Wow that really makes my japanese better

[kentaku_sama]

I've recently started doing the thing where you imagine situations where you can only speak japanese. All day long, every chance I get, I say something to myself in japanese like: I look at a tv and say : あれはテレビ,
I look at an apple and say: これは赤いりんごだ。 every day I say the date in japanese. today was yongatsu, nanoka.
April 7th. I don't yet know how to say the year but i think the number is 二千八　2009. I try to include vocabulary I learn that day as well, in fact priorty for it. So I guess soon I'll naturaly without thinking be able to say stuff, that's what I heard on this forum. By the way, ください is hard to say like a native: ku-DA-sai Da is hard but the rest is really soft. Yeah I guess it will just take practice. I encourage others to do this as well. Also I have a question:
If you want to know the meaning of a word (ex: say it's in kanji like: 薄い) do you say:
”これが”何の意味ですか？”　ＯＲ　”この言葉がなんですか？”　Or do you mark "kotoba" with a は？

[richvh]

April is shigatsu, not yongatsu. 今日は二千九年（にせんねん）四月（しがつ）七日（なのか）です。

If you want to know the meaning of a word (ex: say it's in kanji like: 薄い) do you say:
”これが”何の意味ですか？”　ＯＲ　”この言葉がなんですか？”　Or do you mark "kotoba" with a は？

「これは英語で何と言いますか」とか「『薄い』と（いうの）は英語でなんと言いますか」とか

[spin13]

今日は二千九年（にせんきゅうねん）四月（しがつ）七日（なのか）です。

I fixed your typo.

「これは英語で何と言いますか」とか「『薄い』と（いうの）は英語でなんと言いますか」とか

○○とはどういう意味ですか？ also works. 　If you need to know the reading, you can use これはどう読みますか？

[welldone101]

or 読み方（よみかた）は何ですか。

[friendly_fire]

I've recently started doing the thing where you imagine situations where you can only speak japanese.

If you haven't already seen it, this site may interest you: http://www.alljapaneseallthetime.com/blog/about