learning japanese

[ShougunX]

eh... i can't really recommend you a electronic dictiionary for japanese, chinese & english. i have seen on though, and it is considered a bit big (in my opinion). eh... the person uses Casio brand, so i think it should be okay ? its about 1.5 the size of my japanese & english dictionary. (me use seiko brand, recommend by my teacher).

what i can tell you is that it is better to buy in Japan. if you have any friend going there or something, ask them to get it for you. do not buy it in singapore. it will cost around 40,000 yen (or around 600 sgd) when you buy it in japan. but in singapore, it will be much higher.

electronic japanese-english dictionary?? so ex 600?.....i used to have one casio for onli hundred plus....now intending to buy one....n ya japan had cheaper n more advanced models.

 

[ender51244]

electronic japanese-english dictionary?? so ex 600?.....i used to have one casio for onli hundred plus....now intending to buy one....n ya japan had cheaper n more advanced models.

no no. its the chinese, english & japanese dictionary that's around 600 sgd. not the english & japanese one. japanese companies are always developing such things... of course its getting more advanced. haha~ as for price mah, because its made there and mainly for their students, so i guess its according to their market rate whereas, sg import them. so i guess when you buy in sg, you have to pay that import and tax price lor.

 

[ender51244]

Reason is because for JCS, need to wait till Dec to register & Jan for class. (Almost another 6 - 7 more months from now). Also, I may or may not be able to get a place for it.

In addition, I have wanted to learn this language for a very long time, & have self -learned & stopped many times for the past 10 years. Now that I finally have time, I do not wish to waste any more time.

If I really can get a place at JCS in Dec, then for the 1st yr, I learn from 2 schools.

BTW, is Ikoma a reputated & good school? Because from earlier postings, I can see that it is, but would like to double confirm. Anyway, I have applied & made a down payment @ Ikoma. Now waiting very impatiently for the "Big" day to come

okay. taking 2 classes at the same time seems good for foundation building. but 1st half of year 1 of JCS really easy until siao. so if you can make it, try the "entrance" exam to the 2nd year of jcs, since u have taken 4 months at Ikoma by the time you apply for the JCS entry.

Ikoma seems good. one of my friends recommends it as he got his JLPT 2 through the preparation class there. haha~ so i think next year going to enrol there for preparation class oso.

 

[ender51244]

can i ask what is the model ? maybe can get friend who might be going to japan to buy for me,

is it good ?

eh... the english, chinese & japanese one i dunno. but as i said in one of my posts, i saw someone using casio. that one maybe not bad that's why the person buy ?

for mine, its just english & japanese dictionary. mine is bought last year Seiko SR-M4000. dunno got "upgraded" version out or not... didn't keep track. mine has 9 dictionaries rolled into one. to me, it is quite helpful.

offical: http://www.sii.co.jp/cp/products/english/srm4000/index.html

you can also browse around for better versions.
think this is their latest product:
http://www.sii.co.jp/cp/products/student/srv4800/index.html


english versions (for my electronic dictionary):
http://www.ectaco.com/Japanese-Electronic-dictionary-SR-M4000/
http://store.aikotradingstore.com/seikosrm4000.html
since got english explanation of functions, might as well... post. hahaha~

*Word of Caution*
hmm~ i can tell you that electronic dictionaries can only help you to a certain extend lor. coz some of the words are very bi-myo 微妙, such that its hard for the dictionary to explain properly. dictionaries can no doubt provide you the meanings for the words and has a few examples and sentences to help you understand the usage better, but is not able to help you fully.

use chinese for example:
开心
心花怒放
of course, we know both means happiness. but the first one is just happiness that could be used for any events that make you happy. however, 心花怒放 is only used in boy-girl-relationships.

*dictionary might explain that both words mean happiness but doesn't tell you how exactly you use it in a sentence.

 

[macb0y]

Hi guys,

How do you guys practise your japanese language here in sg?
Kinda hard to find japanese friend here or friend that can speak jap.

