48 replies to this topic

[eckirion]

 

also Germany is a country not a language though that's probably just a typo lol

 

Sorry, I do not know what is the name of the language used by Germany.

[Mercurius]

- What's your native language?

Korean.

- Do you speak or understand any other languages?

Japanese, English.

- If so, how much: mastered (like, qualified-to-teach-it level), fluent in conversation, can talk but not read/write, can understand but not speak, etc.

I'm most effective at using English, but I'd never be able to teach it. It's too fucked up. I'd just go all "Go marathon Game of Thrones or something, and fuck the tests and essays. Especially the grammar ones. The only tests you need is trying to talk to someone fluent in English and/or trying to read Western literature in English." to any students.

 

I used to be able to read Japanese several years ago to a level where I could enjoy reading untranslated stuff but when I went through a phase of going through as many English conversations in real life as possible, without the time(in terms of sessions, not total amounts) to actually play or read anything that demanded I be more dedicated about doing so, I lost so much of that skill I'm having issues remembering some hiragana and katakana. However I still retain conversational Japanese (audio-only) because of the indirect practice I got from watching anime when it came up (since I only had to spend 20 minutes or less each time) during said phase, though you really cannot expect me to follow any patterns based on how politely I should be speaking to someone using it. And speaking of lost skill, my Korean reading skills are more or less dead by now.

 

My Korean conversational skill is at "restaurant level" because when you are Korean and you go to a Korean restaurant with Korean waiters and you can't order or give basic responses and requests in Korean I feel like I'll look extremely stupid. I could say I'm actually Japanese to avoid that issue but it's very hit-or-miss as to how well that works on other East Asians. There was this one time where I accidentally said "No, I am Korean." as a response to someone asking me "Are you Japanese?" in a ramen shop (in America) in Japanese though.

- What languages are you studying?

None.

- What languages might you like to know?

There's some untranslated things I want that are in Japanese but not enough to warrant trying to re-learn it (or rather, having the risk of forgetting it again.) Also because for the most part I would have to buy those.

[^Leo^]

@eckirion the most common language on Germany is German, but depending on where you are in Germany they may speak Dutch.

[Mercurius]

then you have those people who show up in MMOs speaking German, Dutch, and English all at the same time fluently

 

it's crazy

[^Leo^]

Mhmm. Switching between languages smoothly is something I want to be able to do. When I speak I can only do it in one language at a time for the most part. It'd be awkward to switch mid-sentence like some people can.

[Valke]

 

Indonesian sounds cool but... what is with that font? XD

 

It's fun using that font lmao. I'm just messing around XD *derp*

[Snow]

Mhmm. Switching between languages smoothly is something I want to be able to do. When I speak I can only do it in one language at a time for the most part. It'd be awkward to switch mid-sentence like some people can.

I don't really know if I can switch languages smoothly now that you mention it. I know that I can switch in between sentences but I don't think I've tried mid sentence, hmm I gotta test this out.

[Rujio]

I've found that the issue isn't so much being able to switching mid-sentence as it is being able to control where mid-sentence you switch. Nothing like trying to explain Japanese grammar in German and then realizing the person only understood the first half of what you said because you ended up actually talking in Japanese to explain Japanese. I'm not sure if doing English/Dutch/German would be better or worse, since they're almost a dialect continuum - you just need to add Frisian or whatever to get the whole thing.

[Fire Blazer]

Mhmm. Switching between languages smoothly is something I want to be able to do. When I speak I can only do it in one language at a time for the most part. It'd be awkward to switch mid-sentence like some people can.

 

I don't really know if I can switch languages smoothly now that you mention it. I know that I can switch in between sentences but I don't think I've tried mid sentence, hmm I gotta test this out.

 

I've found that the issue isn't so much being able to switching mid-sentence as it is being able to control where mid-sentence you switch. Nothing like trying to explain Japanese grammar in German and then realizing the person only understood the first half of what you said because you ended up actually talking in Japanese to explain Japanese. I'm not sure if doing English/Dutch/German would be better or worse, since they're almost a dialect continuum - you just need to add Frisian or whatever to get the whole thing.

 

umm, guys

 

I think the solution is to not switch mid-sentence

 

*shot*

 

(but like, that just sounds so awkward, I can't even imagine it working, haha—props to anyone who can handle it)

[^Leo^]

Yeah I can't think of a reason to do it on purpose, but it would be fun to mess with people. You know, switch in the middle of a sentence and see if they get confused (or even notice that you did it)

[Knight of Argentum]

It would be hell to switch from a language like Latin to English mid sentence, since the word order in the two languages are so different. The verb moves from the beginning to the end when going from English to Latin, and it would just destroy the word order to switch between the two. >.>

[Snow]

So I apparently can switch mid sentence. Today I said "No profe, las protestas eran en Baltimore Maryland" (I said the city/state in english and then the entire class laughed because I can't say english words in spanish XD)

[Ristau]

- What's your native language? English

- Do you speak or understand any other languages? Spanish (used to speak it semi-fluently, but I could probably only understand it now).

- If so, how much: mastered (like, qualified-to-teach-it level), fluent in conversation, can talk but not read/write, can understand but not speak, etc. Oh Whoops^

- What languages are you studying? None. 

