日本語で

I think the difference is that "と" generally means "and" when it come after nouns etc, and is used for quoting when before a verb or before "いう" as in "という"

silvermaple

But, it's おもしろい

Shazer2

Interesting?

Aerovistae

lol

silvermaple

2:40 AM

"I think this is a potato"

Aerovistae

IMMERSION!

silvermaple

no, strawberry

What else would it be

ちょっと待って、Aerovistae

Shazer2

I meant to say

"I think strawberries are delicious"

silvermaple

たぶん

イチゴって、おいしい

って is very spoken, not written (also, chat IM)

cypher

"イチゴ　は　おいしい　と　思います", it is very colloquial/informal

Shazer2

2:43 AM

So many rules..

silvermaple

そうですね、でも、「って」を使い方だけ説明しようと思いました

ごめん

Chris Harris

「イチゴって、おいしい」とは発見の気がするww

Aerovistae

@Shazer2 welcome to language

there's really only one rule: do not, ever, under any circumstances, become discouraged.

Shazer2

:)

I'm not, I love Japanese so much..

silvermaple

そうですね、Aerovistaeさん

Aerovistae

2:47 AM

...unless they're making throat clicks

then give up.

HA

四月、日本にいきました！

DOES THAT SAY APRIL?

そうですか?

yep

2:47 AM

:P

YESSS

Yes.

楽しかった？

@silvermaple, そう、すごかった！

silvermaple

よかった！

どこに行きました？

Shazer2

2:49 AM

東京と京都と広島と大阪に行きました。:)

そして、なら！

Aerovistae

what does it say completely? April, japan something

silvermaple

あ、そうですか？すごいですね！

Shazer2

@Aerovistae, "In April, I went to Japan."

Aerovistae

Thanks

Shazer2

@silvermaple,　はい！あなたは日本に行きましたか？

Aerovistae

2:50 AM

domo arigato?

silvermaple

日本語？

あ

Shazer2

Edited. :P

@Aerovistae, what do you mean?

Thank you?

Aerovistae

..yeah

silvermaple

はい、日本に1年かん住んでいました

Shazer2

すごいですよ！

@Aerovistae, I know of 3 variations for thankyou, 「ありがとう」- Thanks,「ありがとうございます」- Thank you, 「どうもありがとうございます」- Thank you very much

I think

silvermaple

2:52 AM

たくさん勉強しました

Shazer2

@silvermaple, たくさん?

Aerovistae

hmm

silvermaple

Even though there is that song, you don't actually hear "domo arigatou" that often

one or the other, or ありがとうございました

I studied a lot

@Shazer2 たくさん a lot

2:54 AM

:D

How old were you when you went to Japan, @silvermaple?

20歳

今何歳ですか？

来月、24歳になる

:)

2:56 AM

日本にいる時、beijing五輪がありました

Shazer2

私は十六歳です。

silvermaple

@cypherさん、「beijing五輪」って、当てる？

Shazer2

来月、十七歳です。

silvermaple

わからない、ね

若いですね

Shazer2

そうです。

:)

I want to travel to Japan again, soon!

silvermaple

2:58 AM

笑

Shazer2

I never truly understood how blessed us people are.

That can fluently speak English.

Until I seen the Japanese learning English.

silvermaple

そうですね

cypher

@silvermapleさん普通「北京オリンピック」って書くのかな？分かりません（＞＜）

Shazer2

We have Japanese students at my school ATM, and I always think about them trying to listen to me and my friends speaking I bet they have no idea what we're saying and the same applies for when they speak

Aerovistae

why are they at your school then

Shazer2

3:00 AM

Studying abroad for 2 weeks

Aerovistae

oh

silvermaple

そうかもしれない、ね

Shazer2

:)

@silvermaple, I feel I can learn a lot here

silvermaple

@Shazer2 できるよ！

じゃ、みんなさん、楽しかったけど、今は　眠いから

Shazer2

I can read most of that sentence :) :)

silvermaple

3:02 AM

お先に、おやすみなさい

おやすみなさい！

おやすみ＾＾

おやすみ！

someones leaving!

you're repeating each other! must be a farewell!

who's leaving!

cypher

:D

silvermaple's going to bed

Aerovistae

3:04 AM

night!

おやすみ！ (?)

Chris Harris

good night = おやすみ

そう

Aerovistae

hmm....oyasumi?

oya = oh ya?

cypher

oya = parent, oyasumi = good night

oyasuminasai = more polite "good night"

Aerovistae

not "oh yeah?"

with a british accent?

cypher

it can be an interjection/conjunction at the start of the sentence meaning something like "man, ..."

Aerovistae

3:07 AM

ah!

Shazer2

:)

Have you learned hiragana, @Aerovistae?

Aerovistae

completely

im working on katakana literally as we speak

i think i used up my memory on the hiragana last week

the katakana are coming a little slower

Shazer2

Katakana was a bit hard for me, but I've got it now :)

I found distinguishing between shi and tsu pretty hard..

