[REQ] Someone Who Knows Japanese

[The Chemist]

I have no idea where else to request this so I said screw it and went to General Discussion.

I am writing an informal email to a reference in Japan, and even though he speaks and writes English fairly well, I would like to write to him mostly in Japanese, partly just so he is more comfortable and partly because I'd like to impress him with my own Japanese.

Unfortunately, my Japanese is really limited. I know a good amount of kanji and can read fairly well. The problem is that I do not know how to express certain phrases very well, such as "how have you been doing?" "I hope you have been doing well" "I am writing this because I haven't seen you online" etc etc. He wouldn't mind, and he'd appreciate the effort, but I would also like to show him that I'm putting effort in speaking good Japanese with him.

I have the letter written out already, so it would be mostly translation, and it would only be for certain phrases. Of course, since my Japanese is rusty, any corrections to my Japanese would be very helpful.

This is pretty important for me, so please let me know if you can help, and thanks in advance

[Tetris]

My girlfriend knows Japanese. I will see if she can help. Don't count on it, as she is in Chicago now. I can see what I can do via Instant Messenger.

[Kiri_No_Haku]

Anyone know any good sites to learn basic Japanese from? I think I got hiragana and katakana right.

[DeusExMachina]

type what u want to say here, or pm it to me, and ill see what i can do.

[noisy doll☆]

My advice is that you try not to include anything that you would not be able to translate back to English by yourself. It's good to keep challenging yourself and improving, but unless DeusEx wants to fully explain the grammar points of everything he's putting in there for you, you'll be getting in over your head. Many students try to write things in Japanese using a dictionary for almost every word, but they don't understand how to use them (certain words take particles that seem counter-intuitive), so they misuse them and they cannot clearly express what they really mean to say. I would say that に is probably the trickiest particle to deal with.

Also, it probably won't matter what you write in Japanese to your friend. If it is the first time that you're using Japanese, he will say that he is very impressed because that is what all Japanese people say. The compliment that you can really take to heart is if you've been in a long correspondence with someone and they notice that your writing is really improving, and they say so. For now, though, I wouldn't worry about trying too hard to impress someone with your language skills (especially if they are not YOUR language skills but someone else's).

[The Chemist]

Well I'm not using a dictionary, otherwise I'd write everything out myself (but we both know that's not how it works). That's why I need someone that can help me out.

Honestly, as long as I can see sentence setups, I'll understand. I have no problem reading a sentence and understanding what it says (my reference writes 50% in Japanese to me, and writes English to practice his own skills), its just that when it is my turn to go up to the plate, I'm at a lose for expressing myself, especially informally.

Also, we have been swapping messages over MSN over the past five months (mix of Japanese and English), but after not seeing them online for a while I'd like to "catch up". Its not a first time communication, hence the keyword being informal.

Also, I don't intend to just blindly send an important reference a message I don't understand, written by someone else. I'm not that stupid. I need help, plain and simple

[piepiepie75]

Originally Posted by Kiri_No_Haku

Anyone know any good sites to learn basic Japanese from? I think I got hiragana and katakana right.

Uh...That's kind of a random post, but here you go:

Fast Track Grammar | Learn Japanese online for Free -- Language, Culture, Kanji, and Grammar

This has some pretty good grammar stuff that you can look at.

Anyways, I'm only around the lower JLPT3 level, but if I can help I'd be glad to.

[ellipse]

I take it there's no night classes for conversational Japanese?

I'm somewhat the same way; I can read fine, but when it comes to expressing myself, I can't.

[noisy doll☆]

I'm actually thinking about picking up a book that I saw while I was in high school there. There are some books for Japanese people that are teaching English phrases, and they list the equivalent or translated phrase in Japanese. It has lots of idiomatic expressions that I haven't found in any of my classes. I'm having trouble remembering what it was called, but I think it's Databank 500 or Database or Wordbank. One of those. I'm going to search for one now, but I get the impression that a lot of these sorts of books could be very helpful if you have a medium level of reading ability and want to learn some new expressions.

edit: found the title of this series. It's 新版完全征服 データベース1700 使える英単語・熟語 although the different books have different numbers instead of the 1700. It's a shame that I didn't keep the notes I took from our book in class, because I was borrowing the teacher's copy and could not take it home with me.

[The Chemist]

Originally Posted by noisy doll☆

I'm actually thinking about picking up a book that I saw while I was in high school there. There are some books for Japanese people that are teaching English phrases, and they list the equivalent or translated phrase in Japanese. It has lots of idiomatic expressions that I haven't found in any of my classes.

This is exactly what I need, thanks

[Johnny Rainbow]

Hmm, I can try and be of some assistance, if you still want it. I'm fairly confident in non-formal Japanese conversations so I may be able to help you out some.

[Fred 00]

Did you try yahoo babelfish? just type what you want and click translate

[The Chemist]

Man I hope youre trying to be funny

[Shun]

Originally Posted by Fred 00

Did you try yahoo babelfish? just type what you want and click translate

HAHAHAHAHAHAHHAHAHA

I have some handheld translator thing my dad used to use when he just came to America that has a bunch of categories like "Restaurants," "Public Places," etc. and it has both the Japanese and English ways to say it. :b It's kinda funny but I assume it's helpful for some people.

[isitLIVEorisitMEMOREX]

Better idea for you The Chemist. Write the letter yourself then have someone look over it and point out the important mistakes. If you want every little error fixed you might need someone to sit down with you and go over it all. This is what I do sometimes when I'm sending Emails to my friends in Japan. I've been writing informal Emails in Japanese for a year and a half, and I can say only that I've gotten much better at it.

You cannot, however, ask me for help since I haven't studied for a year and a half, either. My vocabulary these days goes up only through conversation and Email reading, and it was never that high to begin with. My speaking ability is higher than everything but my listening.