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When I type Japanese...

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Fedgrub
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Posts: 191
Joined: June 30th, 2007 3:10 am

When I type Japanese...

Postby Fedgrub » July 17th, 2007 6:26 am

Do they use spaces between the words? I am trying to say "I am Matt" in Japanese for example, so would it appear like

わたし は Matt です。

OR

わたしはMattです。

I am confused. If I have written these wrong as well, it would be great if you could let me know! I cant write my name in Japanese yet, sorry.

Thanks!

jkeyz15
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Joined: June 25th, 2007 8:01 am

Postby jkeyz15 » July 17th, 2007 7:23 am

Japanese doesn't use spaces.

So how do you seperate words?
The answer: Experience, kanji, and grammar particles


As for you're name in Japanese. It is matto. Since foreign names are generally written with katakana, type matto and press F7 to convert the active text from hiragana to katakana.

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Fedgrub
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Posts: 191
Joined: June 30th, 2007 3:10 am

Postby Fedgrub » July 17th, 2007 7:26 am

Thank you so much! I didnt think I saw any spaces when reading other peoples stuff. You guys are geniouses around here. Did I type the rest correctly?

jkeyz15
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Postby jkeyz15 » July 17th, 2007 8:20 am

yup all correct.

seanolan
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Postby seanolan » July 17th, 2007 11:14 pm

When writing solely in kana (hiragana, katakana), especially for children, most Japanese do put spaces between words, but usually after the particle, treating the particle as part of the word

Mattさんは この たとえが わかりますか。

Which can get REALLY confusing with the more complex particles and such...but you'll see that eventually.

Sean

jkeyz15
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Joined: June 25th, 2007 8:01 am

Postby jkeyz15 » July 18th, 2007 1:51 am

That's because particles are somewhat considered to be part of the word. Like an inflection.

Bueller_007
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Postby Bueller_007 » July 18th, 2007 3:16 am

jkeyz15 wrote:That's because particles are somewhat considered to be part of the word. Like an inflection.

Never heard that before.

jkeyz15
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Posts: 149
Joined: June 25th, 2007 8:01 am

Postby jkeyz15 » July 18th, 2007 3:47 am

I wish I could remember where I read it. I don't completely understand all the linguistic arguments about them. But that some Japanese particle behave like inflections is one argument.

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