I was a bit curious how many members we have who can speak Japanese, as well as to set up a bit of a 'database,' so to speak, of members who wouldn't mind answering translation questions or possibly assisting in translating manga/anime.

Personally, I hardly know any, except for the katakana that I've learned through manga sound effects, and the kanji that carries over from Chinese.

I know one or two words but only enough to get my face slapped or shoved in an institute.

me too

I can read in hiragana and katakana, and speak very basic Japanese. I do not know anything more. Pronunciation-wise, my professor says I am excellent. Writing is a different story though, but not to say that I'm terrible at it or anything.

eh...i'm still learning, but i'm bad enough that i have to look at the sound effects dictionary at the back of my Fruits Basket manga xD but i can speak some but never a sentence :-\
bleah =_=

I speak 0 Japanese.

I speak it and understand it reasonably well [for a Westerner]. Reading it is another story.

And bacon, how have you came to speak it if you are a westerner. I must know.

Baby steps, little man, you need to get a better grasp of English grammar first.

Odd, I always find reading a language way easier than speaking it... especially with japanese and chinese, the characters come a lot faster than the sounds and grammar.

Kanji was just a nightmare for me. Maybe because I didn't start learning it until I was 20, but I just couldn't make sense of the ideographs.

I know few kanjiis and memorized some of the hiragana. I can recognize few Japanese words and phrases and yeah... that's it... (I WANNA TAKE JAPANESE!! >_<)

I haven't tackled much kanji, but I can read hiragana and katakana. I can also speak it reasonably well, but, unfortunately, I've been forgetting many things ever since I started becoming more serious with other languages.

it's nice that some of you people could actually have japanese lessons at school i think i have to wait a few more years because you definatly don't have any japanese classes when your in the 6th grade :-\ me, i've been trying to learn it on my own with books o_o and lots of anime subs

Meh, I had to turn to independent studies. =p

I had to wait until college.

I studied it independently (And furiously) for a while. Spent a little time with my cousin who lives in Osaka, although there wasn't much language immersion because everyone wanted to try practicing their English on me. (Although it did a lot for my ego. Everytime I said so much as "Konnichi wa" people squealed and fussed about how cute I was. I could barely get a word in if I wanted. Very common scenario;
Yuka- "Itadakimasu" *Eats*
Me- "Itadakimasu." *Eats*
Yuka and Rieko- "Kawaii~!
Me: *Stares at plate and blushes*)

I know my kana and the kanji of a kindergartener, maybe less. Although if I try writing any, it is not discernable from hebrew. (Then again, my english writing isn't very easily discerned from Arabic. My handwriting suxx0rz)

I'm going to give learning it a bash this summer, even if it will just be vary basic as its independant study. In school it was really a case of learning French, like it or lump it.

As for reading it, I stand very little chance of geting anywhere.

Know how to read haragana and katakana, know like...two, three kanjis, can basicaly speak and write it...

well for me i can't read or speek japanese
i just know a few words
i learned them because of the animes
but i really like to lurn japanese
it's a really nice language and i like it
i know arabic, english, french, a bit spanish, and a few words in japanese
funny huh?

well as for me i only know a bit of japanese

but i can read them or write them

other than english i know french and arabic

I little speek japan bute I dont read :S

You might want to work on your English first.

I speak NO Japanese. I wish they taught it nearby.

I've been taking Japanese fopr 2 years.
I can pronounce (not necessarily understand) any word witen in Katakana or Haragana.
I know about 100 Kanjis.
and can speek it fairly well (for an american) with a small vocabulary.

Im learning the language independently too.. I can speak and write japanese a little.. I have lots of major exams so I can't devote myself to learn it..

At least i can speak some dirty ones..


@ No_One
your siggie rockzz my socks!!! Royai!! XD

I took a year of japanese way back in college. But nowadays, I just ask people who are native speakers and coincidently translate anime.

I began to translate doujinshi in order to teach myself some basic kanji and had bought a book called Japanese for Busy People but started persuing other things and forgot about it for now.

However, I can speak perfect bakanese and can also order off the menu at Japanese resturants very well.

I can vauguly get the gist of some of the doujinshis I have, but when the charectors are not pretty well formed I fall flat on my face in making heads or tails.. or even two heads and a tail out the nose of it!
Oo

i speak a little-bit of Japanese. but not enough to actually have a Japanese conversation. I'm learning though.

English and Spanish...that's it for me...English because I was born in NJ and Spanish because it's pretty much becoming a necessity for work here in Central Florida.

I know several words and phrases, plus culture. I can't read ANY of it. ^^;;

I know some of the common phrases that is used in everyday life...like Ohayou gozaimasu...etc.

