what romaji dictionary to buy?

by **kotatsuneko** » Thu Mar 27, 2003 11:22 am

yeh i know, romaji, flame me already..

fact is, i`ve studied japanese culture for like 15 years previous to coming here, library of bout 300 books on the place, and had a ton of japanese language books that i gave away b4 coming here..

i am starting to like the place i guess, but in the 5 months i`ve been here, my love of the place dissapeared, and i can`t see myself ever learning even joyo kanji as i`m so dissapointed and often feel bitter about japan

well i shouldnt say japan, my experience is limited to Sapporo which my wife and others said is such a wonderful place, hmm beg to differ on that one..well the place is nice, shame bout the ppl!

anyhow, i do need to buy a dictionary, i dont mind spending a lot on one, but want to buy the best there is, and only romaji is important or indeed relavant to me...

so, if anyone could spare the time, some recccomendations would be genuinely appreciated... ^^

ta for reading,

kots

by **kamome** » Thu Mar 27, 2003 11:41 am

Just spend a week or so learning hiragana and katakana and buy yourself a good Wa-Ei dictionary. The effort spent learning hiragana and katana will go a long way toward improving your life in Sapporo.

Why go with romaji at all? That's the retarded way to learn Japanese.

by **kotatsuneko** » Thu Mar 27, 2003 11:44 am

heh well thats the way ive been doing it for 6 years!

and i have no intention of becoming literate, the place pisses me off too much for that.. i just dont love the place anymore...

romaji all the way baby!

kots

by **GomiGirl** » Thu Mar 27, 2003 2:41 pm

Why not use your mobile phone??? There are romaji dictionary options on a dictionary and learning service that I use...

by **kotatsuneko** » Thu Mar 27, 2003 3:18 pm

i`m married to a japanese! so of course i have almost NO money for myself! heh forgot to mention that one! ta for the tip tho....

i`m the kid on our j phone account so thats outta the question lol

kots

by **Andocrates** » Thu Mar 27, 2003 6:43 pm

I hope you adjust soon because joy isn't in the place you live, you can chose to be happy or unhappy. (I'm preaching to myself BTW) I've met some very misreble people who live in mid-town (Manhatten) and some really happy Amish people 200 miles away.

I bought a seiko electronic dictionary I swear by. It fits in a palm pilot case and I wear it on my belt like a cell-phone.

by **American Oyaji** » Fri Mar 28, 2003 3:13 am

Kota,
Don't fight Japanese culture. You'll lose.

Just learn to accept what you can, and ignore what bothers you. If you dwell on the negatives, it will become a vicious cycle that will harm yourself and your marriage.

Find some things to do away from your wife and outside your home.

And learn hiragana and katakana dammnit. The kanji will come as you live there but if you don't learn those two your DEFINTELY

F*CKED

I'm serious. hiragana and katakana are essential.

by **kotatsuneko** » Fri Mar 28, 2003 7:12 pm

ta for the comments... i know, i know.. i`m suprised myself at how ive let all this affect me...

ive tried and failed many times to learn hiragana/katakana, the thing is, i really enjoy practicing writing it with a brush pen, i have 2 books on teaching both scripts back in london, but despite trying on and off for years, i could never match the characters with their sounds etc

some people pick it up in a week or so, others i know longer, i think some people can just do it, others cant, i fall into that category

too old and too stupid really, lazyness isnt really a part in it, i have really tried in the past..

someone i knew a while ago ended up marrying a japanese girl and for years now has lived in japan and works for namco, i used to work for them also but nothing came of it.. he started studying at 17 i think, for me i put it off from 18 to 24..

i guess i dont fight the culture, i just feel terribly dissapointed/ short changed... i wish at times i had been born a decade earlier and came here in the 70s, as i have realised that the japan i fell in love with all those years ago was the japan of the 70s and 80s , a japan long gone and seemingly never to return.

so , any romaji reccomendations?

by **katakori** » Sat Mar 29, 2003 11:04 am

learn hiragana and katakana.....
at least it will help you understand the pronounciation when japanese people talk to you in english

takes a week, that's it.

about dictionary, even though i do use kanas, i bought one that is very helpful because aimed at non-japanese. it's often the opposite, especially for the good dictionaries...

Sanseido's
romaji english-japanese japanese-english dictionary
ISBN4-385-10684-3

by **GomiGirl** » Mon Mar 31, 2003 2:46 pm

kotatsuneko wrote:ive tried and failed many times to learn hiragana/katakana, the thing is, i really enjoy practicing writing it with a brush pen, i have 2 books on teaching both scripts back in london, but despite trying on and off for years, i could never match the characters with their sounds etc

some people pick it up in a week or so, others i know longer, i think some people can just do it, others cant, i fall into that category

too old and too stupid really, lazyness isnt really a part in it, i have really tried in the past..

I am sure it is not laziness.. but really you can do it if you really believe that you can...

if you believe you will suceed or fail - you will be correct everytime.

by **American Oyaji** » Mon Mar 31, 2003 10:15 pm

Takahashi's Pocket Romanized Japanese-English Dictionary, Taiseido, 1984, 1,596 pp.
Entries in Romaji, followed by kana then kanji.
ISBN: 4-88463-061-0 $70.80

This is a dictionary that I have.

by **kamome** » Tue Apr 01, 2003 9:25 pm

I memorized them in a couple of weeks the old-fashioned way: I made my own flash cards and drilled myself constantly until the recognition came naturally. That's whatcha' gotta' do. You can do drills on the train during a commute or while lying in bed before you go to sleep. Romaji is a crutch. Japanese is not impenetrable to the Westerner (even though some Japanse people like to think it is). So don't give in and reinforce the stereotype!

by **American Oyaji** » Tue Apr 01, 2003 11:16 pm

It took me a week to learn Hiragana and Katakana.

But I was in Japan when I did it too.

That dictionary I posted is Japanese-English only.

It's in English and it's Romaji. But it includes the kana spelling as well as the kanji for the word.

by **devicenull** » Thu Apr 03, 2003 4:26 pm

kana is easy to learn... very easy. took me less than a week for both of them in my first class, and that was with 3 high level math courses and a programming class going on at the same time. flashcards and testing yourself anytime you get bored HELPS BIGTIME. romaji is annoying and stupid.... kanji on the other hand, is evil :twisted:

i like it

by **kotatsuneko** » Thu Apr 03, 2003 7:59 pm

ah ahh as i said i have an inability to learn kana/kanji , after years of trying its still the same.. thats why i expressly asked for help with a romaji dictionary...

thanks to the people that read my post and replied with romaji related suggestions!

i`ll look for them at the new bookstores in sapporo tower and daimaru on my day off, i`m hoping for something like the green goddess in romaji..

by **GomiGirl** » Fri Apr 04, 2003 1:18 pm

kotatsuneko wrote:ah ahh as i said i have an inability to learn kana/kanji , after years of trying its still the same..

And what everybody was saying is to not be so hard on yourself and that you really can learn it.. it is tough at first but if you perservere even you can do it!! :wink:

Flash cards are really the way to go..

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what romaji dictionary to buy?

what romaji dictionary to buy?

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