 

- What languages might you like to know? Shitaliano

[Thezalor]

For brevity (and believe me this is going to be a fairly long post), I'll only answer the questions that are relevant to me. 

- What's your native language? English

- Do you speak or understand any other languages? I can understand Japanese in not too difficult visual novels so long as I have dictionary tools to help me. Meaning I have a good grasp of the grammar. 

- What languages are you studying? Japanese.

 

For those interested primarily in learning how to read Japanese, I have a few sources you might be interested in checking out:

 

1) How to Read Visual Novels in Japanese in 2 years time (or 1 year if you are fast)

 

This is a blog post that was written by a former fan-translator. This is the method she claims to have used to learn Japanese herself, and has been the method I've been using for the past year. What's great about this post is that it gives you a realistic goal of learning how to read (not speak, write, or listen) in Japanese in a reasonable time; 2 years. Her method basically emphasizes immersing yourself in Japanese written material (Visual Novels, manga, video games and anime with JP subtitles). Once you've learned Hiragana, Katakana, and are familiar with Japanese grammar; you can learn fairly easily from reading and looking words up. I must emphasize that grammar is incredibly important if you want to read! Everyone I know who learned Japanese through a similar method will tell you how crucial grammatical knowledge is.

 

2) Aaeru linked it in her article, but I'll do it here to. Tae Kim's Japanese Grammar Guide.

 

Most Conventional Japanese textbooks in my view are trash. (Even the Genki series that a lot of people praise). But if you're learning with a specification for reading, than conventional Japanese textbooks are even more useless to you than they were before. What you want instead is a Grammar guide, and Tae-Kim's is probably the best. Tae-Kim's grammar guide is great because he explains concepts well and thoroughly, and at the same time doesn't excessively hand-hold you.

 

3) Once you've read Tae-Kim's grammar, you might want to check Ixrec's Grammar guide.

 

Ixrec's grammar guide is incredibly concise and leaves out any fluff at all (which is why he is great for advanced beginners and intermediate learners, but a bit too much for absolute beginners). To quote him on his approach to writing the guide, "in my opinion, being newbie-friendly is worth sacrificing in order to provide information that's as close to being genuinely accurate and comprehensive as possible. And that's what I tried to do". Ixrec also specifies that his guide is intended for people learning through source material, which he defines as "anything created in a given language, by a native speaker of that language, and intended for use by other native speakers of that language". Ixrec wants people to learn Japanese Grammar step by step, and to constantly practice whatever they did learn up to, by reading actual Japanese material. This way you see how everything you learned is actually used in practice. 

 

I hope these sources can be useful to somebody else, as they have been for me.

 

P.S. For those wondering who I am and why I abruptly posted here.

Spoiler

Basically I used to be kinda active here years ago, but I haven't been around for a long time. Recently (a few hours ago) I wanted to try my hand at FE hacking again, but my new laptop doesn't have any of the hacking tools. So I visited with the purpose of re-downloading the hacking tools I need, but while I was doing that I was wondering how the forums were these days. As I was checking that up, I found this thread; which is surprisingly relevant to me. For the past year, but especially the past couple of months, learning Japanese has been my top focus; and I just want to help out other people who have the same goal.

  

[^Leo^]

i'm learning Japanese the same sort of way actually. starting with learning a few basics with heavy emphasis on reading, and actually trying to read stuff(so far unsuccessfully) specifically i want to learn enough to read the first Ace Attorney case(i know the english version really well. stands to reason it'd be easier to make it through something you're already familiar with) definitely going to check out those grammar guides though. thanks for the links

[Fire Blazer]

 

- What's your native language? English

- Do you speak or understand any other languages? Spanish (used to speak it semi-fluently, but I could probably only understand it now).

- If so, how much: mastered (like, qualified-to-teach-it level), fluent in conversation, can talk but not read/write, can understand but not speak, etc. Oh Whoops^

- What languages are you studying? None. 

 

- What languages might you like to know? Shitaliano

 

 

"Shitaliano"

 

OOOOOkay

 

@Thezalor oooh, that's quite a bit of info. Not going to quote it on account of it being such a large post, lol. Good luck with your Japanese studies though!

[Ristau]

 

"Shitaliano"

 

OOOOOkay

 

@Thezalor oooh, that's quite a bit of info. Not going to quote it on account of it being such a large post, lol. Good luck with your Japanese studies though!

Lol I love Italian, it's part of my heritage

 

It's just a little joke with another person (Nih) who is from Italy.

[Fire Blazer]

Lol I love Italian, it's part of my heritage

 

It's just a little joke with another person (Nih) who is from Italy.

 

ahh okay, the more you know... or the more I know, in this case

 

Italiano ain't very practical soooo it kind of figures there's got to be a somewhat specific reason like "it's part of my heritage" or "I need it for a very specific job that requires Italian" or something as opposed to "oh it'd just be cool to know this language" or " a lot of people speak it so I think it'd be good to know" lol

[Thezalor]

 

@Thezalor oooh, that's quite a bit of info. Not going to quote it on account of it being such a large post, lol. Good luck with your Japanese studies though!

 

Thank you, or should I say ありがとうございます.

[Fire Blazer]

 

Thank you, or should I say ありがとうございます.

 

pfft, nerd