[Japanese] Japanese 日本語！

[Scootah]

I'd like to correct you here that people prefer 'yon' more. The 'shi' for the number 4 is similar to the 'shi' for 死, meaning death. Those darn Japanese and their bad-luck superstitions.

七 (nana) can also be pronounced 'shichi' but again, people prefer saying 'nana' because the 'shichi' sounds similar to the number 1, 'ichi'.

Aaaah. ありがとう. And for "shichi".. I should have remembered that. I have the "Shichinin no Nana" manga sitting on my bookshelf.

 

[Holy Dragon]

hey, i have a little questiom about the verb to go:

when i wanna say "lets go" i learnd that u say 行 こう (ikou), and that i what i see alot of the time when i watchin digimon savers, but then sometimes i hear them say it with an 's' in and i cant think why

 

[Akai Shuichi]

Actually, I thought "Let's go" was "Iku zo"

 

[Kage]

I've heard it both "Ikou!" and "Ikuzo!" as well as "Ikuze!"

@_@; Someone actually Japanese can answer...

 

[onkeikun]

*copies and pastes* I answered this before in another forum.

Ikou (casual)
Ikimashou (formal)
Ikuze (casual male): usually used by a speaker of higher or equal "status" to the listener. It's used to appeal to the listener, in a way. If you said "Ikuze," the nuance is that you're saying "Let's go, okay?" You're trying to get the listener to agree with you.
Ikuzo (casual 'male,' females can say it too but not as much): Is more like a command. It emphasizes what you want to say, implying that there is no room for argument. If you said "Ikuzo," you're implying, "Let's go, we have to."

And let's not go into the different dialects.
They all translate the same, but the nuances make them a little different.

 

[Holy Dragon]

Tks u guys n gals, that makes more sence now ^^

 

[miforever]

*copies and pastes* I answered this before in another forum.

Ikou (casual)
Ikimashou (formal)
Ikuze (casual male): usually used by a speaker of higher or equal "status" to the listener. It's used to appeal to the listener, in a way. If you said "Ikuze," the nuance is that you're saying "Let's go, okay?" You're trying to get the listener to agree with you.
Ikuzo (casual 'male,' females can say it too but not as much): Is more like a command. It emphasizes what you want to say, implying that there is no room for argument. If you said "Ikuzo," you're implying, "Let's go, we have to."

And let's not go into the different dialects.
They all translate the same, but the nuances make them a little different.

I've also heard use of "Ike" with the "e" held for a bit.

And with "Ikimashou" you have to be careful. It leaves no room for you to refuse. It's more polite to say "Ikimasenka?" which is an invitation.

 

[AznxLoneWolf]

Oh, also, you can use "ja nai" for negative. It's less formal than "ja arimasen" and "dewa arimasen."

 

[Skr]

Ike would be like a command, ne?

I remember hearing it in Blue Dragon actually XD

Someone saying: "Ike, Minotaur(os)!"

So it's more of a 'Go!' instead of a 'Let's go'...

 

[bluesun]

円　- En (the dollar sign). Americans pronounce it yen... why, I don't know.

The inclusion of the letter y is based on romanization of an obsolete writing of the word which included the kana ゑ (ye/we), examples of which can also be found in such words as Yebisu, Iyeyasu, and Yedo. Like the spellings of names of people outside Japan, the romanization of yen has become a permanent feature.

----------

The months also deal with numbers but... I forgot the ending part. Hehe

月 - gatsu/getsu (month), tsuki (moon)
一月 .. 十二月 - ichigatsu (January) .. junigatsu (December)

Also, I have seen 壱, 弐 and 参 used for 1-3 before. (OTO games)

 

[fun duelist]

Well, thanks for every one. I am a beginner in Japanese. I have aready memorised the Hiragana and working on the katakana. The info I have got here is so much helpful. I hope to know when will be the next lesson?

 

[SSJ Jup81]

And with "Ikimashou" you have to be careful. It leaves no room for you to refuse. It's more polite to say "Ikimasenka?" which is an invitation.

I'm incredibly late to this topic, but I thought ikimashou meant "let's go/let us go", and that this form was incredibly polite. Couldn't you add "ka" to ikimashou and still get the same result? Watashitachi wa Nihon e ikimashouka? (Shall we go to Japan?) [I think I did that correctly]

Oh yeah...just noticed something here. "Ikimasen" means "don't go". I don't understand how it can be considered an "invite" just by tacking "ka" to it. To me, it's saying, "Don't go?"

Of course I could be completely off, so anyone, please feel free to correct anything I've said above here.

 

[miforever]

Saying "Ikimashou" is a very direct way of saying "lets go". In Japan, it's considered rude to say this to someone, especially if you don't know them very well. "Ikimasenka" is a negative, but it can be interpreted as "You want to go, don't you?", although it's usually thought of as "Do you want to go?". It's normally used in a sentance, rather than singularly.

eg:

レストランは行きませんか？
（レストランはいきませんか？）
RESUTORAN wa ikimasenka?

Do you want to go to the Restaurant?



Using "ikimashouka" probably has the same effect, and I think it can be used in less formal situations. Hmm, I dunno.



Anyways, gomenasai minna-san! I haven't posted a lesson for AGES!! I'm so busy these days, but I'll try and get one together for everyone really soon.

I've got an Oral today on "Watashi no Kazoku" (My Family), which is worth 15% of my mark. I hope I don't forget what I'm supposed to be saying... I hate public speaking.

 

[fun duelist]

Thanks and Do your best at the Oral. I enjoyed your lessons a lot.