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I'm Frustrated, How do.. 2008/11/25 20:59
Well this is the problem, i can speak japanese (Just basic Stuff, but very helpful)
But i can't read it or write it, i was playing GTA iv, And a japanese person added me as a friend, he was typing in hiragana which i can only read No/ku/shi/A/ect, im not very good with it,

I took like 30 mins to write a message saying that i don't speak japanese,

Now, i noticed REAL japanese people NEVER Types in ROMANJI, So i don't know if this is just me, or its a fact, what i want to do is ask this person to type in romanji for me, so i can understand, but i don't know if that's even goin to work. (it might even be rude but im not sure)

I feel Really frustrated because of that, i don't know why, i always feel like i want to communicate but i can't and it's driving me crazy
by Joseph  

Romaji 2008/11/26 09:26
Joseph,

Actually it's called "romaji".
Romaji was created for non-Japanese speakers, so the natives never use it except perhaps when writing emails back home from a PC overseas that cannot cope with Japanese input.
But back to your question, I don't think it's rude to ask your friend to write in Romaji if you are not able to read hiragana yet. Just note that Japanese written in romaji can actually be harder to read, since there are so many homophones in Japanese. Also, Japanese natives often use different (or mixed up) romanization from the Hepburn system that we learn, so you could come across spellings that don't make immediate sense.
by Dave in Saitama rate this post as useful

Romaji 2008/11/26 14:32
It isn't rude to ask a friend to write in romaji so that you can understand. In fact I typically (when trying to speak fast for class assignments) will write out in romaji what I wish to say, but I do agree with the person above that It does get difficult to understand sometimes when reading romaji, if you know hirigana and katakana.

I would either suggest studying up on hirigana a bit and if the person you talk with uses Kanji i would suggest getting a program that can define those because I can't even read Kanji. It may come in handy later for talking with others.


by Heather rate this post as useful

. 2008/11/26 22:07
Practice makes perfect.

A person who is at it can learn most of the hiragana and katakana in no time. Less then a 2 weeks if you apply yourself.
by John rate this post as useful

aaa 2008/11/27 19:24
How do i ask him to type in romaji then?

post it and i copy and paste because he keeps typing in hiragana xD
by Joseph rate this post as useful

Try this? 2008/11/27 20:33
Sumimasen ga, roma-ji de kaite moraemasen ka?
Mada nihongo ga amari umakunakute, hiragana wa amari yomemasen.

(Excuse me, but can you please write in romaji?
I am not yet very good with Japanese, and I cannot read hiragana very well.)
by AK rate this post as useful

... 2008/11/28 07:28
I memorized kana within 24 hours. Your current situation is the perfect opportunity to learn kana in a quick way.
by Uji rate this post as useful

thats.. 2008/11/28 09:25
because you probaly are smart

im a dumb ass

so far i learned new hiraganas lol

but only like 12 in total

kanji 1

yeah im stupid =(

i bet my IQ is around 112
by Jooseph rate this post as useful

It's not that hard 2008/11/28 10:37
If you're willing to apply yourself, you can learn hiragana in no time. It took me three days to learn it. Basically I just started writing everything I could think of in hiragana (a chart in front of me) until I knew them. Emailing in hiragana sounds like a perfect opportunity to practice. Believe me, the more you practice the easier it gets. I can read hiragana now almost as fast as I can read English.

Maybe you can ask your friend to write in both hiragana and romanji until you get used to hiragana.

Good luck!
by Lauren rate this post as useful

mMm 2008/11/28 19:51
Things look even more complicated to me, for exemple how do you put together words to look like that?
Exemple
すき What im triying to say it's SUKI but is NOT RIGHT
It has to be 好き <<−

How im suppuse to know that you have to put a 好 Actually, how im suppuse to read it, it's not even on the tables list
And ofcourse there are moree wordsss

So basically, how do you learn to type and Read those "Kanjis" or whatever they are
by Joseph rate this post as useful

How? 2008/11/29 07:21
Years of study and practice, one word at a time, preferably with a good textbook/teacher.

If you still haven't learned the kana, don't worry about kanji until you have.

すき is correct actually, I oftn see it written like that, and Japanese people will understand it without the kanji.
by Sira rate this post as useful

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