So you want to study Japanese?

[SSJ_Jup81]

Originally Posted by Lil_G135

Since Valentine's Day is tomorrow, I was wondering if anyone knew about how Valentine's Day and White Day are celebrated in Japan

Oh, I know, I know! I did an oral report on Japan years ago for my English class (ironic) based on the entertaining aspects of the country, and some of the holidays, and I did Valentine's/White Day.

Anywho, all I know, which you probably already know, is that for Valentine's the girls give chocolates to the guys. Either those Honmei Chocolates or Giri Chocolates, depending on the guy. I could see me now...giving Giri chocolates to practically everyone. lol

*Goes into encyclopedia mode*

White Day is like the mirror of Valentine's Day in Japan. In Japan, on Valentine's, the girls give boys chocolates and stuff to whomever they admire, or their male friends, etc. White Day is the opposite where the boys give gifts or chocolates to the girls. As you already know, Valentine's is February 14, White Day is excatly a month later, March 14.

Giri Chocolates are given to male friends on Valentine's by the girls. It's given to those they aren't romantically interested in pretty much. You know, like in Elementary School, we all gave everyone in our class a Valentine, that type of thing, so that no one will feel left out. Giri Chocolates are given to guys in the same sense; so that no guy would feel left out. Another name for "Giri Chocolates," is "Obligation Chocolates."

Honmei Chocolates or special gifts are given to a girl's actual romantic interest on St. Valentine's Day. To prove to the guy that they are really special to the girl, Honmei Chocolates are usually homemade (obvious from the name, right? lol).

According to my old paper and stuff, White Day was originally known as Marshmallow Day, as guys would give Marshmallow candies to the girls who gave them chocolates on Valentine's, but I don't think it's all that common now and other things are given outside of that. Getting right down to it, is it really all that common anymore? The celebrating of White Day? I rarely hear anything about it, and it's rarely ever focused on. Even with the anime/manga I've seen, the only one I've come across where White Day is referenced, is Fruits Basket where Momiji wanted to take Tohru to an onsen as his White Day gift to her.

And along with these holidays, does anyone know about any other upcoming holidays as well?

Golden Week is coming up pretty soon. It's in April, I think. And what about the Hinamatsuri (sp?) or Children's Day?

[Lil_G135]

Whoa, nice stuff SSJ_Jup-san And your right, Golden Week is at the end of April, beginning of May. Funny thing with that is, I had heard about Golden Week in a game (the main character and his friends were outta school then), but I didn't think it was a real thing 'til I came across it in J-1 ^_^;;

Golden Week consists of four national holidays, and alongside New Years and Obon, it is one of the three busiest holidays in Japan. The holidays are:

April 29th -- Showa Day

{The Lil History Behind It All :: puts on SSJ_Jup's Sensei hat::

When an emperor reins in Japan, his birthday becomes a holiday - and the Emperor from 1926 to 1989 was Hirohito Showa. And since he reigned soo long, people got use to his birthday being a National Holiday. So because Showa loved plants it was decided that the day would just be renamed Greenery Day. However, as of 2007 Greenery Day will be moved to May 4th and Apr 29th will be Showa Day again.}

May 3rd - Constitution Day {The constitution was put out on this day.}

May 4th - Between Day/Greenery Day

{According to the law, a day that falls between two national holidays is also declared a national holiday, unless it's Sunday. However, as of 2007, Between Day becomes Greenery Day.}

May 5th - Children's Day {Also known as Boy's Day}

Because the holidays are so close to each other, a lot of companies are closed the entire week, as well as schools.

[SSJ_Jup81]

Oh, so those are the holidays involved. I've always been a bit curious of that. Oh, and the only reason I know of Golden Week (well, when it occurs) is due to Detective Conan. The movies are always shown round about that time (or close to it) every year in theatres.

Oh, any idea when the Hinamatsuri is? Is that in February holiday?

