learning japanese

[Dionne123]

any1 know wat 2 prepare for ikoma...??

my 1st basic lesson in ikoma begins this sat...

scare sia! my jap rusty liao...

I just went for my 1st lesson at Ikoma. It was sooooooo stressful. Prior to this, I have zero knowledge of Jap. And even thou it was Basic class, everyone in the class seemed to know everything! Sensei taught v v fast. I had thought since it's the 1st lesson, she'll spend some time explaining things like what to look out for, tips on learning Jap.. some background on how the characters evolve.. etc etc. No lor, she doesnt speak much English, some times we dont even kw what she wants us to do cos she will be blabbering in Jap and we have to guess from her pointing & gesturing to kw she means.

During the 1st hour, she already started flashing hiragana & we were supposed to memorise & repeat after her (without any clues) and folks in my class could do that! I really suspect they already kw before the class (but that's so stressful to newbies like me & my brother =( ). I was still trying to grabble with how to say Good Nite, they already move on to Countries.. and by the end of the 3 hr, I learned numbers, vowels, greetings, how to introduce oneself, country names and next week we will have dictation test.

My brother told me he feels like giving up lor. I had major headache during the 3 hrs.. really headache.. sigh, I had thought it would be interesting to learn new language... work already so stress, now this also stress.. =(

Has anyone gone for Ikoma or other schools. Is it always like tat?

 

[dimitri_can]

Have pmed u. =)

 

[TestTube]

Hi Dionne =)

Yeah, learning Japanese is not easy, even though as chinese (I blindly assume that), we are able to read many many of the japanese 漢字.

It's really good to learn how to write katakana and hiragana, because it is the foundation of writing and reading comprehension. It's actually not very hard, but you need to sit down by yourself and actively attempt to memorise them.. maybe like 1 hour every day. Go for hiragana first, although katakana (which is primarily for "foreign" words), is very heavily used in real-life japanese communication too.

Not joking though, that you will need to clock hundreds of hours of study to make good progress in learning japanese. To reach a really good (eg: good enough to be mistaken as japanese by japanese people), over a thousand hours? Even Japanese natives, generally need to go through 10 years of study to be able to read their own newspapers.

Of course, that is like, the super end goal, but of course as you progress you'll find a greater appreciation of Japanese language and culture. (And possibly appreciate that you can speak english much more lol. English is a quite complicated actually, just that we internalised a lot, a lot, a lot, of grammatical rules and vocabulary)

But hey, on the brighter side, it's a very popular language amongst Singaporeans to learn, and you'll have plenty of people to practice with, like the people here in HWZ

Ganbatte~! ^_^

PS: my friend, was mistaken to be japanese by native japanese -.- slang, accent, dressing, fierce command of japanese, everything, perfect. i'm envious. =\

 

[Ah_keong]

Just relax and enjoy the lesson. What level btw?

basic 1!

 

[Ah_keong]

why are u in basic? i thought u are conversant..

I have only JLPT level 4 cert (took it last year though)
and have 2 years of practice nia...

till now never touch jap (because of studies)

so now my friend sponsor me 2 go study 2gether, so i start from zero loh...

 

[Ah_keong]

wah school fees are escalating, don't waste $$$ signing for basic course if you can skip to a higher level. a little self study shld rub the rust off

ya loh, ikoma quite expensive sia... lucky got sponsor...

 

[Ah_keong]

I just went for my 1st lesson at Ikoma. It was sooooooo stressful. Prior to this, I have zero knowledge of Jap. And even thou it was Basic class, everyone in the class seemed to know everything! Sensei taught v v fast. I had thought since it's the 1st lesson, she'll spend some time explaining things like what to look out for, tips on learning Jap.. some background on how the characters evolve.. etc etc. No lor, she doesnt speak much English, some times we dont even kw what she wants us to do cos she will be blabbering in Jap and we have to guess from her pointing & gesturing to kw she means.

During the 1st hour, she already started flashing hiragana & we were supposed to memorise & repeat after her (without any clues) and folks in my class could do that! I really suspect they already kw before the class (but that's so stressful to newbies like me & my brother =( ). I was still trying to grabble with how to say Good Nite, they already move on to Countries.. and by the end of the 3 hr, I learned numbers, vowels, greetings, how to introduce oneself, country names and next week we will have dictation test.

