Need advice about Kanji.

Jibe · 04-03-2003, 03:24 AM

First of all I would like to say that I am new and this is my first post. I have been reading over the message boards and other questions and did not notice another post with this topic. Sorry if this has already been asked.

I've been trying to decide if I want to wait for a US release of FFXI or to import. Thanks to the information contained in this message board I've figured out all of the requirements required for import. So I have a question.

How difficult is it to learn Kanji well enough to play FFXI and other Japanese games without too much difficulty?

Are there any websites, programs or other forms of information (preferably free) that anyone knows of that could help me in learning basic Kanji?

I live in Juneau, Alaska (small town and secluded) and there are no Japanese teachers here! I'm afraid the only way I can learn is through some other form of teaching.

If anyone has any advice please reply.

~Jibe

Jei · 04-03-2003, 05:07 AM

How well you know japanese language? Any basic?

Kanji is just part of japanese language. if you atleast know some basics, Kanji will not be that hard.
Most of the time i can guess the meaning of the kanji. I can even ask the person to speak in hiragana.

it's like if you don't know English language at all, a b c d e ... will all be hard for you.

I learn a lot of Kanji from the game. Many of them i know the meaning but i don't even know how to read it :p

Jibe · 04-03-2003, 08:16 PM

I'm afraid I don't know any of the Japanese language besides a few basic words.. Hello, goodbye and such.

As far as I knew 'Kanji' was the written form of the basic spoken Japanese language (As the alphabet is to english.) Is this right?

I was thinking that it would make more sense for me just to learn Kanji since I would more likely use it more often then the spoken language should I try to learn both? (mainly for importing and such, talk about nerdy! :sweat:

)

Anyways, thanks for the reply Jei! I appreciate it!

~Jibe

Awntawn · 04-03-2003, 09:06 PM

you got chinese and japanese all mixed up :p Kanji is the entire written language for chinese, but in japanese it's only for the root of some nouns, adjectives, and verbs. The rest (most of it) is in hiragana, which is their alphabet, basically. There are 50 hiragana characters, which each represent a sound like the letters of our alphabet. There are thousands on thousands of kanji. Think of it like hiragana are equivalent to letters in english, whereas kanji are equivalent to certain words. it's easy to memorize all of the letters in the language and read Dr. Suess. it's not easy to memorize all of the words in the language and read "War and Peace"

Jibe · 04-03-2003, 09:22 PM

Oh! That's what was wrong! :sweat:
I understand now why knowing the spoken language would help then!
Thank you for clarifying that Awntawn.

Now that I think about it, this is probably the wrong board for this topic..
Oh well. :sweat:

Any advice for learning Japanese?

~Jibe

DJplaeskool · 04-04-2003, 04:16 AM

http://www.japanese-online.com

dbeeo · 04-04-2003, 04:21 AM

If you havent taken any asian language before, you might found that it is hard to you to learn (at least this is what I observed in my Japanese class).

Maybe you might need to think what is the purpose for you to learn. (Mine is for extra credit hours and bought this game by "accidentally"

). If just for playing this game, you also may find some hard time. (lose interest?). If you want to learn becoz you want, then go a head.

it is better that you learn some of the words yourself and learn to recognize all hiragana and katakana if you really want to learn all japanese, then you will find that it wont too hard when you start to learn (in formal way).

Jibe · 04-04-2003, 10:12 AM

Alright! Thank you DJplaeskool for the link, it'll be helpful! And thanks dbeeo for the tip.

Thanks everyone for being so helpful!

~Jibe

Fox Excalibur · 04-04-2003, 10:21 AM

I suggest you only learn Japanese if you are really facinated by the language it is very diffrent from english or any romanized language.

You shouldnt learn Japanese for the game, because by the time you learn just the basics of putting a sentance together the NA release will probably be out, or at least be really close.

However if you love the language and/or culture, go for it, you can use it in the future. Just dont do it for a game that will be in the US shortly.

Rent-A-Hamster · 04-04-2003, 01:59 PM

Is there a program out there that can supply furigana to kanji that you don't know how to read? I think Microsoft Word can do that with the Asian Language tools from Microsoft Office, but I don't have that.

My Japanese is decent, but reading kanji is not my strong point. If I could find out the yomi for all these kanji in FFXi it would help out a lot.

DJplaeskool · 04-04-2003, 05:38 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by Rent-A-Hamster
Is there a program out there that can supply furigana to kanji that you don't know how to read? I think Microsoft Word can do that with the Asian Language tools from Microsoft Office, but I don't have that.

My Japanese is decent, but reading kanji is not my strong point. If I could find out the yomi for all these kanji in FFXi it would help out a lot.

FFXI is non-Unicode, so you'd be very hard pressed to find a program to do that automatically from the inputs recieved...

