Learn Japanese - JapanesePod101.com

Name: Mikael
Age: 25
Place of birth: Finland
Furthest location travelled: Japan
Places you want to go: Japan, Korea, Tibet, Galapagos islands, Iceland, travel with the Transsiberian railroad across Russia.
Spoken languages: Finnish, Swedish, English, Japanese, some Russian and German, Spanish basics
Written Languages: same as above
Languages in the process of learning: Japanese, Russian
Hobbies: Languages and cultures, reading, mountain climbing, volunteerism and photography.
Occupation: University student
Education: Bachelor of Social Sciences
Favorite Movies: Seven Samurai, Dream (by Akira Kurosawa), A moment to remember, Leon, The Shawshank Redemption, Schindler's List
Favorite Bands: Apocalyptica, Tak Matsumoto, Miyuki Nakajima, Ryuichi Sakamoto, Queen, Meat Loaf, Mr. Big and other 70s, 80s and 90s rock and hard rock bands.
Favorite Books: The Magic of Thinking Big, The Monk Who Sold His Ferrari, The Wayfinders, etc.
Ultimate Goal: To complete the JLPT 1 within 2 years.

Hiya guys!!! Another newbie here

Name: Tessah
Age: 27
Place of birth: Philippines
Furthest location travelled: Japan
Places you want to go: Australia, Brazil, France and Italy
Spoken languages: English, Tagalog
Written Languages: English, Tagalog
Languages in the process of learning: Japanese, Portugalogo
Hobbies: Internet, Paper Crafting
Occupation: housewife, freelance seo/internet marketer
Education: BS Political Economy
Favorite Movies: Forrest Gump
Favorite Bands: Incubus
Favorite Video Games:
Ultimate Goal: To fly kite under the rain

Name:　Lian
Age:　21
Place of birth: Dublin
Furthest location travelled: US
Places you want to go: The obvious...Japan!
Spoken languages: English, a bit of Irish (studied french & german in school)
Written Languages: English
Languages in the process of learning: Japanese, a bit of Mandarin
Hobbies: Reading, Shopping, Movies/Music,guitar, learning japanese ,
Occupation: Uni Student
Education: BSc. (1 year left!)
Favorite Movies: Sen to Chihiro no Kamikakushi, pretty much every Miyazaki movie, nightmare before christmas,amelie
Favorite Bands: Radiohead, Muse, various Jpop/Jrock!
Favorite Video Games: Hmm.. id have to say classic mario
Ultimate Goal: To do the JET program/Get to Japan somehow! Be a neuroscientist/doctor!

Name: Strike
Age: ~11
Place of birth: EArth
Furthest location traveled: From point A? I suppose China.
Places you want to go: Jupiter and Saturn.
Spoken languages: American English
Written Languages: American English
Languages in the process of learning: Japanese...
Hobbies: Gaming. listening to music. Chasing after women. watching things on TV ( computer monitor)
Occupation: Educator. Future Engineer.
Education: oriental studies
Favorite Movies: Crippled Avengers.
Favorite Bands: The Hives. Korn. X - Japan.
Favorite Video Games: Rpg's in general are my fav but I suppose Dragon Quest 7 as a single title.
Ultimate Goal: To be in position of power that could influence the world. ~Nearest goal~~ to complete JLPT N@ JULY 2014.

Hi, kenbladex5563-san,

thank you for sharing the (interesting!) info
Loved "place of birth: earth"

Natsuko(奈津子),
Team JapanesePod101.com

Name: Lysander Trines
Age: 13
Place of birth: Netherlands
Furthest location travelled: spain france and germany
Places you want to go: JAPAN OF COURSE
Spoken languages: netherlands and english (and upcomming japanese)
Written Languages: netherlands and english
Languages in the process of learning: japanese, french,
Hobbies: watching anime and drawing manga
Occupation: none
Education: BC Broekhin
Favorite Movies: Angel Beats
Favorite Bands: Girls Dead Monster
Favorite Video Games: upcoming angelk beats game spring 2014
Ultimate Goal: mastering Japanese and travel to Japan

lysandert2681-san,
hajimemashite
Thank you for sharing the info list

lysandert2681 wrote:Ultimate Goal: mastering Japanese and travel to Japan

I loved it!

