WHO HERE SPEAKS JAPANESE Options

[Timbo]

I HAVE SOME QUESTIONS FOR YOU

AND THEN PROBABLY SOME QUESTIONS LATER, NO DOUBT

Timbo

[woody]

post that shit nigga

i haven't touched japanese in a couple years but i'll give it a whack

[Timbo]

The number 4. Yon or Shi? Both are probably correct, but is there one that's more correct?

Also, I notice that native speakers (probably true everyone in their native language) speak really rather fast. Is it acceptable to speak at a slower rate, or is it preferred to speed things up a bit?

Edit: Oh yeah, can you recommend the best workbooks for learning the writing language? I'm looking for workbooks that teach what they're supposed to teach and are interactive enough so I can learn and retain it. Any recommendations would be TITS

Timbo

[Spectatrix]

Yon. Shi is also the word for death (different kanji, though), so it's viewed as unlucky by some.

[woody]

yon/shi: it's debatable. either is commonly accepted. yon is a little bit more informal and shi is a bit more formal, cause shi is more traditional. you'll have words where yon is strictly used and vice versa

i think it just seems like they speak fast...depends on who is speaking. for example, i've noticed that i can pick up spanish from a person from mexico, but if a puerto speaks it, fuckers speak too fast. so it maybe that they speak fast. Also, there's very little punctuation (commas & shit) in traditional japanses, and also few spaces in traditional japanese. all the words are sort of run ons until the end of the sentence. so i think that traditionally there was little room for pausing, spacing, etc like we have in english.

recommendations, i've heard good things about rosetta stone. i learned japanese in HS & at tech, so most of the learning came more from the teacher & not so much from the books

[Divergent Realit...]

yon/shi: it's debatable. either is commonly accepted. yon is a little bit more informal and shi is a bit more formal, cause shi is more traditional. you'll have words where yon is strictly used and vice versa

i think it just seems like they speak fast...depends on who is speaking. for example, i've noticed that i can pick up spanish from a person from mexico, but if a puerto speaks it, fuckers speak too fast. so it maybe that they speak fast. Also, there's very little punctuation (commas & shit) in traditional japanses, and also few spaces in traditional japanese. all the words are sort of run ons until the end of the sentence. so i think that traditionally there was little room for pausing, spacing, etc like we have in english.

recommendations, i've heard good things about rosetta stone. i learned japanese in HS & at tech, so most of the learning came more from the teacher & not so much from the books

puerto rico spanish is closer to peninsular spanish.

ive also heard good things about the rosetta stone thing.

im gonna pick that up for spanish for cleping.

[jonathan83]

i'm sitting with a korean right now, who has taken japanese and she says yon is not 4 (or at least she's never heard it used before).

shi.

[woody]

i'm sitting with a korean right now, who has taken japanese and she says yon is not 4 (or at least she's never heard it used before).

shi.

ask em how to say 40 in japanese
or 4:00

This post has been edited by woody: May 30 2006, 05:43 AM

[Timbo]

One thing I like about japanese is that it's a logical language

The number system is pure Straightforward. Syntax and Sentence structure, so far, aren't difficult in the least =o Quite a treat really.

I ask about the speed of speech because native speakers speak rather fast and it can sometimes be difficult to hear every word or syllable fully. It's almost as if some of the letters get lost or omitted. So I find myself slowing down to at least half-speed so'z to pronounce everything accurately. Think that's allright? Prolly is, but meh. Woody, Spec, how proficient were you two at speaking, reading, writing, comprehension and all that?

EDIT: I've also heard the number 1 pronounced "eesh" instead of the normal two-syllable "ee-chee".

Timbo

[Spectatrix]

I only took a semester of Japanese... I was good at what I learned, but I'm not fluent by any stretch of the imagination. Grammatically, Japanese is an extremely simple language, practically seems engineered... it's the social nuances that can complicate things.

Jonathan, I learned both yon and shi when I took Japanese, which was taught by a native Japanese woman... both are in my Japanese/English dictionaries, so I'm pretty darn sure that both are valid ways of saying "4".

[jonathan83]

EDIT: I've also heard the number 1 pronounced "eesh" instead of the normal two-syllable "ee-chee".

say eechee really fast. probably common that it sounds like eesh

just like "what are you going to do" usually sounds more like "what'a'ya'gonna'do" or something. happens allll the time in english. depends on regions of course, too.

and spec. i'm sure it means 4. i was just saying that she said it must be uncommon or something, because she's never heard it used before (to mean 4 at least).

[Testm0nkey]

shiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiii

and i never heard yon being used as 4

[moebary]

I was taught shi

[Spectatrix]

Yeah, I dunno about the yon/shi thing... not having been to Japan, I can't exactly judge which is more common. I was taught that yon is better, but that may not be accurate.

[woody]

One thing I like about japanese is that it's a logical language

The number system is pure Straightforward. Syntax and Sentence structure, so far, aren't difficult in the least =o Quite a treat really.

I ask about the speed of speech because native speakers speak rather fast and it can sometimes be difficult to hear every word or syllable fully. It's almost as if some of the letters get lost or omitted. So I find myself slowing down to at least half-speed so'z to pronounce everything accurately. Think that's allright? Prolly is, but meh. Woody, Spec, how proficient were you two at speaking, reading, writing, comprehension and all that?

EDIT: I've also heard the number 1 pronounced "eesh" instead of the normal two-syllable "ee-chee".

Timbo

I think that might be like an accent. Sort of like words that end in su

It's more common for female so pronounce the u in su, and for males the u is usually dropped. (there are some exceptions...like when your telling the person to use su like..in spelling, since it's a part of the alphabet) but in general context, men don't usually use the u in su.