jōzu vs Jouzu ?

Konichiwa! I have a question regarding lesson 1.4 Where is says- Nohon go ga o jōzu desu ne and -Anata hodo Jouzu ja nai desu Is jōzu and jouzu the same thing? And can somebody go into a little more detail on exactly what these 2 sentences mean? Arigato gozaimasu!

Konnichi wa, Well I am for sure not the most qualified to answer this but I can hopefully help you out some until rljapan or someone more fluent can step in.... But sometimes it can take awhile for an answer so giving it my best. I believe Jōzu and Jouzu are the same word "skillful or to be good at". I Can't say why they are spelled different other then perhaps since one has the honorific O in front of it... O Jōzu... Which I'm not sure if thats an honorific or a typo? Being there is ga already there marking the subject as "Nihongo (japanese language)." From what I understand "o" as a particle would be used to mark a direct object of a verb. For example "Jon san wa eiga o mimashita" (Jon saw a movie). "O" is marking the object "movie" for the verb "mimashita (saw, the past tense of miru.. too see.)" So I am guessing adding the O maybe emphasizes Jozu more... so instead of just meaning "good at," it may stress it so its more like very good! or great at! But thats just a guess on my part for right now. So the sentences means... Nihon go (japanese langauge) ga (subject marker) jōzu (skilled) desu (coupla and also polite) ne (makes it rhetorical, like "isnt it? or ya know?". So the 1st sentence is "Your Japanese is great" or some variant. The 2nd sentence means... Anata (you) hodo (as or as much as) jouzu (skillful) janai desu (coupla, polite and negative). So it is saying "Not as good as yours is." And since the topic "Nihongo" is known to both speakers, there is no reason to mention it again in the sentence. Hope that helps some and someone more fluent than I can comment on it or any errors I made. Ganbatte! Ja ne Roger

_Minnasan Konnichiwa! _ PlusTheEffect-san, you are correct! :D The word *jōzu* and *jouzu* are the same word, and it is an error on our part (our apologies) for not sticking to the same format of rōmaji writing. Some learners of Japanese are taught that the elongated *o* - that is, the double sound of the vowel *o* is to be marked with a line on top of the vowel like*ō*, while others are taught to write it as *ou*. As PlusTheEffect-san stated, the *O* in *_Nihon go ga __[b]o*__ jōzu desu ne_[/b] is an honorific prefix. It is added to show respect towards the listener. Adding, the honorific prefix *O* makes the sentence roughly mean "Your Japanese is [honorably] good". It doesn't make much sense in English, however, many words in Japanese add on the *O* at the beginning of words: *__O__kyakusama* _"__[Honored]__ customer"_ *__O__namae* _"__[Honored]__ name"_ This polite prefix *__O__* is used optionally to show respect. Sometimes using *__O__* is obligatory (unless you're a gang member...) - such as: *__O__kane* _"__[Honored]__ money"_ - even if it's your own money, people refer it as *Okane* rather than *kane*. I hope your Japanese learning is exciting and challenging! :wink: _Soredewa, mata ne! _

Thank you both! You we're very helpful! =D

Dou itashimashite! You are very welcome! :D