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Decimus (Offline)
JF Old Timer
 
Posts: 119
Join Date: Oct 2010
12-03-2010, 06:38 AM

Quote:
Originally Posted by NightBird View Post
This avatar shows "Flandre Scarlet" from Touhou 6 - EoSD
NightBird have no reference to Mystia, and with nothing XD
Maybe I'll change to "NightLunya" (already done on MSN)
"Night" because I like the night, "Lunya" because of a kind of "Luna" writing

__________________________________________

Mhhh nice answers, it will help me to understand more and more...

- Is it necessary to know differences between Hiragana, Katakana and Kanji while reading/writing? (i'm sure yes, but why not xD)

And... how do I'll make courses of Japanese... mhhh i'm hesitating...
"Evening" courses looks too short in a too long time (2h/week) and I'm not so sure to not all understand by "Assimil way" (book and CD)... difficult choice lol

Should I go buy a Japanese keyboard xD?

日本語を学ぶつもりです
私が聞いたつもり
(are these sentences are correct?)

Well thanks again for your answers...
Êtes-vous déjà allé à Flandre?

I've heard that Dutch is more commonly spoken over there though.

Being able to differentiate between hiragana, katakana, and kanji allows you to parse a sentence easier (you can more easily see where the nouns and verbs are, for example) so you could read faster. I wouldn't say it is strictly necessary... but I can't imagine why anyone can't tell the difference between them if they can already read hiragana and katakana.

Japanese keyboards usually come with several 'mode keys' that allow you to switch between hiragana, katakana, or Roman letters, as well as 'conversion keys' to help you change typed texts from one form to another. They are also useful if you are using kana-input instead of romaji-input, both terms which I will explain later.

There are two primary methods of inputting Japanese when typing. The first method is romaji-input, in which you type in romaji and the computer automatically converts it into kana (hiragana by default). This is the general method used by most people, including native Japanese speakers.

The second method is kana-input. A keyboard configured to type with kana-input (this does not necessarily have to be a Japanese keyboard, especially if you have a newer operating system) have keys that correspond directly to Japanese kana. The 'Q' key, for example, corresponds to 「た」(ta), and hitting it would make your computer type out 「た」. Pressing shift-Q would instead type the katakana form of ta, 「タ」 instead. As you can see, the kana-input method can be incredibly efficient as you don't have to hit multiple keys for a single kana.

Despite this, the kana-input method is not rather popular because it can be a pain to memorize all 46 key positions for a typing system that works only for Japanese. A Japanese keyboard does help as the corresponding kana are printed on each separate key, making learning easier, but touch-typists don't look at the keyboard anyway, so it's cumbersome for them to do so again. And, as mentioned, the kana-input method only works for Japanese, so you'll have to juggle between kana-input and QWERTY if you type in multiple languages. (which most Japanese also do.)

TL;DR: I don't think a Japanese keyboard is really necessary.

Quote:
Originally Posted by NightBird View Post
日本語を学ぶつもりです
私が聞いたつもり
(are these sentences are correct?)
Yes, both are correct.
「日本語を学ぶつもりです。」 = "I intend to learn Japanese." = "J'ai l'intention d'apprendre le japonais."

「私が聞いたつもり」= "I am under the impression that I've heard (something)"= "J'ai l'impression d'avoir entendu (qqch)."

「-たつもり」 is not something taught in basic grammar classes though, as it can be confusing. 「つもり」 is also usually followed by a 「だ」 or 「です」. Cutting them out is not technically wrong (and I believe native speakers often do this as well), but I think you would want to avoid doing it if you're just starting out.

Last edited by Decimus : 12-03-2010 at 08:33 AM.
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