Trouble pronouncing long Japanese words.

[Samurai_Jerk]

One other thought: I don't know what the heck it is, but sometimes when I seem to be pronouncing the words correctly, my voice seems to lower almost down to a bass.( I'm a baritone.) Anyone else find that their voice rises or lowers when they speak Japanese?

Yes, I don't think it's that uncommon. My voice sounds much higher in Japanese, but I have a pretty low voice in English. I wonder why that is....

I'm the opposite. Everyone says my voice is lower in Japanese (and I already have a pretty low voice).

[Andocrates]

[Socratesabroad]

[FG Lurker]

[maraboutslim]

I'm old enough to have been in Japan in the dying days of the Wapuro word-processor things that were basically just fancy typewriters (with some limited formatting capabilities). I think in those days, many people, me included, used kana when typing Japanese. But these days I don't know anyone that uses kana key input.

[guriguri247365]

PS, are you studying in University there? Surely Auburn, UA, or any other 2 year school, I mean, 4 year school offers Japanese.

[ichigo partygirl]

My 2 cents worth
Like everyone else romaji is useless for truly learning japanese. Best way to practice saying long words right is to practice with a native speaker. Get them to say words - break them down and you repeat. It just takes practice.
And of course the best way is to master it is to go to japan! There really isnt an easier way

Goodluck

[Pencilslave]

[FG Lurker]

Btw, does anyone know a good free Global IME writer? I want to be able to
type Kanji and Kana into word pad so I can print out comprehension tests to check my learning progress.

What OS? If it is 2K or XP then it is built into the OS.

If not, then I suggest using JWP, a free Japanese Word Processor that uses bitmapped fonts.

[Pencilslave]

PS, are you studying in University there? Surely Auburn, UA, or any other 2 year school, I mean, 4 year school offers Japanese.

I'm not a university student. I'm learning just for myself. UAB does offer limited Japanese courses, so I guess I could see if I could stop being a cheapskate and see if they'll let me audit the courses. University of Alabama also has community classes as well as regular classes in Japanese for about twenty bucks. The only real problem there is the campus is 60 miles away.
But I suppose I need to quit goofing around and look into it anyway.

[Pencilslave]

Btw, does anyone know a good free Global IME writer? I want to be able to
type Kanji and Kana into word pad so I can print out comprehension tests to check my learning progress.

What OS? If it is 2K or XP then it is built into the OS.

If not, then I suggest using JWP, a free Japanese Word Processor that uses bitmapped fonts.

Thanks for the info. I'm stuck with Windows ME(Multiple Expletives)

[FG Lurker]

Thanks for the info. I'm stuck with Windows ME(Multiple Expletives)

See if you can upgrade to Windows 2000. You will get the full IME then, the same one that comes with Japanese Windows.

Otherwise you are stuck using the IME you can add to Internet Explorer and JWP.

[Adhesive]

[Andocrates]

[FG Lurker]

I'm going to have to disagree with everyone here and say that romaji itself will not corrupt your speech.

[...]

I know most of this is a moot point because you will eventually need to move on to kana, and the sooner the better. I'm just making a theoretical argument.

Since for most people it will corrupt their speech, and since (as you correctly state) the learner will have to switch to Kana...Why not learn it right away? It only takes a few days of casual study for most people to become reasonably proficient in it.

It seems very self-defeating to try to study a language where pronunciation is critical, but to study that language in such a way as to make correct pronunciation more difficult...

[ketchupkatsu]

I remember when I was in elementry school in Hawaii, my mom used to send me to Japanese Language school in the afternoons, and the sensei used to teach us using romaji.

It wasn't until later that they started to introduce kana. I think the first 2 years were taught with romaji, and I think I was about 7 or 8 years old when kana started to be introduced.

[maraboutslim]

It seems very self-defeating to try to study a language where pronunciation is critical, but to study that language in such a way as to make correct pronunciation more difficult...

Although I agree one might as well jump to kana right away and study using it, I'm still trying to figure out exactly how you guys think using romaji would make learning the proper pronunciation more difficult. It needn't. If each kana represents a certain sound, one can just as easily represent it with a grouping of letters. As long as one doesn't assume those letters should sound like they do in English (or german or french or whatever their language is) instead of the way they are supposed to sound in Japanese, I don't quite see what the problem is.

[FG Lurker]

[omae mona]

[Ketou]

[omae mona]

[FG Lurker]

[Naniwan Kid]

My 2 yen on the romaji debate....

As a teacher of Japanese it is a hinderence. Simply, the students who learn hiragana and katakana faster, and use it when taking notes, tend to have the better sounding Japanese when they speak. On top of that students tend to revert to American accents when using katakana words. It's hard for young students to understand that there is no McDonald's in Japan. It's called MaKuDoNaRuDo, or more specifically MaKuDo, or MaKku. It's the opposite of the Katakana Engrish that Japanese have studied. I say "learn Japanese using the tools that the Japanese use to learn Japanese: Hiragana, then Katakana, then Kanji"

[ketchupkatsu]

[FG Lurker]

[maraboutslim]

[ketchupkatsu]

[Naniwan Kid]

[ichigo partygirl]

[Ketou]