Jez - I just found this website today, but you might find it very useful to refer to! (I know I do...the only thing is I wish I could get a more condensed version to use as a 'cheat sheet')

http://www.guidetojapanese.org/

I know what you mean though...I can construct very small sentences, but struggle trying to express more complex things. It's hard, and usually I find most Japanese feel a little uneasy correcting you. I do like constructive feedback though.

Oh also, Jisho.org is also an indispensable tool when trying to converse. I do a lot of cutting and pasting kanji in there as my actual knowledge base of kanji is probably 200 and that's probably giving myself more credit then due...^^;;

Sentence structure: (topic)wa (place of action)de (verb)-masu/mashita
Example: Mizukisan wa uchi de nemasu.
Translation: Mizuki is sleeping at home.

Sentence structure: (topic)wa (subject)ga <degree> suki/kirai desu.
Example: Mariosan wa aisukuriimu ga maamaa suki desu.
Translation: Mario likes icecream so-so.

Sentence structure: (possesion)no (direction)ni (subject)ga imasu/arimasu ka?
Example: Teeburu no ue ni enpitsu ga arimasu ka?
Translation: Is there a pencil on top of the table?

Sentence structure: <question word> (subject)wo (verb)-masu/mashita ka?
Example: Itsu kusuri wo nomimasu ka?
Translation: When do I take the medicine?
dare ga ___ [[who]]
nani ga ___ [[what]]
itsu ____ [[when]]
doko ni ____ [[where]]
doushite ____ [[why]]
dou ___ [[how]]

Hm... I have dinner soon but that's a start, ne?

D: Mimi doesn't know as much as you guys do T_T I know certain things to write, simple things like arigatou gozaimasu, and I know they often don't pronounce the u in words. I know a couple of colors, and mostly just how to say things. I know how to ask if someone understands English, but I don't quite know how to write it. I would love to learn both, though D: And well... I just... x.x Want to know. Especially since I'm going on vacation to Tokyo next summer for two weeks D: Would be handy if I would know some things. x] Like, how to ask where a (public) restroom is xD I have been watching anime and Japanese series for quite the amount of (2) years, but not non stop of course xD Mostly when I have a free period of school or such, or when I have days off.

They haven't offered it anywhere here, which sucks x.x I'd love to follow it, but, no. x.x Self taught is amazing. I really admire that o: I wouldn't ever manage that. xD How do you guys write in Japanese by the way? o: That really is sweet.

( Mimi also lives in a different time zone. Is from Amsterdam, The Netherlands, so will not always be online when you guys are ^^; )

@Mimi: Noo omg it's alright.. Don't stress about it too much.. I mean.. you wanna learn, then you will. First things first, if you truly know how to pronounce a word, then you will know how to write it out.

The vowels work like this:
A (ah)
I (ee)
U (ooh)
E (eh)
O (oh)

And then the other rule is that if you have double consonants, there is a short pause, like you would have a short pause when you say "hot toast". "Atta" is said like "a--ta". And since there isn't the same type of alphabet as in English, you won't find actual consonants -->alone<-- except for "n". They are represented with a small "tsu".
Normal tsu: つ versus small tsu: っ

Before I go on, does all of that make sense?
If you want some practice with words you can try saying the things in this thread or look at my online lessons. Please let me know what you don't understand and what you are doing well at. I wish I could be there and help personally.. but knowing that much will help me out with helping you, k? : )

Okay. The vowels out loud sound...Reasonable. xD

Two consonants in a row is a short pause, meaning you only speak one? But then.. "Atta", pronounced as "a--ta", does that mean the "a" is elongated while speaking, or does it remain (ah) as the vowel? Also, is the tsu pronounced too in a word or is it not? o.o I wouldn't know how to picture that. ><

I really appreciate your help <3 I'll try and be a good student! ;3

Hehe great. I believe in you~ ^_^
Yes, you only speak one. In the example "atta" the "a" is said just normal.. not lengthened. If it is lengthened it would be "aa". But when there's the small tsu, you don't say anything there.
Other examples:
Acchi: a (silence) chi
Kissaten: ki (silence) saten

However, with a normal tsu you actually pronounce "tsu". There will be no other characters that you do not pronounce besides the small "tsu". I was just showing you both for comparison.

Ah! So it's just the ah. Sweet o.o Come to think of it, that does make more sense than the lengthened 'a'. It's hard to guess when you've always just heard it. @.@
Acchi.. Kissaten. It's divided into different syllables when the first consonant is written, right?

