OK. This thread will contain tidbits on the Japanese language. I'm not actually very good at it myself, but I know enough to be a bit dangerous and at least enough to help anyone out a little so they don't make complete asses out of themselves.

So, if you want to speak Japanese, or at least be able to properly pronounce Japanese words, here's starter lesson #1:

All Japanese letters contain one of the 5 basic sounds. AH, EE, OO, EH, OH.
The above is normally written in "Romanji" as a, i, u, e, o.

Looks familiar, doesn't it? English vowels are a, e, i, o, u. The above are just mixed up a little.

The #1 difference between English and Japanese in this case is that the vowels ALWAYS MAKE THE SAME SOUND EVERY TIME!!!
"a" ALWAYS = the "AH" sound
"i" ALWAYS = the "EE" sounds or long English "E" sound
"u" ALWAYS = the "oo" sound as in poop
"e" ALWAYS = the "EH" sounds like in the word "let" or "pet"
"o" ALWAYS = the long o sound as in "bone" or "phone"

Now, for practice, try saying the following words in Japanese:

Hai (pronounced HAH EE--but very short--do not elongate the vowels sounds)
Hai means "Yes"

Dame (pronounced DAH MEH and is a scolding word meaning don't do it)

karaoke (always mispronounced in the US and is equated with bad singing)

Domo arigato gozaimasu = Thank You Very Much

for the lesson today.

More to come in the future.

 

Also: it's "arigato", not aregato in the proper transliteration. You have to get used to seeing "i" and pronouncing it as "EE" (EDIT)

Clarification:

There are five basic sounds in the Japanese language/alphabet set, particularly when you talk of hiragana and katakana.

The first 5 are: a（あ）, i（い）, u（う）, e（え）, o（お）
(You may need the Japanese character set to see the Japanese Hiragana written above.)

As you start learning the rest of the basic hiragana and katakana "alphabets," those sounds are what you will use.

For example, the next 5 are:
ka (か)、ki　(き)、 ku　(く)、 ke　(け)、and ko　(こ)

So whenever you see "ka" or the hirangana for it, you ALWAYS pronouce it "KAH".
When you see "ki", you always pronouce it "KEE".

And so on.

So...
a, i, u, e, o
ka, ki, ku, ke, ko
...

Got it?

For those who want to jump right in, look here:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hiragana

 

Note: It's not "kee" at the end, it's KEH.

e = "EH"

So...karaoke is pronounced KAH-LAH-OH-KEH. (in monotone)

I was going to get to the r's and l's later, but if you pronounce r's like l's ALL the time, Japanese folks will automatically think you have better pronounciation than most Americans who try to speak Japanese.

In Japanese, there is no distinction between the r and l sound--which is very distinct to us.
==========
Perhaps a Language Forum? I'm happy doing it in here in the lounge as well.

 

OK...like I said...basic Japanese and I'm still learning as well. I was hoping to get through the alphabets before getting to the more complex stuff like how to say, "I'm a stupid foreigner in Japan with ignorant stereotypes."

Boku wa Nihon de yuumei desu.

Means, essentially, I am famous in Japan.

Sentence structure is different in that it's usually subject-object-verb as opposed to the US custom of subject-verb-object.

We have a long way to go before we get there.

 

Depends on where in Japan the Japanese person is from, but, as I mentioned before, they have extreme difficulty differentiating the sounds, which is why Japanese mangle English R's and L's.

From personal experience, and what I try to teach my kids who have mostly Japanese language skills is tongue position.

With L's, you touch your tongue to your upper teeth. With R's, the tongue is pulled back from the teeth. This is advice I would give to a Japanese person trying to speak English.

When speaking Japanese, if you default to the "L" sound, you'll sound better to the average Japanese person although it won't be "perfect."

 

LOL. Boku is a personal pronoun used mainly by males meaning "I."
wa is a particle.

Nihon = Japan. You may also see it spelled as Nippon.
de is another of those particles meaning where something is occurring (EDIT)

yuumei = famous
desu = is

Nihonjin 日本人= Japanese person

 

One main note to remember when you translate from any language to another. Every language is based on the history, cultures, and traditions of a particular country/society. As such, there are some things that just cannot be translated directly. A simple phrase could take an entire book to explain in another language. In one language, you may have many words to describe a particular taste, but only one word that describes the same range of tastes in the other language. For example, tart, tangy, and sour all have very distinct meanings in English. In Japanese, all those tastes are generally described using the word suppai.

