うん。私は”Half-Life 2”に”Steam”を遊べるようにしたんです。

I've tried to say "Yes. I used Steam to play Half-Life 2."

On a side note, what's the best way to ensure that my English-Japanese is as accurate/gramatically correct as possible, because I really have no way of telling whether what I'm trying to say is correct or not.

Some corrections:

1. Remove 私は. It's redundant.
2. Change "Half-Life 2に" to "Half-Life 2は"
3. Change "Steamを" to "Steamで"

Ydde2009 Wrote:On a side note, what's the best way to ensure that my English-Japanese is as accurate/gramatically correct as possible, because I really have no way of telling whether what I'm trying to say is correct or not.

Google things in qoutes. If you get no exact matches chances are somethin' ain't right. Works for telling if various things are correct or not.

Ydde2009 Wrote:On a side note, what's the best way to ensure that my English-Japanese is as accurate/gramatically correct as possible, because I really have no way of telling whether what I'm trying to say is correct or not.

If you have no idea if what you're saying is correct or not, you shouldn't be saying it. Stick to the simple stuff you know until you get good enough to say more advanced things.

Ydde2009 Wrote:うん。私は”Half-Life 2”に”Steam”を遊べるようにしたんです。

⇒　はい。 SteamでHalf-Life 2をゲームしました。
or: 　はい。 SteamでHalf-Life 2をゲームしてたんです。

Looks like you need to remember more sentence structure.
[Subjectが]OBJECT2でOBJECT1をVERBする。
Subject VERBs Object1 with Object2.

Thanks for the replies.

I'm currently going through Tae Kim's guide (while using the principles of AJATT), and although I'm finding Japanese to English fairly easy (due to my anki deck cards having the Japanese as questions), for some reason I have this fear that I'm always going to find it tough going from English-Japanese.

I can see now that it's probably just going to take a lot more time, a lot more reading material, and probably using a J-J dictionary ASAP.

Thanks anyways. ^_^

Just to add a couple of other suggestions:

「StreamでHalf-Life2をやったんです」
「・・・Half-Life2をプレイしたんです」

Ydde2009 Wrote:Thanks for the replies.

I'm currently going through Tae Kim's guide (while using the principles of AJATT), and although I'm finding Japanese to English fairly easy (due to my anki deck cards having the Japanese as questions), for some reason I have this fear that I'm always going to find it tough going from English-Japanese.

I can see now that it's probably just going to take a lot more time, a lot more reading material, and probably using a J-J dictionary ASAP.

Thanks anyways. ^_^

Might want to read a little more AJATT, because I'd advise you to NEVER go from English-Japanese.

Japanese-English only in the beginning, then Japanese-Japanese

Ydde2009 Wrote:I have this fear that I'm always going to find it tough going from English-Japanese.

Don't worry about it, at least not for now. You cannot produce what you cannot understand. You're just starting out on your journey of coming to understand Japanese, so it's much too early to be worried about your output ability.

Quote:The best methods are therefore those that supply 'comprehensible input' in low anxiety situations, containing messages that students really want to hear. These methods do not force early production in the second language, but allow students to produce when they are 'ready', recognizing that improvement comes from supplying communicative and comprehensible input, and not from forcing and correcting production.

--Stephen Krashen

To be honest, there is some controversy over Dr. Krashen's "comprehensible-input theory"--it's by no means accepted linguistic "law" or such. But, it strikes me as the best working theory we currently have

自分の経験について、ＫＲＡＳＨＥＮ先生の理論は正しいと思います。最近、日本語を書けるようになって凄く下手なのに、練習しなければならないと思いせん。一杯習わなければならないことがあり、まだ少ししかが分からなくて、読み方や単語の意味やぺらぺらと喋り方より習うほうがいいですね。書く練習は僕がしなくて、絶対な必要じゃないかもしりません。

I'm sure there are plenty of errors in that. Right now production isn't my focus and I don't write or speak much Japanese. (I welcome correction, though.) But, I feel I should point out that, yes, that came out pretty easily. My problem now is expanding my repertoire of vocabulary and grammar and (a bit later when I switch to practicing output) fixing errors. It's honestly no where near as uncomfortable as I had feared starting out.