Friendship is Magic: Perfect Japanese Help Desk

[Katamari007]

does Japan have ice cream vans

[Ad Bot]

[MegaScientifical]

does Japan have ice cream vans

[rockslide26]

I take Spanish right now, but I suddenly feel compelled to learn Japanese. I have heard that some kanji are hard to learn, but besides that, Japanese is easy. Should I learn Japanese?

[Iban]

I take Spanish right now, but I suddenly feel compelled to learn Japanese. I have heard that some kanji are hard to learn, but besides that, Japanese is easy. Should I learn Japanese?

Japanese is spoken in 2 countries by 100,000,000 people. It is the ~7th most popular language in the world.

Spanish is either second or third (leaded by Chinese and/or English) and is spoken by about a billion.


Unless you have a significant and exclusive interest in going to Japan or dealing with Japanese economics, learn Spanish.

[Stocking]

does Japan have ice cream vans

Yes, I think there are even ice cream trucks on the moon, just no one has found them yet because you can't hear the music it makes in a vacuum.

I take Spanish right now, but I suddenly feel compelled to learn Japanese. I have heard that some kanji are hard to learn, but besides that, Japanese is easy. Should I learn Japanese?

It's not easy, and after growing up in Japan for 11 years I still have to take time out of the week to see a tutor to learn kanji so when I return I won't be completely illiterate.

Japanese isn't easy to learn, but there are many good reasons for doing so.

Unless you have a significant and exclusive interest in going to Japan or dealing with Japanese economics, learn Spanish.

Or learn both.

[Iban]

Or learn both.

I have trouble remember English sometimes. That's not an option for all people. 

[Mr.Interceptor]

Japanese isn't easy to learn, but there are many good reasons for doing so.

Imported video games.

[rockslide26]

Yay, began to learn from a friend, I learned a few words.
I learned:
Konnichiwa (hello)
Watashi (I, formal)
ii (good)
dame (bad)
iie (no)
hai (yes)
arigatou (thank you)
sore (that)
kore (this)
futon (mattress/bed thing)
ro-maji (what I'm writing now)

Not bad for a day's work, eh?

[Iban]

futon (mattress/bed thing)

Did you actually need Japanese lessons to figure this one out?

[rockslide26]

Did you actually need Japanese lessons to figure this one out?

The japanese word is different in pronunciation and definition from the English usage.

[Iban]

The japanese word is different in pronunciation and definition from the English usage.

FU - TON

I don't know how you were pronouncing it but that's pretty much how I did.

[ChexGuy331]

konnichiwa is more like "good afternoon" than "hello", isn't it?

[Goron]

konnichiwa is more like "good afternoon" than "hello", isn't it?

A formal hello.

The japanese word is different in pronunciation and definition from the English usage.

Only thing that's different is saying FU - TONE as opposed to FU - TON. At least, that's all I can tell.

[Nickelob Ultra]

Or learn both.

It's very difficult and takes a lot of memorization and practice to not mix those things up.

I take French at school, which is considered a Romance language, similar to Spanish and Latin in terms of sentence structure and all that good stuff.  However, my parents, and my grandparents more specifically, are pushing me constantly to learn Russian.  Russian isn't a Romance language and is completely different from it.  So often at times I almost find myself starting to speak Russian in French class.

[Stocking]

konnichiwa is more like "good afternoon" than "hello", isn't it?

Between 6:00am and 12:00pm you'd use "こんにちは" (konnichiwa). The reason the last kana says "ha" instead of "wa" is because it came from "今日は”, which means "Today is...". After 12:00pm it's "こんばんは" (konbanwa). Same as the last one, it came from "今晩は”, which means "Tonight is...".

Both should be written in hiragana if intended as a greeting.

Yay, began to learn from a friend, I learned a few words.
I learned:
Konnichiwa (hello)
Watashi (I, formal)
ii (good)
dame (bad)
iie (no)
hai (yes)
arigatou (thank you)
sore (that)
kore (this)
futon (mattress/bed thing)
ro-maji (what I'm writing now)

Not bad for a day's work, eh?

No doubt you've heard those before just today, but the problem is it's not very realistic to expect you learn 10 or more words everyday and retain them. Retention is key when learning a foreign language, and with something like Japanese, we're talking about 2,000 kanji and the entire Japanese lexicon. Grammar will be your biggest stepping stone being a native English speaker, as most of the idioms you use everyday won't translate into Japanese.

But if you want to get serious about studying it, I'm here to help. 真帆～