Japanese Language Discussion

[GaijinPunch]

I'll be honest -- the handheld electronic dictionary market died years ago.

No way, they're still very popular in Japan (I saw people with them every day when I was in Japan last year). My recently purchased Casio EX-Word XD-GF9800 is one of the best things ever made. No Iphone app can come close.

No offense, but considering I live in the most densely populated spot of the country (and the planet for that matter) I'm going to take a my musings to heart. You will not find one on a rush hour train.. I'll put it that way. 10 years ago, it's all you would see. In fact, the handful of these items that are left have to advertise that "it's only an electronic dictionary" which is admittedly feature rich, but the assumption is any gadget does all sorts of shit. The problem is most people don't need the features.

The other place you don't see them: electronics stores, or neighborhoods (Akihabara). They are the to the handheld gadget market what PCBs are to us. Superior in every way in what they do... completely useless to 99% of the population.

Name pleaz

Daijisen Jpn-Jpn Dictionary by Shogakukan. 2000 yen.
It has a 4.5 star rating w/ 13 reviews (the highest of any application on the iPhone store I've considered buyhing). Fuck it. I'm going to buy it now.

EDIT: No I'm not, b/c it requires 3.1.3 software and I'm on jailbroken, so need to research and make sure I can easily upgrade.

[EOJ]

I probably saw them so much because I hung out at Kyoto University most days. Every student seems to have one.
I saw them at every major electronics store I went to (like Bic Camera) as well. A big section for them there too.

Maybe it's a Kansai thing.

considering I live in the most densely populated spot of the country (and the planet for that matter)

Right about the country part, wrong about the planet part. Tokyo's population density pales compared to many other major cities (Cairo, Wuhan, Delhi, Mumbai, etc). It's not even in the top 50.

Granted, no other Metropolitan area compares to Metropolitan Tokyo in regard to total population (a whopping 32 million). But its population density is still a measly 4,049 people/km2. Compare that to the top city, Manila, and its 43,079 people/km2.

My wikipedia searches for the day have now come to an end.

[GaijinPunch]

I probably saw them so much because I hung out at Kyoto University most days. Every student seems to have one.
I saw them at every major electronics store I went to (like Bic Camera) as well. A big section for them there too.

We might be talking about apples & oranges. When I taught, some of my students had them but they even seemed to be phasing out then (this was around 1999). They were balls expensive too those damn things, and they generally had a nice portion of Bic Camera's floor. I'm intersted now... I will have to go and see what share they have. I never look for them, but I never look for most of the things I know have decent space (mobile phones & iPods).

On the trains, I'd say if you're looking for peopel doing something it's 50% mobile phone, 20% Book, 15% DS, 4% PSP, 1% My cock.

considering I live in the most densely populated spot of the country (and the planet for that matter)

Right about the country part, wrong about the planet part.

I actually meant to say "one of". I know that it isn't as bad as a lot of 3rd world places... even HK I believe is more densely populated. The thing is, it's generally like that through whole Kantou area, as you pointed out... not just Tokyo. Quite the eye opener for someone that used to could drive 15 minutes from home and see cows. Most people in Chiba even don't have a fucking back yard.

[GaijinPunch]

For the record: the best J/E dictionary in software form I've seen is Microsoft Bookshelf Basic 3. And I hate most of what Microsoft does. It's really good though... it's a Kodansha dictionary.

[SamIAm]

It took two stinkin' months longer than everyone else because of an address change to find out my results, but I passed the December 1-kyuu. 75%.

Time for a beer.

[GaijinPunch]

Congratulations! No small feat.
You should buy yourself a few beers!

[UnscathedFlyingObject]

It took two stinkin' months longer than everyone else because of an address change to find out my results, but I passed the December 1-kyuu. 75%.

Time for a beer.

How did you do on the individual parts?

[SamIAm]

How did you do on the individual parts?

I don't have my score-sheet on me at the moment, but I remember it broke down very neatly along these lines:

Vocab/kanji: 70%
Listening: 80%
Grammar/Reading: 75%

I was actually positive that I hadn't passed it, so I have still been studying like mad for the past few months. In fact, since they are reforming the 1-kyuu and making it harder, I might still like to take it again. At least I can put it off until December now, instead of going to the July one. I wonder how it is going to compare to the previous version?

[GaijinPunch]

I was sure I didn't either, mainly b/c I choked on the first two parts -- yes, the listening, which is a gimme. I kicked the shit out of Grammar/Reading though, w/ somewhere in the mid-80's. Totally saved me.

In fact, since they are reforming the 1-kyuu and making it harder,

From what I've heard, the 1-kyuu will remain more or less unchanged... it's the "middle" ones they're tweaking, 2 mainly.