[Lil_G135]

Hina Matsuri? Hm.... oh Girl's Day/The Doll festival. Totally slipped my mind ^^; Let's try to do this in kana~

雛祭りは三月三日です。にがつに祭日がふたつあります。節分と建国記念日です。節分は二月三日で、建国記念 日が二月寿一日です。

Hina matsuri wa Sangatsu mikka desu. Nigatsu ni saijitsu ga futatsu arimasu. Setsubun to kenkokukinenbi desu. Setsubun wa nigatsu mikka de, kenkokukinenbi ga nigatsu juu-ichi-nichi desu.

The Doll Festival is March 3rd. There are two national holidays in February. The Bean-throwing Ceremony and National Founding Day. The bean-throwing Ceremony is February 3rd and National Founding day is February 11th.

Originally Posted by SSJ_Jup81-san

Oh, and the only reason I know of Golden Week (well, when it occurs) is due to Detective Conan. The movies are always shown round about that time (or close to it) every year in theatres.

ああ、私は名探偵コナンが大好き！でも、えいがをまだみたことがありません。

Aa, atashi wa meitantei CONAN ga daisuki! Demo, eiga o mada mita koto ga arimasen.

Ooh, I love Dectective Conan! But, I haven't seen any movies yet. (I know "mada" is an adverb, but I can't recall using it in this kind of sentence yet ^^; I don't have my book on me, so throwing caution to the wind, I'm trying it out where I think it would go anyway - but if its wrong, do tell ^.^)

[SSJ_Jup81]

The Detective Conan movies are pretty cool. My favorites are: 4; 6; 9.

[cady_seekool]

Btw, fyi : I've found this amazing podcast to study Japanese. Log on to www.japanesepo101.com

ps: I'm just recommending

[Ignolopi]

Arigato gozaimasu, minna-san!
Watashi wa ureshii desu!
(Thank you, everyone! I am very happy!)

"let's go" wa nihongo de nanto iimasu ka?
I've heard it used, and it's something like ikiso or ikyo or... ?

cady_seekool-san, the link didn't work for me Is it working for anyone else?

My sisters' computers will type the kana and kanji, but mine won't... gotta figure out how to fix that....

Oh oh, does anyone else know what it is Naruto (from Naruto) says all the time? Something like databio, or close. What does it mean (does it mean anything)?

Arigato again! Minna-san is so helpful.

Ja ne!

[SSJ_Jup81]

He randomly says "dattebayo", and to my knowledge, it's not really something that can be translated.

As for "let's go", it would be ikimashou, unless you want it in another tense.

[cady_seekool]

Ano~ Gomenasai, demo I typed the link wrongly, www.japanesepod101.com

Sorry for the inconvienience

[voldyvolvol]

I just downloaded the writing system, and it can't appear on the forums. How tragic.

"let's go" wa nihongo de nanto iimasu ka?
I've heard it used, and it's something like ikiso or ikyo or... ?

let's go= ikimashou, iko, ikouyo (when talking to someone and your desperate to go).

[Lil_G135]

What did you download voldyvolvol-san? I just recently had to reinstall the ime I'm using (It just stops working after a couple months -_-; ), so maybe you could try that?

And so the informal version of '-mashou' is 'ou' or 'you'? I saw '-you' on another site (I cant find my book ;__ so that's why I'm asking

Originally Posted by Ignolopi

Oh oh, does anyone else know what it is Naruto (from Naruto) says all the time? Something like databio, or close. What does it mean (does it mean anything)?

I've heard different stuff for "-datte ba yo". One is it's his own catchphrase, while another is It's an ender, like "desu" - but then that has a lot of debate over it too. I can't say I'm sure of this but this explanation sounds the best to me:

The word "datte" means "but" or "because". In the phrase "datte ba yo" the "ba" and "yo" are not words; they are phrase particles.

Japanese phrase particles don't actually translate into english, but through studying the context of the phrase particles translators have given these following uses and undertandings of the particles:

ba is a connector that connects two parts of a phrase together, but it is only used with a gerund, words that end in te like wakatte, itte, kitte, datte, yamette, etc. (at least I think because I've never seen or heard it used by anything other than a gerund). Here's an example: X-te ba Y means Y of X. The phrase particle "yo" is an assurance phrase particle. It can be translated in many ways like "I assure you" or "I tell you".

