thermal Wrote:This is not to say that my Japanese is that great, it's not, but I think keeping your languages distinct (arguably unless you are already multi lingual) is key to becoming really natural.

It's a dual edged sword though. Personally, I've kept Japanese, Swedish and English VERY distinct. As a result, i speak pretty natural Japanese and it's fast as well because my output goes directly from brain to mouth. However, I suck crap at translating. When i read a Japanese sentence, I understand it fully without being able to turn it into English. They are simply not connected well enough.

If you have a future goal to become a translator or teaching Japanese, it might be a good idea to keep the connection stronger because I think it lets you explain the language better in the other tongue.

Tobberoth Wrote:However, I suck crap at translating. When i read a Japanese sentence, I understand it fully without being able to turn it into English. They are simply not connected well enough.

Not being able to translate from L-A to L-B has nothing to do with how you studied L-A. It's rather about how well you can express yourself in L-B, whatever the source of the concept is. That is what I think, at least... I don't know if I've explained myself well though ^^'.

That's just a different skill that needs practicing in order to become good at it.

kfmfe04 Wrote:Yes, the Lucky Star dance has actually caught on:

http://jp.youtube.com/watch?v=82URtK0g1zk
http://jp.youtube.com/watch?v=tiJa8PgHi-g

Apparently, it's possible to measure your aptitude in anime by watching Lucky Star; there are many, many in-jokes which only frequent viewers of anime will catch (otaku)

But even without that knowledge, it's still fun to watch, and a good break from studying Japanese...

Aside from that being freakishly scary, the guy in the middle of the second clip's got some serious skillz. And he seems to take that very seriously.


http://jp.youtube.com/watch?v=bvnjnLBC1Vs

Eh!?

nac_est Wrote:

Tobberoth Wrote:However, I suck crap at translating. When i read a Japanese sentence, I understand it fully without being able to turn it into English. They are simply not connected well enough.

Not being able to translate from L-A to L-B has nothing to do with how you studied L-A. It's rather about how well you can express yourself in L-B, whatever the source of the concept is. That is what I think, at least... I don't know if I've explained myself well though ^^'.

Translation is a skill independent of language ability. While language ability is a pre-requisite, knowing two languages (even to native level) doesn't mean you're capable of translating between them.

I learn a lot more reading the Japanese subs. By that I watch it subbed in english or raw and then read japanese script. i have context, etc, etc, and the drama is usually mad good otherwise why would i read the script.

I learned a lot of basic stuff while watching subbed anime, namely Bleach.

動く
逃げる
殺す
テメー
馬鹿
そうか
ザンパクト
きさま
鼻水
ゲツガテンショウ
まさか
なるほど
何やってんだ

I also learned a lot from Capcom games

これで終わりだ
ごめんね
その手度か
そうして死ねええええ
覚悟はいい
波動拳

and the ever famous

うあー、うあー、うあー。。。

I've learnt to not always trust the subtitles

kazelee Wrote:その手度か

その程度（ていど）か！

・・・のほうがいいと思いますが。

albion Wrote:I've learnt to not always trust the subtitles

lol Too true. A couple years ago, having never studied Japanese -at all-, I started to notice bad subbing. If someone who has made no attempt to learn the language can notice mistakes... Wow.

Having said that, it's not -all- bad... The problem is that you can't tell what's good and bad. You can't even go by the group name as everyone makes mistakes sometimes.

Kazlee, where did you find japanese subs for Bleach? If you're talking about fansubbing groups, I wouldn't recommend it. Dattebayo has translated stuff wrong in the past (I mean REALLY wrong.. writing fureru instead of yureru etc).

albion Wrote:I've learnt to not always trust the subtitles

kazelee Wrote:その手度か

その程度（ていど）か！

・・・のほうがいいと思いますが。

That was not from subtitles. That was from a game.

Quote:Kazlee, where did you find japanese subs for Bleach? If you're talking about fansubbing groups, I wouldn't recommend it. Dattebayo has translated stuff wrong in the past (I mean REALLY wrong.. writing fureru instead of yureru etc).

The whole first section is just my typing out the words I learned in Japanse instead of English. I've actually come across them in while studing. The second half comes from games. I've heard them a million times and picked suitable kanji. Except for 波動拳 I've actually seen this before.

wccrawford Wrote:The problem is that you can't tell what's good and bad.

Sometimes you do can tell.