Practice Your Japanese Through Conversation

[metablue]

みんなはかれをあきましたか？
Or are people losing interest in him these days?

The first two sentences were fine, but the verb in the last sentence didn't work for me.

あき = stem for 2 verbs

厭きる [あきる] [akiru] - (v1) to get tired of, to lose interest in, to have enough.
空く [あく] [aku] - (v5k,vi) (1) to open, to become open, to become empty, (2) to be less crowded.

ちょっと違います。「もう一回やってみる」という意味だと思います。

はい、正解です。


しごとにかなをありません.

切り貼り [きりはり] [kirihari] - (n) cut and paste

[metablue]

「What are your hobbies? Mine is computer games.」と読みました。
趣味はラジオやコンピュータプログラミング です。勿論、日本語も。

ハムラジオですか？

コンピュータプログラミング はあたしもでした。いまコンピュータプログラミングはしごとです。

(not sure how to get the right emphasis there, without putting too many words in)

むかしの、いっそうしゅみがあります。でも、いましごといっぱいです。

"long ago's even more exists. But now work full is."
(Really ought to be past tense for arimasu, think missing particle in 2nd sentence)

はい。Long ago, I used to have many more hobbies, but now work has taken over my life.

Missing particle は？
げんきいっぱい　＝０
しごといっぱい　＝ X　？

月曜日まで忙しいので少ないポストができます。

わかりました。がんばってください。

[Jason]

コンピュータプログラミング はあたしもでした。いまコンピュータプログラミングはしごとです。

ん〜〜〜。ちょっと。私だったら、こう書きます：「あたしもコンピュータプログラミングです。今あたしの仕事です。」

いや。。。本当に私なら、「あたし」を使いませんが。 f(^_^);;

[metablue]

ん〜〜〜。ちょっと。私だったら、こう書きます：「あたしもコンピュータプログラミングです。今あたしの仕事です。」

いや。。。本当に私なら、「あたし」を使いませんが。 f(^_^);;

ははは！

Since I said earlier that my life is full of work, could「今あたしの仕事です。」be interpreted as:
"Now work is my hobby." (Now mine is work.)
rather than
"Now computer programming is my work." (Now it is my work .)
?

[Jason]

Since I said earlier that my life is full of work, could「今あたしの仕事です。」be interpreted as:
"Now work is my hobby." (Now mine is work.)
rather than
"Now computer programming is my work." (Now it is my work .)
?

No. Simply because it doesn't say "now mine is work", it says "now (it is) my work." 「今あたしのは仕事です」 would mean "now mine is work", but it would be ambiguous here and really wouldn't make much sense. You could say 「趣味は仕事になりました」 or 「趣味は仕事になってしまいました」.

[Alan]

あき = stem for 2 verbs

厭きる [あきる] [akiru] - (v1) to get tired of, to lose interest in, to have enough.
空く [あく] [aku] - (v5k,vi) (1) to open, to become open, to become empty, (2) to be less crowded.

あっ、そうです。今分かりました。

ハムラジオですか？

はい。コルサインの「M5AMN」です。　コンテソトは土曜日から日曜日までです。だから忙しいです。

コンピュータプログラミング はあたしもでした。いまコンピュータプログラミングはしごとです。

分かりました。　私は電気技師です。

じゃね
アラン

[Alan]

おk。ひとおし。

"ok hitooshi" - Ok replacement?

ちょっと違います。「もう一回やってみる」という意味だと思います。

chotto chigaimasu. "mou ichikai yatte miru" to iu imi da to omoimasu.
A little different. "another round, try and see" say the meaning I think.

あっ、「一押し」と読みました。「a push」と思います。

[metablue]

私の趣味なら、音楽やコンピュータや日本語です。

"My hobbies are music, computers, and Japanese."

音楽を聞くことも、ギターを引くことも、作曲することも大好きです。私にとって、音楽は一つの私の大切な部分です。言葉を何も使わなくても、音楽は人の心に届けますから。言葉は時々邪魔でしょう？よく、何か言えないことがあれば、音楽でちゃんと伝えるかもしれません。人達の心が繋げます。だから、私は音楽が大好きです。^_^ 音楽のない世界が想像できなくて、像層したくもないんです。

"I love to listen to music, play guitar, and compose. Music is the most important thing to me. Music can communicate a person's spirit in a way that language cannot. Words are sometimes a hinderance, don't you think? The things that words can't say, music can convey perfectly. It connects people's spirits. And so, I love music. A world without music is a world without imagination, and without art(?)"

「像層」ー I couldn't figure out what this is. Statue and Strata?

コンピュータなら、ゲームすることや、プログラムを書くことや、インタネットで色々な事をすることが大好きです。２０年以上ゲームをしています。三歳の時に始めたと思います。私は子供の頃、祖母はよく私をモールへ連れて行って、ゲームをさせてくれました。そして、５歳の時ぐらい、私の初めてのゲームコンソールを買ってくれました。「Atari 2600」でした。

"As for computers, I love to play games, write programs, and do various things on the internet. I've been playing games for more than 20 years. I think I started when I was 3. When I was a child, my grandmother often took me to the mall and let me play games. When I was about 5, she bought me my first game console. It was an Atari 2600."

私にとって、人に便利なプログラムを書くのは楽しくて、満足です。見つかれないバグがあれば、すごくむかつく。 -_- ま、そういう時もあります。仕方ないです。趣味は楽しいところも楽しくないところがありますよね。

I find it fun and satisfying to write programs that are useful to people. When I find bugs it really annoys me. Ah well, there are those moments. It can't be helped. Hobbies are fun and this one is fun most of the time, you know.

何も言わなくても、日本語は一つの私の趣味かもうわかるでしょう？

"I have nothing more to say, Japanese is the one of my hobbies that " .. (I gnaw on? o.O). Or that I can increase?