When written in Kanji(? if it is Kanji that is) those words would have a tsu? (curiousity)

Ok lol so that all makes sense, ne? >w<
Yes.. like.. a/c/chi and ki/s/sa/te/n.. is how it's written too.
Actually.. if you want, I can put those in hiragana as well.. They will be the same words, just not in western characters (called romaji)

a/c/chi = あ/っ/ち
ki/s/sa/te/n = き/っ/さ/て/ん

Kanji? Well.. I can't think of any words right now where the kanji doesn't cover "tsu". If it does exist like that, I don't think it's very common. What I mean by kanji covering things is.. well.. you have a word that is pronounced..say... hmm...

The kanji for child is 子, and alone it is pronounced "ko/こ" but as the word child, it should be "kodomo/こども" instead. Kodomo = 子ども (There is a second kanji, covering "domo" but not as many people know it)

Same is like.. the kanji for like.. it's 好 but the word like is "suki/すき" so you would see it written as "好き"

Yes :3 The first part, actually, seems to be relatively well understanding. ^^
I do get that, which makes me happy ^o^

Hiranaga... o.o There's more than just Kanji out in the world? O_O Kodomo is a word I knew, yet to see it written... So cute >w< Sorry. I tend to get distracted at times o.o
If I understand correctly, the second Kodomo word, it is written the kanji for child and then the characters for 'domo', right? But then, what is it with the first Kodomo? Is that just spelled out? With that I mean more like 'Ko' being the first part, 'Do' being the center and 'Mo' being the last? I really don't know how to read it though, so I'm... 'guessing'? D:

Do they write without the kanji, too? o.o Or is that the most common way of writing in Japanese?

lol it's fine. (being distracted) It's not like I have much room to speak if I were to tell you not to.. lol.. I do it all the time. Just as long as you're enjoying it haha.

Kanji is used very commonly because it gives a direct meaning of the word that is being used. You will see papers chalkfull of kanji if you look at a newspaper, or something big and professional like in business. However, if it is in school, you will usually see just gradually building on the kanji knowledge or else there will be both. (writing hiragana above. When it's smaller to give the pronounciation it's called furigana.. but don't really worry about that)

Kanji's greatest use: meaning [[most complicated or just not hiragana/katakana]]
Hiragana's greatest use: pronounciation, and for people who are not as knowledgable about kanji [[usually pretty curvy]]
Lastly, there is Katakana, which is for foreign words put into the Japanese language. For example, taxi becomes takushii (タクシー） or chocolate becomes chokoreeto (チョコレート). [[more blocky]]

It may take a bit to remember all of this, since this is new to you.. but does that make sense?

I'm distracted by homework, is more what I mean. College. It's a lot, really x.X But I'll manage xD

Chokoreeto *w* Now THAT I can remember. I actually never even heard of all the others. I thought all they used was Kanji. They really have a lot, though. Hiragana would be without the kanji character? o.o

I would have to leave in 30 minutes D: I would have to walk the dogs and then get some sleep before tomorrow x.x

Okay well college first, okay? I don't want you failing because I'm teaching you Japanese. And then if you want to spend your free time on this you can come here and talk.. ask questions.. anything you need.

And the language where all they use is Kanji.. that's Chinese. The speaking system is different but the writing system has much in common.. except that Japanese also has hiragana and katakana.

kanji in kanji: 漢字
hiragana in hiragana:　ひらがな
katakana in katakana:　カタカナ

Come back later? : 3

College first :3 I just have to redo something, though. I thought it saved last night but apparently it hadn't. .-. It has to be done by monday, though, so I have time, but I hate waiting til the last moment to do something. Already had my test, so after I finished, probably by tomorrow, and then I'm all clear ^-^

Chinese does sound a lot different than Japanese, I must say. The same word can mean different things when pronounced differently. x.x At least Japanese has clear words to understand ><

They all look so different O_O mind me askig what it says? >.< I would have to take my leave now, but that way I can peek at it tomorrow ^o^

Thank you so much for wanting to teach me, and hopefully see you tomorrow! <3

Ook good luck ^o^ Sounds annoying that it's not saved but best to get it done now than later, ne?

Oh haha true..
The first one says kanji, the second one says hiragana and the third one says katakana.
漢+字(かん+じ)
ひ/ら/が/な=hi/ra/ga/na
カ/タ/カ/ナ=ka/ta/ka/na

They are each written in the style that they are.
----------~~----------~~------------~~
For when you want to review:
*Are there long and short vowels in Japanese, or only one way to say them?
*How would you pronounce "uchi"? ((say aloud to yourself))
*When is Katakana used?
*What do you do when there is a small tsu in a word?