Natsuko (奈津子),
Team JapanesePod101.com

Hi everyone,　yet another Newbie here
I would like to use this opportunity to practice a bit. I try to provide a translation for each answer. Please let me know about mistakes I made. すみません、Thank you (for your effort ;O)

Name: Michael
Age: 36
Place of birth: Kassel/Germany
出身はドイツのカッセルです。 Hope that translation is correct ;O)
Furthest location traveled: North: Sweden, West: Cork and Kerry/Ireland, South: Kosovo, East: Eastern Germany
北：スエーデン。西：アイルランド。南：コソボ。東：東ドイツ　（^＿^）
Places you want to go:
Spoken languages: German, English; ドイツ語や英語
Written Languages: German, English; ドイツ語や英語
Languages in the process of learning: Japanese, Chinese; 日本語と中国語「汉语・漢語」
Hobbies: Swimming, Climbing, Reading, Painting, Nature, E-Guitar and E-Bass, Heavy Metal
水泳や岩登るや読むや絵を描くや大自然やエレクトリックグイターベースやヘビーメタル。
Occupation: Chip-Designer; チップ設計者。
Education: University; 大学。
Favorite Movies: Alien, Bambi, Lord of the Rings; 「エイリアン」や「バンビ」や「指輪物語」。
Favorite Bands: ManOwaR, マノヴォー。
Favorite Video Games: Gothic, Elvira: Mistress of the Dark; 「Gothic」や「Elvira: Mistress of the Dark」。
Favorite Books: "The Invincible" by Stanisław Lem, Only the Flower Knows; 「Ｔｈｅ　Ｉｎｖｉｎｃｉｂｌｅ」や「花のみぞ知る」。
Ultimate Goal For This Year: Climb the Fujisan; 富士山に登る。　:D

Michael さん、
こんにちは
Thank you for the list of info!!

metalwarrior8679 wrote:Place of birth: Kassel/Germany
出身はドイツのカッセルです。 Hope that translation is correct ;O)
Furthest location traveled: North: Sweden, West: Cork and Kerry/Ireland, South: Kosovo, East: Eastern Germany
北：スエーデン。西：アイルランド。南：コソボ。東：東ドイツ　（^＿^）

Yes, your sentence is correct
Katakana words are always tricky, aren't they? Sweden is スウェーデン in Japanese

metalwarrior8679 wrote:Spoken languages: German, English; ドイツ語や英語
Written Languages: German, English; ドイツ語や英語
Languages in the process of learning: Japanese, Chinese; 日本語と中国語「汉语・漢語」

You can use と for ドイツ語と英語 unless there are more languages you actually speak and write.

metalwarrior8679 wrote:Hobbies: Swimming, Climbing, Reading, Painting, Nature, E-Guitar and E-Bass, Heavy Metal
水泳や岩登るや読むや絵を描くや大自然やエレクトリックグイターベースやヘビーメタル。

Climbing.....maybe ロック・クライミング OR 岩登り, and Reading would be 読書

metalwarrior8679 wrote:Favorite Movies: Alien, Bambi, Lord of the Rings; 「エイリアン」や「バンビ」や「指輪物語」。
Favorite Bands: ManOwaR, マノヴォー。
Favorite Video Games: Gothic, Elvira: Mistress of the Dark; 「Gothic」や「Elvira: Mistress of the Dark」。
Favorite Books: "The Invincible" by Stanisław Lem, Only the Flower Knows; 「Ｔｈｅ　Ｉｎｖｉｎｃｉｂｌｅ」や「花のみぞ知る」。
Ultimate Goal For This Year: Climb the Fujisan; 富士山に登る。　:D

Wow, that's quite a list!
As to proper names, you can often find on internet. The film "Lord of the Rings" is known as ロード・オブ・ザ・リング
than 指輪物語 although 指輪物語 is often mentioned as "sub title or translation" with main title in katakana



Natsuko (奈津子),
Team JapanesePod101.com

奈津子さん、こんばんは - or better おやすみ、午前一時半です。
Natsuko-san, konban wa - or better oyasumi, it's 1:30 AM.

Katakana words are always tricky, aren't they? Sweden is スウェーデン in Japanese

了解です！　：Ｄ　But it's not the fault of the Katakana, I did not pay enough attention when reading what I wrote ^^

You can use と for ドイツ語と英語 unless there are more languages you actually speak and write.

確かに。　私はフランス語を話すがちょっとだけ。
I agree. I also speak French, but just a little (so listing it here would be too embarassing ;O)

Climbing.....maybe ロック・クライミング OR 岩登り, and Reading would be 読書

はい。「Ｃｌｉｍｂｉｎｇ」は日本語で「ロック・クライミング」か「岩登り」です。
ええ、「読書」、本当にか。ああ、そうですか。やっと分かりました。 Eh, "reading" is "読書", really? Ah, I see. Now, I understand. (Just had a look in the dictionary ;O)

The film "Lord of the Rings" is known as ロード・オブ・ザ・リング
than 指輪物語 although 指輪物語 is often mentioned as "sub title or translation" with main title in katakana

はい、「ロード・オブ・ザ・リング」です。分かりました。今、私はカタカナが大好きな始まります。：Ｄ
Ah, alright, it's "ロード・オブ・ザ・リング". I understand. Now, I begin to love Katakana.

私は菜津子さんの支援に感謝しています。ありがとうございました。
Natsuko-san, I appreciate your help. Thank you very much!
ミハエル

ミハエルさん、
どういたしまして
カタカナが好きですか。なれると便利ですね。
You're welcome.
You like katakana? It's convenient once you get used to.

