Comments on: A Knack for Nihongo – The Japanese Language http://www.thetokyotraveler.com/2008/03/a-knack-for-nihongo-the-japanese-language/ About Tokyo for travelers, visitors, and residents. Thu, 06 Nov 2008 05:22:52 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.9.1 hourly 1 By: Some Handy Kanji http://www.thetokyotraveler.com/2008/03/a-knack-for-nihongo-the-japanese-language/comment-page-1/#comment-273 Some Handy Kanji Fri, 19 Sep 2008 14:13:30 +0000 http://www.thetokyotraveler.com/a-knack-for-nihongo-the-japanese-language/#comment-273 [...] may find yourself frustrated with the language barrier when you visit Tokyo but with these Kanji, a few key phrases in Japanese, English menus and the rare application of your charade skills those instances will be [...] [...] may find yourself frustrated with the language barrier when you visit Tokyo but with these Kanji, a few key phrases in Japanese, English menus and the rare application of your charade skills those instances will be [...]

]]> By: Shane http://www.thetokyotraveler.com/2008/03/a-knack-for-nihongo-the-japanese-language/comment-page-1/#comment-186 Shane Fri, 30 May 2008 01:15:30 +0000 http://www.thetokyotraveler.com/a-knack-for-nihongo-the-japanese-language/#comment-186 Good catch on the ku vs. ko Nihonjin! I must have missed that when I reviewed the post and you are absolutely right. Thanks for the additional tips too! One thing that I think is great about Japanese is that the subject of a sentence is almost always first which is really logical when you think about it. For example, in English we would say "Where is the toilet?" but the direct translation of the same Japanese phrase is "Toilet, where is it?" As a newbie to the language that really helped me in my ability to understand what was being talked about. I often struggle with the details but at least I know what the subject is! :) Good catch on the ku vs. ko Nihonjin! I must have missed that when I reviewed the post and you are absolutely right. Thanks for the additional tips too!

One thing that I think is great about Japanese is that the subject of a sentence is almost always first which is really logical when you think about it.

For example, in English we would say “Where is the toilet?” but the direct translation of the same Japanese phrase is “Toilet, where is it?”

As a newbie to the language that really helped me in my ability to understand what was being talked about. I often struggle with the details but at least I know what the subject is! :)

]]> By: Nihonjin http://www.thetokyotraveler.com/2008/03/a-knack-for-nihongo-the-japanese-language/comment-page-1/#comment-185 Nihonjin Fri, 30 May 2008 00:53:32 +0000 http://www.thetokyotraveler.com/a-knack-for-nihongo-the-japanese-language/#comment-185 Your pronunciation is wrong. It would be DO-KO, not DO-KU and if you wanted to sound more fluent you would leave off the U at the end of desu. It is what is known as an unvoiced vowel and many times it isn't said. So you would say this like: Toy-Ray Do-Ko De-s Ka? Toire - japanese attempt at toilet wa - particle indicating the subject doko - where desu - is ka - particle which is equivilant to a ? in english Your pronunciation is wrong. It would be DO-KO, not DO-KU and if you wanted to sound more fluent you would leave off the U at the end of desu. It is what is known as an unvoiced vowel and many times it isn’t said. So you would say this like: Toy-Ray Do-Ko De-s Ka?
Toire – japanese attempt at toilet
wa – particle indicating the subject
doko – where
desu – is
ka – particle which is equivilant to a ? in english

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