A wee practise for me

[Jim]

Don't take heed of this unless you want to talk about it / correct it really, it's no bother I'm just blabbing random sentences I've learnt to myself to memorise them. I'm putting *'s beside things I'm not sure of and I'll talk about them later.

Hajime mashite, anata wa namae desuka? watashi wa jim desu.

hai, watashi wa totemo suki nihongo ta* muzukashii desu.

*= the particle ta, I'm not sure about it and maybe I should have used "wa"? I've been told that "ta" is similar to the english "and", though so it made more sense.:@

[aKuMu]

i never heard of the particle "ta"... maybe you mean "to"

(no correctness guarantee )

1.) hajimemashite, anata no namea wa nandesu ka. watashi wa jim desu. (or just o namae wa?)
2.) nihongo ga totemo suki desu. datte muzukashii desu.

[Jim]

Thanks. Can i ask what nan, and datte mean?

[aKuMu]

nan / nani = what
datte = but, even, also, because

[kotori]

'nan' = what (sometimes, 'nani')

akumu, 'onamae' would be better, but yours isn't incorrect grammatically.

You always introduce yourself before asking someone else's name.

hajimemashite. watashi wa Jim desu. onamae wa nan desu ka?
Nihongo ga daisuki desu. Demo, muzukashii desu.

demo = "but" which I think fits better here

pleased to meet you. I'm Jim. What's your name?
I love Japanese, but it's hard.

[Jim]

Wow, thanks! Gonna write it out to get the feel of it.

Haimemashite. Watashi wa Jim desu. O Namae wa nan desuka? Nihonho ga daisuki desu. Demo, muzukashii desu.

A weird thing is I keep pronouncing "desu" with a u if I read the romaji, and I'm making a conscious effort to change that to the normal "dess" pronounciation. but I'll get over that

[punkgrl326]

Stick with kana. It's way more easier to learn from and pronounce. Romaji's okay at first if you don't know any kana, but once you do know I don't recommend using romaji. It'll just slow you down. Well, at least I think it does

[kotori]

Jim wrote:
A weird thing is I keep pronouncing "desu" with a u if I read the romaji, and I'm making a conscious effort to change that to the normal "dess" pronounciation. but I'll get over that

Don't worry about that at all. Nothing says you have to devoice the 'u' in desu. In fact, it's actually still there, if you conciously try to say 'dess' you're going to stop trying to form the 'u' sound with your mouth and it won't sound natural at all.

Pronounce it for now. When you progress to the point where you speak japanese at a more normal speed, devoicing the 'u' will just.... happen...

[kanadajin]

Yeah.. what kotori said

[Ouji-wa-no-Yomi-Bara]

It's common for a person learning from romanji to pronounce the u, I did too. You grow out of it after awhile, so don't worry too much on it. \\//^_^

[Harisenbon]

Haimemashite. Watashi wa Jim desu. O Namae wa nan desuka? Nihonho ga daisuki desu. Demo, muzukashii desu.

By the way
Nihonho X nihonGO O

[CajunCoder]

Also, um... "Anata wa Namae desuka" Means "Are you name?". If you use a pronoun (though, it is better not to) here, it should be "Anata no Namae wa nan desuka"
Note: Nani = "What", but when it is before desu or da, it is shortened to nan.

About devoicing the u on the end of words such as desu/~masu/suki - You should get used to hearing, and saying them like that. However, don't try to actually take the u off and drag out the s sound. Listen very carefully when you hear japanese, you'll often hear the "u", its just very very short and faint.

"Nandatte" Could be several things.
If it is actually "nan da tte" rather than "nan datte", it could mean something like "What did you say?" This grammar is pretty complex, and the speach very informal. The role of "tte" here is very hard to explain, and impossible to translate into english well. You shouldn't worry about it any time soon.

I wouldnt worry too much about pronunciation, especially so early on. Japanese is pretty easy to pronounce, and you'll get used to it quickly.

[AJBryant]

By the way
Nihonho X nihonGO O

If you see me on the street corner with a sign saying "will speak Japanese for $$$" would that make me a Nihonho?

Tony

[Bishwambhar]

hajimemashite. watashi wa Bishwambhar: desu. onamae wa nan desu ka?
Nihongo ga daisuki desu. Demo, muzukashii desu.

[Kates]

I think so, Tony-san. XD

Jim: Get used to saying "desu" at the end of most all of your sentences, until you learn to start linking them together. ^_^ You'll get into it again when you start other verbs, and all your sentences will end in "-masu, -masu, -masu." ^_^