Any Japanese speakers here?

[Keranu]

I'm thinking about trying to teach myself Japanese again. A few years ago, I learned some stuff about it for awhile and I would kind of study it during different periods between two years. I'm kind of surprised because I know more than I thought, though I never took it seriously. I understand some hiragana and katakana and very little Kanji, so I can only write a few words, my name included . My vocubarly is small, but I could probably list a lot more words than those who don't know any Japanese besides "konichiwa" or "arigato", etc. I understand some of how the sentence structure works, though I used to be a lot better at it and could even put a few sentences together.

It kind of feels like it would be a waste of time learning it since I would only really use it for understanding video games. I'm not really into Japanese films or anime or anything like that, so video games are the only priority, except maybe talking with other Japanese speakers.

Does anyone here speak little or fluent Japanese? It would be fun to talk to those .

[Black Tiger]

Jipang, ichi no date otoko!

[Keranu]

I did a Google search for that and found that a person with the screen names "Black_Tiger" or "kabuki_danjiro" use that line often, hmmm...   (I assume that's from a TM game, yes?)

All I know from that line is Jipang = Japan (though I don't hear this much, I usually hear Nihon) and ichi=one. "No" is some particle, but I'm still not sure what it means, I always assumed "of". Can't comment on "date" or "otoko" though . Just a wild guess, but does "otoko" mean "world"?

[Black Tiger]

I did a Google search for that and found that a person with the screen names "Black_Tiger" or "kabuki_danjiro" use that line often, hmmm...   (I assume that's from a TM game, yes?)

All I know from that line is Jipang = Japan (though I don't hear this much, I usually hear Nihon) and ichi=one. "No" is some particle, but I'm still not sure what it means, I always assumed "of". Can't comment on "date" or "otoko" though . Just a wild guess, but does "otoko" mean "world"?

Its Kabuki Danjurou's catch phrase.

In the Apocalypse IV(TM in USA), the flamboyant gunslinger with Kabuki's voice, manerisms, etc... 's catch phrase is "America, ichi no date otoko!"
Some people say Jipang is an old name for Japan, that may or may not have been coined by a euro explorer. Others say that its just a totally fictional kingdom(and some people call it Zipang).

The closest translation I've got from real Japanese people is "Jipang's number one guy/performer!"

[Keranu]

Ahh, figured it was a Kubuki Danjiro catch phrase. I've also heard of the Jipang/Zipang variations before. Black_Tiger, don't you know some Japanese? I think either you've told me that on these boards or I read something like that on your TMII walkthrough, or at least got the assumption you did because you knew lots of Japanese words and names in the game.

[Ninja Spirit]

I only know some katakana. As much as I want to, I can't get into the Tengai Makyo  and Megami Tensei games mainly for the fact that even the menus are in kanji.

[Black Tiger]

Ahh, figured it was a Kubuki Danjiro catch phrase. I've also heard of the Jipang/Zipang variations before. Black_Tiger, don't you know some Japanese? I think either you've told me that on these boards or I read something like that on your TMII walkthrough, or at least got the assumption you did because you knew lots of Japanese words and names in the game.

Back when I did my original TMII walkthrough(I'm redoing it right now, complete with maps), I was pretty ignorant. But now I can read katakana, all hiragana when in practice, know most of the key written RPG kanji and have a huge vocal vocabulary for someone who doesn't technically speak japanese.

Basically I can watch a stereotypical anime like Record Of Lodoss War and understand most of the dialogue, 'cuz its all: "you alright?", "damn you!", "wait!", "idiot!", "hurry!", "what the?", "die!", "lets go!", "my name is...".

I first taught myself like half of katakana while playing Snatcher and memorized pretty much every line of dialogue in Golden Axe  back in the day. Later I finally found a Japanese/English dictionary and now that we have the internet, anyone can print off a katakana/hiragana table or RPG kanji chart.

But when doing real translations, mainly with walkthroughs, this site has changed my life-

http://www.csse.monash.edu.au/~jwb/wwwjdic.html

Even when I can't find a character on a japanese site to copy & paste in, I can still piece it together here(literally) and it gives multiple translations of single words.

[akamichi]

I used to be ok at speaking Japanese, but now I don't speak as much.  Pretty good at reading and writing/typing since I do that pretty often.  Never made much of an effort to get fluent after my Japanese classes in college.

Always wanted to be able to speak Japanese fluently, but now that I look back on it, I never really followed through with it.  Someday...

But when doing real translations, mainly with walkthroughs, this site has changed my life-

http://www.csse.monash.edu.au/~jwb/wwwjdic.html

That site is awesome.  I use it all the time on my cell phone.

[Keranu]

Haha, your situation is kind of a lot like mine! If I watch a anime in Japanese, I'll understand a lot of phrases like that too, or if I play a game, etc... Also I've been playing Snatcher on PCE lately and it is a GREAT way to understand katakana since you constantly have to remember names and use the computer to research a lot, it's humerous in a way. I had to look up tables and stuff a lot so I made sure I was doing it right and it's been great so far. Right now I need to answer Napolean's questions and I read somewhere the answer is "ended" but I don't know the Japanese for it. Thanks a lot for this site, it looks like great source to use.

