what do japanese players type on?

[TMPikachu]

hmmm, didn't know there was original Japanese, non-Chinese kanji.

Guess you learn something new everyday.

btw, on the ones that are Chinese, do they have the same meaning? ( I figure they probably would)


And if you thought those characters were hard enough to remember, try tacking onto it writing with a brush ! (learning 'boxy', 'cursive' and ancient chinese calligraphy :D)
*I wonder if there's something ironic in an illiterate American learning ancient Chinese

[Tomatoes]

Originally posted by Omena


That's not a problem in many languages using "our" letters.
In Finnish all letters make the sound they are supposed to and they always sound the same. Long vowels are made by putting two of the same wovel in a row.

While hiragana/katakana isn't difficult to learn, I find kanji to bit a bit unnecessarily complicated. Add spaces between words and I bet we would be just fine without kanji.

Language is not necessarily just a utility, but also an artform. Moreover, it is possible to distinguish words like bear (animal) and bear (endure) without context when you use kanji. There are also a lot more nuances available with the different types of pictographs used.

Also, kanji in some instances is actually more efficient than using Hiragana-only for certain 2 or 3 syllable words that are only 1 character in kanji-form.

[InuTrunks]

I've used a japanese keyboard before, it's so tiny (the spacebar and the backspace)..

Also, direct input is really fun

[ZQM]

So hiragana is used in FFXI? Or what?

With the site InuTrunks posted (thanks a lot!), hopefully I can find out what you Japanese players are finally saying. :p

[Shintaku]

all aspects of the japanese language are used in ffxi (hiragana, katakana, kanji)....watching a fast japanese typist type something is really entertaining for some reason.

[perry]

Japanese players dont actually type on the keyboard, they insert a wire directly from there PS2 into their cerebral cortex.

This allows them to play while sleeping, which disproves the popular belief that they like to use bot software.

Also, since the reaction time between brain/PS2 link is faster, it explains while you often see mobs spawn with aggro. They are just that fast.

However, the system does have some draw backs. Near morning time in Japan, there seem to be a huge increase in TaruTaru/Mithra leg humping incidents. The incidents cease when the players get up to go to school and disconnect. Strange Phenomoneon.

:p

[bside]

Originally posted by ZQM
So hiragana is used in FFXI? Or what?

combination of all; Hiragana, Katakana, and Kanji. that is the normal way of communication among Japanese ppl. we can't stand not being able to use any one of them.

as an example of it, here's very simple sentenses we see pretty much everyday;

今日ã?¯ã?„ã?„天気ã?_。ジョギングã?§ã‚‚ã?—よã?†ã€‚
(it's such a nice day out. guess i should go out and jog.)


in the above sentenses, 今日 and 天気 r Kanji, ジョギング is Katakana, and the rest is Hiragana. we use all of them and this is the normal way of writing it. if we write them all in Hiragana, it'll become;

ã??ょã?†ã?¯ã?„ã?„ã?¦ã‚“ã??ã?_。ã?˜ã‚‡ã?Žã‚“ã??ã?§ã‚‚ã?—よã?†ã€‚

but it's not just right. not only it's harder to read, but also it's wrong to put it this way. (although we can read it to understand.)


all of them r part of the Japanese language, and simply can't be avoided.

[bside]

Originally posted by TMPikachu
hmmm, didn't know there was original Japanese, non-Chinese kanji.

Guess you learn something new everyday.

btw, on the ones that are Chinese, do they have the same meaning? ( I figure they probably would)

most of Japanese Kanji's r based on Chinese Kanji's, but w/ a long history, many, if not some, were "Japanized" and therefore forms differently.

for instance,

国 (country, nation) was originally 國, but as the time passed by, it became the easier form, 国. still, the old, Chinese form, 國, is used mostly w/ ppl's name.

thus, they r not "original" Japanese Kanji's, but in reality, they r only used in Japan.

and however they might have changed their shapes, yes, they still possess the same meanings. and as for the ones that r still the same as Chinese ones, obviously the answer is yes. however, they may be pronounced differently, though; in Japanese, we have 2 ways to pronounce Kanji in general, but sometimes neither matches that of Chinese way. for this reason, we can read Chinese papers to understand a little of it, but never know how they r pronounced.

[Trimpton]

I honestly must say I cant agree with puhfyn. I think learning english is so much easier. Firstly because you can sit with a japanese - english dictionary and find out what you mean by using roman characters in aphabetical order I can find the words in the dictionary. However for kanji - and the likes - it would be nearly impossible to find the words to look them up. Learning romanji isnt that hard - its converting it to japanese characters that is.

But thankfully I have learned quite a bit of romanji while playing. ^^

[ZQM]

Bah, I was hoping i'd only have to learn one written language.

