Japanese Help Thread for Beginners/Starters?

[Berilium]

So I noticed that there is a Japanese help thread for translators but how about a thread for beginners/starters who has questions or doubts regarding not so much specific content and rather more so amateur problems and silly questions. How to use this, when to use that, why does this work like this, etc.

 

I posted a doubt I have in other topic so I'll just paste it right here:

 

 

I need help with these 2 kanjis: 己 and 自. Pretty simples ones.

 

Or so I tought.

 

Both of them has the same meaning of "self" and I can't seem to figure out what differents uses they may have for specifics situation.

 

And holy tacos Batman, there is 自己 that also has the meaning of oneself.

 

So I'm basically killing two birds with one shot.

 

How about it?

[Vokoca]

To put it simply, 自 is most commonly used when referring to yourself, and 己 when talking about someone else.
 
As for 自, you won't really find that on its own. Most commonly, you'll see 自分, which means 'myself', or it also can be used as a very formal substitute for first-person pronouns like 私.

 

Now that I think about it, you can use both 自 and 己 for either. It's probably just best to remember that while 己 can stand on its own, 自 can't - and that you'll see 自 used much more often than 己, unless you're reading some older text or something chuuni.

[zoom909]

I don't see 己 very much at all.  It can stand for the word "onore", but I usually see that written as kana.

 

自 is the common one and you'll see it constantly.

It's pronounced "shi" or "ji" in a bunch of common words (look them up on wwwjdic):

jibun (xxxself)

jishin (itself)

jishin (self-confidence)

jiman (pride)

jitaku (one's house)

shizen (nature)

jidousha (automobile)

jitensha (bicycle)

jiten (rotation)

jiyuu (freedom)

 

sometimes it also appears as "mizuka(ra)" which is a synonym for jibun

[Ravi]

both kanji means self/myself,but 己 is rarely used.AFAIK there is only 3 word which use 己、己 (onore/myself), 知己(chiki =acquiantance) and 自己

(jiko=which also means myself).

自has much wider use,its commonly read as Ji but also can be read as ono(ex.自ずから=onozukara/naturally/by itself) and shi(ex.自然=nature)

 

tbh,己 is pretty useless kanji since most of the time 知り合い is used instead of 知己.

[Vokoca]

both kanji means self/myself,but 己 is rarely used.AFAIK there is only 3 word which use 己、己 (onore/myself), 知己(chiki =acquiantance) and 自己

(jiko=which also means myself).

自has much wider use,its commonly read as Ji but also can be read as ono(ex.自ずから=onozukara/naturally/by itself) and shi(ex.自然=nature)

 

tbh,己 is pretty useless kanji since most of the time 知り合い is used instead of 知己.

Really depends, this kanji is all over Muramasa, for example. I'm assuming it's just a more formal/archaic version of -self, which is why you'll most likely come across it in other VNs from the chuuni genre as well.

[garejei]

己 on its own is used quite a bit, yeah. Of course, it depends on what you read but I've definitely encountered it more than just a few times. It's not a bad idea to remember it, especially since it's such a simple kanji.

[Ravi]

Really depends, this kanji is all over Muramasa, for example. I'm assuming it's just a more formal/archaic version of -self, which is why you'll most likely come across it in other VNs from the chuuni genre as well.

 

hmm,i am not really a fan of chuuni/historical vn,so i guess thats why i rarely encounter 己  

[Berilium]

Well It ended up being a discussing topic it seems. Thanks for the answer, now I know a little more about this (0.01% maybe)

 

Now I have a doubt about this kanji 好.

 

For what I searched I can narrow these singles words regarding "liking". 好き(when you like/love something)　

好く 好み (these two has the same meaning: to like/love but the latter maybe is used when you prefer something?) and  好み (liking aswell, but it seems it's used for tastes/choices as the meaning says)

 

This is my general understanding of these meanings. If someone would explain it to me in full detail if that's how it is and when they are used it will be apreciated. And if there is another word that I missed out and has the same use of "liking" please share it (limited to only this kanji of course).

 

Well looks like the font (or something) changes when I type in Japanese so the text is now bicolor. I don't know how to fix it and I'm too lazy to think it over. >.<

[Mephisto]

私はVNが好き　

私はVNを好む   

私の好きなものはVNです。

 

好き is an -na adjective while

好む is a verb 

 

edit:

 

好み = nominalized version of 好む, so it's a noun form of something you like 

好く is something that you never really see used honestly... can't think of a direct comparison since i can't remember the last time i saw it used as a verb @_@ 

[Funnerific]

Can somebody explain the difference between　方 (hou) and 方 (kata)? They both seem to mean direction and share some less common meanings.

[HMN]

when you want to compare stuff you use 方 (hou) to indicate that something is better than something else for example:

 

雪ちゃんの方が可愛い

yuki-chan is more kawaii 

 

or you could say:

 

やまださんの方が、あやせより早い

yamada is faster than ayase

 

but 方（kata) is used with a verb and turns it into a noun , you just attach the pre-masu form with (kata) for example:行く it becomes 行き方 it means the way to go

 

東京の行き方をお教えてくれますか？

can you tell me the way to go to tokyo?