Can anyone teach me how to write Japanese? I'm a fast learner....just pm me....thanks!

I don't feel in need of learning it so yea >_<

I am still studing and learning the language but I know few but not that much to start a conversation...just one sentence is all I know its not much just: Eki wa doko desu ka??

I still need to learn!!

I've picked up a few words,
from manga, J-pop, and the such.
But not alot.
My cousin has told me some too.

I can't read it, though.
Zippo.
Unless it's romanji. >>
I know, I suck.

I can't, but I wish I could read/speak Japanese! My school doesn't offer Japanese as a second language , but my cousin's school does....

I know the language, due to me living in Japan, but I mainly speak with an Osakan dialect, so it's nothing like what you hear in anime (unless you've seen Azumanga Daioh, that is.)

I know how to speak a bit of japanese....just basic stuff, like what my name is, hello, goodbye, etc......I also know alot of random stuff about swords and cameras. I blame my friends.
Reading? No. I tried to learn once, with a computer program. I believe it taught hiragana, or maybe katakana.....I know it wasn't kanji. But after about three words, it started making no sense. So I just....stopped.

i can not speek a word but my friends are really good they even went to japan and can speek it really good, i wish i could though because the watch anime that has not been translated yet so they are alway's ahead of me in the shows. i once had a exchange student from japan and she tryed to teach me how to sing to opening song to FMA. It went over my head but was fun.

Just a bit, but not much, i think is easer talk than read japanese

"Sukoshi Nihongo o hanashimasu." <-- I speak a little Japanese.

Not horrible for a seventeen year hiatus, but I can't understand it anymore except some really simple stuff like, "Hyaku!" (Hurry up!) and, of course, "Domo Arigato Gozaimashta", which is the really long, nicest way to say thank you.

The writing is really, really, really hard. XD There are THREE different alphabets. I can't do any of them.

The easiest word/letter to spot is "no" because it looks kind of like a the no-smoking circle, but not closed up all the way, or like a small e laying on its side.

^^; Heh.

Only a very few words I picked up from my "How to draw Manga book" and from some Beyblade Site. I can recognise some of the Katakana characters.
(I think Windows for the MS Mincho style of writing. It has so many Japanese characters. Katakana-Hiranga and a whole lot that don't make sence (to me _ _"))
But for the rest, no Japanese for me. =/

I have a question. What is the word for brother in Japanese? Onii-chan? or Nee-san? I hear these both very often expressed as brother. But I'm not sure which one is correct.

@young alchemist - Welcome to the board!!
Short answer is... BOTH of these words are correct.

The part that means "elder brother" is "Nii" part, and "O" is sometimes added in Japanese at the beginning of the word to show respect, or to be polite, and so on.

For the difference between "san" and "chan" at the end of these words, you can read
"san," "chan" thread. (Yes, there is a such thread!! )
Information on MJHermi's post on page 1, post #7 there is fairly accurate in my opinion.

BTW, word for "younger" brother in Japanese is "otouto" (or "otohto" .)

But, since this thread's intention is for taking polls to see if any of us can speak/read Japanese, and not for discussing Japanese "linguistics," if you have further linguistic questions, please post on Teach Japanese thread, and we'll try answering your questions there.

I have taken Japanese for three and a half years, but I am no where near fluency. Hopefully, I will be able to study abroad in Japan this summer so that I can become more proficient with the language. I would love to improve my speaking skills, because it is extremly difficult to find a fluent Japanese speakers where I live. (I am a hell of a lot better with reading and translation than speaking.) It may take years, but I hope to fluent.

Like Edamame, I'm no where near fluency but, I took the language for three years. My current school has a pathetic language program, with only Spanish and French. They killed off German last year.

I can read hiragana and katakana, but most of the time, I have no idea what it says.... >_< Sometimes, the words sound similar to Korean words so I can figure out the meanings.

Watching Japanese doramas and variety shows help a bit. TV does really help. After I had gotten adjusted to America, my Korean became almost non-existent and I had a hard time speaking. Watching Korean dramas, variety shows, etc really helped me out.

One of my buddies runs around with a book that supposively helps you learn Japanese quicker, but it seems to...flat out not work. o_o

I almost got a shirt that says "Japanese Women, fill out applications for girlfriend now" in Japanese. Would that count?

I'm taking a course in Japanese. I can decipher sentence structure and simple words but I have a limited vocabulary of kanji and words.

reading and speaking it isn't so bad for me after readnig and watching too much anime(as said by my mother...) but writing it is a bit hard but I'm learning though the only one that I can read or write in is kanji but my chinese is kinda helping me as well...