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Teaching English, seeking Japanese tuition -
07-02-2010, 11:45 AM
Hi,
I'm looking to start learning Japanese — right from the basics — preferably from a native speaker. I would like to conduct the exchange purely within this thread so others can learn by observation and comment. I should probably mention that I work on the Oxford English Dictionary, so you could easily find worse than me to fulfil the role of English teacher. I have secondary qualifications in French, Classical Greek and Latin, so if you're looking for help in those areas I can provide that too. I look forward to hearing from you... --random google translation if it helps-- こんにちは、 私は基礎から、日本 - 右を学び始めるのを探しています - 好ましくはネイティブスピーカーから。 私は他の観察とコメント学ぶことができるので、このス レッドの純粋以内に交換を行うことをしたいと思います 。 私はおそらく、私はオックスフォード英語辞典で動作言 及すべきは、簡単に悪い私より見つけることができるの で、英語教師の役割を満たすために。 私は、あまりにもフランス語、古典ギリシャ語、ラテン 語、もしあなたがこれらの分野で助けを求めている私が 提供できるのセカンダリの資格がある。 私は皆様からのご意見を見て... 
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07-03-2010, 10:20 AM
I'll ask around as I myself am quite busy answering the questions in the Japanese Help Section so I don't do any one-on-ones.
One thing I'd like to ask you before I start asking around is whether or not you are already familiar with the two systems of kana. I must ask this because none of the more active Japanese memebrs will tolerate the use of romaji.
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はじめまして -
07-03-2010, 05:24 PM
はじめまして。
日本人（にほんじん）のyumyumtimtam です。 よろしく おねがいします。 Hello, sarvodaya さん. How are you today? I will try my best to help you with Japanese. It would be wonderful if you could help my English too. May I ask you what made you would like to learn Japanese? My case, I simply wanted to live overseas to see how the people live there,especially in English spoken countries. So I thought I needed to be able to understand what they are saying and also to be understood. And I decided to go and live in Australia for a while after finishing my college in Japan.I had a wonderful time there.After that, I went backpacking around Europe.So I think I did see how the people live overseas, so one of my dreams came true, but I didn't stop learning English.Actually I didn't want to stop. Learning foreign languages is very very interesting. さっそくですが、ひとつ えいごのしつもんが ありま す Id like to know how to use "ish"... Can you help me? I heard people (at a pub in Walthamstaw,England) using "ish" a lot in their conversation. I mean I learnt words like... childish,selfish... but never heard nor used just "ish" as one word. にほんごのしつもんも たのしみに おまちしています
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07-03-2010, 05:47 PM
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Using "ish" in that way is meant to add a level of uncertainty to a word. It is, to my thinking, a relatively new way to express a feeling in English. Example: "After the incident at the office, a good cup of coffee and a bagel made me feel okay-ish." The person speaking is describing their feelings after an unpleasant occurance. He/she felt better after having a coffee and a bagel, but not fully "okay". So "ish" is added to show he/she is still uncertain about how they feel. Hope that is of some help, and apologies if I offended anyone. Unfortunately for you, she is not here. "Ride for ruin, and the world ended!"
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"ish" -
07-03-2010, 07:57 PM
Hello yumyumtimtam!
I'm not too bad, thank you. I hope you're well. I have been quite interested in certain aspects of Japanese culture for a long time. It started when I began practising karate around the age of 10 or so. I loved the self-discipline and even the atmosphere of the dojo. Unfortunately other things in my life (mostly school-work) cut down on the time I had available to practise and I stopped attending classes. I am actually planning to start learning aikido soon. Anyway, so I'm also interested in Buddhism, but that's another story really. As for learning Japanese itself, I love languages, and have always enjoyed studying both the structure of language and thinking about how different societies and cultures form and are formed by their languages. I have studied french classical greek, latin, classical hebrew, russian (ish!) and a little bit of german. My vocation is science, but I want to keep my brain in multi-lingual mode as much as possible. So, I hope that begins to answer your question, and you can appreciate that I enjoy learning foreign languages purely for its own pleasure too. It sounds like you've had quite an adventure, and I'm glad that you were able to fulfil your dream. I would love to hear more about your time in Europe. Did you spend much time in England? Where did you visit? So I thought I would start out by quoting your post with corrections in blue. If this seems rude or patronising please let me know and I'll stop! Apologies in advance. I won't make comments unless I find a point of interest, so please ask if a correction doesn't make sense. Quote:
You will have noticed that I used "ish" as an independent word above in discussing learning russian. As a suffix, -ish is simply used to modify a noun, as in your examples child or self, to form an adjective; thus childish or selfish. As a general rule the resulting adjective will have a related meaning such as "child-like". Obviously "self-like" isn't very illuminating, but here it means "self-interested", "self-centred" or putting oneself before others. Now, I think you're asking about "ish" when it appears as a word by itself, right? This is very much a colloquialism, used only in casual speech. It's not something I personally use very often. It is used to modify the intensity of an expression, usually an attributive phrase. Thus, when I used it above, I meant that my study of russian wasn't nearly as formal or extensive as my studies in classical greek or french. It can be appended to an adjective to modify it's intensity: "The lamp shade has a yellowish tinge." "John tends to arrive early-ish, around 8 a.m." It can be used after a slight pause, indicating that you have reconsidered the extremity implied by what you have said and want to quickly modify it, as in the following example. "Sarah was absolutely crazy. Ish. Well I mean, she shouldn't be sectioned or anything, but her behaviour scared me!" "The leaves have turned a fiery red. Ish, or at least they are turning that way." Or it can even be a response, indicating that you disagree with the intensity of the speaker's attribution of a property, but agree with the general idea, as in the following example. "Tony Blair was a great leader." "Ish! I mean, I think that the same qualities that made him great at times were also his downfall." I think those are the main points about ish, but do ask if anything is unclear.