 

Time for bed for me (1240 in the am here).

Last word for the day is gyoza. That's what's pictured in my avatar.

 

I might say, "Stupid is as stupid does" or something stupid like that.
It could also mean "silly." :tongue2:

 

For that answer, I would recommend a different forum site:
http://www.****edgaijin.com/forums/index.php?

I suspect that part of the name of the site will be profanity filtered. (EDIT: as expected...The initials "FG" are appropriate here)
The site is where a lot of foreigners in Japan hang out--not too many--and discuss issues on living in Japan.

Those discussions don't really fit into the Dolphin fan perspective.

 

Hiragana

[TABLE]あ a い i う u え e お o
か ka き ki く ku け ke こ ko
さ sa し shi す su せ se そ so
た ta ち chi つ tsu て te と to
な na に ni ぬ nu ね ne の no
は ha ひ hi ふ fu へ he ほ ho
ま ma み mi む mu め me も mo
や ya ゆ yu よ yo
ら ra り ri る ru れ re ろ ro
わ wa ゐ wi ゑ we を wo
ん n[/TABLE]

Above is your basic Hiragana set. This is NOT ALL. I will add the other sound combinations in a later message.
Hiragana is typically used for native Japanese words.
There is a matching set of Katakana.
Katakana is generally used for foreign words that have been modified a little and imported into the Japanese language.

(EDIT) Kanji has it's origins in the Chinese language. There are several thousand and we will not get into that for some time.

 

Well, this leads nicely into the next set of characters.

いっぱつ　いくら?

きみ　いくら?

チーズバーガーをください。

First of all, notice the little marks that look like quotation marks? Also, you may notice the little mark that looks like a degree symbol as well, the little circle.

These two items increase the base table by 25.

[TABLE]が ga ぎ gi ぐ gu げ ge ご go
ざ za じ ji ず zu ぜ ze ぞ zo
だ da ぢ ji づ zu で de で do
ば ba び bi ぶ bu べ be ぼ bo
ぱ pa ぴ pi ぷ pu ぺ pe ぽ po
[/TABLE]

You may also know that in the last sentence above, there are some characters that are not in this table or the previous table. That's because "Cheeseburger" is a foreign word. Katakana characters are used to spell Cheeseburger. I will list the Katakana characters in a later post.

So, sentence number 3 is:

Cheezubaagaa 'o kudasai.
Please give me a cheeseburger.

Kudasai is one of many ways to say please when you request something.

The other two phrases end in ikura.

Ikura means how much.

チーズバーガーはいくらですか？

Cheezubaaga wa ikura desu ka?
means, "How much is a cheeseburger?"

One other note. "ha" は is read "wa" when it is used as a particle.

 

Questions.

When you see KA ( か ) at the end of a sentence, you can usually assume you are being asked a question.

 

Katakana

Wow! Has it really been a year since I visited this thread? Let's see, where did we leave off?

[TABLE]ア a イ i ウ u エ e オ o
カ ka キ ki ク ku ケke コ ko
サ sa シ shi ス su セ se ソ so
タ ta チ chi ツ tsu テ te ト to
ナ na ニ ni ヌ nu ネ ne ノ no
ハ ha ヒ hi フ fu ヘ he ホ ho
マ ma ミ mi ム mu メ me モ mo
ヤ ya ユ yu ヨ yo
ラ ra リ ri ル ru レ re ロ ro
ワ wa ヰ or ウィ wi ヱ or ウェ we ウォ or ヲ wo
ン n[/TABLE]

Above is your basic Katakana set. This is NOT ALL. I will add the other sound combinations in a later message.
Katakana is typically used for foreign words imported into Japanese.

 

More Katakana

[TABLE]ガ ga ギ gi グ gu ゲ ge ゴ go
ザ za ジ ji ズ zu ゼ ze ゾ zo
ダ da ヂ ji ヅ zu デ de ド do
バ ba ビ bi ブ bu ベ be ボ bo
パ pa ピ pi プ pu ペ pe ポ po
[/TABLE]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Katakana

 

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mottainai

もったいない = Mottainai = 勿体ない

Use the expression mottainai when someone is wasting your time or your resources.

There's even an entire campaign based on the word:
http://mottainai.info/english/

 

You are correct. There's never a problem using the more polite form of it, but you are not required to among equals and those younger or in a lower position than yourself.