I wish I could understand Japanese

Sure there are. On the top of my head...some simple words...

計：ji/jie
的 : de/di
還: hai/huan
了: le/liao

Keep in mind, that some Kanji have multiple sounds, but Japanese have their non Kanji characters. Chinese is totally in "Kanji".

Sure there are. On the top of my head...some simple words...

計：ji/jie
的 : de/di
還: hai/huan
了: le/liao

Keep in mind, that some Kanji have multiple sounds, but Japanese have their non Kanji characters. Chinese is totally in "Kanji".

But those pronunciations at least seem a bit similar. In Japanese, they have two completely different sounds most of time time.

私 is also "private." Like 私立 (shiritsu), which means "private institution."

私 is "me", while 我 is "us", as a group.

In case you're wondering, 我 can be "ga" or "ware" depending on how it's used. One character with two completely different pronunciations.

Wat. I thought 我 was Chinese. Does Japanese use Chinese characters too?

Wat. I thought 我 was Chinese. Does Japanese use Chinese characters too?

Yes. Japanese uses (I believe) traditional Chinese characters.

Wat. I thought 我 was Chinese. Does Japanese use Chinese characters too?

Kanji is the Japanese adaptation of the Chinese written language. There's where the kanji get two pronunciations from. One is the pronunciation closer to how the Chinese would read it, while the other is pretty much what they use for their native words.

Curious.. Would this be of any use during the learning process?

 Spoiler

Friend let me borrow it and then just let me keep it. Japanese --> English and vise versa.

Yes. Japanese uses (I believe) traditional Chinese characters.

Kanji is the Japanese adaptation of the Chinese written language.

Trippy. -Is a total Japanoob-

Also: Too many Asian languages to choose to learn. For starters, there's my native Filipino (Tagalog) and Fukien/Hokkien Chinese. Then, there's the Cantonese Chinese that takes up the majority of my school's Chinese population. Also, there's Korean and Japanese, which both sound really interesting.

I wish I couldn't understand Japanese. Is there a way to forget it without brain damage?

Yes. Japanese uses (I believe) traditional Chinese characters.

Almost complete true. I dunno how to type it out but Japanese slightly altered some words, such as 氣 where the 米 -> X

Curious.. Would this be of any use during the learning process?

 Spoiler

Friend let me borrow it and then just let me keep it. Japanese --> English and vise versa.

I've no idea, but I've had some pretty strange experiences with English -> Japanese dictionaries. Mostly because it's kinda vague with it's translations. For instance, you look up something like "circular" and get two kanji for it. 丸 and 円. I've never seen 円, you probably won't be needing that one. But because your dictionary put it, you'll be using it assuming it's right.

Sure there are. On the top of my head...some simple words...

計：ji/jie
的 : de/di
還: hai/huan
了: le/liao

Keep in mind, that some Kanji have multiple sounds, but Japanese have their non Kanji characters. Chinese is totally in "Kanji".

For comparison, here are the Japanese pronounciations :

計：haka(ru)/kei
的 : mato/teki
還: kae(ru)/kan
了: ryou

I've no idea, but I've had some pretty strange experiences with English -> Japanese dictionaries. Mostly because it's kinda vague with it's translations. For instance, you look up something like "circular" and get two kanji for it. 丸 and 円. I've never seen 円, you probably won't be needing that one. But because your dictionary put it, you'll be using it assuming it's right.

円 is mainly only used for the Japanese currency. It's used for some other stuff, but en (yen) is its main purpose. Now that I think about it, 円 is used a lot... Maybe as much as 丸 is.

I wish I couldn't understand Japanese. Is there a way to forget it without brain damage?

Squat down and breathe in and out deeply for about 20 seconds. Then hold your breath for about 10 seconds and put your thumb in your mouth, blowing as hard as you can onto it while standing up at the same time.

No.

Curious.. Would this be of any use during the learning process?

 Spoiler

Friend let me borrow it and then just let me keep it. Japanese --> English and vise versa.

Of course! A dictionary is one of the best tools to learn any language. Build up your vocabulary. When I was in Chinese School, my dictionary was my best friend :3

Of course! A dictionary is one of the best tools to learn any language. Build up your vocabulary. When I was in Chinese School, my dictionary was my best friend :3

Iunno, as I said before I had a bad experience with them. They'd teach me kanji that you'd never use or even see, unless you were some kind of pharmacist or something. Maybe it's just from the dictionary I was using.

By all means, use it to look up words you don't know. I'm not sure about trying to use it for learning new words.

As in, if you see something you don't know, look it up. Or use the dictionary to double check a word you think you know. But when you use it to try to learn words, you end up with something like 観る and 見る (both are miru). Both of them mean to see something, so if you look up "see" in the dictionary you'd find both of them. But they're used differently.

But then how would you learn Japanese and build up vocabulary? I'll assume you don't live in Japan and texts can only take you so far...

Perhaps a private tutor would be nice but they're expensive

For 観る and 見る, I'd pick the second one since the first one isn't even a Chinese character. (I checked my Dictionary)

But then how would you learn Japanese and build up vocabulary? I'll assume you don't live in Japan and texts can only take you so far...

Perhaps a private tutor would be nice but they're expensive

For 観る and 見る, I'd pick the second one since the first one isn't even a Chinese character. (I checked my Dictionary)

Using a textbook to build up vocabulary is better, as it'd teach you terms that are more commonly used in every day speech.

Using a textbook to build up vocabulary is better, as it'd teach you terms that are more commonly used in every day speech.

Perhaps you're right. Although I never had luck with my texts.

At the higher levels of my Chinese School, we were learning about Leo Tolstoy in our Texts, and the names of his books in Chinese... Why on Earth do we need to know that...?

Perhaps you're right. Although I never had luck with my texts.

At the higher levels of my Chinese School, we were learning about Leo Tolstoy in our Texts, and the names of his books in Chinese... Why on Earth do we need to know that...?

lol'd.
The textbook I use is pretty nice, and even comes with dialogue samples for better understanding. They use examples that feature Mary, the American student in Japan majoring in Japanese, and her daily endeavors. So it provides examples that are easily used in every day life.

Squat down and breathe in and out deeply for about 20 seconds. Then hold your breath for about 10 seconds and put your thumb in your mouth, blowing as hard as you can onto it while standing up at the same time.

No.

Hahahahahaha, you actually made me chuckle a little.

But I am a little serious. It's been 3 years since I put anything serious into learning Japanese yet I can still understand just about anything I come across.

Just one of those things my brain doesn't let go. Which is odd since I have forgotten any and all shock images I've seen over the years. But I rather forget Spanish before Japanese, and then maybe English just for s'hits and giggles.