Help with a basic blog

[Groccoli]

I've made a new blog on WordPress and I've decided to make it Japanese-centric. I figured that for my own practice I'd post Japanese journal entries, but as you can see I'm not so good at forming flowing sentences that don't sound stilted and forced. Any advice would be appreciated.

こんばんは、皆さん。　よろしくおねがいします。　私は二年生です。 ちょっとマンガを読みます。日本語が一年学べました。

I'm trying to say "Good evening, everyone. Nice to meet you. I am a sophomore. I read a little (small amount of) manga. I have been studying Japanese for 1 year."

[richvh]

日本語が一年学べました。

That's "was able to study Japanese in the year 1." You want 日本語を一年間勉強しています。

[Groccoli]

ありがとう、richvhさん。

Always nice to have your help. I wasn't sure whether or not to use 勉強 because I thought it was a noun. I was going to, but I wasn't sure how to.

and I get it now. I need the counter. That will take some getting used to.

one more question though. Why is it not past tense? Is it because "have been studying" is an ongoing action?

I really appreciate it

[Wakannai]

Yes, it's ongoing.

[Yudan Taiteki]

Yes. If you say 勉強しました it means that you studied for a year and then stopped.

[Groccoli]

Once again, thank you very very much

[chikara]

Groccoli wrote:
私は二年生です

That may mean "I am a sophomore" to a USA reader but I read that as "I am biennial"

Groccoli wrote:
.... I wasn't sure whether or not to use 勉強 because I thought it was a noun. I was going to, but I wasn't sure how to.....

勉強 is a noun and it takes the auxillary verb する. The て-form of する is して. So studying is 勉強しています.

[saraLynne]

chikara wrote:

Groccoli wrote:
私は二年生です

That may mean "I am a sophomore" to a USA reader but I read that as "I am biennial"

... being in the USA hasn't anything to do with it, it's the standard "second year student" phrase in Japanese...

[chikara]

Lighten up saraLynne-san. Don't you understand smilies

Edit: BTW "sophomore" is a word that is never used in this country.

[hungryhotei]

chikara wrote:

Groccoli wrote:
私は二年生です

That may mean "I am a sophomore" to a USA reader but I read that as "I am biennial"

I think you need to specify whether you are at Juniour high, High School or University here, eg. 大学二年生.

I found an interesting discussion about the difference between 二年生 and 二回生
here.
Basically, for historical reasons based upon the systems at 京大 and 東大 (see the link) when they were founded, universities in kansai tend to use 回 and many others especially around kantou tend to use 生.

[Groccoli]

Ah ok. Thanks everyone. I figured I'd need to specify that. It didn't sound right..

so for a high school student, would it be 高校二年生? I never knew sophomore was a rarity..

and wow chikara that cleared things up so much. どうもありがとう！ I just noticed it with Rikaichan. For 勉強　it says "vs" which means it takes the auxillary verb する. Now I know what to look for. I fall in love with EDICT more every day...

so what if I'm biennial??

[chikara]

Groccoli wrote:
.... so what if I'm biennial??

Better to be biennial than bicentennial

[Groccoli]

chikara wrote:

Groccoli wrote:
.... so what if I'm biennial??

Better to be biennial than bicentennial

For shame, Robin Williams, for shame...

[Groccoli]

Also, is this the correct way to say, "This is written in Japanese."?
これは日本語で書かれています。

the かれ I'm not sure about. To me it just feels needed for the conjugation of 書く.. but then again I can't say much; after all, I am biennial

[Yudan Taiteki]

書かれています is correctly conjugated, but sounds a little strange. The passive is not used in Japanese anywhere near as often as it's used in English, and especially in this context it sounds very stiff and formal written style. You can just say 書いています.