Trying to learn japanese!

[Baruch]

People learning it have a horrible time understanding things like the following. "They're going over there in their car."

English isn't the most phonetic language, since it is a hybrid of Anglo-Saxon and Norman-French ... plus Latin and Greek for technical terms.  I still struggle sometimes when I am too phonetic with my English spelling ... but auto-correct has helped ... also hindered.  Japanese is very phonetic, but only in Roman letters.

[doorknob]

well not doing symbols is going to be hard as I have a book coming from japan all in japanese. So if I want to read anything in it might need to know what the symbols are.  Which isn't the problem I have a really awesome kanji dictionary and I know how to use it.

But yeah I might have issues with japanese grammar since I didn't even learn english grammar too well.

Now the good news is that this book is an art book and I actually bought it for the pictures. But I thought I might try to translate some of it because well I'm kind of nosy and I want to know what it says.

[Baruch]

well not doing symbols is going to be hard as I have a book coming from japan all in japanese. So if I want to read anything in it might need to know what the symbols are.  Which isn't the problem I have a really awesome kanji dictionary and I know how to use it.

But yeah I might have issues with japanese grammar since I didn't even learn english grammar too well.

Now the good news is that this book is an art book and I actually bought it for the pictures. But I thought I might try to translate some of it because well I'm kind of nosy and I want to know what it says.

You have a motivation ... that is good.  Not idle curiosity.  But coming at it from the direction you are taking ... that is going to be hard.  Let me give you a few quick tips ....

Most loan words (other than Chinese) are in katakana.  A few loan words are in hiragana.  Some native Japanese words are in hiragana only, but most are headed by one or two kanji, followed by some hiragana.  The hiragana are the grammatical part that modify the kanji.  Generally rather than pre-positions ... Japanese uses post-positions ... aka particles.  These are usually one-hiragana words.  There are no spaces in a sentence, except for the Japanese version of the comma.  And then the end of the sentence is the Japanese period.  There are no question marks.

The grammar is based on subject-predicate ... same as English.  But the predicate is different ... either the question is implied, or the particle "ka" is at the end.  The structure of the predicate is ... indirect object - direct object - verb.  The verb is the last thing in a sentence (except for "ka") or the last thing in a clause.  Usually the ordering of things within a phrase is the opposite of English ... the adverb modifying the verb leads it, same as English, but adjectives precede nouns like in Spanish.

Watashi wa namae no Baruku desu ka.
Me about, name my Baruch, is?
My name is Baruch.

Watashi wa = subject ... watashi = I, wa = topic particle
namae no Baruku desu = predicate ... direct object preceding stative verb
namae no Baruku = direct object .. namae = name, no = possessive particle, Baruku = proper noun
desu = stative verb
ka = question particle

私は名前のバルã,¯ã§ã™ã‹ã€,

[Gawdzilla Sama]

People learning it have a horrible time understanding things like the following. "They're going over there in their car."

"I read about the red reed."

[Gawdzilla Sama]

大日本帝国/大日本帝國

[Atheon]

ถ้าà¸,,ุà¸"à¸,,ิà¸"ว่าเรียนภาษาญี่ปุ่นเป็นเรื่องยาก à¸,,ุà¸"ก็ต้องพยายามเรียนภาษาà¹,,ทย

[doorknob]

Yeah well there are days when I feel like I might be trying to translate the voynich manuscript but I won't give up!~

https://archive.org/stream/TheVoynichManuscript/Voynich_Manuscript#page/n3/mode/2up

[Shiranu]

ถ้าà¸,,ุà¸"à¸,,ิà¸"ว่าเรียนภาษาญี่ปุ่นเป็นเรื่องยาก à¸,,ุà¸"ก็ต้องพยายามเรียนภาษาà¹,,ทย

Thai?

[stromboli]

English is the hardest language?! LOL who said that? All its brilliance is that it is NOT a hard one.

Right. Back in the 50s, French was as much the world language as English. Many Southeast Asian countries and some Polynesian countries spoke French. English dominated because the U.S. became the dominant country and every country adapted. There are still places like Tahiti where French is still in use, but not dominant.

[drunkenshoe]

Right. Back in the 50s, French was as much the world language as English. Many Southeast Asian countries and some Polynesian countries spoke French. English dominated because the U.S. became the dominant country and every country adapted. There are still places like Tahiti where French is still in use, but not dominant.

I translated a book about that last summer. It's a Cambridge press lecture(s) on how European languages became European languages. It's fascinating, strom. Like how there weren't actually languages the way we understand today just 200 years ago. The reasons why French has become a dominant language at some time and then English or before all that which one...

Also I am working on another one about social history of languages in Europe. Mostly social linguistic theory and Early Modern. Learned tons. Amazing. There are many references about the cultures from outside Europe too. Ancient, contemporary, Ottoman, Maori, Chinese...

For example, 'literacy' has nothing to do with the literacy we know today in early modern. It's weird. We are so lucky and unlucky at the same time it's weird. Like a weird mirror.

It's a fascinating subject and actually very related to religious bullshit.

[Atheon]

Thai?

Yes

ถ้าà¸,,ุà¸"à¸,,ิà¸"ว่าเรียนภาษาญี่ปุ่นเป็นเรื่องยาก à¸,,ุà¸"ก็ต้องพยายามเรียนภาษาà¹,,ทย
"If you think learning Japanese is hard, you should try learning Thai"

[Baruch]

Yes

ถ้าà¸,,ุà¸"à¸,,ิà¸"ว่าเรียนภาษาญี่ปุ่นเป็นเรื่องยาก à¸,,ุà¸"ก็ต้องพยายามเรียนภาษาà¹,,ทย
"If you think learning Japanese is hard, you should try learning Thai"

Thai, I understand, has lots of tones.  But the writing system is regular.  Trying to Thai one on?

Empires of the Word by Ostler ... is a good general introduction to linguistics.

[doorknob]

I'll stick with japanese for now. One thing at a time.

[Shiranu]

While we are all here... any one want to try to translate my thrift shop trashcan? :P



Unrelated note; it has a beautiful tone to it. It could be an instrument with how well it rings.

[pato15]

While we are all here... any one want to try to translate my thrift shop trashcan? :P





Unrelated note; it has a beautiful tone to it. It could be an instrument with how well it rings.

I think you'll need a native speaker (reader?) for that. That's some pretty blurry writing.