Whew. I got tired near the end. I hope I didn't mangle it too badly o.O

おんがくがだいすきです。でも、おてまえをありません。げんごにいろいろものをいいあらわしません。でも、あたしはおんがくにもいいあらわしません。；；

ジェイソンさんのおばあさんのコンピュタゲムはアーケードゲムです？わたしもアーケードゲムをさせりました。ようねんに、「Atari 2600」をほんとうにほしがりました。でもちちとはははほしがりませんでした。=/ かれらはコンピュタのキャンプをつかわした。

のちほど、マックをほんとうにほしがりました。でも、ちちとはははきゃくうまをかいとりました。

バグもだいきらいですけど、バグをおしつぶすがたのしくてまんぞくです。
(かわいそうなグラマー；；It needs rescuing.)

[Jason]

Music is the most important thing to me....The things that words can't say, music can convey perfectly.

Have a look at these two again. The first one is wrong. There's one word in the 2nd that's not right.

「像層」ー I couldn't figure out what this is. Statue and Strata?

Whoops! That should be 想像.

Hobbies are fun and this one is fun most of the time, you know.

.......no. Not really. You got about 1/2 of what I was going for. Take another look.

"I have nothing more to say, Japanese is the one of my hobbies that " .. (I gnaw on? o.O). Or that I can increase?

Ermmm....no. You seem to be seperating some of the words wrong. Here's a hint. The か is seperate, not part of a word.

[metablue]

Yes. Parsing written Japanese is one of my biggest problems. ;;
I'll try those ones again tonight.

[metablue]

Trying again. I'll give my literal translation, and then my interpretation of the literal translation, so you can catch my mistranslation at the source.

私にとって、音楽は一つの私の大切な部分です.....
よく、何か言えないことがあれば、音楽でちゃんと伝えるかもしれません.

Music is the most important thing to me....The things that words can't say, music can convey perfectly.

Have a look at these two again. The first one is wrong. There's one word in the 2nd that's not right.

"As for me, music is one's my important part."
Music is the one of the most important parts of my life.

"Often, something can't say matter exists, from music exactly to communicate also comes to light."
Things that can't be said can often be precisely communicated and revealed through music.

趣味は楽しいところも楽しくないところがありますよね。

Hobbies are fun and this one is fun most of the time, you know.

.......no. Not really. You got about 1/2 of what I was going for. Take another look.

"(Hobbies are fun and approximately also not fun and approximately) are not."
I still don't get it, sorry.
Hobbies are both fun and not fun ... or maybe not? o.O

何も言わなくても、日本語は一つの私の趣味かもうわかるでしょう？

"I have nothing more to say, Japanese is the one of my hobbies that " .. (I gnaw on? o.O). Or that I can increase?

Ermmm....no. You seem to be seperating some of the words wrong. Here's a hint. The か is separate, not part of a word.

"Nothing I'm not saying, Japanese one's my hobby? Already understand?"
I'm not going to say anything about Japanese because you already know that it's my hobby.

[metablue]

I'm starting to feel like I'm being too analytical about this. I've been learning by listening to the podcasts over and over until the words link together in my mind and come out in strings. It's still hard to speak, but kids learn to understand long before they learn to speak. So perhaps that's ok.

But when I try to translate writing like this, where there are many new words and new grammatical constructions, I feel like I'm going through unnecessary steps. Going from Japanese grammar to English grammar rather than just understanding the Japanese.

People who don't think like programmers are constantly telling me I'm too analytical. But as fellow geeks (on roughly the same end of the analytical spectrum), do you think that this approach is actually creating problems? Am I doing explicitly what happens unconsciously in the head of a fluent person? Or am I adding unnecessary steps that I'll have to unlearn later?

if so, any suggestions on how to avoid it?

[Alan]

I found the purchase of a book on Japanese grammer a great help. That way I learnt to recognise the main grammer structures and verb and adjective conjugations. The podcasts do cover a good deal of this, but in an incremental fashion & there's not really a good summary anywhere, that brings it all together. I have "Japanese Verbs & Essentials of Grammer" by Rita L. Lampkin ISBN 0-07-143514-X. There's really too much in here to do in one bite, but it is possible to choose a section & blitz that out.

Thinking about languages as "programming for humans" is Ok, but the syntax is much more complex & suffers ambiguities that you don't get in computer languages. There's also many more keywords. So it takes a lot longer to learn. Aside: Curiously, I'm now finding that I can understand more Japanese in films with the subtitles off. Maybe listening in japanese & simultaneously reading english is maxing out my poor brain cells.

Sorry, for all the English this time, but I'm just about to head out to participate in VHF Field Day (an international amateur radio contest) & am short on time. It's basically camping in a field with added radio. There's going to be a barbeque also. Very nice, when the weather's good, which it is this weekend. Sadly Not really any chance to reach Japan on VHF from here. Back Sunday evening.

[Jason]

"(Hobbies are fun and approximately also not fun and approximately) are not."
I still don't get it, sorry.
Hobbies are both fun and not fun ... or maybe not? o.O

"Hobbies have fun points/aspects (ところ) and no so fun points, don't they?" Do you remember the lesson where they talked about using どこ to ask "what part of that is interesting" or something similar?

"Nothing I'm not saying, Japanese one's my hobby? Already understand?"
I'm not going to say anything about Japanese because you already know that it's my hobby.

Close. "Even without saying anything, you probably already know Japanese is one of my hobbies."

[metablue]

"Hobbies have fun points/aspects (ところ) and no so fun points, don't they?" Do you remember the lesson where they talked about using どこ to ask "what part of that is interesting" or something similar?

Ah I remember. I would never had guessed that this was the same though.

What is this construction? ...
「一つの私の」