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07-04-2010, 05:30 AM
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Nice to meet you. Let me introduce myself. I’m a housewife, used to work as a pharmacist. I live in Kasawaki city, Kanagawa prefecture. I love dancing. When I was a student, I practiced Karate. (Kyokushin, of course! What’s yours?) My grandfather, my uncle and my cousins are Buddhist priests. I’ve been studying English for many years, but still have a lot of difficulties writing and speaking English. Quote:
I’d like to help you, but I don’t see how I can help you specifically. Will you ask questions here? My answering your questions will be enough? I believe you would like to study polite Japanese, so If you want, I will write here in polite (kind of formal, but not too formal) Japanese. Is this OK with you? Quote:
Thank you. See you soon! If you have questions about my post or Japanese customs, don't hesitate to ask. I  YamaP 
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07-04-2010, 05:57 AM
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 I'm alright too. わたしもげんきです！ Quote:
I had many chances to start practising Karate and Aikido, because quite a few of my friends were doing it and often asked me to join them, but I didn't... when I was about 10 years old...I was busy playing with friends like...going to the mountain and river to catch こんちゅう、めだか、ざりがにetc and playing ソフトボール、ドッジボール、バスケットボール や おにごっこ. My mother made me to go to Piano lesson because I was always acting like a boy so she thought it's a good idea,but in 1 year I quit. I prefered running arond. I think I should have practised Karate or Aikido or something to learn self-discipline. Quote:
It must be wonderful to know that many languages to be able to compare and find out many things in there! Quote:
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I arrived at Heathrow nearly mid-night, so I decided to stay in the airport to save money.I was a little scared because there were just many men looking strange...but I guess for them I looked strange too, so nothing bad happened. Next day, I waited for the information centre to open and they arranged an B&B accommo in London for me.There were 4 girls in the dormitory room.They were from Australia and Argentina.I enjoyed talking to my room mates and walking around the city to look at all the famous things with many tourists around, but I really wanted to meet local people, so on the 2nd day I went to Walthamstow for having a look at the street market there. When I got there, I thought "this is it!".I was so excited just to be there with the local people around! I was walking down the street and found a real estate agent and the door was open, so I just popped in and asked them like..."I know it's strage to ask you this, but do you have any room for rent for a week?" I knew they would say of course not, and they did, but the ladies were very friendly and asked me "What's on the earth a Japanese tourist is doing in Walthamstow? There are many famous places to go and take photos in London! Anyway take a seat! Let's have some cup of tea" then we started chatting. They made a list of "must see in London" for me. I had a wonderful time there. When I was just about to say thank you and leave there, a lady made a phone call to an owner of a house near by and asked him to rent me a room for a week!and soon he said OK! not only that, the owner and the real estate agent ladies brought me many sheets and blankets and a TV! and not only that! The owner asked me to join him and his friends for a drink at the corner pub.(That's where I heard a lot of "ish" conversation) I had an amazing time there. There are 2 girls sharing the same house(each room has own door for the outside,but they share the bathroom and the kitchen). A student from Africa and a local girl.They said they don't talk much each other.It was very interesting that they gave me really different information about London. After the wonderful one week stay in that room, the real estate ladies invited me to stay at their places too. After London, I visited Hastings and Dover. I just loved England very very much.I think I was very lucky. Quote:
ありがとうございます！ I'll probablly make a lot of mistakes and Im afraind I already did in here. So please do not feel like you have to. I'd like you to enjoy this Japanforum and I don't want to be too much trouble for you here. I will try not to make too many mistakes! がんばります！ Quote:
ありがとうございました Please leave your questions or just type anything you leant and practice!
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Hello Yuri! -
07-04-2010, 10:36 PM
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Pleased to meet you too. Quote:
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I studied 上新 流 under 先生 フィル Snewin. Is that right? Is there a way to transliterate "Snewin"? Quote:
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Teach Yourself Japanese I may have jumped the gun slightly in asking to set up an exchange so early, but in fact I am happy to offer as much help as anyone needs and get to know some people here on the forum before I have a great many questions myself. At least in this way I will have some Japanese friends to ask about the language when I do become more advanced. As a corollary of this, please do not feel guilty if, to begin with, you are asking more questions than me, as I'm sure that will balance out in time! Besides, I enjoy helping, and in fact I put some stock in the phrase "homines dum docent, discunt". As I can see you are quite an advanced English speaker, do feel free to ask more involved questions. Part of my work at the Oxford English Dictionary involves a lot of research into the history of the English language, as well as requiring an intricate knowledge of grammar, so if there are any more esoteric questions you have then I'd love to tackle those too. Quote:
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I don't think anything you have written is strictly incorrect. The only thing I can see is where you say: I...still have a lot of difficulties writing and speaking English. It is slightly more natural to say "I still have a lot of difficulty writing and speaking English", but this is an extremely minor point! Actually where you say: I’m a housewife, used to work as a pharmacist. Now I know this is only a casual introduction, but strictly this sentence is not grammatical as the two clauses are disconnected. You could say: I’m a housewife and I used to work as a pharmacist. or I’m a housewife, who used to work as a pharmacist. or even I am a housewife but used to work as a pharmacist. While it is also strictly correct to elide "I am" to "I'm" and still have a second verb relying on the same subject, thus: I’m a housewife and used to work as a pharmacist. it doesn't flow as naturally. If you wanted to maintain the disconnected clauses, you would need a semicolon and a repetition of the subject of the verb, thus: I’m a housewife; I used to work as a pharmacist. I hope that helps!
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