Edit: Best wishes! I hope to talk tomorrow as well. ^-^

I wouldn't worry too much about the Hiragana and Katakana (Or Kana as they're collectively known) as it is all a matter of phonetics. Once you master the sound they make, you just got to sound it out. What's great about the Katakana is it is all foreign words mostly, and probably a good 90% of them are derived from English. You get the odd French word (Zubon for pants) and well there's a couple other exceptions to the rule..but worry about that later. ;)

What I did when first starting out is I wrote the hiragana or katakana symbol repeatedly to practice it and even made a set of flash cards to quiz myself. There's also a *really* cool book out there for Kana and Kanji that has the westerner in mind and tries to make pictures out of the symbols. I saw it at a barnes and noble and one of these days I'll pick it up as I thought it was genius.

Here it is:
http://www.amazon.com/Kanji-Pict-O-G...1926907&sr=8-3

I'm more of a right brained learner though so I found this to be a very helpful technique to help memorize meanings. :)

Oh hai! Thanks for the input! ^-^
It is true.. the pronounciation.. actually knowing the words as well is more important... Idk.. I think it's a pretty good feeling though when you first look at characters having no idea what they mean and then a few months later, hey! You got em down! Kana isn't that hard after all. Just a matter of practice. I admit as of late I have to work on my listening comprehension speed more than anything else.. so it'd help most to have my family speak it more or something... but it's always fun to practice all else, ne?

Edit: And uhmm yeah I saw that book at the library a few years back. It's really helpful. @@ Great suggestion~

this seems like a lovely group of people! i'd like to join, but i don't know a word of japanese. :P

That's alright! And oh haha thanks.. it's fun talking here ^-^
Something to do with japan and you're welcome to stay haha... Ever visited there? Or want to?

i visited once when i was 14! i'd like to go again if i get the funds. i thought maybe someone would be interested in buying my butterflies and moths there.

Oh really? Why butterflies and moths?
That's funny.. I went when I was 14 as well. x3

Not a problem, strange. I think that there's a bit of a difference in learning for a westerner and the whole three types of writing thing seems to be so scary at first. It's the Kanji that is the toughest and requires the most studying...It's still a lot of fun to learn even if I may never get to the point where I can read a daily newspaper.

So Strange, does your family speak Japanese? Is that how you have learned? I wish my parents could speak it. I would of had a lot more practice than I have had now for sure. Of course I wouldn't of appreciated it much if they had...

Oh that is true, huh? Idk.. I hope it's not too hard for someone to learn from me. I think more like a Japanese person. xD *1/4 Japanese*

Yes, my family speaks Japanese. Well, my sister kinda dropped the whole idea but my dad and my brother do. My dad was born in Sasebo but he moved when he was 3 so he mainly only knows baby sentence kind of stuff. I had to learn to progress past that on my own. So I've done just a little bit of study since I was very little and then I got more into it when I was 12. *ish 16 now* Buuut yeah formal classes didn't start until high school so it was mostly books and talking to people until then. Which, I'm really glad I took Japanese (1 & 2) in high school.. because if I didn't, then I would not have learned so much valuable information and had so many fond memories to go behind it.

Are you still taking classes now or just self study?

I don't think my teacher in high school pushed us hard enough. I really wanted to learn. When I went to college I skipped Japanese 1 and went into Japanese 2 but struggled as it was a much faster progression. It was like they squished what I had learned in 3 years in high school into a 1 semester class!

This is my first year doing it but I'm not in public school anymore. I guess it's kinda like homeschooling except my dad really doesn't do anything. I do it on my own in notebooks and on the computer. And the school offers Japanese 1 & 2 but I'm not taking Japanese right now because it'd look weird on my transcript to take it again when I got A+ all the way through for both XB Would rather just try to self-study and work from what I have than do that..

Ohh wow yeah my teacher was a fighter. But she really believed in people.. it wasn't just to get them to have good grades. She simply wanted them to avoid having regrets if they passed by the opportunity to learn something really cool for themselves.. when it didn't cost them any money and it was more intellectually possible for them to do. I went back and visited her a few times after I moved... and she said that yes that's true... it does go much faster. Which in a sense I'm glad for because I've learned to push myself about it too : P

She sounds pretty awesome. I haven't seen my Japanese teacher since I graduated high school. I do wonder if he still teaches there. And I wonder if the school finally cracked down on him for being so lenient....