18 comments

1. In terms of saying “God” in Japanese, why do some people say “Kami yo” and some say “Kama-sama”? Is there a difference?

2. Is there an English equivalent of adding “-san” to you your own name? Like, what if a Japanese native said, “Hello, I am Haruto-san?” How would that be perceived?

3. https://preview.redd.it/24efj4pynpgf1.png?width=849&format=png&auto=webp&s=a2adc1eaec9f6063932052603a519c2b6e311a92

   What does 飲めなくたって卓は囲める mean? “even if you cannot drink yet, at least we can still surround you”?

4. Hello. I wanted to try writing a poetic message to improve my output skills since I am only able to write short sentences right now.

   If there are any mistakes, please provide me with some corrections so I can improve it

   **日本語**

   > 愛しい愛しいムメイよ！

   > 目は海のようにきらめき、笑顔も太陽よりも明るく輝きます。僕のムメイへの愛は生死の試練にも天地の限界にも負けれません！世界中の誰よりもムメイを愛しているんです！これからもそばにいたりムメイと一緒に人生を歩んだりしたいんです！

   > つまらないし冷たいし暗い僕の人生を照らしてくれて心から本当にありがとう！

   **Intended Meaning**

   > My dear, beloved Mumei!

   > Your eyes sparkle like the ocean, and your smile shines brighter than the sun. My love for you can lose neither to the trials of life and death, or the limits of Heaven and Earth! I love you more than anyone in this world! From now on, I want to remain by your side, and move forward through life with you.

   > For illuminating my dull, frigid, gloomy life: I truly thank you with all of my heart!

   _________

   Bonus Question:
   I was initially planning on saying “僕のムメイへの愛は生死をも、天地をも超える” (i.e. My love for you transcends Life and Death; Heaven and Earth), but is this actually natural? I have seen a few results for terms like “死を超える愛” and “愛は死を超える”, but they seem to either lead to very obscure Books, or Books referencing non-Japanese Individuals (suggesting that these phrases only exist as-needed when they’re being translated from English). If someone could shed more light on this for me, I would greatly appreciate it.

5. u/No-Cheesecake5529

   Ah, yes. The reason “bank” is 銀行 in Japanese, and not 金行, is, I guess, likely because the Overseas Chinese primarily used Mexican silver dollars for international trade. I believe, for them, “money” or “coinage” predominantly meant silver.

   While Japan produced more silver than gold, making gold coins the most valuable currency during the Edo period (hence “money” being represented by the character for gold, 金), I speculate that China, conversely, produced more gold.

   I guess, if this were the case, then immense wealth could have been accumulated simply by buying silver in Japan, transporting it by ship to China, selling the silver, and buying gold in return, repeating the cycle.

   [https://www.reddit.com/r/LearnJapanese/comments/1mfc9t6/comment/n6j0pgp/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=web3x&utm_name=web3xcss&utm_term=1&utm_content=share_button](https://www.reddit.com/r/LearnJapanese/comments/1mfc9t6/comment/n6j0pgp/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=web3x&utm_name=web3xcss&utm_term=1&utm_content=share_button)

6. Is there any meaningful difference between:

   ー死体　したい

   ー屍　しかばね

   ー骸　むくろ　

   ー躯　むくろ

7. Does anyone know what show [this](https://youtu.be/5DaIAHDDjIU) is from, and if it’s possible to be watched for free? I watched the パスポート取りたいんです one and it’s now my favorite thing

8. [deleted]

9. か pronunciation. i have heard two different sound depending on words. like with かく i hear standred ka sound we learn when we study hiragana at first.

   but with かみ the sound becomes kha, like when we say kanji.

   i have seen people pronounce ka then when used in words they say kha. when i asked why the sound changed, they say they learned it that way. also some of the people had gone and studied in japan and lived there for some years.

   does anyone know about it? it is driving me crazy.

10. Hi! Started learning Japanese September 2024. I studied the whole September to November before I took a break to focus on university. Now I can focus on Japanese again and returned to my studies in late May and have studied several hours every day since then until now. I currently go through kaishi 1.5k and have gone through 1240 words so far. I also prectice some katakana reading in anki. I know a little bit of grammar through youtube videos probably at about n5 level. Previous immersion have been 100 episodes of nihongo con tepei and watching through delicious in dungeon with subtitles twice. Im going to Japan in October for 2 months so I would like to be as proficient as possible in Japanese until then but I know I wont be very good. But maybe tourist good at least?

    I recently finished “Learn Japanese rpg Higagana forbidden speech” game and thought it was perfect level for me. Feel like I have a much better reading and grammar ability now. I really liked learning through a educational game cause I could take the time to really understand what was said and slowly work my way up to decent proficiency. So if there are any games that are a step more advanced than “learn japanese rpg hiragana forbidden speech” that would be awesome! Im currently immersing with 1-2 episodes of Frieren every evening before bed but I barely understand a word every other sentence so its completely impossible to understand what they are saying. Feels like something a bit more chewable would yield better gains.

    I wonder if you have any suggestion on video game, book, or series that you think would be suitable for me to immerse with next? Should I focus on words, listening or grammar?

11. Is there a similar format in Japanese that captures the “greentext” style/vibe e.g.

    “>be me”

    “>get Japanese tattoo”

    “>go to r/LearnJapanese to ask what it means”

    “>it’s Chinese”

    (Made up example, of course lol). So, is there an equivalent to this in Japanese internet culture?

12. For those who uses an anki deck, can you show / tell me the % of retention you have ? (green/orange/red)

    I feel like I dont memorize enough and I should study the cards outside of the deck.

13. Would someone be able to tell me if there’s a more natural sounding alternate to what i wrote:

    My intention:
    “Ah, I’ve already said too much”

    What i wrote:
    あ~もう無理に話したんだ

    Im just starting output practice to memorise grammar better, but im getting the feeling there’s a better way to write what I did.

    Any ideas are appreciated!

14. TL;DR Renshuu Good or bad?

    Had a big paragraph written up to ask about renshuu but just checked the resources list and I realised it notes Renshuu as a work in progress and only to be used for some extra supplementary vocab rather than as a main tool. Is that still the current recommendation?

    EDIT: I also just found jpdb this way. Seems like I can easily import decks for each of the lessons in genki into jpdb. Are there any obvious pros/cons to using jpdb as opposed to anki?

15. I’m level 21 in WaniKani, but realizing I could benefit from writing practice. I do enough Japanese study on the computer, so really want to focus on pen & paper. Any good physical workbooks that teach stroke order & allow space to write in the book? Or any good options for my particular use case, where I’m supplementing an existing method?

    Also doing Core 2.3k on Anki and halfway through Genki 2.

    Thank you.

16. Pitch accent question: In the sentence “何食べてるんですか”, in “theory”, the た of 食べてる should be high if I recall correctly. But can the た get quite low here, with another (smaller?) accent on る, as if 食べる were heiban?

17. Finally got around to ditching ebookjapan in favor of kobo. Anyone know when preordered ebooks usually become available to read? I bought one that comes out on the 4th and it’s been the 4th (in Japan at least) for 45 minutes, but I can only see it in my purchase history and not my library yet : (

18. Can i respond 甘すがないなら好きです to 甘いものが好きですか? Or does that not work?