Comments on: Beginning Japanese II: Pronunciation is King http://www.tofugu.com/2007/06/28/beginning-japanese-ii-hatsuon-is-king/ A Japanese Language & Culture Blog Sun, 13 Apr 2014 10:14:53 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.8.2 By: heartlessangel http://www.tofugu.com/2007/06/28/beginning-japanese-ii-hatsuon-is-king/comment-page-2/#comment-3865 Sun, 30 Mar 2008 05:31:32 +0000 http://www.tofugu.com/?p=70#comment-3865 I totally agree with you on that its way important and to many ppl do butcher the language by not understanding the concept or the culture itself this is another reason why i say learn with a partner because they can correct you on your pronunciation and such then you won’t sound like John Myer lol though I’m not a native speaker or anything it bothers me when someone doesn’t understand the true essence of the language just learning it to learn the words so you dnt have to watch sub titled anime which I get on my brother about all the time he’ll go into it speaking like kakashi sensi or some ninja then i slap him on the head and he gets it right lol though i have to say it doesn’t bother me when ppl butcher English because its really something of a butchered language in itself even english ppl speak def from how we do in America and we speak the same language but i also took french and a lil spanish,korean and hebrew ( I know to many at one time so I slimed it down to one at a time lol silly me) and dnt take this as bragging but as far as pronunciation goes Im fairly decent still got a long ways to go but understanding of a language first no matter which one it is is always top priority in learning to speak it.( on another note I dont think its far to look down on ppl for how they learn everyine has their own way of thinking as well as learning though I agree you shouldn’t be learning frm anime we all learned and are learning different ways and its better to offer an alternative rather than just to degrade that person for the methods mainly because thats their main Japanese source so for those of you out there who are doing that if your serious in the lest go to the library and pick up the japanese for beginners and start off with the kanji hiragana first trust me it is important than you can start with the audio to help along with your pronunciation of the words well thats all im gonna type cause its alot hope it helps someone thanks!.

]]> By: heartlessangel http://www.tofugu.com/2007/06/28/beginning-japanese-ii-hatsuon-is-king/comment-page-2/#comment-8542 Sun, 30 Mar 2008 03:31:32 +0000 http://www.tofugu.com/?p=70#comment-8542 I totally agree with you on that its way important and to many ppl do butcher the language by not understanding the concept or the culture itself this is another reason why i say learn with a partner because they can correct you on your pronunciation and such then you won’t sound like John Myer lol though I’m not a native speaker or anything it bothers me when someone doesn’t understand the true essence of the language just learning it to learn the words so you dnt have to watch sub titled anime which I get on my brother about all the time he’ll go into it speaking like kakashi sensi or some ninja then i slap him on the head and he gets it right lol though i have to say it doesn’t bother me when ppl butcher English because its really something of a butchered language in itself even english ppl speak def from how we do in America and we speak the same language but i also took french and a lil spanish,korean and hebrew ( I know to many at one time so I slimed it down to one at a time lol silly me) and dnt take this as bragging but as far as pronunciation goes Im fairly decent still got a long ways to go but understanding of a language first no matter which one it is is always top priority in learning to speak it.( on another note I dont think its far to look down on ppl for how they learn everyine has their own way of thinking as well as learning though I agree you shouldn’t be learning frm anime we all learned and are learning different ways and its better to offer an alternative rather than just to degrade that person for the methods mainly because thats their main Japanese source so for those of you out there who are doing that if your serious in the lest go to the library and pick up the japanese for beginners and start off with the kanji hiragana first trust me it is important than you can start with the audio to help along with your pronunciation of the words well thats all im gonna type cause its alot hope it helps someone thanks!.