[UnscathedFlyingObject]

NEWS: JLPT 2010 Registration Started

You may register for the JLPT 2010 right now. I'm taking level 1 this year and have already registered .

[GaijinPunch]

I thought it was offered twice a year now.

[UnscathedFlyingObject]

Only in Japan. Gaijinland is excluded.

[NTSC-J]

The pass mark for N1 has now been changed to 55%.

Not so impressive anymore...

[GaijinPunch]

The pass mark for N1 has now been changed to 55%.

Not so impressive anymore...

55% ?!?!?!
Is it that much harder?

[NTSC-J]

I sure hope so. Even better, they now have minimum grades for each section, so even if you meet the overall pass, if you fail one of the three sections, you're done. Thing is, the minimum for each section is only 32% :/

It's also unclear as to whether or not these numbers change per test, they're kind of hinting that they will be different each time. So frustrating.

[GaijinPunch]

They haven't shown any signs of competence in the tests format up until now... I don't know curren times would be any different.

[UnscathedFlyingObject]

55% ???
That's too low! It just erodes the usefulness of the test.

[JoshF]

Anyone know how good the Rosetta Stone thing for Japanese is? If it's good I think I'll use it as my last resort. Learning Japanese by myself isn't as fun or easy as it was in High School.

[GaijinPunch]

Anyone know how good the Rosetta Stone thing for Japanese is?

Never used it, but rumor has it it's a turd.

[NTSC-J]

An update on the JLPT scoring: it seems that points per question will be determined by how many other people get it right. So a question that most everyone got right will be worth 1 point, whereas a trickier one that stumped most test-takers will be worth 3 points. In a way this is good, since it gives you more credit for getting a tough one right, but it makes it more of a competition than a gauge of an individual's skills.

I'm still not sure if I should take N1 in December or wait until July. I'm behind in my studies and would probably get 55-60% at this point, but I'd rather make a good showing and hopefully get around 70%.

UFO, how often do you study? For 2kyuu I managed a nice 3-4 hours a day for a while, but I've felt so burned out lately that it's hard for me to do more than an hour a day.

[Moleculoman]

I studied Japanese in college for like 2 years. I've fallen out of practice but I do hope to pick it back up eventually. Being able to read the language has the most utility for me, but speaking the language has its own delights so I'd like to pursue both.

Anyway...I came across this article some weeks back while looking for a news source to provide me with the current happenings in Japan. I found it pretty funny, although some of it I can't relate too for obvious reasons. Maybe Gaijin Punch can ahahah..

Japan Times - "Ai to Kiratta - Love and Hate in Equal Measure"

[GaijinPunch]

What's the cut off for registering? I'm toying w/ the taking the N1 blind, deaf, and dumb... maybe even w/o underwear on. Purely in the name of science.

[UnscathedFlyingObject]

The registration is supposed to end on Oct. 1, however, the Japan foundation website got hacked recently and the online registration has been unavailable since then. Credit card info was stolen (lucky me) and they seem to be looking into it. Maybe you could try registering by other methods.

[GaijinPunch]

Fuck it -- registered.
This should be a laugh. Gonna go in blind, deaf, and dumb.

[hashiriya1]

I passed level one back in high school, it was more difficult back then!

[GaijinPunch]

I passed level one back in high school, it was more difficult back then!

Actually it's gotten progressively harder* onwards depending on who you are (and what year you went to high school). Somewhere around the mid 90's (maybe earlier) they figured out making it so kanji-intensive gave Chinese an unfair advantage, so they gradually started putting more pressure on the actual readings of them (not showing you the kanji) and of course the brutal reading part.

*The "difficulty" of the at least the L1 (and maybe the other 3) varied from year to year depending on how many people passed it the year before. Kind of like a bell curve, but based year to year instead of as a group. So, there were some years that were harder than others. There was a big stink about this for a while when I was studying. Not sure how that will work in now.

[Rebel Ninja]

Hey there I was wondering is "かぃます" the verb to buy? Is "ぃきます" the verb to go and is "きます" the verb to come? Also when would you use the verb "go" and the verb "come"? Is きます used for when you go to meet someone?

[NTSC-J]

You're right on the meanings for those three verbs, but I'm not quite sure what you mean about when to use "come" and "go". きます wouldn't be used for going to meet someone, since as you said it means "come". いきます is for going somewhere so "going to meet" is 迎えに行く　（むかえにいく）.

[Rebel Ninja]

Typo on my behalf. I originally meant to say "is ぃきます used for when you go to meet someone? However I found the reference material I thought I had lost, so now that question is invalid as I understand the appropriate use of both the verbs. Thanks for the reply BTW. I'll probally be asking questions quite a bit in here over the next 8 months.

[GaijinPunch]

They should work about the same in English.

However:
1: Very often you'll hear both verbs contracted when going. いってくる
2: They are opposite of English when referring to orgasm.