A number of questions...

[Fedgrub]

I dont know which forum this fits in best, because I have a few questions. So please forgive me in advance!

1. I get confused with how to tell the end of words with hiragana. Where are the spaces? I heard there are ways to tell where one word ends and the next starts.

2. When you need to do a double sound letter, and emphasise it through length, do you write the symbol twice, or do you add a certain stroke to represent this?

3. Does anyone know of a good website which is an online dictionary that has no popups and is accurate for finding out how one word is said? For example, if I didnt know how to say "Baseball", I would go to this site and it would be fast and easy to use. Any preferences anyone has?

4. I am looking at getting a Wordtank or similar. I have seen them for sale online, but are they sold offline? I want to ask for one from my parents for my birthday but they wont buy anything online. What type of store sells or could order in a Wordtank or similar?

5. Finally, I heard anime is bad for learning Japanese and testing yourself. I heard this is because in anime they use slang not normally used in everyday conversation. Is this true? I like Naruto and have it in Japanese with english subtitles. Is what I heard true?

Sorry for all the questions, I havnt had time to ask them as they came, I have been saving them all. Thank you for all your help in advance!

[Jason]

1. I get confused with how to tell the end of words with hiragana. Where are the spaces? I heard there are ways to tell where one word ends and the next starts.

I don't know of any specific tricks to seperate words. Just the more you become familiar with the sentence structures and your vocab grows, you'll be able to spot where words start and end (or at least be able to make good guesses).

2. When you need to do a double sound letter, and emphasise it through length, do you write the symbol twice, or do you add a certain stroke to represent this?

It depends on which syllable and which kana system you're in. Consonants are doubled in both hiragana and katakana with a small "tsu" (っ/ッ). Katakana vowels are (almost) always doubled with ー. Most hiragana vowels are doubled just by repeating the character, but there are 2 exceptions:

え　ー＞　えい
お　ー＞　おう

Note that some words double お as おお like 大阪 [Oosaka] and 狼 [ookami - wolf].

3. Does anyone know of a good website which is an online dictionary that has no popups and is accurate for finding out how one word is said? For example, if I didnt know how to say "Baseball", I would go to this site and it would be fast and easy to use. Any preferences anyone has?

http://rut.org/cgi-bin/j-e/S=48/FG=r/jis/dict

4. I am looking at getting a Wordtank or similar. I have seen them for sale online, but are they sold offline? I want to ask for one from my parents for my birthday but they wont buy anything online. What type of store sells or could order in a Wordtank or similar?

I believe they're primarily aimed at Japanese people, so they're primarily sold in Japan. It might be difficult to find them for sale offline except for stores that specialize in Japanese books.

5. Finally, I heard anime is bad for learning Japanese and testing yourself. I heard this is because in anime they use slang not normally used in everyday conversation. Is this true? I like Naruto and have it in Japanese with english subtitles. Is what I heard true?

It can be bad if it's your primary or only source of learning. But if you go in with the knowledge that what you'll be hearing may not be appropriate to use in everyday situations, you can pick up some interesting things that aren't covered by typical lessons (though you may hear them in a jpod lesson ). The problem is when people learn something from anime and then copy and use it in a completely inappropriate context and come across as being rude, and idiot, or some combination of both. If you understand the differences in context with what's being said, you're safe. In short, if you don't understand the context in which some language should be used, don't use it.

Also, if you're a guy and tend to watch anime with prominent female casts, you have to be careful of picking up distinctively female speech patterns and intonations. I've found that this is something I've had to watch myself on before.

[Fedgrub]

1. I get confused with how to tell the end of words with hiragana. Where are the spaces? I heard there are ways to tell where one word ends and the next starts.

I don't know of any specific tricks to seperate words. Just the more you become familiar with the sentence structures and your vocab grows, you'll be able to spot where words start and end (or at least be able to make good guesses).

2. When you need to do a double sound letter, and emphasise it through length, do you write the symbol twice, or do you add a certain stroke to represent this?

It depends on which syllable and which kana system you're in. Consonants are doubled in both hiragana and katakana with a small "tsu" (っ/ッ). Katakana vowels are (almost) always doubled with ー. Most hiragana vowels are doubled just by repeating the character, but there are 2 exceptions:

え　ー＞　えい
お　ー＞　おう

Note that some words double お as おお like 大阪 [Oosaka] and 狼 [ookami - wolf].

3. Does anyone know of a good website which is an online dictionary that has no popups and is accurate for finding out how one word is said? For example, if I didnt know how to say "Baseball", I would go to this site and it would be fast and easy to use. Any preferences anyone has?

http://rut.org/cgi-bin/j-e/S=48/FG=r/jis/dict

4. I am looking at getting a Wordtank or similar. I have seen them for sale online, but are they sold offline? I want to ask for one from my parents for my birthday but they wont buy anything online. What type of store sells or could order in a Wordtank or similar?

I believe they're primarily aimed at Japanese people, so they're primarily sold in Japan. It might be difficult to find them for sale offline except for stores that specialize in Japanese books.

5. Finally, I heard anime is bad for learning Japanese and testing yourself. I heard this is because in anime they use slang not normally used in everyday conversation. Is this true? I like Naruto and have it in Japanese with english subtitles. Is what I heard true?

It can be bad if it's your primary or only source of learning. But if you go in with the knowledge that what you'll be hearing may not be appropriate to use in everyday situations, you can pick up some interesting things that aren't covered by typical lessons (though you may hear them in a jpod lesson ). The problem is when people learn something from anime and then copy and use it in a completely inappropriate context and come across as being rude, and idiot, or some combination of both. If you understand the differences in context with what's being said, you're safe. In short, if you don't understand the context in which some language should be used, don't use it.

Also, if you're a guy and tend to watch anime with prominent female casts, you have to be careful of picking up distinctively female speech patterns and intonations. I've found that this is something I've had to watch myself on before.

Thank you so much for all your help! You make everything seem so easy! haha. This is such a great place.