Everything Japanese!

[laurentius]

Why?

Also Pekka, check this out

https://www.helsinkicollision.com

[Drake Tungsten]

Why?

I don't have the time to go into all the reasons.

[laurentius]

So, just name a few then?

[Wraith]

Che. I had a whole post ready to go, but it got eaten. Since I don't have time to repost it all, I'll just point out a bit and come back tonight for more.

Here's a Quick and Dirty guide to Japanese grammar.

If you just want to concentrate on spoken, check out the Pimsleur Japanese series.

Kana -- hiragana and katakana -- is pretty simple to learn by yourself. Stroke order and direction is important, so make sure whatever you use to learn it includes those.

The vowels probably won't be the problem. Westerners (of various languages) seem to have the most difficulty with tsu.

More later.

Wraith
"Doujinshi, kirai, atsui, kusai, urusai, Kazuki, baka."
-- Takasei Mizuki ("Comic Party")

[Tattila the Hun]

Ah, baka. One word I know the meaning of. Thanks to Asuka Langley Soryu.

[Winston]

Originally posted by Pekka
I want to learn some basic Japanese

Just turn off the sound in your player, problem solved.

[Ecthy]

We can stick with Chinese.

Nimen hao, pengyoumen.

[Cyclotron]

Gottverdammt. I just got out of Japanese finals for the year. I never want to see the "no yoo ni" construction ever again.

About baka, the word everyone seems to know: the kanji for it are the ones meaning horse and deer. The explanation given to me is that a baka is someone who can't tell the difference between a horse and a deer, thus, an idiot.

[Pekka]

Awesome, awesome.. I'm lost forever now.. found some Japanese internet radios and it's all I hear from now on. Also Japanese art I already know I need some of that stuff to my place.

Thanks for the great links Tattia the Hun, laurentius, Wraith.

yeah I've seen most who recommend first learning kana, and then kanji aftewards. Seems logical, since kanji is massive while hiragana and katakana aren't.

Also I've found it interesting that the grammar is sometimes similar to ours, I mean the logic is easy to understand, for example I saw an example "My name is Randolf Ross" would be english way but Japanese way would be "Am Randolf Ross". as in I am.. but forget the I. This I mean is the logic of some things, which are easy for me to understand because it doesn't require me to learn anything.

Exciting this is!

[Theben]

Sorry, most important word is wakarimasen.

doo itashimasite.

[chequita guevara]

doo itashimasite.
don't touch my moustache.

[chequita guevara]

Originally posted by Wraith
Che.

che?

[Theben]

Actually means "You're welcome".

[Wraith]

--"Thanks to Asuka Langley Soryu."

Now you just need to meet Ruri-Ruri... ^_^

--"che?"

Mild Japanese curse word. I know we've gone over this one before ^_^ Nothing at all to do with the rat-bastard you named yourself after.

Anyway.

Japanese news site in English:
Japan Times

http://www.japantimes.co.jp/

Actual news site, with some interesting editorials. Watch out for links posted here to WaiWai. People here seem to latch on to those for some reason, and WaiWai is a tabloid.

Jim Breen's WWWJDIC

http://www.csse.monash.edu.au/~jwb/wwwjdic.html

Online Japanese dictionary.

Joyo96

http://www.joyo96.org/

Kana/Kanji charts and references.

Charles Kelly's Online Japanese Language Study Materials

http://www.manythings.org/japanese/

Just what it says.

The Kanji Site

http://www.kanjisite.com/

JLPT arranged kanji.

Wraith
"Baka! Baka! Baka! Baka! Baka! Baka! Baka!"
-- Tomo ("Azumanga Daioh")

[Cookie Monster]

Recently I've developed an interest in learning written Japanese.

I'm trying to learn the Kanji so that I can buy some import Japanese games and play them.

Does anyone know of a good translator that I can get for my laptop? I'm thinking there has to be a way to type in Japanese words (in Kanji, Hirgana, etc.) and have the computer spit the english translation.