In response to user feedback, this is a recurring thread for general discussion about learning Japanese, and for asking your questions about grammar, learning resources, and so on. Let's come together and share our successes, what we've been reading or watching and chat about the ups and downs of Japanese learning.
The /r/Japanese rules (see here) still apply! Translation requests still belong in /r/translator and we ask that you be helpful and considerate of both your own level and the level of the person you're responding to. If you have a question, please check the subreddit's frequently asked questions, but we won't be as strict as usual on the rules here as we are for standalone threads.
by AutoModerator
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Hey everyone. I heard that the name つかさ means light, purity, and harmony. However, there appear to be many different Kanji options for writing it. Any ideas as to which writing is the closest to the light, purity, harmony meaning? Thanks.
I think this is the right place for my question. I know that Japanese has a number of sounds that don’t have an English equivalent, and I am in the process of trying to tune my ear to properly hear those sounds, in order to improve my pronunciation.
My question today is in regards to the character ひ, romanized as hi. When I hear it, it sounds more like a blending of the English S and H, but distinct from the character し, romanized as shi. Does this seem accurate to those who actually speak proper Japanese?
KATAKANA DOUBT – HAVE I BEEN SPELLING MY OWN NAME INCORRECTLY FOR YEARS?
Hello, I (23M) am due to go to Japan next month to start work as an ALT. I studied Japanese at university for 4 years (albeit I am still at N3 – going at my own pace) and stayed in Japan for a semester 2 years ago.
Here lies my problem. For some reason, I was thinking about writing my name in katakana in Google to see if my name would pop up and discovered that people with my surname would, but only under a different spelling. What pains me to say is that I originally used this spelling before, until someone corrected me. No teacher or any native speaker has corrected it since.
My last name is Benbow – I pronounce it as BEN (the male name) + BOW (as in bow tie). I have been writing it like this ベンボー, however I am under the impression that ベンボウ is more widely accepted.
Is this a big deal that I have been messing up my own name for years?