The Like/Hate Thread

[Sigfried Hunin]

Hate: My girlfriend finds me gross and a turn off.

Fffft lies

[Vad]

Definitely don't feel attractive anymore.

[Shun]

I've never felt attractive if that makes you feel any better.

[Vad]

Rewording: I had a lack of confidence before. It's probably worse now.

[Sage]

Rewording: I had a lack of confidence before. It's probably worse now.

I probably have to end my relationship next week...

...I feel sick about it, but it just doesn't work.

Sometimes, man, no relationship is better than a relationship with the wrong person.

[Vad]

Bleh

[Super Buu]

THIS and also the stupid shit never works properly or changes everything completely every other version.

Like: Dark Souls 2 confirmed to hopefully not be a trash console port on PC. Interview says it's developed on "PC base" and now has 60 FPS. Maybe I will finally finish one of these. Also as a way of setting a life goal (beyond being rich out of my eyeballs when I get older), I'm learning Japanese in an effort to speak 6 languages before I die.

Holy hell you know 5 languages already? Japanese is only my second. I learnt a little French and German in school, then forgot it entirely (because I never decided to learn them in the first place, thus all those lessons were a massive waste of time). I really love it though. It's actually surprisingly easy especially because it's so damn interesting. I find the verb system super cool. There's a lot of 'beneath the surface' stuff to learn (like for example, the use - or lack thereof - of pronouns. You can learn the word for 'you' or 'this guy', but using those words is rude unless the person is a friend) but that's what makes it so interesting and cool to play with.

[Tyr]

Holy hell you know 5 languages already? Japanese is only my second. I learnt a little French and German in school, then forgot it entirely (because I never decided to learn them in the first place, thus all those lessons were a massive waste of time). I really love it though. It's actually surprisingly easy especially because it's so damn interesting. I find the verb system super cool. There's a lot of 'beneath the surface' stuff to learn (like for example, the use - or lack thereof - of pronouns. You can learn the word for 'you' or 'this guy', but using those words is rude unless the person is a friend) but that's what makes it so interesting and cool to play with.

Oh fuck no, I only barely comprehend German and then I'm fluent in Danish and English. It's a recent goal I added to my bucket list, my current plan is to have the fifth nailed down around 25, so after a few years of Japanese. I started learning Spanish then ditched it due to lack of commitment. Going for Japanese -> Spanish (again) and then the last is up to a coin toss.

I find it so hard to learn Japanese though - so they use two (and an archaic third one sometimes?) alphabets to pronounce words but then they don't even write with it, they use Kanji. It all seems so crazy coming from latin-origin languages where I can somewhat guess how a word is pronounced depending on the letters in it. Japanese... not so much.


(also why the fuck did they make TWO pronunciation alphabets with identical sounds just different characters?)

[Super Buu]

Ah no, you'll use hiragana and katakana in writing. I had a 'eureka!' moment when talking to a friend, when thinking out loud "but the same word can end different ways to mean different things. Taberu means to eat, Tabereru means Can eat, Tabeta means ate ... so they must use the kanji for the first part, then follow it with the hiragana to determine the meaning, right?" It's exactly that.

Also many conjunctions, sentence endings (like desu, da, kedo, ka etc etc) don't use kanji, they are only a syllable or two so you just use the hiragana. Katakana is used for foreign words, road signs, and for emphasis sometimes. Think of it as capital letters. It annoyed me too until I realised it had that usage, and we do exactly the same with the alphabet. Granted some folks want to phase it out in favour of pure hiragana, but I don't think that'll happen. I do think I prefer the alphabet overall for its versatility, but kanji/kana are also fun and cool in their own way.

If I learn a third, I think I'll go Chinese. Another hard one, but it's really commonly used and the kanji are about 50% the same as Japanese anyway so it won't be so hard after (the Taiwanese and Japanese people I've met here seem to consider Japanese "the easy language to learn", the same way we might consider French or German. It's funny to me). If I ever get to a fourth, Spanish probably. It's weird, before I started learning Japanese I straight-up wasn't interested in learning other languages. Now it's like I found a new hobby. I've been thinking lots about fantasy languages too since my eventual book will need to address the whole 'multuple languages' issue and beforehand I didn't have so much experience with it.

[Kayne]

I thought katakana was for foreign words (not to be confused with Romanji)?

[Super Buu]

I ... said that, didn't i? >_>

[Jonathan Meer]

[Tyr]

Ah no, you'll use hiragana and katakana in writing. I had a 'eureka!' moment when talking to a friend, when thinking out loud "but the same word can end different ways to mean different things. Taberu means to eat, Tabereru means Can eat, Tabeta means ate ... so they must use the kanji for the first part, then follow it with the hiragana to determine the meaning, right?" It's exactly that.

So do they actually use kanji for the "base" word then add hiragana for the inflections (Google Translated this word, might be wrong)? Like when you ask someone if they understand, you add ka to Wakarimasu?

[Kayne]

I ... said that, didn't i? >_>

Unless I missed it...I don't think so...it's why I asked. I've been in a sort of painkiller induced stupor for the past week.

[Super Buu]

Katakana is used for foreign words, road signs, and for emphasis sometimes.

And kind of, Tyr. In the case you just gave, the kanji used is '判' for 'Waka'. 判ru is to understand (casual form) 判rimasu is to understand (polite form) 判tta is 'understood' (past tense) 判rimashita is 'understood' (polite past tense) 判reru is 'Can understand' (potential form) 判reba is 'If understands' (provisional form). And there are lots more. Using romaji here for easiness, but of course the 'ru', the 'tta' etc would all be written in hiragana.

判った？

I have a bunch of learning resources if you want them. I recommend starting off with something like pimsleur (they are ridiculously expensive though so ...) because you get used to forming sentences without having to rack your brain. Then accompany it with 'manual' learning where you're actually looking up the words you're learning and the other meanings and usage. Tae Kim (http://www.guidetojapanese.org/) has probably the best and most comprehensive grammar guide on the internet, but he's also pretty long-winded and insists on doing some things like writing solely in kanji and kana which makes it difficult to learn unless you already know a bit. To begin with I used simpler sites like http://www.freejapaneselessons.com/ for quick reference to words, grammar and hiragana/katakana. Finally namasensei (http://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL9987A659670D60E0) is great because he is funny although he fucks up a lot. I find you remember something easier when it's fun. When I'm more comfortable with the language I'm thinking of doing a 'quick n dirty' guide myself with lots of references to other learning material, but just something that allows people to get a grip on the grammar quickly without it being so long and torturous as Tae Kim's guide.

[Tyr]

I'm not sure if we just hit the same start up guide or something, but that's basically how I've been approaching it. I'm trying to memorize hiragana/katakana while listening to it, but I found it hard to not laugh at myself because I keep thinking I'm pronouncing everything wrong.

I'm using http://www.freejapaneselessons.com/ to learn the stroke order when writing and then I print out a page of the letters, then fill them in with ink as I say them aloud. It's working decently but it's a real bore so it kills the will, but at least I remember them. Do you know if there's an alphabet rhyme/song/something to learn the alphabet? I keep thinking I need B after A and it's messing me up.

[Sage]

Fucking weeaboos.

[Sigfried Hunin]

Fucking weeaboos.

[Shun]

http://www.openculture.com/freelanguagelessons

http://www.openculture.com/free_certificate_courses

Merry Christmas Hoes.

[Jarka]

Like: concha bread, and the fact that the gas station on my corner is one of the only places in my neighborhood that sells it.

Hate: having to wait until November for the second Hunger Games movie. Want now!