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 Language Learning Forum : Questions About Your Target Languages |  | |
| seals44 Newbie United States Joined 6016 days ago 25 posts - 25 votes Studies: Japanese | Message 1 of 13 16 December 2008 at 4:14pm | IP Logged | ||
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I have two questions right now on my Japanese. I know I'll have more later on, but I'll put them in another post or another topic if need be.
First; I am a little confused as to how much (and when) to use the word "I". This is kind of pathetic as I'm around advanced beginner, but I just cant seem to grasp when it is appropriate. Also, I've heard the word boku used much more than watashi. When is one more fitting than the other? The same thing with the word "you" is also a problem. Second, one of the podcast I am using to learn with used a phrase I can't find online . They used "no hou" and said it meant "in that direction" and was also used when choosing between two things. Can anybody (preferably native speakers) confirm that? Also, what is the difference between sukoshi and chotto? Sorry for using Romanji! EDIT: Are there any native speakers that wouldn't mind answering questions I PM you as I learn? There probably won't be many, but sometimes words that have similar meaning but are slightly different are a problem for me. Thanks! Edited by seals44 on 16 December 2008 at 4:21pm 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| Hashimi Senior Member Oman Joined 6258 days ago 362 posts - 529 votes  Speaks: Arabic (Written)* Studies: English, Japanese | Message 2 of 13 17 December 2008 at 1:22am | IP Logged | ||
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3. Starting fron the last, both means "little" as you know, but sukoshi is more formal than chotto, There is another word which is more polite means a little. It is shosho 少々. Chotto can be used to mean other things like when you say "chotto sumimasen". here it doesn't mean "excuse me a little bit"! or even when someone says something you disagree with, you can say "chotto....." in a kinda of angry/serious tone, which in this case would be like "hey, hold on a second", with the implication that they are out of line. I don't know much about English, but in my native language we have simialr words with simialr functions. 2. "ho" means "direction" and "no" means "of". So "no hou" literally means "direction of." It is used in the two contexts you mentioned. For example, "Okada-san no hou kara renraku itadakemasu ka" means "Can I receive a call from Mr. Okada?" But "Dochira no hou ga ookii?" means "Which one is bigger?" 1. Don't worry. you will learn how and when to use them soon. I can't explain it in English examples, because this may lead you to make mistakes. 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| Satoshi Diglot Senior Member Brazil Joined 5822 days ago 215 posts - 224 votes Speaks: Portuguese*, English Studies: German, Japanese | Message 3 of 13 17 December 2008 at 3:13am | IP Logged | ||
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Normally, japanese does not use "you", they'll use the name/title of the person they are talking to.
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| rob Diglot Senior Member Japan Joined 6164 days ago 287 posts - 288 votes 2 sounds Speaks: English*, Japanese Studies: French, Spanish, Dutch, Portuguese, Norwegian, Mandarin | Message 4 of 13 17 December 2008 at 8:22am | IP Logged | ||
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1. I never use the word "you" in a conversation, and I would only use someone´s name if it were absolutely necessary to avoid confusion. I use "I" at times, but if you can avoid saying either altogether, it´s best.
3. 少し means a small quantity of something and ちょっと means "a little" or "a bit", and is often used alone, as in それはちょっと or even just ちょっと。。。 which means "that's a little bit difficult to talk about, so I'd rather not say anything". Also, ローマ字 would be romanised as "Romaji" 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| Luai_lashire Diglot Senior Member United States luai-lashire.deviant Joined 5827 days ago 384 posts - 560 votes Speaks: English*, Esperanto Studies: Japanese, French | Message 5 of 13 19 December 2008 at 1:41pm | IP Logged | ||
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ぼく is more casual and masculine than 私 . 私 is used by both genders and is the most formal way of saying "I" or
"me". Another casual male word for "I" is おれ, and that's used a lot by teenagers. There are no informal words for "I" that can be used by girls. As rob said, mostly people avoid both "I" and "you" altogether, and use actual names preferentially, or just drop it altogether. Like if I said, アテナです。十六さいです。高校生です。ね こが好きです。 It would be clear that I'm talking about myself, so I don't need 私. (although it might have been more grammatically correct to put those all in one sentence, I separated them for the sake of the example) I am also around the advanced-beginner stage. :) Thankfully my teacher is very good at explaining things like the above. 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| rob Diglot Senior Member Japan Joined 6164 days ago 287 posts - 288 votes 2 sounds Speaks: English*, Japanese Studies: French, Spanish, Dutch, Portuguese, Norwegian, Mandarin | Message 6 of 13 20 December 2008 at 1:31am | IP Logged | ||
Actually, あたし is the feminine version of ぼく and あたい is the feminine form of おれ, but I have never heard あたい in real life. あたし is extremely popular though. 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| FrancescoP Octoglot Senior Member Italy Joined 5949 days ago 169 posts - 258 votes Speaks: Italian*, French, English, German, Latin, Ancient Greek, Russian, Norwegian Studies: Georgian, Japanese, Croatian, Greek | Message 7 of 13 20 December 2008 at 2:30am | IP Logged | ||
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These are really serious issues, despite appearences. A man saying あたし would sound totally weird and be labeled as a major henna gaijin (freakish westerner) for days. In Satoshi Kon's "Tokyo Godfathers" there's a scene where one of the protagonists, an obviously masculine transsexual, refers to himself as あたし in a deep baritone. I have no words to describe how funny that (intentionally humorous) line sounded...
P.s. The implications of personal pronouns are definitely worth looking into. "Bokutachi" and "wareware" both translate as "we", but they are not interchengeable and tell a lot about the guy using them and the group he's referring to. Edited by FrancescoP on 20 December 2008 at 2:33am 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| Satoshi Diglot Senior Member Brazil Joined 5822 days ago 215 posts - 224 votes Speaks: Portuguese*, English Studies: German, Japanese | Message 8 of 13 20 December 2008 at 2:49am | IP Logged | ||
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Care to elaborate on that, FrancescoP?
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