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Studying Japanese - translation troubles
Flay
Registered User regular
Registered User regular
I started studying Japanese this year at university. I've never studied it before the start of this year, so I'm still finding my feet with things like grammatical structure. I have my final exam this Thursday, during which we have to be able to write a paragraph introducing ourselves and giving some details. Mostly this is pretty easy, but I'm attempting to use some more complex sentence structures, and I was wondering if anyone could double check to see if these are right.
Nice to meet you, I'm [NAME] - はじめまして, [NAME]です
Please feel free to be nice to me - どうぞよろしくおねがいします
I am nineteen years old - 私は十九さいです
I am studying Japanese at university - 大学で日本語をべんきょうをします
But, my major is graphic design - でも, せんこうはグラフィックデザインがくです
I really like design - デザインがすきです
I was born in Sydney - シドニーに生まれました (Is ni the correct particle to use here?)
I live in [SUBURB], south of Sydney - [SUBURB]にすんでいます, シドニーのみなみにあります
It takes [TIME] minutes for me to travel to university by train - [TIME]分間に大学へでんしゃで行きます
See you later - じゃまた
I'm only just beginning to learn, so I'm sure there are many better ways of saying these things, and many kanji I don't know about. This is about the limit of my knowledge, so try to keep that in mind.
Nice to meet you, I'm [NAME] - はじめまして, [NAME]です
Please feel free to be nice to me - どうぞよろしくおねがいします
I am nineteen years old - 私は十九さいです
I am studying Japanese at university - 大学で日本語をべんきょうをします
But, my major is graphic design - でも, せんこうはグラフィックデザインがくです
I really like design - デザインがすきです
I was born in Sydney - シドニーに生まれました (Is ni the correct particle to use here?)
I live in [SUBURB], south of Sydney - [SUBURB]にすんでいます, シドニーのみなみにあります
It takes [TIME] minutes for me to travel to university by train - [TIME]分間に大学へでんしゃで行きます
See you later - じゃまた
I'm only just beginning to learn, so I'm sure there are many better ways of saying these things, and many kanji I don't know about. This is about the limit of my knowledge, so try to keep that in mind.
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Also, your way of saying good buy is very informal, you might say something else in its place since the rest of your introduction is in MASU/DESU form.
It's just the last three sentences I'm not sure on, and it's been about 2 years since I've done Japanese properly. I'll have a think and see if I can remember. I'm pretty sure there's a specific verb form for time that has passed, but I could be making it up.
You're probably right, but, since にすんでいます is what is in the syllabus, I'll stick with that for the moment. There's no point taking risks when marks are on the line.
Eep, thanks for picking up on that. Yes, it's a typo.
Anything you'd suggest? The only two farewells I know are じゃまた and さようなら.
I'm not too confident on those ones either... :?
EDIT: Fixed the typo.
今年何年生ですか
From what I can gather, it means 'what year were you born in?', but I'm not sure how you'd pronounce it. Also the 今年 at the beginning kind of throws me off.
The current Japanese is future tense (I will study Japanese at college). You need しています。 (and don't forget the periods at the end of your sentences.
Were you taught to add in the 学 after your major? If so, leave it in. If not, leave it out.
The verb is fine, but split this into two sentences.
This is incorrect on a couple different levels. To take time is かかります, but for it to be correct, you'll need to alter quite a bit of the sentence. Splitting it into two sentences might be easiest at your level of Japanese (I take the train to school. It takes [TIME] minutes).
This is asking what year/grade you are in school. 今年 （ことし） is "this year." 何年生 （なんねんせい) is "what year in school" (which is equivalent to your grade).
I just came to encourage you! You're doing great! Japanese get's easier with time!
Not that I ever would, of course.
You do not need to state a subject in Japanese, it'll be clear from the context. I'd take out the 私は, it sounds awkward and is pretty unnecessary.
Not sure where you guys are in terms of grammar, but you could formulate this as one phrase using a sentence modifier. For example, シドニーのみなみにある[SUBURB]にすんでいます。
My reason for saying that, beyond the ol' "woe is me" is to share this website with you:
http://www.guidetojapanese.org/learn/grammar
It is absolutely fantastic. Really good for getting a leg up on some basic grammar.
Also is こすん suburb? If so it would probably make more sense to say something like 僕のうちはこすんにあります. このこすんはシドニーの南にあります。 or something to that effect given your level of grammar. Like Reiten said later you can use a relative clause and say シドニーの南にある[suburb]で住んでます
Good luck, hope some of that helped!
はじめまして。私は〇〇と申します。
Please feel free to be nice to me - どうぞよろしくおねがいします
I am nineteen years old - 私は十九さいです
This is fine, but I'd write it: 私は１９才です。Save the kanji for larger numbers.
I am studying Japanese at university - 大学で日本語をべんきょうをします
(This is fine, but please note you wrote the Japanese is present simple, but the English using the continuous present tense. The English could have been "I study Japanese at university")
But, my major is graphic design - でも, せんこうはグラフィックデザインがくです
グラフィックデザインをせんこうしている。 -- SENKOU is almost always used as a する verb which takes a direct object (the を particle). This is very counter intuitive for a native English speaker.
I really like design - デザインがすきです
デザインがとってもすきです。
I was born in Sydney - シドニーに生まれました (Is ni the correct particle to use here?)
This is fine.
I live in [SUBURB], south of Sydney - [SUBURB]にすんでいます, シドニーのみなみにあります
シドニーの南（みなみ）の郊外（こうがい）に住んでいます。
It takes [TIME] minutes for me to travel to university by train - [TIME]分間に大学へでんしゃで行きます
電車で大学まで行くのに、３０分かかります。
See you later - じゃまた
Pleased to meet you, I’m [NAME]:
はじめまして、[NAME]です。
Please feel free to be nice to me:
どうぞよろしくおねがいします。
I’m nineteen years old:
十九さいです。
I’m studying Japanese at university:
大学で日本語をべんきょうしています。
But, my major is graphic design:
でも、せんこうはガラフィックデザインがくです。
I really like design:
デザインがとってもすきます。
I was born in Sydney on [DATE]:
シドニーで[DATE]に生まれました
I live in [SUBURB]:
[SUBURB]すんでいます。
It is south of Sydney:
シドニーみなみにあります。
I travel to university by train:
大学にでんしゃで行きます。
It takes [DURATION]:
[DURATION]間行きます。
Goodbye:
しつれいします。
it should be "sydney DE [date] NI" as de usually signifies where something took place, whereas ni usually is something happening in the direction of the place.
poster above me got this i think too, just wanted to back 'em up on it.
I'm very tired and may have missed somebody else answering this already, but this means "What year student are you this year?" (First-year, second-year, junior, senior, etc.)
I don't follow. It's happening in sydney, and on [DATE], so shouldn't that be grammatically correct?
Also, I'm going to replace [DURATION]間行きます with [DURATION]間かかります (another new word) which should make more sense.
Depending on how strict your instructor is, they may mark you down for writing とっても, it's a spoken form.
When written, use とても.
You might be able to simplify the commute sentence as:
通学(つうがく) は電車で３０分です。
Best of luck with your final.
I have issues with the construction of this sentence, but I'm no Japanese expert... still it seems weird to me. Especially the end, I feel it should be すきてす.
*shrugs* Either way, it's what's in the syllabus. This course isn't taught very well, to be honest. :?