My brother told me he feels like giving up lor. I had major headache during the 3 hrs.. really headache.. sigh, I had thought it would be interesting to learn new language... work already so stress, now this also stress.. =(

Has anyone gone for Ikoma or other schools. Is it always like tat?

I have gone to JCS before ...

wah u say is frightening sia...

I am from the sat last class...

maybe we can study 2gether if it is possible... don give up!

 

[TestTube]

I have only JLPT level 4 cert (took it last year though)
and have 2 years of practice nia...

till now never touch jap (because of studies)

so now my friend sponsor me 2 go study 2gether, so i start from zero loh...

what does 2 years of practice mean?
2 years of using Japanese? wow..

 

[Ah_keong]

Hi Dionne =)

Yeah, learning Japanese is not easy, even though as chinese (I blindly assume that), we are able to read many many of the japanese 漢字.

It's really good to learn how to write katakana and hiragana, because it is the foundation of writing and reading comprehension. It's actually not very hard, but you need to sit down by yourself and actively attempt to memorise them.. maybe like 1 hour every day. Go for hiragana first, although katakana (which is primarily for "foreign" words), is very heavily used in real-life japanese communication too.

Not joking though, that you will need to clock hundreds of hours of study to make good progress in learning japanese. To reach a really good (eg: good enough to be mistaken as japanese by japanese people), over a thousand hours? Even Japanese natives, generally need to go through 10 years of study to be able to read their own newspapers.

Of course, that is like, the super end goal, but of course as you progress you'll find a greater appreciation of Japanese language and culture. (And possibly appreciate that you can speak english much more lol. English is a quite complicated actually, just that we internalised a lot, a lot, a lot, of grammatical rules and vocabulary)

But hey, on the brighter side, it's a very popular language amongst Singaporeans to learn, and you'll have plenty of people to practice with, like the people here in HWZ

Ganbatte~! ^_^

PS: my friend, was mistaken to be japanese by native japanese -.- slang, accent, dressing, fierce command of japanese, everything, perfect. i'm envious. =\

I super agree x 100...

especially the last part about slang, accent, dressing, etc...

 

[Ah_keong]

what does 2 years of practice mean?
2 years of using Japanese? wow..

no lah, 2 years spent with
self practise, self reading and grilling by my friends who always grill me with japanese...

before i went to take formal classes...

 

[Raffles88]

anyone know how to answer this question?

shingapoo ru ni shinkansen ni arundesuka

uchi ni puuru ni arundesuka

takashimya ni toshokan ni arundesuka

 

[Adventia]

anyone know how to answer this question?

shingapoo ru ni shinkansen ni arundesuka

uchi ni puuru ni arundesuka

takashimya ni toshokan ni arundesuka

Hmm...i am still quite an amateur at jap but let me try.

1st line:
Is there shinkansen(a kind of bullet train system in japan) in Singapore?
Ans:no

2nd Line:
Is there a pool in your house?
Ans:depends

3rd line
Is there a library in takashimaya?
Ans:no

No=iie,arimasen desu
yes=hai,arimasu.


Only thing i don't understand is arun. Why the xtra n?Is it a contraction of no? Sexpert there please explain.Thanks.

 

[dimitri_can]

arimasu->arun (more emphasis).

 

[Adventia]

arimasu->arun (more emphasis).

Thanks.
I read up and did some searching
no desu -> n desu
Its a more informal and casual form.

 

[terraj]

Actually, the "n desu ka" often implies some sort of shared knowledge, and is usually not used in the beginning of a conversation. So for instance, when someone asks you the question, "shingapooru ni shinkansen ga aru n desu ka", perhaps, the conversation was about Singapore, and the person was trying to ask more specific questions about Singapore. Perhaps he's from a country that has bullet trains and thinks that Singapore might have something like that. With the "n desu ka" usually the person would want to hear additional information, other than a simple yes or no answer.

One example I can think of:

Oishii desu ka?
Oishii n desu ka?

Both are asking "is it delicious?"
But the first, could be a simple question if a type of food is good. For example, Washoku wa oiishi desu ka? <is Japanese food delicious?>
Whereas, the latter could be a situation where the person is observing you eat something that looks really yummy and he's asking you if it is what he thinks it is. He is also probably expecting you to give an explanation other than just a "yes" or "no".

