Newbie at Japanese

[ShinJon]

Thanks alot dude!! That should really help me hear myself speaking correctly and incorrectly!!

I will do that as you guys say. I suppose reading and writing is more important now is it?

[mira]

Originally Posted by ShinJon

Mira, I just am confused about the rules of the small size hiragana and the large ones like how I can know when to use them and say them correctly

ok well first of all the small っ is placed next to any other Hiragana character to double it. For example がっこう which is Gakkou. If it were がこう without the small っ it would just be Gakou. So whichever letter comes after it, it double the first sound. However when a small っ is added it counts as another syllable even though it is silent. So you would say it like GA-(small pause)KO-U. I hope this makes sense. You will get it if you read and hear a lot of Japanese. You just have to be careful not to mistake it for the regular つ/tsu. Pay attention to the size and practice pronouncing words that have a small っ.

About the small ゃ, ゅ, ょ they are placed beside words that have an "i" sound. き、し、ち, に, ひ, み, り, ぎ, じ, ぢ, び, and ぴ and it gives it a -ya -yu- -yo sound.
みゃ, for example, is み/MI and a small ゃ/-ya so instead of MI by itself みゃ makes it MYA. Similar to the sound in "Cute" how it's pronounced like "kyute" that kind of sound. It's important to know that it is only one syllable when a small ゃ, ゅ, ょ is next to an "i" sounding Hiragana character. If you have the regular や, ゆ, よ next to anything it is just as it normally would be. きょ (small ょ) is KYO and きよ (regular よ) is KI-YO. So just pay attention to the size and practice!

I hope I didn't make it sound too confusing but good luck and practice! Just don't give up, it's really really easy once you get it.

[Sashimister]

Originally Posted by mira

　
However when a small っ is added it counts as another syllable even though it is silent.

It's a sound and since it is a sound, it isn't silent.

[StonerPenguin]

>>In b4 a non-native speaker criticizes a native speaker on his knowledge of his own first language.

[Sashimister]

Thanks for coming in, SP!

They all say "I know a lot of Japanese!" without ever proving it. They just pick and answer the easiest questions and end up answering incorrectly.

Thus, my strike continues.

[mira]

Originally Posted by Sashimister

Thanks for coming in, SP!

They all say "I know a lot of Japanese!" without ever proving it. They just pick and answer the easiest questions and end up answering incorrectly.

Thus, my strike continues.

And you accuse people of not knowing based on absolutely nothing. My knowledge and skill of Japanese is NOT determined by what some stranger online thinks it is. It is determined by the amount of studying and classes and experience I have. How do you know how much people know? Why do you think everyone is lying or exaggerating when they are not and you have no proof? Even with all that it doesn't make me fluent or advanced yet but I do know a lot. You can say everyone is lying all you want but it is really rude and disrespectful. I know there are people like that, I have had to deal with them in real life. But when you have no reason and go around accusing everyone of lying it makes people mad. You can't just stalk the boards and pop out as soon as you think someone is wrong and try to make yourself sound superior. If that's the case what is the point of going on the boards.

and I have only been on the boards for about a week or something. I hardly ever have time to even use the computer so forgive me if I don't spend all my time searching for every single question and answering it. If I see a question and I know it, then I answer it. What's wrong with being helpful? I just go on here for fun, it's not my life. I am not going around being rude to everyone and following everyone around just to put them down like you are. So please stop.

[mira]

Originally Posted by Sashimister

It's a sound and since it is a sound, it isn't silent.

It is a sound but it is the sound of whichever character follows it. The small pause itself IS silent but the small is not because it just duplicates whichever sound comes after. I was trying to describe it to make sense.

[mira]

Thus, my strike continues.

Maybe you should find better things to do with your time other than prowling the boards waiting to act like you are better than everyone? I wonder if you call everyone a liar for no reason. I wonder if you think you have the right to judge how much people know when you have no idea. When your opinion is wrong about people then it doesn't matter.

[Sashimister]

Originally Posted by mira

but I do know a lot.

Just prove it then. Don't say it, show it!

If you really know a lot, why have you never replied to me in Japanese even when I specifically asked you to? Go answer the last few questions in the following thread if you still insist that you know a lot. I wouldn't mind if you replaced me on JF. "I know a lot of Japanese" is something I have never said so you must be super good.

http://www.japanforum.com/forum/japa...nslations.html

For the record, if I may add, I've never followed everyone around and accused them of something, and I certainly don't follow around an ug** weaboo like yourself. I'm already surrounded by real Japanese ladies where I live. Not that I follow them around, though.

I know you won't listen, but saying "I know a lot about ~~" or "I'm very good at ~~" is socially completely unacceptable in Japanese culture. We honor modesty and humility here. This is what I meant when you joined JF and said "I can speak and write a lot of Japanese!" to your prospective Japanese friends/penpals. Japanese people will not reply to someone who would say that. If you didn't know about that important part of Japanese culture, how good can your Japanese really be?

If you want to reply, reply in Japanese so the Jaapnese-learners on JF can be assured of your true proficiency. If you can't do it, don't even think of talking back. Don't use an online translator, either. That won't even fool me a second.

[duo797]

Originally Posted by mira

It is a sound but it is the sound of whichever character follows it. The small pause itself IS silent but the small is not because it just duplicates whichever sound comes after. I was trying to describe it to make sense.

Actually, I think the っ is called a 'glottal stop' (I'm 95% sure that's the right term. Regardless of whether I have the right term or not, the rest of my definition should be pretty sound) It's usually taught as doubling whatever sound follows it because that's what it does in romaji (けっこう = kekkou. Double the K). It's real function is to textually signal a stop in the flow of air when you're speaking. So if you saw one at the end of a phrase, for example, then that would be like an abrupt cutting off of a sound. For a really easy example: なッ...何?! 'Wh-... What?'. (I'm not sure if the っ should be hiragana or katakana, or if it matters at all.)