Forums

what is utskie mean? i dont know if its love or like and also what is liar/lying said in japanese.

Usotsuki 嘘つき　うそつき -> liar
Suki 好き　すき -> Like/love

I have a question. I'm beginning to practice hiragana (i'm totaly noob btw) and I more or less can recognize hiragana characters and its sounds when I see them but... I need to practice writing cause I have no idea.

The question, ¿is there any notebook for japanese calligraphy? I was also thinking about picking a normal 'western' square page, like that of mathematics notebooks and write there but I don't know if the hiragana characters are suposed to be square. I mean, I don't want to write them too wide or too tall.

Is there anyone who could help me with this?

Thanks. ありがと　！！

I have a question. I'm beginning to practice hiragana (i'm totaly noob btw) and I more or less can recognize hiragana characters and its sounds when I see them but... I need to practice writing cause I have no idea.

The question, ¿is there any notebook for japanese calligraphy? I was also thinking about picking a normal 'western' square page, like that of mathematics notebooks and write there but I don't know if the hiragana characters are suposed to be square. I mean, I don't want to write them too wide or too tall.

Is there anyone who could help me with this?

Thanks. ありがと　！！

I use one of those square page notebook myself :)

As for practicing hiragana, the most important thing is just to write it out with a paper and pen. Doesn't matter if it's square or not, but I guess writing in a constricted space might help you at the beginning.

So sure, go ahead and write :D

I advise writing all Japanese characters in squares; their notebooks are arranged that way. If you have a standard (0.5cmx0.5cm) squared notebook, writing them in areas 2 by 2 squares is great practice.

So, I just started my first Japanese course last week, and we're starting to get into learning hiragana. I don't have a problem with writing it, but I'm having a bit of a problem memorizing them.

:/ Does anyone know any methods I could use to help me with this...?

Edit: Haha...oops. I just realized that the question above me was a bit similar to mine.

Well, I have another question. You recommend in the homepage of this club alljapaneseallthetime as a good source for learning. But, that page is really strange. I've been reading a lot of it and all the guy says is self-help things and stimulation and that stuff, but nothing japanese. And when I think I finally found something, as his method for learning, I discover this guy is charging for everything! 10 bucks for this, 15 for that.. WTF?

Is that website really helpful? Is it worth paying 10 bucks for this guy telling you what the steps should be in your learning proccess?

I began SRSing hiragana and katakana characters, but I don't know what should be my next steps.

Any help would be appreciated!

Ajatt have evolved since the last time I saw it... so I don't know much. Anyway, the whole reason we follow some of the principles of AJATT is the fact that it's free and fun.

If you're confused about the specific steps, here is the overall plan:

1. hiragana and katakana (AJATT says Kanji first, but I actually like starting with hiragana and katakana because you can read mangas right away).
2. KANJI with RTK (Remembering the Kanji vol 1 - meaning and writing). This is really what helped me learn Japanese much much faster. It might look completely useless at first, but when you finish it... it's magic :) More concretely, you remove all fear of kanjis, you can guess MUCH easier (trust me, this is the biggest advantage) and it can help you memorize new kanjis, among many things. If you don't really like the stories on RTK, you can go on http://kanji.koohii.com to get stories from others :)
3. SENTENCE: Now that Kanji is pass (you still have to how to read them). Use an SRS to put sentences you like, review them and especially don't overdo it. It burns.
4. EXPLORE: Seriously, do what you like IN JAPANESE. You like manga? read them! you like anime? watch them! you like japanese blogs? go surf on them! You like chatting with people? extend your network. You like writing Japanese? I recommend Lang-8 so that other people can correct your journals :)

First of all, firebound. Let me say to you: HUGE THANKS!!

You put things now clear on my mind. I was thinking about puting words on hiragana, learning some grammar, etc. before going into kanji..., I don't know why but I felt kanji was the last thing to do... but now I know that is so wrong.

Remembering the Kanji (the three volumes) I've already have. So now I'll focus on styding the three books before going into sentence. I've began learning the first one and it confirms your advice.

I have much work to do, but I least I know what to do.

thank you

Haha, np :)

Most people stop after the first volume of RTK because after that you can learn new kanjis that you encounter in real life with the same way you construct a meaningful story in the later parts of RTK vol 1. If you want to go through vol.2 and 3, it's up to you. Volume 2 explain readings of kanjis though. Volume 3 expand on volume 1, meaning it contains only kanji's meaning and writing.

Feel free to do #4 at any time you want. That will be the meat of your Japanese. Just don't be afraid to not know some Japanese.

Hey firebound, or someone else... ;) When you did/do your flashcards for SRSing about Remembering the Kanji did you use the stories as questions and answers? I didn't but I don't know if it's better to have them as a reference or something cause sometimes you can forget the story about some kanji and that way you could see it straightaway.

I would love to have them but only as a reference, not as a question or answer, just to refresh your memory when you are recognizing/writing kanji. How did you manage this?

Cheers.

Back then, I only put the kanji and meaning as questions and answers!

However, it's really up to you if you want to 1)put it in the question/answer (I would prefer in answer, but everything is up to you really :P)

To have them as reference somewhere... Well you can use 2)kanji koohii like I said before for the stories you created yourself, for example: http://kanji.koohii.com/study/kanji/1632 . To save your stories, you'll have to sign up :P

That, or you'll be able to 3)make new and better fitting stories of the same kanji as it goes... It's not like the story you choose must be the same forever.

Or else just 4)write it down somewhere, like a word document o.O.

It all depends on what kind of resources you have at your disposal, and which you want to use :)

ok firebound, once again thank you

that site you put is great...

Hey guys! just putting up a link that helped me in my Japanese. It helped a lot so try it out if you want. http://nihongoup.com/?referrer=Kenny

I was looking through one of the lessons on nihongoup.com -- The Japanese in it sounds really odd to me. Do you know who makes the lessons?

Is there any difference in pronunciation between ず and づ ?

in standard dialect there's no difference. Heard it was different for other dialect. However, those two aren't interchangeable.

i.e. the verb 続く　（つづく） cannot be written つずく even if they have the same pronunciation.

Ah, I get it. thanks.

However づ is quite rare. You can safely use ず most of the time and just learn the exceptions in time. Quite similarly to おお and おう.

(sorry if you knew that already)