]]> By: Peet ~ http://www.tofugu.com/2007/06/28/beginning-japanese-ii-hatsuon-is-king/comment-page-2/#comment-1429 Tue, 11 Sep 2007 08:29:52 +0000 http://www.tofugu.com/?p=70#comment-1429 Pronunciation isn’t all that bothers me. WHile in school, I took French class and I was getting really sick of everyone around me saying all these french words without a french accent. Or the ones who would ask a question, but forget that tones remain pretty much the same to english in the fact that in French, people raise their voice at the end of a sentence to ask a question (like we do in English, if you don’t believe me, pay attention the next time you ask a question to someone) and that’d bother me. I was like “Dude, it’s a language, we are not trying to be robots here, if you can’t even remember small things like that, I do not want to see you talking in front of the class ever again.” – Then I found out I didn’t have the accent, so I practiced hard and managed to pull off getting somewhat of one (Which is much beter than none at all). So yeah, pronunciation is very important, not just in pronuncing a word according to rythym and whatnot, but also accents.

]]> By: Peet ~ http://www.tofugu.com/2007/06/28/beginning-japanese-ii-hatsuon-is-king/comment-page-2/#comment-8541 Tue, 11 Sep 2007 06:29:52 +0000 http://www.tofugu.com/?p=70#comment-8541 Pronunciation isn’t all that bothers me. WHile in school, I took French class and I was getting really sick of everyone around me saying all these french words without a french accent. Or the ones who would ask a question, but forget that tones remain pretty much the same to english in the fact that in French, people raise their voice at the end of a sentence to ask a question (like we do in English, if you don’t believe me, pay attention the next time you ask a question to someone) and that’d bother me. I was like “Dude, it’s a language, we are not trying to be robots here, if you can’t even remember small things like that, I do not want to see you talking in front of the class ever again.” – Then I found out I didn’t have the accent, so I practiced hard and managed to pull off getting somewhat of one (Which is much beter than none at all). So yeah, pronunciation is very important, not just in pronuncing a word according to rythym and whatnot, but also accents.

]]> By: Casey http://www.tofugu.com/2007/06/28/beginning-japanese-ii-hatsuon-is-king/comment-page-2/#comment-591 Sat, 04 Aug 2007 04:03:00 +0000 http://www.tofugu.com/?p=70#comment-591 Hahaha, this is exactly the reason why I hate the kids in my Japanese class. Okay, only a select few, but they are the obsessive otaku who learn everything from anime instead of actually doing their Japanese homework. Then their pronunciation is so American that they sound retarded. UGH! I hate it so much. These are also the people who watch anime during class and sing along to the high pitched theme songs…. kill me please.

One thing that I find frustrating is vowel length. Not the drawn out vowels like “kawaii” and stuff, but short ones. My teacher always gets me on that. “A tree” = “ki desu.” I always unconsciously draw it out. “ki– desu.” And she always brings it to my attention, “It’s not keys, it’s a tree!” There isn’t really any difference between the length of the vowels in English…. It’s hard catching yourself on stuff that comes natural. Like saying McDonalds, it’s hard to do because we automatically want to say it the usual way. I had to say Indianapolis in a speech once… and “atatakakunarimashita” is a bitch.

Okay, I’m done, haha

]]> By: Casey http://www.tofugu.com/2007/06/28/beginning-japanese-ii-hatsuon-is-king/comment-page-2/#comment-8540 Sat, 04 Aug 2007 02:03:00 +0000 http://www.tofugu.com/?p=70#comment-8540 Hahaha, this is exactly the reason why I hate the kids in my Japanese class. Okay, only a select few, but they are the obsessive otaku who learn everything from anime instead of actually doing their Japanese homework. Then their pronunciation is so American that they sound retarded. UGH! I hate it so much. These are also the people who watch anime during class and sing along to the high pitched theme songs…. kill me please.

One thing that I find frustrating is vowel length. Not the drawn out vowels like “kawaii” and stuff, but short ones. My teacher always gets me on that. “A tree” = “ki desu.” I always unconsciously draw it out. “ki– desu.” And she always brings it to my attention, “It’s not keys, it’s a tree!” There isn’t really any difference between the length of the vowels in English…. It’s hard catching yourself on stuff that comes natural. Like saying McDonalds, it’s hard to do because we automatically want to say it the usual way. I had to say Indianapolis in a speech once… and “atatakakunarimashita” is a bitch.

Okay, I’m done, haha

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