04-03-2003, 03:24 AM	#1
Jibe Junior Member Join Date: Apr 2003 Posts: 44 Style: Light Theme V7 Thanks: 0 Thanked 0x in 0 Posts	Need advice about Kanji. First of all I would like to say that I am new and this is my first post. I have been reading over the message boards and other questions and did not notice another post with this topic. Sorry if this has already been asked. I've been trying to decide if I want to wait for a US release of FFXI or to import. Thanks to the information contained in this message board I've figured out all of the requirements required for import. So I have a question. How difficult is it to learn Kanji well enough to play FFXI and other Japanese games without too much difficulty? Are there any websites, programs or other forms of information (preferably free) that anyone knows of that could help me in learning basic Kanji? I live in Juneau, Alaska (small town and secluded) and there are no Japanese teachers here! I'm afraid the only way I can learn is through some other form of teaching. If anyone has any advice please reply. ~Jibe

04-03-2003, 05:07 AM	#2
Jei J...atatouille Super Moderator Wings of Honor Join Date: Dec 2002 Posts: 8,425 Style: Light Theme V7 Thanks: 6 Thanked 177x in 120 Posts My Mood:	How well you know japanese language? Any basic? Kanji is just part of japanese language. if you atleast know some basics, Kanji will not be that hard. Most of the time i can guess the meaning of the kanji. I can even ask the person to speak in hiragana. it's like if you don't know English language at all, a b c d e ... will all be hard for you. I learn a lot of Kanji from the game. Many of them i know the meaning but i don't even know how to read it :p __________________ There are painters who transform the sun into a yellow spot, but there are others who with the help of their art and their intelligence transform a yellow spot into the sun. - Pablo Picasso

04-03-2003, 09:06 PM	#4
Awntawn Veteran Member Allied Ribbon of Glory Join Date: Dec 2002 Posts: 2,081 Style: Light Theme V7 Thanks: 0 Thanked 0x in 0 Posts	you got chinese and japanese all mixed up :p Kanji is the entire written language for chinese, but in japanese it's only for the root of some nouns, adjectives, and verbs. The rest (most of it) is in hiragana, which is their alphabet, basically. There are 50 hiragana characters, which each represent a sound like the letters of our alphabet. There are thousands on thousands of kanji. Think of it like hiragana are equivalent to letters in english, whereas kanji are equivalent to certain words. it's easy to memorize all of the letters in the language and read Dr. Suess. it's not easy to memorize all of the words in the language and read "War and Peace" __________________ DRK75 / THF37 / WAR37 / RDM60 / BLM31 / PLD11 ohnoez

04-04-2003, 04:16 AM	#6
DJplaeskool ★上手猫又音楽技� ��者★ Brass Ribbon of Service Join Date: Dec 2002 Location: Atlanta, GA Posts: 1,451 Style: Light Theme V7 Thanks: 0 Thanked 1 Time in 1 Post	http://www.japanese-online.com __________________ Kynósoura :: 新しい犬星 :: The unfiltered meanderings of djplaeskool

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04-03-2003, 08:16 PM	#3
Jibe Junior Member Join Date: Apr 2003 Posts: 44 Style: Light Theme V7 Thanks: 0 Thanked 0x in 0 Posts	I'm afraid I don't know any of the Japanese language besides a few basic words.. Hello, goodbye and such. As far as I knew 'Kanji' was the written form of the basic spoken Japanese language (As the alphabet is to english.) Is this right? I was thinking that it would make more sense for me just to learn Kanji since I would more likely use it more often then the spoken language should I try to learn both? (mainly for importing and such, talk about nerdy! :sweat: ) Anyways, thanks for the reply Jei! I appreciate it! ~Jibe

04-03-2003, 09:22 PM	#5
Jibe Junior Member Join Date: Apr 2003 Posts: 44 Style: Light Theme V7 Thanks: 0 Thanked 0x in 0 Posts	Oh! That's what was wrong! :sweat: I understand now why knowing the spoken language would help then! Thank you for clarifying that Awntawn. Now that I think about it, this is probably the wrong board for this topic.. Oh well. :sweat: Any advice for learning Japanese? ~Jibe

04-04-2003, 04:21 AM	#7
dbeeo Member Bronze Ribbon of Service Join Date: Dec 2002 Posts: 884 Style: Light Theme V7 Thanks: 0 Thanked 0x in 0 Posts	If you havent taken any asian language before, you might found that it is hard to you to learn (at least this is what I observed in my Japanese class). Maybe you might need to think what is the purpose for you to learn. (Mine is for extra credit hours and bought this game by "accidentally" ). If just for playing this game, you also may find some hard time. (lose interest?). If you want to learn becoz you want, then go a head. it is better that you learn some of the words yourself and learn to recognize all hiragana and katakana if you really want to learn all japanese, then you will find that it wont too hard when you start to learn (in formal way).

04-04-2003, 10:12 AM	#8
Jibe Junior Member Join Date: Apr 2003 Posts: 44 Style: Light Theme V7 Thanks: 0 Thanked 0x in 0 Posts	Alright! Thank you DJplaeskool for the link, it'll be helpful! And thanks dbeeo for the tip. Thanks everyone for being so helpful! ~Jibe

04-04-2003, 10:21 AM	#9
Fox Excalibur Junior Member Join Date: Mar 2003 Posts: 434 Style: Light Theme V7 Thanks: 0 Thanked 0x in 0 Posts	I suggest you only learn Japanese if you are really facinated by the language it is very diffrent from english or any romanized language. You shouldnt learn Japanese for the game, because by the time you learn just the basics of putting a sentance together the NA release will probably be out, or at least be really close. However if you love the language and/or culture, go for it, you can use it in the future. Just dont do it for a game that will be in the US shortly.

04-04-2003, 01:59 PM	#10
Rent-A-Hamster Junior Member Join Date: Mar 2003 Posts: 124 Style: Light Theme V7 Thanks: 0 Thanked 0x in 0 Posts	Is there a program out there that can supply furigana to kanji that you don't know how to read? I think Microsoft Word can do that with the Asian Language tools from Microsoft Office, but I don't have that. My Japanese is decent, but reading kanji is not my strong point. If I could find out the yomi for all these kanji in FFXi it would help out a lot.