[Help me learn kanji without mnemonics]

Wow thanks. Actually I understood that the big breasts has to be the topic and subject of the sentence as there was に (like the place of occurrence of how would you call it in English) and は and that's what confused me.

And I would more blame this on my bad translation of the verb, because that is for me one of the hardest things.

See I noticed lot of time in Japanese the verb changes the meaning from what I know as active sentence to passive sentence etc, its not only that, I can't really explain it much in English because I do not know the proper naming of the sentence particles in English (now I don't mean particle as a word class more like particle as particle of the sentence... well that didn't explain much xD)

Anyway the thing is the verb in Japanese has English translation that includes more words, like in this case for example it is 詰まる, jisho says "to be packed" and its making it even harder for me xD

What I mean there could even be a Japanese word for "to be included as the filling of" and I actually saw few example of something like this when reading some other verbs, sometimes English just doesn't have the words to explain the Japanese word easily.

The thing is I need to learn to feel in Japanese to understand it properly, translating in my head is not a good way for me to learn language because language is not only words being said differently, it is completely different way of thinking. So just like I learned to think and feel in English, I will need to do that with Japanese and it will probably take me some time. And its not gonna be as easy as English xD

Ok, I went off the rail a little, anyway thanks for pointing out the mistake, now I see it very clearly and I think next time I see those bastards like に there I will pay a lot more attention to it and understand it properly;)

Yep...you went off the rail all right :-)

But look, it's not really the verb you got wrong, because you knew it meant "be packed", which is roughly right. The problem is one of "big breasts are packed with dreams and romance" vs. "dreams and romance are packed with big breasts" means 2 completely different things! So besides "ni", "wa" and "ga" are also important markers here.

So let me try to pull it apart:

大きいおっぱい に は 夢と浪漫 が 詰まっている

In this sentence, the topic and subject are not the same.

The Topic is 大きいおっぱい に. The Subject is 夢と浪漫. The Verb applies to the Subject.

The topic is more of a concept, it's not really one of a the Parts of Speech. You could switch this sentence around in your mind if that helps you...simplify it to:

夢と浪漫が大きいおっぱいに詰まっている.

The basic meaning is the same.

Regarding thinking in the language, you just have to put up with that in the beginning. You kind of have to "bootstrap" yourself by initially thinking of things in terms of English roughly in order to get started, and by reading more and more you'll automatically start to get the "intuitive" meaning of the words in Japanese. Even if I could explain Japanese language in Japanese, which I can't, that would sort of defeat the purpose, wouldn't it. But Japanese-only dictionaries can do it, and you can start using those once you reach a higher level.

I remember people in PD discussing something about a technique to learn kanji without really memorizing them. I forgot the name of that method -.-

Magic.

[Help me learn kanji without mnemonics]

大きいおっぱいには夢と浪漫が詰まっている (ookii is easy and as a big fan of hoshimemo I know yume xD)

and after I looked up what is 浪漫(turned out to be romance novel - and actually the voice there would probably help me a lot as it is read as rouman) and 詰まる (as to be packed or full off) I was able to read it! And I guess translation would be that "dreams and romans are packed with big bearsts" or I guess possibly something like "big breasts are subject of dreams and romans a lot".

Actually, it's not "dreams and romans are packed WITH big breasts" it's dreams and romance are packed IN big breasts. Or, since big breasts is the Topic of the sentence, you could use "big breasts are stuffed full of dreams and romance" or something.

"Big breasts are subject of dreams and romans a lot" is just a wrong guess. Don't guess :-)

To understand VNs, it's actually the grammar that you can't live without. The computer can help you look up the kanji. But it can't understand the grammar, not really, not today's software anyway.

I'll also mention just in case anyone wants it: I made a tiny kanji review program that I'm using at odd moments. It's about 1000 kanji. It just shows you a little window with a kanji character and some multiple choices. You pick whether the quiz mode is onyomi, kunyomi, or meaning in English. If you click on the right choice, it just shows you another kanji. If you click on the wrong one, nothing happens until you click the right one. You can change the quiz mode at any time to give yourself a hint. That's all it does. I can't program anything real complicated...frankly I find anything other than "guess the number" a monumental challenge :-)

[Some opening remarks]

Firstly, I have studied both Russian and Japanese (fluent in Russian, Kanji-stage in Japanese)

I see, I studied German first. Yeah, I sure wouldn't have wanted my 1st ever foreign language to be Japanese...I would've given up for sure.

By the way, what's "Kanji-stage"? I can't tell, because for me that covers practically the whole time--I started learning some kanji shortly after I learned kana at the beginning, and I'm still learning kanji right now... :-)

[About myself and spreading VN]

Nice to meet you Sieg.

By the way I also have never really been a forum person somehow. Because I don't bother joining one unless I have a good idea of what I'm going to say on there. And because posting makes you stand out, and starting a new topic REALLY makes you stand out. :-)

I dont have any friends who are into VNs, I know one who have played them but he's not too comfortable talking about the subject lol (perhaps bcuz i am a girl)

I had one friend who was into VNs, but he moved away. Most guys seem to be put off by the pastel colors, JPOP tunes, charming people and animals, etc. Basically it's too CUTE for them, at least the kind of VNs I like. As a girl, I guess that stigma doesn't apply to you...

[VN Haul]

Well, mine were all imported from Japan.

