Romanji

[KamaAina]

Can anyone here teach me at least the basics?

All my japaneese friends at least make an attempt to speak english so I think I owe it to them and other JP players I party with to at least attempt to communicate with them in their own language.

[Preacher]

I just started trying to learn Romaji too. Here's some words that I got off several sites and stuff.




Aa Soodesuka - Oh, I see.

Aishiteru - I love you.

Arigatoo - Thank you.

Domo (DOH moh) - Thank you.

Domo arigato (ah ri GAH toh) - Thank you very much.

Doo itashimashite - You are welcome.

Dozo (DOH zoh) - Please.

Gochiso-sama [deshita] - Corresponding to itadakimasu, this phrase traditionally closes a meal.

Gochisoosama - Thank you, it was very tasty.

Gohandesuyo - Dinner is ready.

Hai - Yes. Pronounced 'High' and spoken abruptly with a glottal stop at the end, almost swallowing the last vowel.

Itadakimasu - From a very young age, growing up in a Japanese-American household, we were taught to pause before meals, 'gassho' (put your hands together in prayer) and say 'Itadakimasu' (pronounced EAT-tah-dah-key-mas, with the u on the end half-suppressed and trailing off) in the same fashion that grace would be said before a meal. I don't know if it's of Japanese Buddhist or simply Japanese origin. My understanding is that it translates literally to 'I am ready to eat'. At (buddhist) temple it was explained that it's to insert a pause and moment to reflect upon all of the things that went into the meal you're about to consume(the person(s) preparing the meal, the farmers growing the food, the animals who gave their lives, etc.) and thank them. Since the sect of buddhism I was raised with (jodo shinshu) was pretty adaptive in their practices, it may have been them putting their spin on a general Japanese custom.

Itadakimasu - Let's eat

Itamae - The sushi (or other Japanese) chef. 'Itamae-san' is a polite way to address a sushi chef. May be shortened to 'ita-san'.

Jaa, mata ato de - See you later.

Konbanwa - Good evening.

Konichiwa (koh NEECH ee wah) - Hello; Good afternoon.

Ogenki desu ka? - How are you?

Ohayou gozaimasu - Good morning.

Okonomi - The practice of ordering sushi (usually, of necessity, from the bar) a few pieces at a time.

Omakase - Chef's choice: asking the sushi chef to choose what you'll have next. It is acceptable (i.e., it would not be rude or awkward) to let the sushi chef know your budget in such a situation.

Oyasumi nasai - Good night.

Sayoonara - Good-bye.

[Aeynrieus]

I think you might have the concept of Romaji confused a little bit. Romaji is simply the romanization of japanese words. As you probably know, Japanese is not written using the Roman alphabet, it is written using three different character sets: Hiragana, Katakana and Kanji. In the case of Hiragana and Katakana, each character represents a certain sound, or pronounciation. Kanji, for the most part, represents entire words. Japanese use a combination of all three of these character sets in their writing.

If you already know the Roman alphabet, you already know the basics of Romaji. It is simply the spelling of japanese words using Roman letters. The Romaji corresponds directly to the Hiragana and/or Katakana of the word. In order to somehow make use of Romaji, you need to know some Japanese.

[bungiefan]

Keep in mind that the transliteration of Japanese into Roman letters has several systems/methods. I often see people using the Hepburn system to do it, but there are many others people have tried to use to teach it if display of Japanese text is not possible.

[Basher]

my RDM wishlist for the new expansion

[KamaAina]

I am confused to what some of these replies mean or some of the replies on the other thread.

So what if it is not how native japaneese type. Guess what last time I checked I did not have japaneese characters on my keyboard.

And learning an entire new alphabet is a little much for me right now.

I am just trying to make an attempt to better communicate. And regardless of what you say it DOES work. I got into JP only parties by using it. At least I am trying to bridge the gap. I am not trying to learn japaneese here.

I found a good site with alot of good romanji phrases from an importer. But I lost the link...I will try to find it agian.

And I think it really helps...but maybe that is just my expierience.

[Omena]

Originally posted by KamaAina
I am confused to what some of these replies mean or some of the replies on the other thread.

So what if it is not how native japaneese type. Guess what last time I checked I did not have japaneese characters on my keyboard.

And learning an entire new alphabet is a little much for me right now.

I am just trying to make an attempt to better communicate. And regardless of what you say it DOES work. I got into JP only parties by using it. At least I am trying to bridge the gap. I am not trying to learn japaneese here.

I found a good site with alot of good romanji phrases from an importer. But I lost the link...I will try to find it agian.

And I think it really helps...but maybe that is just my expierience.

You can type in Japanese just fine with an American keyboard, but it doesn't work with the NA client anyway, so yeah, romaji and the translator are your only options.

Oh and please note that it is "romaji", not "romanji". It seems like a lot of people make this mistake. It's like "sheild", "theif" and "gaurd". Soo many people always misspell those.

[TalonKarrde]

To nitpick even further, it's actually "Roumaji", almost every time you see a single o, it should be ou.

i.e.

arigatou

doumo


While they'll understand what you mean without the u, it shows you know more if you add the u.

[Turpin]

If you're typing in Romaji, you are, in fact, learning Japanese. You're just not learning Japanese characters.

One other thing to remember: you'll never use a double-o. For instance, it's not "arigatoo," it's "arigatou."

[Omena]

Originally posted by TalonKarrde
To nitpick even further, it's actually "Roumaji", almost every time you see a single o, it should be ou.

i.e.

arigatou

doumo


While they'll understand what you mean without the u, it shows you know more if you add the u.

Oh, didn't know the ‚¨?@sound in "romaji" is long, thus becoming ‚¨‚¤ or "roumaji"
You learn something new every day.

[Daiz]

(1) Let's pt with me. ( need PT? )

issho ni PT simasenka?

(2) What are we choice skillchain?

renkei ha dou simashouka?

etc.

[KamaAina]

....actually romanji is an exceptable spelling. It is the english way to spell it because romanji is not just japaneese it is the phonetical spelling of words using the roman alphabet. Roumaji might be the correct japaneese translation, but Romanji is not necessarily wrong. There is no strict spelling rules in Romanji either because it is phonetical.

[kainzero]

r-whatever-maji...whatever-the-heck sucks.

imagine japanese people trying to communicate to you using strictly katakana.

i'd actually use the "translator" than speak in romanization.

meh.

To nitpick even further, it's actually "Roumaji", almost every time you see a single o, it should be ou.

totemo

[KamaAina]

The translator is a joke.

And many japaneese players can understand english to an extent which means that alot of them are pretty comftorable with Romanji I find. I mean I have yet to have a problem with a JP player not understanding romanji. And I find it much more useful then using the translator.

[TalonKarrde]

Heh, I hate the translator with a passion. I also hate that I can't type Japanese symbols with a NA client.

If I used the translator, I would rarely get the Japanese friends I have now.