Keigo

[Harisenbon]

I have about 7 books on Keigo. Where do you want to start?

If you're serious about learning Keigo, once you learn the basics, I would suggest going out and getting some Keigo books aimed at Japanese speakers. They tend to be a lot more in-depth than the foreigner-oriented books that I've seen.

*edit*
By the way, ありがとう is generally no written in Kanji, unless you're trying to seem old fashioned. Also, no one has done anything for you yet, so saying thank you at the outset is a little strange.

[Oracle]

Harisenbon wrote:
Also, no one has done anything for you yet, so saying thank you at the outset is a little strange.

Harisenbon it is right. Turn that into よろしくお願いします instead and it sounds a lot more natural.

[Mukade]

Just a slight caveat to your first post, Harisenbon.

The kanji for ありがとう are used quite often on very formal correspondance. I don't think it necessarily has a tinge of 'old-fashioned,' but rather 'overly-formal.'

For example, it's used quite frequently on 年賀状 and marriage invitations.

[Harisenbon]

Mukade,
I did think about that when writing that, but I considered 年賀状 and　結婚招待状 to be in the "old fashioned" category. Not in the sense that they are out of date, but rather that they are written in a traditional fashion. For business letters, the kanji is LESS used, but I have definately seen it used in very formal letters.

Overly formal is probably the better explanation, however.

*edit*
Not that it matters anymore, as the original post was deleted. :/

[coco]

ははは。　7冊本持ってるっていったら、そりゃ逃げちゃいますよ。:D:D
日本人だって敬語には苦労してます。:D

[Harisenbon]

７冊を持っていますけど，一冊も読んでない！（冗談）ｗｗｗ

敬語で話すのは難しくて，全然好きではないけど，読んだり書いたりはちょっと楽しいと思う。もっと使うチャンスがあればいいと思っているけど，会社の通信以外，あまり使うチャンスがありません。

[hyperconjugated]

Harisenbon wrote:
I have about 7 books on Keigo. Where do you want to start?

Would you list them here? And tell which one is best to begin
with in your opinion. Not that I'm that far yet, but for future's sake...
No need to write any in-depth review. Mere book suggestion.
Thanks in advance.

[Lauver]

yea i agree with hyper san 'cause i want to learn keigo even bofore i learn mm..kanjis..no hira~

nev'mind i wanna learn the keigo

[hungryhotei]

Shock! Kanji is used in written Keigo too! In fact, more polie and official language tends to use more and less common Kanji, I have found.

hyper, whatever textbook you are currently using should cover Keigo to a sufficient degree to get started with. If you are a more advanced speaker then I appologise.

[coco]

僣越かもしれませんが、
敬語といっても、謙譲語や尊敬語を使いこなすのは
通常の日本語を完璧にマスターしてからの方がいいと思います。
一般会話では、「丁寧語」ができれば、それで充分です。
敬語の中に「丁寧語」が含まれていますが、
針千本さんのおっしゃる敬語はそのレベルとは異なるものだろうと思います。

社会人の方であれば、まずは
http://itp.ne.jp/contents/business/tool/keigo.html
あたりを学習することになりますが、
ＪＬＰＴ1級レベルに達してから本格的に学んでも決して遅くありません。

[AJBryant]

"Keigo for Dummies" -- a book that needs to be written.


Tony

[ss]

Papa Tony wrote:
"Keigo for Dummies" -- a book that needs to be written.

[spoiler]Papa Tony, you are humorous as usual, but I see stars again ! @.@
Even simple politeness need to be taught some times you know, didn't you have experienced before ?
I'll like to own one after you'd finished writing ....... :D [/spoiler]

[Harisenbon]

Shirley,
"*** for Dummies" is a popular series of books in America (and I assume other English Speaking countries). They have Dummies books for everything "C++ For Dummies" "Cars for Dummies" "Nuclear Fission for Dummies" "Dummies for Dummies," etc. Tony wasn't insulting anyone, that's just the name of the book series.

[ss]

Harisenbon-san
Thank you, I know, since coco-san wrote something on polite language, I mean it might be suitable for me in this case.
I'm a real "dummy"