Daily Thread: simple questions, comments that don’t need their own posts, and first time posters go here (June 28, 2023)

14 comments

1. I can’t make posts. It says trusted something.

2. Hey everyone, I have an exam on Thursday and I really need help.

   I need to write 200 characters of Japanese based on a prompt (I don’t know what the prompt is yet) in the exam. The issue is, my writing kinda sucks. I’m at an intermediate level regarding speaking listening and reading, but I don’t have much writing practice.

   Since I don’t have much time to improve my writing naturally in time for the exam, I really would appreciate a list of words/phrases/grammar points that I can use naturally in my essay that demonstrates an intermediate level of Japanese. I probably know all the words and phrases, but they don’t come naturally to me when writing, and I need to display a good level of Japanese.

3. How should じ be pronounced? My brain keeps telling me to make a “j” sound but that doesn’t seem right.

4. Why is 登る considered intransitive? E.g., 富士山に登ったことがある = I have climbed Mt. Fuji.

5. Hello, i’m not sure if this is the right place to ask but i’m looking for language school recommendations to study for a year in Japan. Right now i’m looking at GenkiJACS in Fukuoka.

   Preferably somewhere with a private residence or apartment option, Tokyo might be nice but i’m open to considering other places. My japanese level is beginner, being able to read hiragana, some katakana, and a handful of kanji.

   edit to add: My ultimate goal with learning japanese is that i’d like to eventually translate japanese along with other languages, since I studied translation in uni. I understand a year isn’t enough for this specific goal, so i’m focusing on conversational level and daily life type of communication.

6. I don’t understand why the particle では is used in these sentences.

   「肉と魚ではどちらが好きですか?」

   「一人で旅するのと友達と旅するのではどちらがいいですか?」

   Why is 「では」used?
   I’ve seen 「AとBと…」in this context when choosing between multiple things.

   Example:「土曜日と日曜日とどちらがいいですか?」

   I’m assuming it’s で+は but I just don’t understand the difference between this and using 「と」.

7. is there like a subject/topic/grammar list of things I need to learn for N4 to N2?

8. In the phrase:

   >騒いじゃダメ

   What is 騒い?

9. Hey! Question about the Akamonkai online course (the intermediate one): do I HAVE to do the Flip/video aspect of the course where I record myself speaking, or can I mark those as completed without doing them and still complete the course fine?

   I initially skipped the self introduction stuff and decided to focus on the meat of the course and come back around to it later, with the understanding that “the record a video and upload them” parts of the course weren’t mandatory to complete it. But when I went back and checked the overview of the course, I realized it doesn’t explicitly say it isn’t mandatory, so I wanted to be sure before I mark them off. I’d rather not do it if I don’t have to…

10. I came across the sentence “事故ったのは半年前なのに、未だに首が痛むよ。” What’s った? Is it a variant of って?

11. How the hell do I login to forvo? I login with google, go to download an mp3, and it asks me to login again. So I login again, and then I try to download an Mp3, and it asks me a 3rd time. wtaf? I tried switching to a different google account, same issue. Then I tried just making a regular account and it says my login credentials are incorrect. I’m 100% certain I typed it in right. I tried like 8 times. I swear this website is so infuriating but I dont know of any other sites like it for audio. I almost threw my laptop out a window cuz it wasnt doing this for weeks up until now. Someone please help.

12. hi! is anyone aware of a resource that uses the content from Genki chapters in reading practice? I’m revising Genki II but there’s not a lot there in the dialogues. Thanks!

13. I have noticed that the protagonist of the famous series Nobita, called のび太 in Japanese, caught my attention because I had never seen a word written in hiragana followed by a kanji. Is it normal to write that name in that way, or is it an artistic device or some kind of joke? Or is it because the kanji for “nobi” is less accessible to children than “TA”? Thank you.

14. I was talking about movie cliches but was wondering what the equivalent of “movie cliches” is in Japanese. When I try to translate it on Google it tells me 決まりもんか, but that means an overused phrase(not what I’m looking for). I have a project on this coming up so if you have any ideas please help me!