 

and because it's a noun we use the particle の　instead of に，へ

 

check out this http://www.guidetojapanese.org/learn/grammar/comparison it will help much more

[Funnerific]

Thanks a bunch, I just kind of went for the vocabulary first and didn't expect the grammar guide to have entire pages for specific words.

[Zakamutt]

While 己 might be used quite rarely in most works, it's also a radical. Makes it useful

 

Also used in 抱, which is p. cute w

[SuperWaffleNinja]

Anime, then start learning the alphabet (the second most important step), eroge + jparser transforming everything into hiragana (getting used to the hiragana while learning several of the most used kanji), repeat step 1

do i need to be able to write hiragana and katakana, and where do you learn the meaning of japanese words?

[Secchan]

do i need to be able to write hiragana and katakana, and where do you learn the meaning of japanese words?

If your goal is to just read / play games you don't need to learn how to write anything. Dictionaries are your friends. For more subtle nuiansnces between words google is your friend. Friends are also your friends so ask your friends to be friendly.

[SuperWaffleNinja]

If your goal is to just read / play games you don't need to learn how to write anything. Dictionaries are your friends. For more subtle nuiansnces between words google is your friend. Friends are also your friends so ask your friends to be friendly.

Is it allright to use mnommics (dr. moku app for iphone)  to learn hiragana and katakana?

[Secchan]

I have no idea what that is but it doesn't matter how you learn it as long as you learn it.

[SuperWaffleNinja]

allright, thanks for the help, and does jpaser work on all eroges?

[Berilium]

I used this to engrave the kana in my mind.

 

http://www.realkana.com/

 

It really worked for me so I suggest you try it out. Everytime I have a chance I do some practising just in case I forgot something specific.

[Berilium]

I have a question about something in an example I was reading. This is an extract of 2 sentences of the a conversation:

 

 何があったんですか

 

blablablalbla

 

鈴木さんが落としたんじゃないですか？ 

 

(I assume the context is irrelevant)

 

I'm curious about the ん following あった and 落とした. I know that あった 落とした it's past tense (duh) but I don't know why there is this ん following it. Maybe it's easier to pronounce or there is some silly rule that I miss? I'm used to forget small stuffs.

I'm kind of obssesive with this because I don't like to miss anything and when I don't understand something this small I just can't let it go >.>

[Zakamutt]

In all probability I'd say it's for ease of pronounciation, don't take my word for it though as I only murkily remember something somewhere saying that stuff happens sometimes.

[HMN]

I have a question about something in an example I was reading. This is an extract of 2 sentences of the a conversation:

 

 何があったんですか

 

blablablalbla

 

鈴木さんが落としたんじゃないですか？ 

 

(I assume the context is irrelevant)

 

I'm curious about the ん following あった and 落とした. I know that あった 落とした it's past tense (duh) but I don't know why there is this ん following it. Maybe it's easier to pronounce or there is some silly rule that I miss? I'm used to forget small stuffs.

I'm kind of obssesive with this because I don't like to miss anything and when I don't understand something this small I just can't let it go >.>

i remember reading that it adds a little bit of emphasis on the whole sentence but it doesn't have a meaning it just makes it more natural 

[zoom909]

I have a question about something in an example I was reading. This is an extract of 2 sentences of the a conversation:

 

 何があったんですか

 

blablablalbla

 

鈴木さんが落としたんじゃないですか？ 

 

(I assume the context is irrelevant)

 

I'm curious about the ん following あった and 落とした. I know that あった 落とした it's past tense (duh) but I don't know why there is this ん following it. Maybe it's easier to pronounce or there is some silly rule that I miss? I'm used to forget small stuffs.

I'm kind of obssesive with this because I don't like to miss anything and when I don't understand something this small I just can't let it go >.>

 

This n' is just a colloquially glossed over "no", in the same way that "ja" is a colloquial "de wa".

So you can just read it as "Nani ga atta no desu ka?" and "Suzuki-san ga otoshita no de wa nai desu ka?"

[Chronopolis]

I have a question about something in an example I was reading. This is an extract of 2 sentences of the a conversation:

 

 何があったんですか

 

blablablalbla

 

鈴木さんが落としたんじゃないですか？ 

 

(I assume the context is irrelevant)

 

I'm curious about the ん following あった and 落とした. I know that あった 落とした it's past tense (duh) but I don't know why there is this ん following it. Maybe it's easier to pronounce or there is some silly rule that I miss? I'm used to forget small stuffs.

I'm kind of obssesive with this because I don't like to miss anything and when I don't understand something this small I just can't let it go >.>

It's an explanatory tone の/ん . Originally it's a の, but it becomes ん　often where it's easier to pronounce.  http://www.guidetojapanese.org/learn/grammar/nounparticles

 

If it either represents an explanatory tone, パンを買ったんだ。　(explanatory tone: I bought bread)

 

or if it's part of a question, it seeks an explanation. お前がやったのか？(seeking an explanation: Was it you who did it??)

寒いの？　(seeking an explanation: (you) cold?)

どうして教えないの？　(seeking an explanation: "why won't you tell (me)?)

[Berilium]

Oh I see. I'm reading the complete Tae's guide and it seems that he did not cover that there is another way of writing the の particle (or maybe he did, sometimes I miss the little details). Thanks for the explanation.