And "n" and "so"

Chris Harris

I wasn't able to do very well with katakana for about a few years.

Aerovistae

i spotted the shi/tsu problem almost immediately

but i compared them side by side and saw the difference

but i know what you mean

why were katakana harder than hiragana for both of you?

what's the difference?

Chris Harris

3:12 AM

For me, 1) they all look the same

Aerovistae

haha

true

Chris Harris

2) I didn't like to use loan-words written in katakana

so I just avoided it

but that's not good advice, go learn it if you can ;)

Aerovistae

i am

i wasnt planning on it

but i quickly realized things will be MUCH easier if all i have to worry about are kanji

which are definitely enough to keep your hands full without the added worry of reading on-readings in a script you don't know

Chris Harris

for you, are the multiple readings the most intimidating part? Or something else?

Shazer2

@ChrisHarris, is for me.

Chris Harris

3:17 AM

How do you usually "study" them?

Aerovistae

i have not started yet.

but i think ill be using a variety of resources largely centered around the order used on genetickanji.com

which makes more sense to me than any of the others, since it explains the components of the kanji

so i can know what im drawing, rather than just be making lines

Shazer2

@ChrisHarris, so far I've used an app called StickyStudy which gives all readings + examples, but I haven't studied for a few weeks.

Chris Harris

I see. I studied differently, but I can't say it works for everyone.

Shazer2

How so, @ChrisHarris

Aerovistae

yes, How so, @ChrisHarris

Tell us.

Chris Harris

3:23 AM

Well, when I learned kanji, I made it a point to learn a word, not just the kanji

a kanji by itself didn't really do much for me

for example 学生, I learned them together, at the same time

Shazer2

gakusei?

Chris Harris

yes :)

so I learned how to read it がくせい

I found other words that have the same readings, 先生　せんせい

And I found a ton of words that have 生 with the reading せい

1) it helped me find out which readings are most common

Shazer2

Oh ok..

Chris Harris

2) it helps you remember how to say it

I usually tried to learn 2 or three readings at most and associate words to them

the retention rate is high, you'll never forget what 生 means lol

Shazer2

Yeah :)

Chris Harris

3:27 AM

but I'm fairly certain, if you try to cram all the readings at once, you'll have a hard time

Aerovistae

i would expect so, yes

ところで、ここで日本語を話しよう

tokorode!

そう！

kokode japan something shiyou!

sou!

Chris Harris

3:34 AM

話す means to talk

はなす

cypher

（笑）

(lol)

Aerovistae

there's a lol character?

Chris Harris

笑う　わらう means to laugh

yes

Aerovistae

oh

haha

cypher

yep, and that's what all those "www"'s are too :P

Aerovistae

3:35 AM

warau?

Chris Harris

you might see something like "wwwww"

Aerovistae

why

Chris Harris

the "w" from warau

Aerovistae

oh

how the heck do you pronounce au

wa = wah

rau = the first part of the word round?

or wah-rah-ooh

cypher

yep, the last one

Aerovistae

3:36 AM

gotcha

watashi wa!

cypher

最後のやつだよ！

Aerovistae

i just like saying that sometimes...it sounds funny

Chris Harris

Is there something you want to know how to say?

Aerovistae

not at the moment

like i said, still on the alphabet.

Chris Harris

oh ok

cypher, any good ideas for remembering hiragana?

cypher

3:40 AM

I don't know, I learnt them so long ago I've forgotten

I think I learnt from mnemonics

I'm having a similar problem learning Hangul at the moment probably :P

Chris Harris

asahi-net.or.jp/~if2n-szk/mnemonics.html

cypher

yeah, something like that

Chris Harris

try that @Aerovistae see if it helps

Aerovistae

oh ive already memorized hiragana no trouble

but thank you

cypher

there's one for Katakana too somewhere

Shazer2

3:48 AM

@Aerovistae, do you have Anki?

cypher

they're from Kana Pict-o-Graphix probably (amazon.com/Kana-Pict-Graphix-Mnemonics-Japanese/dp/1880656183)

Shazer2

If not, get it right now and get the katakana deck.

That's how I elarned, just do it everyday. :)

cypher

there's also Kanji Pict-o-Graphix (amazon.com/Kanji-Pict-O-Graphix-Over-Japanese-Mnemonics/dp/…), but it never really worked for Kanji for me

Shazer2

learned*

cypher

interesting illustrations, though

Aerovistae

3:54 AM

what is anki

@Shazer2

Shazer2

A SRS.

Spaced Repetition System

So basically you load in a deck of flash cards (katakana) and you test yourself on them.

You get 4 options to choose once you reveal which is which, and based on what you press it calculates when you need to review it next.

Aerovistae

sounds neat

no

do not have.

Get it :)

@Shazer2 +1

:)

12:36 PM

こんばんは、silvermapleさん！

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