 

[Dionne123]

thanks test tube & all.. =)

I'll try lor.. have to take time off to memorise the basic vowels ..

just that the initial part quite strenuous... and when everyone in the class is so fast, it makes it more stressful! sigh.. I dread my class nx week... =(

 

[dimitri_can]

Don't worry.. I think 1st thing you need to do... Memorize your Hiragana chart first. Practise by writing and writing. Write the whole Hiragana chart 50 times. =)

 

[Raffles88]

Hmm...i am still quite an amateur at jap but let me try.

1st line:
Is there shinkansen(a kind of bullet train system in japan) in Singapore?
Ans:no

2nd Line:
Is there a pool in your house?
Ans:depends

3rd line
Is there a library in takashimaya?
Ans:no

No=iie,arimasen desu
yes=hai,arimasu.


Only thing i don't understand is arun. Why the xtra n?Is it a contraction of no? Sexpert there please explain.Thanks.

thanks for the answer. my bunka ele 1 test is next week. any old bird can give any advice or help? tks in advance.

 

[TestTube]

thanks for the answer. my bunka ele 1 test is next week. any old bird can give any advice or help? tks in advance.

it should be,

iie, arimasen. for no and
hai, arimasu for yes.

can't put arimasen and desu together.

 

[ender51244]

I just went for my 1st lesson at Ikoma. It was sooooooo stressful. Prior to this, I have zero knowledge of Jap. And even thou it was Basic class, everyone in the class seemed to know everything! Sensei taught v v fast. I had thought since it's the 1st lesson, she'll spend some time explaining things like what to look out for, tips on learning Jap.. some background on how the characters evolve.. etc etc. No lor, she doesnt speak much English, some times we dont even kw what she wants us to do cos she will be blabbering in Jap and we have to guess from her pointing & gesturing to kw she means.

During the 1st hour, she already started flashing hiragana & we were supposed to memorise & repeat after her (without any clues) and folks in my class could do that! I really suspect they already kw before the class (but that's so stressful to newbies like me & my brother =( ). I was still trying to grabble with how to say Good Nite, they already move on to Countries.. and by the end of the 3 hr, I learned numbers, vowels, greetings, how to introduce oneself, country names and next week we will have dictation test.

My brother told me he feels like giving up lor. I had major headache during the 3 hrs.. really headache.. sigh, I had thought it would be interesting to learn new language... work already so stress, now this also stress.. =(

Has anyone gone for Ikoma or other schools. Is it always like tat?

first lessons are usually a bit scary, especially when you are "in contact" with something you have never learn before for the first time.

most people seem as if they know, but it isn't really the fact. its only the appearance, so don't use this to scare yourself. when you mix with them and get to know them, they may not be as good in it as you think they are. time will tell everything and when they start disappearing after a few lessons, you know they have chosen to give up the lessons because they feel exactly the same way you are feeling.

Ikoma starts "Japanese-speaking" from scratch and i find it a good thing. It may seem alien language from the start, but you have to "hold on" to it and slowly, they will start making sense to you. People (in Singapore learning Japanese) could really start trying to form sentences and speak after 3 or 4 years of study, so no one is genius to start speaking after 2 lessons.

I took my basic lessons in JCS and admittedly their pace is really slow and medium of teaching is in English/Chinese, they have their dis-advantages. For year 3 onwards, teaching will be strictly in Japanese and English words are reduced to the minimum. Simple Japanese will be used to explain difficult Japanese. this creates a problem for the students there - after 2 years or 1 year (if taking express course) of English teaching Japanese, the switch comes and many have problems listening and understanding teachers. There's also the bad habit of relying on English explanation for Japanese things. As a result, many people quit school (because the "balance" is tipped). For ikoma to start their basic using Japanese as their main mode of instruction, i think it got rid of the bad habit of relying on English every time. it may have been tough first, but hard work will pay off.

like what other users say, my advice is the learn and memorize the hiragana and katagana first. this is a must. kanji can come later - this is not a problem if you have chinese background. one more thing - when taking notes, force yourself to write in hiragana. Using English pronunciation isn't really that helpful in building a strong foundation. constant usage and writing of hiragana will help you remember and recognize them better.

learning more is better than learning less. though its like a lot of things, after revising and using them over and over again, its like second nature. sooner or later, you will be able to start using "宜しく" and "お願いします" like the natives.

if you have zero basic and you are taking lessons in japan, the pace would be faster than this, i think. My teachers used to tell us how students in Japan learning Japanese would have finished the textbooks (we used for 1 year) in 2 weeks' time. so think of them, and think about yourself. your situation may not be too bad after all. Work hard!