I just started japanese but I'm curious already if the conversational connectors presented in Language Hacking Guide work for japanese ?(I don't know the way grammar works yet). And if there is a list already.

The author recommends beginners to use this so their conversations are not that boring to natives and to sound more natural. We don't want these: "How old are you?" <<27>> "How is your food?" <<Good>>

These connectors are good also when you forget something and need extra seconds.

Some from the 100 list:


that sounds like

even though

to be more precise

don't be upset, but

that's one way to say it

I hope it is only a question of time

between you and me

that is a good question

the way I see it is that

Ehh.... you can't simply translate those and use them as connectors, but Japanese has tons of similar set expressions to make conversation smoother. If you're really interested in it, there's plenty of books in Japanese on how to converse in Japanese (not that I have any, but I see the blurbs for them when I'm poking around lists of new releases).

そういえば and 残念ながら are the only ones that come to mind, but I can't recall ever seeing a list of those sorts of expressions in particular. A search of edict for things tagged 'expression' might be interesting, though - then again, the most useful ones are covered in any decent textbook.

Yeah, I haven't seen a list like that, and I don't think it would be good to go through that whole list trying to find translations.

A lot of them you'll learn through any good study resources. Some of those seem more like full grammar points to me (e.g. even though, that seems like), and you'll learn them as you add to your grammatical knowledge.

I do occasionally think of expressions I use a lot in English that have kind of fallen through the cracks between vocabulary and grammar I suppose. Often these are conversational phrases. For those, I think it's good to keep a list of expressions that you haven't come across yet and find someone to ask (forums, native speaking friends, etc.).

Also, make sure you don't worry about finding exact equivalents for those, and instead focus on communicating the idea. 'the way i see it is that' for example, seems like a pretty specific English expression that you could say in much simpler ways (I think...). Maybe there's a Japanese expression that's really similar to that you could find, but I'd focus more on the idea you're trying to communicate, rather than finding an equivalent. Maybe obvious, but good to keep in mind.

Also, I highly recommend A Basic Dictionary of Japanese Grammar. They include a lot of these conversational and transitional phrases, and explain them thoroughly.

who wrote that book cause i get many results on amazon?

cheers

Here's the info:

http://bookclub.japantimes.co.jp/en/titl...%20Grammar

The intermediate and advanced versions look great as well. I'm just getting started on the intermediate one, and it's extremely helpful.

I admit I'm more into grammar than a lot of people, but this series is by far the best resource I've found.

Also, if you're just getting started with Japanese, I recommend Tae Kim's grammar guide at the beginning (as you've probably seen mentioned all over this forum). I don't know if he covers that many of the specific expressions you're looking for, but it's an excellent grammar base, and a lot of the examples are conversational.

In my opinion, Tae Kim (or the first few levels... first 3 out of 4? I forget) followed by more in depth study and additional grammar points with the basic grammar guide would give you a great start.

You can read about the idea here. If you search in Anki shared decks, you'll find one with 450 or so expressions, all grouped and so on (in English/Czech though).

Gaijinme Wrote:I don't know the way grammar works yet

Embrace yourself for a mental roller coaster.

You may want to look at (in the provided order):
[1]Japanese for the Western Brain – a short introduction on why Japanese will twist your brain
[2]Tae Kim's Guide – systematic exploration of Japanese grammar concepts
[3]A Basic Dictionary of Japanese Grammar – ultimate reference (the subsequent volumes are also a must, if you are really serious about Japanese)

Besides that, I would also be interested in those Japanese conversational connectors.

[1]http://kimallen.sheepdogdesign.net/Japanese/index.html
[2]http://www.guidetojapanese.org/learn/
[3]http://www.amazon.com/Dictionary-Basic-Japanese-Grammar/dp/4789004546