Looking for a "pen pal."

[Bakabits]

[QUOTE=Fauna;121189]But on my school computer, there's a language pack that automatically converts my phonetic writing (i.e. "atashi no namae wa...") into mixed kanji and katakana.

That's pretty close how I use to write japanese on the PC; by changing the input language on the Windows task bar.
The funny thing is, the blank key becomes sort of a hiragana-to-kanji converter. And for confirming the respective term in kanji-writing, the enter key needs to be pressed.
Oh yeah, also the 'Y' & 'Z' keys get mixed up each time I change the input area. It's fooling me all the time!

SURPRISE LESSON, EVERYONE
If you want to refer to yourself in Japanese, you have a few choices of words (along with a few you probably shouldn't use) to use in saying "I". As follows...

I think it's the same for "You", is that correct?

anata = also the general word for "You"
kimi = masculine form, used by male people among the same age
omae = slight derogative form addressing people of lower social status or younger age, nowadays frequently used only in Manga comic books or in animation (not sure of it, though).
I also heard "anta" for "you", but I wasn't yet able to determine the status of the people using it.

And yes, "washi" gets used by Ochanomizu Hakase when refering to himself. Ban Shunsaku/Higeoyaji & Saruta Hakase are using it too.
Atlas, Reno and Pluto obviously are the "ore"-type of guys.

In the 80's ep 'The Crystal Of The Desert', the little ferret guy (or whatever it is) also uses "washichi" for "I", at least if my ears prove me right about this. Do you happen to know more about that?

Here is a sentence about me in romanji in polite form: "Mai-nichi kohi-o nomimasu"

hontou desuka? watashi mo. sou****e pan to tamago wo tabemasu. (<--ack, the forum's language detector caught me! I should've known this would happen...)
私は日本語が少し分かりますよ。あなたのお勉強、しっかり楽しんで下さい。

Btw, when I presented the line "おむかえでごんす" to my japanese teacher last year, she cracked up laughing. I wonder if she recalled Tezuka's spider character.

sonicx137, if you're willing to learn Japanese on a serious level, I too strongly suggest taking a Japanese class. The internet (especially Google-transcraplation) isn't always the proper source for adapting a reasonable understanding of the language.
I started off self-studying 3 years ago, but apart from memorizing the kana writing, it didn't get me anywhere, because I couldn't maintain the staying-power for studying all by myself. I'm visiting a japanese class since a year now; and I already learned things I never would if I hadn't a professional teacher instructing me. [/QUOTE]

I have considered getting the product "Rosetta Stone" is to any good for learning japanese? Also, my dad's cousin who went to japan to study medical science speaks fluent Japanese and is willing to teach me as long as i am willing to learn.

P.S.: I only saw you in old posts Strange Wings. Weird seeing you.
P.S.S: you all give great advice. thx!

[AprilSeven]

Hi guys,

I'm kinda late chiming in here, but I'm glad the topic came up because I'd like to start learning Japanese too. My husband (who studies Mandarin) recommends

http://www.japanesepod101.com/

or other free ipod download programs

I'm sure it's not something that will happen overnight and completely, but we could also help each other with this effort -- and it might be fun to eventually use some of our "contests" with our Japanese skills -- you know, "Caption the Photo," etc.

@Sonic 137 - hey, you're IQ is 140? Then you beat out Dr. Elefun (and me) by two points!! Way to go!!

[Xenops]

Along with what AprilSeven is saying, there are a lot of FREE Japanese podcasts on iTunes you can subscribe to. You can go to iTunes U, which are lessons from universities, and with http://japanese.libsyn.com/ and [url=japancast.net]japancast.net[/url]

I'm sure Fauna or somebody would give a better idea, but from my understanding Rosetta Stone is good for vocabulary, but you learn nothing about grammar. I'm also not sure if it's that much better than other computer programs with the same teaching philosophy.

[Bakabits]

so far the app i am using is teaching me some common vocab and grammar. i plan on going to the book store this weekend to learn the writing and get a phrase book.

@Sonic 137 - hey, you're IQ is 140? Then you beat out Dr. Elefun (and me) by two points!! Way to go!!

this is true as i take an IQ test every few years. the last one being 1 year ago. every time i get an overall IQ score of 140. isn't 135-139 borderline genius? if so....... i have a shot at creating ! Good thing i love kids!

[AprilSeven]

@sonix137 - not sure what the borderline is (I thought "genius" was defined at 150). I was really excited when I found out my IQ and Dr. Elefun's were the same - they mention Moustachio's too -- I'll have to find that again and see what the other number was.

My best friend's son has an IQ of 165 -- even when he was around 10 years old you could talk to him like an adult. It was very cool. Unfortunately, he's not a very motivated person, so you'll think he'd be super-successful, but he's not. Takes more than brains to accomplish great things.

OOOPs strayed off topic (sorry!) - back to Japanese - what would be great is to learn how to read and speak it -- then we could read the original manga for ourselves, although I'm sure there are soooo many characters, there will be gaps in understanding.

[diehard67]

japanese (spoken) is noware near as complex as english but writen, that kanji charicter set gets ya

[Xenops]

Something that might be of interest to you guys: http://iknow.jp/ . This is a site that combines listening with visuals to learn vocabulary. It's free until the 1st of March, and then it costs 1000 Y (about 12$) a month after that. It also has Chinese and English learning portions.

I plan to use for the rest of February at least, since my weak point right now is lack of vocabulary.

[Strange Wings]

I just scanned this. It's a handwritten vocabulary transcription from lesson #9 of 'Minna No Nihongo', the book we're using in class.
Those who like to may try to tell the words by using Denshi Jisho.org.

Btw, Astro's head didn't come out well this time; I usually get him on paper better-looking.

[Ghost]

Here is some Kanji that I know.

( 一 ) This means "One" in Japanese and is pronounced "Echi"
( 二 ) This is "Two" in Japanese and is pronounced "Nee"
( 人 ) This is "Hito" and it means a person.

This one I learned from watching the subbed version of the Astro Boy 03 series.
( 博士 ) This means Dr. in Japanese, and it pronounced "Hakase"

There is more but that's what little kanji that I already know. Not a lot but it's something.

[Astro Boy2866]

If anyone has an iPod touch or iPhone, I would recommend an app called "Human Japenese". I had taken a look at it in the appstore and it got good reviews and a 4.5 out of 5 in the AppStore, but I think it costs about $10(Unless your iPod/iPhone is jailbroken). I had downloaded it yesterday and I think it is a very good app. It's definitely worth the money.