

a chart that shows basic English to Japanese translation like colors and numbers and greeting words

Some basic words? Sure, why not, I'm procrastinating other stuff now anyways. xD

edit: here you go. I have no idea what use this will be for you, since to use most of this will brand you as a wapanese/weaboo. Though the last thing I added would be kinda useful, the rest really isn't.

note: "Konnichiwa" is also used a a general "hello", but is, technically speaking, "good afternoon".

[Pikachu Boy]

Thanks

[Ru-Kun]

Um could someone please suggest the best book possible to learn Japanese?

[NoirTHECHA]

im needing motivation to study japanese again, i had started on katakana and hirgana but i lost motivation. any ideas, what helps you

[NyaChan]

Um could someone please suggest the best book possible to learn Japanese?

The only book series I can whole-heartedly suggest is the Genki series. My college classes use it and if you get the textbook and workbook it's pretty useful (you prolly need the CD for it as well since it has listening comprehension stuff in the workbook, plus all of the lesson stuff is read aloud on the CD). It's got some weird conversations between the characters, but it's good for basic Japanese.

im needing motivation to study japanese again, i had started on katakana and hirgana but i lost motivation. any ideas, what helps you

Playing a game in Japanese and being like "AURGH CAN'T READ THAT KANJI." xD Not gonna lie, playing games in a language you're learning is really a great supplement and source of motivation. It helps you by getting you to use the language, and it motivates you by showing you what you can understand and also what you can't. Whenever I play one of my import games I realize how much more I understand now than when I had first gotten the game.

[NoirTHECHA]

Playing a game in Japanese and being like "AURGH CAN'T READ THAT KANJI." xD Not gonna lie, playing games in a language you're learning is really a great supplement and source of motivation. It helps you by getting you to use the language, and it motivates you by showing you what you can understand and also what you can't. Whenever I play one of my import games I realize how much more I understand now than when I had first gotten the game.

alrigthy that's what i was thinking, I had started to want to import soulsilver but o gave up on that bu since gen 5 is comming I might import that to get learning. ありがと にゃちゃ if that's even right. Did it with iphoone Japanese qwerty keyboard

[SharKing]

Heh, I don't believe that's right. I think this is it:

ありがとう、ニャちゃん。

(At least I hope I'm right...)

[NyaChan]

Heh, I don't believe that's right. I think this is it:

ありがとう、ニャちゃん。

(At least I hope I'm right...)

You don't actually have to put my username in katakana, but yeah, it's "ありがとう".

[MasterOfPuppets]

Does anyone here know spoken Japanese? There's a couple things I would like translated, and would be incredibly grateful if you could help. In the second MP3, the first word is "Nensha" for those who don't know it. Thanks a lot!

http://thewelloffears.webs.com/2nd.mp3
http://thewelloffears.webs.com/4th.mp3

[kiera2]

alrigthy that's what i was thinking, I had started to want to import soulsilver but o gave up on that bu since gen 5 is comming I might import that to get learning. ありがと にゃちゃ if that's even right. Did it with iphoone Japanese qwerty keyboard

If you're looking for a game to help with learning Japanese, I can't recommend ゼルダの伝説 夢幻の砂時計 (the Japanese version of The Legend of Zelda: Phantom Hourglass) enough. It has this really nifty feature where dialogue comes up on the touch screen with kanji and everything included, but when you use the stylus to tap on a kanji, the furigana appears. It's a fantastic learning tool, because it gives you a chance to try to recognise kanji in context, with the ability to opt for help if you need it.

It's far better than Pokemon, where total lack of kanji can make sentences confusing, or manga with furigana, where it's hard to avoid looking at the furigana printed on the page. Plus the level of language isn't too difficult, since it is after all a Zelda game. (Spirit Tracks may well have the same feature, but I haven't played that yet so can't say for sure.)

Another great way to practice while "having fun" is to watch a Japanese anime or movie with Japanese subtitles on.

[Ru-Kun]

What is the Hiragana Character for "wa" I would like to know the right one to use because I have conflicting resources.

[_underscore_]

What is the Hiragana Character for "wa" I would like to know the right one to use because I have conflicting resources.

ワ

or if your computer can't read that, here's a link to a pic...

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/5/5c/Japanese_Katakana_WA.png

[Kthleen]

^That's katakana. Hiragana wa is わ. If you mean as a particle, it's the same character for ha, は.