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i-lay-between-us In reply to Skywayup [2009-04-16 18:54:43 +0000 UTC]

lol! that isn't me, it is my friend
^____^ and thanks!

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Skywayup In reply to i-lay-between-us [2009-04-16 20:34:13 +0000 UTC]

oh haha XD sorry XD i couldn't read the caption thing you had for it... what language is that?

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i-lay-between-us In reply to Skywayup [2009-04-16 23:35:35 +0000 UTC]

lol, yeah. That is spanish, haha, I was in a mood yesterday and I was just writing and talking in spanish XD

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Skywayup In reply to i-lay-between-us [2009-04-18 17:24:12 +0000 UTC]

lol that's cool!!
Is that your native language?

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i-lay-between-us In reply to Skywayup [2009-04-20 21:16:07 +0000 UTC]

No, I took three years of high school spanish I am gonna take some college courses eventually. It is way more easy than Japanese. lol!

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Skywayup In reply to i-lay-between-us [2009-04-21 22:51:42 +0000 UTC]

Oh that's cool! I'm taking French for that instead of Spanish XD But I wish I could learn both
Haha I bet! I'm trying to teach myself Japanese - and it's not working XD

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i-lay-between-us In reply to Skywayup [2009-04-22 02:24:56 +0000 UTC]

OOO! I don't think I could ever learn French... it is so intense! XD
Yes, Japanese is ÜBER hard

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Skywayup In reply to i-lay-between-us [2009-04-22 22:33:37 +0000 UTC]

oh hehe i'm sure you could :3
Yeah but i still want to learn

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i-lay-between-us In reply to Skywayup [2009-04-23 00:52:47 +0000 UTC]

And you can lol!
こんいちわ！

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Skywayup In reply to i-lay-between-us [2009-04-23 23:27:19 +0000 UTC]

...what does that mean?
lol XD i can't read it at all but i know how to spell my name and that's it XD How do you know whether to use Hirogana or Katakana or Kanji?

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i-lay-between-us In reply to Skywayup [2009-04-23 23:59:34 +0000 UTC]

It says "konbanwa" (good evening).
Well, not all Japanese people know all kanji (there are SO many to learn, lol)... but Hiragana is used for native Japanese names and words like...
Okuhara (name) = おくはら,
and taiyou (sun) = たいよう.
Katakana is for "borrowed" words like...
pen (pen) = ペン,
and ashiiri (ashley/english name) = アシイリ.
Kanji... you can use the kanji for words like...
nihongo (Japanese language) = 日本語,
and nihonjin (Japanese person) = 日本人.
And then nihon is Japan; 日本.
I hope that was helpful.

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Skywayup In reply to i-lay-between-us [2009-04-24 17:05:49 +0000 UTC]

oh haha i know konbanwa XD
hehe
oooohhhh
that was incredibly helpful!!! thank you so much !!!!!

okay so Hiragana would be used more often and Kanji would be also used in Chinese characters right? And Kanji is like names of places?? And then Katakana is for foreign words taken into the language... right?

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i-lay-between-us In reply to Skywayup [2009-04-24 20:06:01 +0000 UTC]

You are welcome! I am glad I could help

Yes Hiragana and Kanji are used a lot. There are many kanji...
Nan (what) = 何
Ji (time) = 時
Put them together for Nanji (what time?) = 何時。

They do use Kanji for their names... but I have no idea how they work that out... and example from our textbook is:
( Mr. )Mimura = ミ村( さん )

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Skywayup In reply to i-lay-between-us [2009-04-24 21:18:41 +0000 UTC]

YAY

What's that circle after Nanji?
But how do you know whether or not you are reading kanji or katakana or hiragana?

oh weird... it goes after...

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i-lay-between-us In reply to Skywayup [2009-04-24 21:29:12 +0000 UTC]

The dot is a Japanese period.
_____. = _____。

As for the part knowing whether you are reading Hiragana/Kanji/Katakana... they look different usually... there are a couple of Kanji that trick us and look like Hiragana/Katakana...

Hiragana: (a, i, u, e, o)
あ　い　う　え　お
Katakana: (a, i, u, e, o)
ア　イ　ウ　エ　オ
Kanji: (nihongo, nihonjin, sensei)/(Japanese Language, Japanese Person, Teacher)
日本語　日本人　先生

Hiragana in more fluid/rounded, whereas Katakana is square-like... Kanji is explained differently... like 日 from "日本語" is broken down as such:
日 = ロ(ro -katakana) + 三 (san -#3)

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Skywayup In reply to i-lay-between-us [2009-04-24 23:28:41 +0000 UTC]

ahhh that's what I thought XD thanks =]

ohh XD that makes sense....
so when you learn japanse, you have to know all of them and soon it just kind of runs into just one letter/sound and you hardly notice if it switches?

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i-lay-between-us In reply to Skywayup [2009-04-25 00:44:42 +0000 UTC]

Oh! I had to correct myself... but I replied to myself, lol! And now I can't find it XD

It varies from sensei to sensei... but it is a good idea to have a little knowledge of the alphabets, believe me it helps. Grammatical structure is really difficult for me... but the alphabets are easy peasy for me...

"it just kind of runs into just one letter/sound and you hardly notice if it switches?" whatty? lol, sorry, I only got a couple hours of sleep XD

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Skywayup In reply to i-lay-between-us [2009-04-25 22:42:49 +0000 UTC]

oh haha XD that's ok

oh okiedokie

haha sorry that was a confusing question on my part XD um i mean like when you say sentence is in kanji and then one word is in katakana or something - do you notice the change? Or do you just read it like as if it were one language in itself?

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i-lay-between-us In reply to Skywayup [2009-04-26 05:18:10 +0000 UTC]

Usually when a word is in Katakana you can tell because it doesn't sound Japanese...
When they say foreign country names, they use Katakana:
America... アメリカ (a me ri ka)
Singapore... シンガポール (shi n ga pou ru)-- The dash after, ポー, it elongates the vowel and you get "pou". When it is written in Romaji it looks like "pō". [and the "ē" in Romaji is "ei"]
England... イギリス (I gi ri su)---This one doesn't sound like we say it, but that is just how they roll

And then for Asian countries they use Kanji:
Nihon (Japan)... 日本
Chuugoku (China)... 中国
Kankoku (South Korea)... 韓国

Short answer: You can notice a slight change, but it still is read as if it were one language.

Hope I didn't totally confuse you... I kinda confused myself. lol! Hence the short answer

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Skywayup In reply to i-lay-between-us [2009-04-26 19:57:22 +0000 UTC]

haha ok thanks that makes more sense XD

oh ok that's a good answer XD
lol

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i-lay-between-us In reply to Skywayup [2009-04-26 21:03:04 +0000 UTC]

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Skywayup In reply to i-lay-between-us [2009-04-27 22:02:12 +0000 UTC]

hehe

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i-lay-between-us In reply to i-lay-between-us [2009-04-24 20:16:05 +0000 UTC]

CURSES! I meant...

Nanji desuka. = 何時ですか。= What time is it?
(lol!)

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