I only know some katakana. As much as I want to, I can't get into the Tengai Makyo and Megami Tensei games mainly for the fact that even the menus are in kanji.

I started playing Tengai Makyou II last summer and wanted to really get far in it, so mastering how to use the menus was the first thing I did. I know it's frustrating for awhile, but YOU can do it, just like I did! It took me awhile to learn (like 20 straight mins or so I think), but once you know it, it helps a LOT and you can really enjoy the game! I haven't beaten it yet, but I did make it far for a beginner and I really enjoyed it even without knowing most Japanese.

[Black Tiger]

I started playing Tengai Makyou II last summer and wanted to really get far in it, so mastering how to use the menus was the first thing I did. I know it's frustrating for awhile, but YOU can do it, just like I did! It took me awhile to learn (like 20 straight mins or so I think), but once you know it, it helps a LOT and you can really enjoy the game! I haven't beaten it yet, but I did make it far for a beginner and I really enjoyed it even without knowing most Japanese.

The cool thing is that alot of RPG's use the same commands as TMII, so once you get used to it, you can pick up and play another game without just memorizing spaces after trial and error.

This has impacted me the most now that I'm playing through TMIII. Never(this is my first text intensive import RPG in a while) have I been able to jump straight into a strictly text-command RPG like this and just play it the same as if it were in english.

And I can decipher all the spells that are written or described in kanji now, just as easily as if they were in english. The only reason this is significant is that like I said, I really am technically non-fluent and have never been taught anything by anyone.

[Keranu]

Right on.

I am having problems answering Napolean's questions in PCE Snatcher right now, I'm on the first question in fact. I know know what he is asking and I found the answer using the computer, but the problem is that the answer is in Kanji and you have to answer him in katakana. I have been trying to find these Kanji symbols (found one of them, 无 , at least I'm pretty sure that's it) but I have been trying to find how they are pronounced so I can spell them in Katakana. I assume each of these two Kanis contains two Katakanas each since the answer can only hold four characters at most. Do you know the answer off hand?

[akamichi]

Yeah, I usually don't have trouble with Japanese RPGs other than the fact that too much reading makes me tired.  I played through a number of Jpn RPGs, including PC games (Ys 6) w/o too much pain.  I usually can follow the main plot but miss some of the details.  I think once you've played a number of text heavy games like RPGs, you'll notice the same words and options.

I am having problems answering Napolean's questions in PCE Snatcher right now, I'm on the first question in fact. I know know what he is asking and I found the answer using the computer, but the problem is that the answer is in Kanji and you have to answer him in katakana.

Is that at the beginning of the game?  Unfortunately, I can't help you here, but I know what you mean.  There's a 5 headed hydra boss on Typing of the Dead that I can't beat because you gotta read some question and then type the answer according to which hydra head it's on.  You only get to try one of the answers.  Never beat it.  The english version wouldn't be a problem though.

[Black Tiger]

Right on.

I am having problems answering Napolean's questions in PCE Snatcher right now, I'm on the first question in fact. I know know what he is asking and I found the answer using the computer, but the problem is that the answer is in Kanji and you have to answer him in katakana. I have been trying to find these Kanji symbols (found one of them, 无 , at least I'm pretty sure that's it) but I have been trying to find how they are pronounced so I can spell them in Katakana. I assume each of these two Kanis contains two Katakanas each since the answer can only hold four characters at most. Do you know the answer off hand?

Here are all the answers in the game-



The bottom two are for Napoleon(depending on which question he asks). The vertical one is "Queen" and the top is "Benson". It sounds like you've played through the Sega CD version, so you'll know when to use them.

I wrote them down on my disc the first time I finished the game. That way I'd never lose them as long as I could still play the game.

This was years before the real internet and I was planning for the worse case scenario that I was never going to learn any Japanese and that every PC Engine game would be priceless and unobtainable after the 16-bit generation.

Man, if I could show myself back then how things are now, with everything documented extensively, games a click away and new ones being created. But what would've blown my mind most is all these great CD games selling for only a few dollars now.

[Keranu]

Haha, that's great. Thanks for the answers. I managed to answer Katrina/Kathrine's questions without much problem in Japanese, I was afraid it was going to be like the Sega CD version where you have to answer where hear birthmark is and stuff, those words might have been hard for me to find in Japanese. Luckily just be understanding katakana and hiragana and knowing how to translate names, you can make a trip to the computer in the game and figure answers like those out easily . I found the answers to Napolean's questions as I have said, but they were in Kanji and I had no idea how to pronounce them because of it . Thanks a lot for the answers!

I can agree with Akamichi, I bet playing Japanese RPGs can give you a headache from reading them so much. One thing that might really cause this is because there aren't really spaces in the writting, which is something I noticed recently. I could see how that drive someone nuts. I know some other languages like German do this at times too.

[Ninja Spirit]

I have beaten Famicom Final Fantasy III and Super Famicom Final Fantasy V before, both of them real copies. I did use a walkthrough, but since both games operated on the job system I was still able to get by on some things.