Language Course 1

[Śrāmaṇera]

Sorry had 2 whiskeys tonight ! I meant katakana indeed... or precisely gairaigo...

[AdiJapan]

But the roumaji word I hate the most must be : ラップ・トップ.

I'd rather say 携帯パソコン　

「ラップトップ」って、ほとんど誰も言わないですよ。普通は「ノートパソコン」か、たまに「ノートブック」と言います。「携帯パソコン」というのは始めて聞きました。一番近いのは「携帯型パソコン」ですが、それもけっこう珍しい言い方です。

It appears to me that the most vehement opponents of the use of romaji in teaching Japanese are the non-native speakers, in particular those who have just started learning it... You may be surprized to find out that English and other languages are taught in Japan relying on katakana in the beginning. Obviously, one can never reach a proficient level in a language without learning its native script, but a language is much more than its writing system. In fact, how many of you acquired your mother tongue by first writing it? Don't bother, I know the answer.

もしかしたら、「ローマ字が嫌い」と言っている人の中で、漢字がカッコいいからと言って日本語を勉強しようと決めた人が一番多いかもしれません。見た目だけで考える人って、ムカつきますね！

[vicza]

You may be surprized to find out that English and other languages are taught in Japan relying on katakana in the beginning.

But is it a good idea, anyway? Isn't this one of the sources of so called "engrish"?

In fact, how many of you acquired your mother tongue by first writing it?

I don't think it's correct to compare learning of native language with this of foreign one. E.g., in native language we learn the language itself before we learn its grammar; in foreign language it's contrariwise: we have to learn grammar in order to learn the language.

漢字がカッコいいからと言って日本語を勉強しようと決めた人が一番多いかもしれません。

Well, I don't think kanji are カッコいい. But as for me, it's easier to learn words having kanji than those written with kana alone. Images (I mean kanji) help.

[Karavinka]

Well, I believe the Romaji approach could work with the audio-intensive courses. I see nothing wrong with learning the sounds first (presumably with a lot of native recordings) and learn the alphabet later. The problem might be the interference - Katakana is a bad choice, it's hardly apt to represent the sounds of languages other than Japanese, but Romaji could work I suppose. The point is not to superimpose the usual "intuition" one may have with the Latin alphabet with Japanese written with Romaji.

[Śrāmaṇera]

間違ったね。外来語について何かを書いた。でも、ローマ字は日本語の勉強を始める人だったら、便利な書き方だと思っている。僕は嫌いじゃないが、日本語を読みたい人は本当の文字を習わなくちゃいけないと思うよ。

[Ayiaearel]

不在ですみません。丁寧語について部分をスプリットしました。

[senzu]

よーし
おら悟空、孫悟空だ！
お前は？
戦う気？
よーし！
カメハメハ！

[Śrāmaṇera]

うん？ドラゴン・ボール？何でなの？

[gyrus]

I've gotten to a stage with my Japanese where I'm far more comfortable reading in kanji and kana than romaji. Kanji helps you parse sentences because you see where nouns/verbs begin and can distinguish particles easily, as well as the occasional semantic help.

[Śrāmaṇera]

I still hate katakana, I always have to stop a few seconds before reading them. What should I do to improve my katakana reading speed? If it's only kanji and hiragana, then my reading flow is ok... I honestly hate the katakana chart and the ton of katakana words Japanese has.

[Kasuya]

I still hate katakana, I always have to stop a few seconds before reading them. What should I do to improve my katakana reading speed? If it's only kanji and hiragana, then my reading flow is ok... I honestly hate the katakana chart and the ton of katakana words Japanese has.

Simply reading a lot is all it takes for most people to become comfortable with it. You have to be familiar with the words in order to recognise them at a glance instead of spelling them out.

[gyrus]

Riding on the shinkansen through Tokyo is great for practising Katakana reading with all the adverts and building signs.

[IMABI]

Reading Classical Japanese texts help solidify and give reason to the diversity and understanding of eveything about the Japanese language.

[Desu]

I have trouble with Katakana too, it usually takes me a few minutes before figuring out what sound they represent.