Using those phrase particles the phrase "yamette ba yo" would mean "I'm telling you to stop". Also, the phrase in question "datte ba yo" translates as "because I'm telling you", "because I assure you".

That is the direct translation, but "datte ba yo" is a rather rude thing to say in Japanese and shouldn't be used very often. The direct translation doesn't sound very rude, but it can also be interpreted to mean something like "because I said so!" which is why it is rude and not used very often.

Naruto uses the phrase all the time because it symbolizes the harsh upbringing he has had and how he was always rude to the villagers because they hated him so much.

Again, I'm not sure if this is right but it sounds good, though ^^;; I've also heard that he actually says "nandatte ba yo", but I've seen like three episodes, so don't start me lying ^_^; (courtesy of Maikeru, though I lost the place where I found it ~~0)

Cady_seekool-san, those podcast seems pretty cool I've only listened to 3 minutes of the first lesson, but it does seem ppretty accurate (aside from the 'watashi wa' roughly meaning 'I am' and 'desu' being the verb 'to be'). I'm going to try to listen to the rest when I get back from driving class ^_^

[SSJ_Jup81]

Yeah, that does sound about right, where Naruto's concerned. He is pretty rude by the way he talks, and it's understandable since he's been pretty much outcast by his village for all of his life, and he grew up alone.

I love how in the dubbed version Naruto says "Believe it, Yeah!" for dattebayo.

[cady_seekool]

ot : Dobby, I love your siggy, It's Death Note one of the coolest manga ever!!!

Lil_G135-san, you welcome (what's the Japanese for that again? I forgot XD )

btw, how to use 'kedo' ?

[Lil_G135]

Your welcome => どう致しまして=>dou ita****ema****e

So far from what I've learned, けど or "kedo" is the "Although/though" in a sentence. It is the informal way of saying けれども (keredomo) and another way of saying けれど (keredo). The setup for it is basically:

Sentence 1 + Kedo, Sentence 2.
"~~~~~~~~~~"Keredo,
"~~~~~~~~~~"Keredomo,

examples:

w/ kanji:
一）具合が悪かったですけど、学校へ行きました。


二）両親は韓国語を話しますけど、僕はぜんぜん韓国語を話しません。

w/o kanji:
いち）ぐあいがわるかったですけど、がっこうへいきました。

に）りょうしんはかんこくごをはなしますけど、ぼくはぜんぜんかんこくごをはなしません。

roomaji:
１）guai ga warukatta desukedo, gakkou e ikima****a.

２）ryoushin wa kankokugo o hanashimasu kedo, boku wa zen zen kankokugo o hanashimasen.

translation:
１）Although I was feeling sick, I went to school.

２）Although my parents speak Korean, I don't speak Korean at all.


Hope that helps a bit

[cady_seekool]

Arigatou gozaimasu !!

how about 'demo' ?I think it means 'but' but idk how to use it...

[potterwun]

all I know is "kunitchi wa" I think thats how you spell it if not I tried to spell it as closly as I can

[SSJ_Jup81]

Originally Posted by cady_seekool

how about 'demo' ?I think it means 'but' but idk how to use it...

Yes, "demo" does mean "but" and I think it'd be used in the same way "so****e" would be used.

Originally Posted by potterwun

all I know is "kunitchi wa" I think thats how you spell it if not I tried to spell it as closly as I can

konnichiwa (ha).

[potterwun]

konnichiwa (ha).[/quote]
yea dosent that mean whats up or somthing

[SSJ_Jup81]

Hey, out of curiosity, how would I say "Stop it!" like a command? Wouldn't it be, "Yamete kudasai!"

Originally Posted by potterwun

konnichiwa (ha).

yea dosent that mean whats up or somthing[/quote]Yeah, pretty much. Just a typical greeting meaning "hello", for the most part. To answer the phone, though, you use "moshi-moshi".