Natsuko (奈津子),
Team JapanesePod101.com

Name: Tom, or Tommy. I have no preference.

Age: 26, going on 27 this month

Place of birth: United States, Illinois

Furthest location travelled: With family; Florida beach, by myself; A few towns over.

Places you want to go: Japan, Ireland, England, China, and Hawaii. Japan is numero uno, of course.

Spoken languages: English, but I'm adopting more and more Japanese words.

Written Languages: English

Languages in the process of learning: Japanese

Hobbies: Japan, Art, Movies

Occupation: Fast food cook

Education: High school, but I'm working up the courage, saving money, and planning for college

Favorite Movies: Too many to name, but right now I suppose it's the one I just finished; The Harimaya Bridge.

Favorite Bands: Lemon Demon, Daft Punk,

Favorite Video Games: The Legend of Zelda, Resident Evil, and Silent Hill

Ultimate Goal: To figure that one out, as I'd be happy achieving anything. I suppose, learning Japanese is my bigget goal at the moment as well as working up enough courage for more face-to-face social situations. I suppose going off to Japan by myself while vacationing is a dream I have. I've had thoughts about potentially moving there for a year just to get the experience of living abroad, but there's a lot to build up to that point. One of my old goals that I used to dream of doing is being a comic book artist here in the states, but I have trouble with anatomy and staying motivated with art so that's a retired dream for now.

After an ear infection, I sadly just kind of forgot about this place because it made me get lazy, as well as Japanese, but over the past few months I've been building back up to learning the language again. I haven't made as much progress as I've wanted to, but I'm still surprised by how much just listening to the language itself helps. I really need to start learning grammar, kanji, and building vocabulary.

However, I'm quite proud to find myself not finding Japanese to sound like gibberish anymore. I don't mean any offence by that. I love the language, but when I first started really learning it and listening, it was so alien but now I can pick up a lot of the beginnings and endings of speech, such as 何, です, ます, and ありません, etc. I can recognize almost all of sounds in Japanese just by sound alone. Right now, I'm having trouble pronouncing the Japanese R's, and I'm still working up the courage to try video chats with native speakers, and fellow learners online but I feel confident that this is something I can do once I get past all my fears.

I've also started playing a lot more games in Japanese. I even bought an import of Final Fantasy 13, since the PS3 is region free. I also discovered one of my favorite games on PC, Alan Wake is fully localized with Japanese, right down to replacing floating English words at the end with kanji!

Tom-san,
kon'nichiwa!
Thank you for sharing the info of yourself

I think it's great that you can recognise some parts of speeches in Japanese now!
It's a good start and I'm sure you'll be more confident in no time

Finding our own pace of study is, as far as I'm concerned, very important. Slow learning process is
not a bad thing at all. Right now, you might not have enough courage to communicate with
native speakers yet (or video chat with anyone really), and that's okay.
I personally don't feel very comfortable video chatting unless I know the person very well or
I can communicate with that person in the language I'm already fluent in. So, I kinda understand
why you need courage to do that.
Written communication on our website and practice by yourself will defenitely help you improve
your Japanese. Hope you can take advantage of any chance you have here
Good luck!

Natsuko (奈津子),
Team JapanesePod101.com

Tom-san,
hajimemashite, yoroshiku onegaishimasu.

You're playing games in Japanese, seriously? That's cool!
Seems you actually made more progress than you're aware of. Stay confident and just keep on!

About speaking. I would be too shy to skype with people I don't know, I guess.
But I tried speaking Japanese in Japanese restaurants. Maybe you've got some of those in your area as well?
Though, I have to admit that I never found a native speaker in any such restaurant. All the people there were from other countries - and me foolish German guy stuttering Japanese at them... ^^
But in my favorite Sushi bar, I tried using some Japanese - and the waiter told me, he was not from Japan, but learning Japanese, too. So that was a nice coincidence!

A good opportunity to finding Japanese native speakers may be Anime, Manga and Cosplay conventions. That's where I finally found some very nice Japanese guys - and guess how nervous and excited I had been speaking Japanese for real for the first time. But it was fun and a very nice experience!

So, best of luck and success to you - I am sure you're gonna find some good opportunities to meet native speakers. If not, visit Japan; as it's on your TODO-list anyway, right?
Michael

ありがとうございます everyone.

I suppose I have made more progress than I give myself credit for. Actually, I went back to one of the first games I played in Japanese (Resident Evil Revelations) last night, and was surpised how much of the vowels I was able to recognize. I even heard a few words I recognized. When I first started playing it, I didn't hear or understand anything at all. I could even keep up with names when they were said, which is something I couldn't do the first time around. Like ジル, クリス, and パカ

I even picked up そうね and でも, and it's renewed my confidence a bit. I won't understimate slow learning again. Especially since you simply have to get used to the sounds of the language. Which I seem to have a pretty good start!