静かですね

something-ka desu-ne?

しずか

^^

hai. sou desu

How are you?

yeah good thanks. you?

genki desu. genki?

I'm not bad... can't sleep, though.

my tent is too small but since there's not a lot to do here i don't seem to be lacking in sleep anyway

tent?

at least you have internet access in your tent :)

iie. tent kara cafe e ikimasu to use the internet (-:

Assuming you don't have ready-access to native japanese speakers, but still want to improve your vocabulary and grasp of the language at an intermediate level (think JLPT N3->N2), does anyone have strong recomendations for books or resources.

Using native media (newspapers, jdramas, novels) obviously is a major component... but there is also something to be said for a somewhat structured approach to the more complex constructions.

@jkerian Are you talking about improving your vocabulary, or studying for the JLPT? In my opinion, they're really pretty different things.

The JLPT itself is largely irrelevent to me (and there are tons of books available for studying for each level), I was just using it as an example of the approximate level.

I'm talking about books such as amazon.com/Dictionary-Advanced-Japanese-Grammar/dp/B001GOVW4M

I've found Kuno's "Structure of the Japanese Language" very helpful as well (as is obvious by the number of times I've referenced it on this site)

Ah, I see. Great book you just linked, by the way. :)

I'll have to look into Structure. I don't have that one.

As for a more structured approach to vocabulary, I'm honestly not sure. Posting it as a question (perhaps community wiki?) under [resources] might be a good idea.

I tend to vote "close" on questions like that, so I figured chat was better :)

Haha, I don't see what's wrong with a community wiki for resources on Japanese language learning. :p

I'm really looking for more like Kuno's book, the "Dictionary of X Japanese Grammar" are fantastic when you're translating Japanese -> English. But Kuno's book is good for deepening your understanding of the fundamental structure of the language

Basically... I suspect I'm asking for good 'entry level' linguistics books

(people in this chat room? lies! lies I tell you!)

Ah. I referenced An Introduction to Japanese Linguistics a while back in some undergraduate research I did, and it seemed quite good as a linguistics resource.

I've actually been thinking recently about getting a copy.

I may also review the explanations in JSL, I'd forgotten how good most of them are

Particularly late Book 2, early Book 3

JSL?

An extremely polarizing japanese textbook

amazon.com/Japanese-Spoken-Language-Part-Yale/dp/0300041918

The reviews are a bit more balanced on that one... but part 1 amazon.com/Japanese-Spoken-Language-Part-1/dp/0300038348 is almost entirely 1 star and 4-5 star

(usually 1 star is taken off for the older vocabulary, like "denwa wo kakeru" instead of "denwa suru")

I've often wanted to conduct an experiment to detect actual body-heat temperature rise when "JSL" is spoken around certain japanese learners.

@rintaun so what are you up to today?

Hahaha. I'll have to look into that book as well.

Sounds like a good one. :)

+1 for polarizing

Basically... it has two "issues"

the older vocabulary is a real issue, but isn't terribly hard to deal with

the other issue is that it uses a rather strange "linguists" form of romaji, some people seem to have issues wrapping their heads around it

Ah... that's unfortunate

it uses "si" for "shi", "tu" for "tsu"... there was one particularly strange one that I'm forgetting at the moment

I really don't like romaji very much, though I do understand the draw of it.

Probably "hu" for "fu" and maybe some others

"zi" "du" "di"

yeah... anything "unusual" in hepburn gets shoved into the same pattern

it is more consistant than hepburn, but apparently some people have issues reading english letters and pronouncing them differently

Yeah. I knew several people who learned Japanese primarily from romaji like that, and they were all but impossible to understand. :p

Actually... until I read that I didn't even think about why I might have less trouble there.

I studied spanish for several years before switching to Japanese...

So did I, actually. haha

German before that

getting used to "ll", and "j", and "rr" being totally different between English and Spanish might have "loosened" the hold of english letter - pronunciation association

/me hadn't considered that before

Yeah that is a good point

Though it is said that speaking two languages makes learning a third easier... I hadn't thought about it in terms of reading.

Interesting... other chats seem to notify of new questions when they're posted, but this one does not. Any idea why?

hmm... not sure

Might be something we have to specifically enable

With the relatively low question volume on JL&U, it would be a nice feature

Yeah it would.

I'm looking at the room info... there's a tab for "feeds", which I suspect is what we're looking for

I wonder if the mods have the site mods have the ability to set that up

Yeah, most likely. It seems only @hippietrail can administer this room, though...

heh

that seems an odd choice

indeed

maybe he was just the first to join chat?

I wonder if he was the first person to visit the room, if it's a bit like IRC that way

could be

It seems that feeds are what we're looking for.

Just checked the other room where those notifications have been showing up

Looks like site mods and the room owner can set up the feed

Here's the "new feed" section of the feed tab of a room I own (not this room)