I just started learning myself online and still not very good.. Learnt before during my poly time but forgotten most of it already

Went to japan tis year and find it abit difficult when i wasnt able to understand them although the trip was memorable tats why i start to pick up jap again after so long..I guess i wanna be able to converse in japanese so at least when i go there i can listen and talk to them..

hmm...maybe we can start a gathering just to help each other practise japanese

 

[PingJun]

Hi guys,

How do you guys practise your japanese language here in sg?
Kinda hard to find japanese friend here or friend that can speak jap.

I just started learning myself online and still not very good.. Learnt before during my poly time but forgotten most of it already

Went to japan tis year and find it abit difficult when i wasnt able to understand them although the trip was memorable tats why i start to pick up jap again after so long..I guess i wanna be able to converse in japanese so at least when i go there i can listen and talk to them..

hmm...maybe we can start a gathering just to help each other practise japanese

Hi. Like you, I also learned Japanese lang during the 1st yr poly & that was almost 10 yrs ago. Since then, I have learnt & stopped many times during these yrs. Now that I have time, I decide to learn everything again.

For me, what I have plan for myself is: After learning for sometimes, I may start to read some easy Japanese book. Have seen some Japanese show like Japan Hr to learn how they talk / speak

If possible, may start to write some simple sentence in Japanese.

 

[PingJun]

I would like to ask:

1. How long you all learn Japanese language before buying the electronic dictionary?

2. Where can I get the dictionary in Singapore?

3. From 1 of the earlier postings, I see that the dictionary for Chinese, Japanese & English cost S$6xx. How much does this sell in Japan?

Does anyone know? Can advise? Thanks

 

[ShougunX]

Oh oh the chinese-japanese-english?? no wonder so ex...haha. actualli to me a basic japanese-english is more than enough. after all, it is onli required to assist in vocab building & reference + it is very compact. Proficiency wise, it's still better to depend on textbks n schs.

Pingjun>> any level can buy those electronic dict. It is onli an assisting tool. i din have it when i first started learning japanese n i dun find any leg missing without it...haha. anyway, i find the dictionary function under www.yahoo.co.jp better...haha...except tat it is not compact. As for which shop sells...er....i think kino, or any electronic shop shud have...kino has the more advanced n ex ones i think....to searchin in sls?

 

[ShougunX]

Hi guys,

How do you guys practise your japanese language here in sg?
Kinda hard to find japanese friend here or friend that can speak jap.

I just started learning myself online and still not very good.. Learnt before during my poly time but forgotten most of it already

Went to japan tis year and find it abit difficult when i wasnt able to understand them although the trip was memorable tats why i start to pick up jap again after so long..I guess i wanna be able to converse in japanese so at least when i go there i can listen and talk to them..

hmm...maybe we can start a gathering just to help each other practise japanese

i worked in a japanese company...haha n dealing with japanese accounts give me the direct opportunity to learn the language from them whether by email, reports, teleconversation or meetings.

Learning online is free but is rather limited on the resource side...i think registering into a language sch wud be better. Native japanese typically speak faster n comes with an accent. It is no wonder for non-native not to understand them even if they speak in simple sentences. N colloquial japanese structure is all jumbled up. They dun go by the grammatically correct sentence u learnt in textbooks. Eg, for a first learner, he learnt tat "Whr are u going" as "Anata wa doko e ikimasu ka" 「あなたはどこに行きますか？」while in informal form it is sumtimes spoken as "Doko iku no ka kimi wa?"　「どこ行くのか君は？」. N in spoken japanese, there is hardly any head or tail in their sentence. So if u are not involved in the conversation from the start, u wun knoe what he is toking about.

n in this thread, i'm more than happy 2 share the japanese language n culture experience. btw, anyone knows when is the natsu matsuri this yr?