But, I really would like to go to Tokyo on vacation this year.

So I am going to watch closely whenever somebody is talking about where to go, like in this thread.

Because I'll certainly go shopping while I'm there, if I can find the right places.

If possible, I want to get a bunch of manga, new and used. And I want to get some used PS2/Dreamcast/360/PS3 VNs etc.

[VN Haul]

Sorry, all my items are old. Because, one day I decided I wasn't going to buy anything else until I finished reading the ones I already had.

Below is D.C.P.C. Probably the most expensive game I've ever bought. By the way, the funniest thing about the box is the fake specs on the bottom (not shown). It actually says things like "ecchi level: 3 out of 5 stars" "sadness/heartbreak content: a lot" "moe content: plenty" I can take a picture of it if you really want to see it.

Below is Snow. This is my favorite box that I have, I think.

Back.

Below is Iinazuke. Most of the rest of my PS2 games are ports. This one is unusual, I bought it on impulse because I liked the girl on the cover...

Back.

Relationship chart.

[Some opening remarks]

I've read through some of your translation for Mirai no Kimi to & I must say, you did an excellent job.

Thanks, I really am glad to hear you say that. It means hopefully I'm on the right track quality-wise. (Now, if I could just find a way to increase my output a little...)

I'm yet another of this who ended up evening Japanese so I could read untranslated manga, play games, etc. XD I love the 'secret code' feeling too, even if sometimes I get frustrated and feel like it's a code i'll never truly crack ^^; anyway, welcome to the forums!

Yeah, it IS a code I'll never truly crack. Thank goodness for electronic dictionaries..

[Just had a big argument with Kouryuu from Mangagamer on copyright]

For those of you who are interested, I have a few questions: do you think fan translations damage profits for the 'official companies? if Yes, do you think this is a bad thing? Who do you think should profit from visual novels? Do you think there should be no 'official' translations?

I'm really interested to hear everyone's views :)/>

Here's my view (probably kind of simplistic compared to the preceding):

1. No, I don't think fan translations necessarily damage profits. As long as the patch can be applied to a store-bought game and as long as there is no official translation in that language, then I think it's ok.

2. Yes, I think it's bad.

3. No comment on the business model right now, only, anything unofficial should not be sold. Especially not for a profit.

4. I'm ok with there being both official and unofficial translations.

[Da Capo III Fan Translation at 34%!]

So, D.C. III is being translated already...and I just resumed playing D.C. I (actually D.C.P.C.) in earnest a few days ago. (I had bought it ages ago from a site called Himeya which is gone now). So as you can see, I'm 2 whole games behind! There are many routes to cover. And then there is still D.C.A.S. after that...

And every time somebody brings up Mangagamer, Da Capo, and pro translations vs. fan translations, I have to say the following: I read about the first 2 in-game days worth of their D.C. And it's lacking something. The game is better than that, I think. It's written better. The original game has a fairly colorful narrative. Lots of stretched metaphors, that sort of thing. But the narration in the MG version is stiff, kind of awkward. Seems simplified, condensed. As if their English was too shaky, or they didn't want to put the thought into carrying over the nuances that make it humorous. I'm just saying. Sorry if I seem obsessive: I'm perfectly aware that we're talking about Da Capo, not War and Peace, Little Women, David Copperfield, etc...

[Nursery Rhyme revived?]

Oh well. I hope it turns out well, this is one of the VNs that encourage me to learn Japanese just to read it. I'm big fan of these pure love stories :)/>

If the TL is done before I decide its a good idea to try to read it (which should still be few years away), I would be very happy :)/>

Me too, I'm a big fan of this type as well.

I think this is a pretty good starter VN for Japanese, all except for Krile's CAT. Somehow, the cat talked weirdly, and while I got the gist of it, I wouldn't want to have to translate it...

[Some opening remarks]

Thanks for the welcome messages.

Less than 1%, huh? That's not so good. But, there had to have been a point, a long time ago, that there was only 1% of anime translated too...

Personally, I would like it if there were more console titles translated... Well, another reason to learn Japanese, I guess, but even for me it's significantly slower because there's no AGTH to zap to a dictionary with.

[Some opening remarks]

Hi.

I'm an anime fan who also likes visual novels. Currently I am translating (slowly) Mirai no Uta to Tsunagaru Hitomi. The other 2 in the series are on fuwanovel already, I noticed. It's sad that my free time is so limited for translating. But I can't give up my job, I need it. (And I'm not going to give up watching anime).

I got interested in VNs because I like bishoujo anime. Like Kanon, Da Capo, Air, Shuffle, Canvas2, Brighter than Dawning Blue, Lamune, etc. etc were all anime which I really liked. In the same way that if you see a movie and you find out it's based on a novel, or you see an anime and then decide to check out the manga, you know? So that was how I got started.

At the time, you could not get these well-known games in English. You had to settle for what they did have.

So, I started to learn to read Japanese. I'm an American who has never lived in Japan, by the way.

Still, it wasn't too bad because foreign languages just fascinate me for some reason. If I didn't like that "secret code" feeling of reading Japanese, I probably would've given up long ago...

Now there was that annoying period where I learned about the language, but I still couldn't read anything real in it.

Luckily, I discovered what I really needed to learn. And then it was really a matter of reading. I switched all my manga reading to Japanese. After a while, I switched all my visual novel playing to Japanese, too.

Looking forward to talking with you some...