Minnasan Konnichiwa!!

Minnasan Konnichiwa!! How are you getting on with your Japanese learning? Do you enjoy the quizzes and new features of the Rocket Japanese Learning Lounge? Sayaka

[quo]*Quote from * Sayaka Minnasan Konnichiwa!! How are you getting on with your Japanese learning? Do you enjoy the quizzes and new features of the Rocket Japanese Learning Lounge? Sayaka[/quo] Matsuura-Sensei, Konban wa! Watakushi wa gambatte desu. Hai, suki to omoshiroi desu. Yoroshiku onegai itashi masu! Derek Fuerstenberg Hopefully I got that right... I worded it in the ultra-formal manner because I just got done with the last of that unit yesterday, and also you rule as a sensei... What I was trying to say: Good Evening, Mrs. Matsuura! I am doing my best. Yes, they are fun and I like them. I'm indebted to you for your kindness. Derek Fuerstenberg I'd write it a third time in hiragana but it's 1am. Tsukare mashita! Ja soro soro, Derek Fuerstenberg P.s. is rljapan you, kenny squire, yoshiko, taro or some other person (people)? Soretemo, if rljapan has the username rljapan to keep the person anonymous and they'd wish to keep it that way, then that's fine too... I'm curious, but also don't really want to stick my nose in places where it doesn't belong...

デレックさん。 おげんきですか。 Ogenki desu ka? How are you? rljapan is the name for all of us at Rocket Japanese but as of...yesterday, I will be taking over :lol: and guiding you through your studies with us. Just to correct a little bit of what you wrote... *Watakushi wa gambatte desu.* (This should be: *Watakushi wa gambatte __IMASU__.*) :idea: You attach the helping/auxiliary verb IMASU to the TE-form of a verb to show a continuous action. It's like the *ING* part of *do__ING__* in English. So, if you'd like to say "I am doING my best" you would want to add the *IMASU* to *gambatte*. :idea: *Gambatte* on it's own, is an expression which translates as "Do you best" - one that is used by you to another person, and not referring to yourself. While *Gambatte imasu* can be used for yourself to say _"I'm doing my best"_ as well as talking about ... your friend's. You'd say "My friend is doing his best" - *Tomodachi wa gambatte imasu.* Soredewa, mata kondo! :roll: Sayaka

Konnichiwa! So that's what my name would be in katakana... Ah, I was debating on whether it was imasu or desu... domo arigoto gozaimashita for the clarification though! I'd assume Soredewa, mata kondo is a closing of some sort. I recalled there being a grammar section of one the lessons that had a bunch of closings and their accurate meanings, but I can't find it... :( so... could you remind me of the literal(or implied) translation of Soredewa, mata kondo ? Also do you know of any good programs that I could download that would allow my english keyboard to type hiragana, katakana, or kanjii (type the word in romaji then it converts as necessary to the appropriate character). At the momment I'm just using copy and paste which is impractical... and also why I rarely do it... I could just buy a japanese keyboard... soretemo, I don't have a lot of spare cash at the momment. Domo Arigoto Gozaimasu! デレック

Nevermind, I figured out that I could use a feature already installed on my computer... こんにちわ！ おげんきですか？ デレク

デレックさん Soredewa, mata kondo それでは、またこんど。 If we break this down, we have それ (sore) = "That" では (dewa) = "Well then" また (mata) = "Again" こんど (kondo) = "This-time" Those are the literal translations of each component making up the entire phrase, however, when all is said together it roughly equates to the English: "Well then (having said that), until next time" さやか

どもありがとございました！ それでわ、またこんど。 :P デレック

さやかーせんせい I noticed you used は rather than わ for de*wa*... I know it's stated in an audio lesson somewhere that this does occur, でも I don't recall there being an explanation. それても that could be because of my bad memory. So if you know the reason or the audio lesson then could you please let me know. どもありがとっ！ デレック

デレックさん、 My apologies... それではis the correct way to write SORE DEWA. ごめんなさい！And thank you for paying attention! :shock:

[quo]*Quote from * Sayaka デレックさん、 My apologies... それではis the correct way to write SORE DEWA. ごめんなさい！And thank you for paying attention! :shock:[/quo] I wasn't try to correct you...(as I believe you actually had it right) more so I was asking why we use は rather than わ. どもありがと。 デレック

デレックさん、 I think it's great that you are noticing every little detail of the Japanese language... so おめでとう！ Now...as to why *は* rather than *わ* :idea: When *は* is used as a topic marker particle it is pronounced _Wa_ - such as: *わたしは* (_Watashi __wa___) "I am" whereas when used anywhere else, it's read _Ha_, as in *はい*(_Hai_) "Yes" and *はやい*(_Hayai_) "fast" :idea: *わ* is used in words like *__わ__たし* and *__わ__かります* as well as the feminine sentence ending particle - *すごい__わ__！* :idea: *では* (Pronounced: _DEWA_) is actually two particles joined together. *で*(_de_) = This is the TE-form of だ _da_ and です_desu_ both meaning "It is" *は* (_wa_) = topic marker particle So, this is why we use *は* instead of *わ* to write *では* SAYAKA

さやかせんせい、 Strictly speaking on the particle aspect of it all, は is masculine and わ is feminine? じゃそろそろ、 デレック

デレックさん、 *わ* as an end particle such as。。。 すごいわ！(Sugoi wa!) is strictly used in feminine speech. However *は* is a topic particle regardless of whether the speaker is masculine or feminine.

さやかせんせい、 あ、そですか。。。おもしろいです。 どもありがと！ デレック