 

[macb0y]

err.. actually not free, there is tis japanese teacher in phillipines offer me his service to teach me japanese in return pay him some money (1 time payment). he will send me his 40 lessons 1 by 1 and the exercises through email, so i have to complete the exercises and email back to him before he send me his next lesson., wat lack is the conversational area cos u dun get to practise it and also the listening part..

hmm... so gotta learn the informal too, but how come differ so much from the main grammar ah?

oh btw tis online jap dictionary is quite good
http://www.csse.monash.edu.au/~jwb/wwwjdic.html

 

[ShougunX]

wa!!! tat's a rather innovative way of learning...but how do u get this kinda 'lobang'? haha...but i still feel a formal sch wud be more beneficial. The hardest part of japanese is not the written form or reading, but the spoken n listening...erm...at least to me. haha.

As in all languages, informal differs quite a lot from the formal. But japanese is a very flexible language to begin with. U can speak it in many ways. Ur tail can be the head, the head can be the tail, the middle can be the head or tail...blah blah blah..haha.

Ya the dict u provide is not bad although i still prefer yahoo.co.jp's...haha coz it gives jap-eng/eng-jap/japanese translation/related vocab.

Eg:http://dic.yahoo.co.jp/dsearch?p=burgeon&enc=UTF-8&stype=1&dtype=1
on the word 'burgeon'

 

[mamoo82]

how's pyaess language school?

 

[macb0y]

I was posting myself to get jap frens in japan-guide.com and then he email me regarding his service ...

wa!!! tat's a rather innovative way of learning...but how do u get this kinda 'lobang'? haha...

 

[ender51244]

input for Monday:

胸がいっぱい (mune ga ippai)
---> means to have alot of things in your mind (matters of the heart). Literal translation is having a lof of things in the chest.

 

[ender51244]

input for tuesday:

お腹がすいた (onaka ga suita)
---> means to be hungry.

EDIT:

made a mistake on the words and corrected it back le. Gomen nasai.

 

[ender51244]

input for wednesday:

腹ばい　(hara bai)
---> means to lie on your tummy and sleep (does anyone know if there's a english term for this?)

 

[PingJun]

Hi, all.

Need some help. Just now went & take a look at some Japanese books (esp JLPT books).

There are quite many varieties of JLPT books & I didn't know which to choose. I can see that there are mainly 2 types:

1. Publish in Japan.

2. Publish in Taiwan.

For the 2nd type, there will be some Chinese words translating the Japanese sentence / dialogue.
I went & look around but couldn't find one that is in English.

Thus, which kind of JLPT book should I buy? Given that the price is about the same? Is there one where there is English translation as well? BTW, I also saw some books (should also be JLPT) written as "Grammar". Does this mean this only cover the grammar part?

Pls advise, Thanks.
(Note: I am looking for JLPT 3 & 4)

 

[ShougunX]

normalli the taiwan edition shud be cheaper. When i first started, i bought those from taiwan. Reason becoz taiwan, being a former colony of japan n with their close proximity to japan, had one of the most well translated learning bks esp for chinese. Of course, the prerequisite is for u to be able to read original/traditional chinese (fan ti) characters. N also, translations in chinese tends to explain better than english as japanese is veri similar to the chinese language. But if u study more at ease in english, by all means. Personally, although taiwan version are more preferred, both english n chinese are fine to me.

As for japanese edition, everythin is explained in japanese (i assume u are toking bout books printed in japan with no english translation). N if u dun have a gd grasp of the japanese language, i dun advise u to buy those japan edition bks. Hmm...but thinking back, if one can understand the explanations in japanese, y wud u need to study japanese IN japanese???...haha this is the question i ask when i m studyin for my JLPT 1. Basicalli, the entire textbk is in japanese....haha.

 

[PingJun]

I see.

But wouldn't it be confusing when you study Japanese textbook using English lang as the translations & study JLPT book using as Chinese lang as translations?

Also, there are are a few Taiwan edition JLPT books. Which do you recommend?

 

[PingJun]

BTW, from what i see, seems that the Japanese edition only has the JLPT questions + CD. No explaination in japanese. Only the Taiwan edition did I see the translations in Chinese.

Also, saw a book (for JLPT 4) featuring on grammar (with English translations) on JLPT questions (Unsure whether they are real JLPT questions or just practicing questions). Are this kind of book good?

Pls advise. Thanks