Thanks for the help.

[specialk]

Originally posted by bside


most of Japanese Kanji's r based on Chinese Kanji's, but w/ a long history, many, if not some, were "Japanized" and therefore forms differently.

for instance,

国 (country, nation) was originally 國, but as the time passed by, it became the easier form, 国. still, the old, Chinese form, 國, is used mostly w/ ppl's name.

thus, they r not "original" Japanese Kanji's, but in reality, they r only used in Japan.

and however they might have changed their shapes, yes, they still possess the same meanings. and as for the ones that r still the same as Chinese ones, obviously the answer is yes. however, they may be pronounced differently, though; in Japanese, we have 2 ways to pronounce Kanji in general, but sometimes neither matches that of Chinese way. for this reason, we can read Chinese papers to understand a little of it, but never know how they r pronounced.

yup, what bside said. i can read the kanji in japanese newspapers to get a general understanding of what's going on. i can read the japanese alphabet (hiragana/katakana), but have a very small vocabulary. so while i can read it, most likely i have no idea what it means.

the only nit-picking detail with bside's post is that the example he used isn't really japan-ized. the character 国 is simplified chinese (简体埗) and 國 is traditional chinese (�体埗). this change was implemented during the cultural revolution to promote literacy.

but to bside's point, the character æ_© (japanese) is slightly different from the chinese version 查. there are several characters like this, but they are usually so similar any chinese/japanese speaker would understand them.

[specialk]

eeeew, some of the characters got encoded funny. maybe cos i mixed chinese and japanese? hmmm. oh well, nm

[InuTrunks]

Zom no problem, really good site for biginners

Also, you should learn in this order

1) Hiragana become exremely proficant in this

2) Katakana

3) Words, sentance structure, ect ect

4) Kanji

Why kanji last? because well it's exremely challenging and there are thousands of them. Also, one kanji by itself can mean something, then it with another can mean something else.

Example

x means tree
xy means tree house
yx means poster

(This is not a real example, just made up )

[tazirai]

Originally posted by Trimpton
I honestly must say I cant agree with puhfyn. I think learning english is so much easier. Firstly because you can sit with a japanese - english dictionary and find out what you mean by using roman characters in aphabetical order I can find the words in the dictionary. However for kanji - and the likes - it would be nearly impossible to find the words to look them up. Learning romanji isnt that hard - its converting it to japanese characters that is.

But thankfully I have learned quite a bit of romanji while playing. ^^

kinda True
But most people around the world have problems with english,
they tend to turn it into engrish or soemthing like that.
Kanji can be a pain to learn , but as posters have said its needed.
Ill give an example. or two


When asking a simple question in english abotu skill chains
one would normally say ..

English
"whats the Skillchain ? or "What skillchain are we gonna use"

Jp PT would say
れん���？renkei ha

or
連��？ renkei ha

It means the exact same thing as what the english PT would say .

kanji can be used to shortened sentences that are are uneccesarily long .

[prettyboy]

kanji are used to differentiate meanings. for example

kiru ã??る　is a verb that can mean "to wear" or "to cut". in hiragana without any context clues given it could go either way. that's where kanji comes in.

There is a kanji for "to wear" : �る
and a kanji for "to cut"　：　切る

this differentiates between the identical hiragana versions.

also, katakana is useful to learn since katakana is basically words outside of japanese (but... japan..ese..ised... ....eh). Like above, �ン�ーガ　(hanbaaga - hamburger) コンピュータ (conpyuuta - computer) are quite easy to figure out. in game there's

ナイト - naito - Knight (PLD)
モンク - monku - MNK
シーフ - shiifu - THF
ミスラ - misura - Mithra
�ス - basu - Bastok
ジュノ - jyuno - Jeuno
サンド - sando - Sandoria
セルビナ - serubina - Selbina
�イパ - baipa - Viper (bite)
�ニング - baningu - Burning (blade)
コンボ - conbo - Combo
ピャシング - pyashingu - Piercing (Arrow)
サーケト or was it サケット- saaketo/saketto - Serket @_@

those are just the ones i came up with off the top of my head (i might be wrong with serket ^^). in any case katakana is always welcomed for me because it means it's probably an english word and therefore easy to figure out if i can read it out ^^

here's some easy kanji i know off the top of my head (i don't know the hiragana for the other jobs though T-T)
白 - literally means "white" 白�ん = WHM, the two hiragana after the kanji is "sa" and "n" (san) which is used to address other people politely...
é»’ - literally means "black", everything else is same as above except with this kanji instead.
赤 - literally means "red", same as above.
ä¾? - Samurai!!!!!

hope that helps a little.