[Konekone]

Well, some of those were a little more in detail and obscurer than I was thinking of for beginners, but you at least have gotten the idea of what I wanted to go for, i.e. not teaching Japanese, but teaching about Japanese that you see in Japanese. I won't pretend that you don't have people watching online anime, not the most legal of things, and I'm not passing judgement on it. It just means that there are some things that would come to mind, because people are watching in Japanese.

But, yes, while some of those points are quite detailed, I might look into a couple of those. I know I'd like to talk at some point about honorifics and pronouns (with some of the obscurer ones like "Whoever-hime" or "Ore-sama" or "Watakushi" or "Jibun" or indeed, "Sessha" for Kenshin fans). And, true, there are many times where we see many words for similar ideas. It's quite fun, that way, when translating. I might mention about things of "chou" and "shin". Certainly "Super" is quite popular, itself.

I probably won't be doing something so in detail about the English culture after invasions, in THAT much detail. I mean, partly I don't actually know that much about it. But I can mention a couple of things like how a lot of loanwords come from Portuguese (off the top of my head, there's "sabão" and "shabon").

In regards to names, I don't think I'll talk about it in the topic, as it might be a bit too obscure/fine detail for the fans just wanting to have some fun with the language. So I'll give my two cents on it now.

In regards to similar names, with a difference of gender... As far as I'm aware, the difference between male and female often has "ru" vs "ri". There's "Hikaru" and "Hikari", "Kaoru" and "Kaori". Now the odd thing is, from what I've seen, is that "ru" is unisex, allowing for males to have such a name. However, "ri" names are exclusively female.

Now, there's also "ko" and "rou/tarou". I'll get into more detail on "rou/tarou", after I do "ko". "Ko" is usually seen for female names, and uses the kanji for "child", i.e. "Keiko", "Hanako", "Satoko".

For males, there's often "tarou", like "Keitarou", "Joutarou", "Shintarou", or just "Tarou" on its own.

Now, "rou" is one of the kanji in "tarou", and also appears at the end of male names. You have "Ichirou", which leads to "Shinichirou". Then there's "Jirou", "Saburou".

"Rou" more or less means "son", and there you have a lot of names, which mean "first son", "second son", "third son".

Hope that sheds a bit of light there. And thank-you for at least one topic to work on.

[MS06FZ]

Konekone, on 17 May 2010 - 07:15 PM, said:

Well, some of those were a little more in detail and obscurer than I was thinking of for beginners, but you at least have gotten the idea of what I wanted to go for, i.e. not teaching Japanese, but teaching about Japanese that you see in Japanese. I won't pretend that you don't have people watching online anime, not the most legal of things, and I'm not passing judgement on it. It just means that there are some things that would come to mind, because people are watching in Japanese.

But, yes, while some of those points are quite detailed, I might look into a couple of those. I know I'd like to talk at some point about honorifics and pronouns (with some of the obscurer ones like "Whoever-hime" or "Ore-sama" or "Watakushi" or "Jibun" or indeed, "Sessha" for Kenshin fans). And, true, there are many times where we see many words for similar ideas. It's quite fun, that way, when translating. I might mention about things of "chou" and "shin". Certainly "Super" is quite popular, itself.

I probably won't be doing something so in detail about the English culture after invasions, in THAT much detail. I mean, partly I don't actually know that much about it. But I can mention a couple of things like how a lot of loanwords come from Portuguese (off the top of my head, there's "sabão" and "shabon").

In regards to names, I don't think I'll talk about it in the topic, as it might be a bit too obscure/fine detail for the fans just wanting to have some fun with the language. So I'll give my two cents on it now.

In regards to similar names, with a difference of gender... As far as I'm aware, the difference between male and female often has "ru" vs "ri". There's "Hikaru" and "Hikari", "Kaoru" and "Kaori". Now the odd thing is, from what I've seen, is that "ru" is unisex, allowing for males to have such a name. However, "ri" names are exclusively female.

Now, there's also "ko" and "rou/tarou". I'll get into more detail on "rou/tarou", after I do "ko". "Ko" is usually seen for female names, and uses the kanji for "child", i.e. "Keiko", "Hanako", "Satoko".

For males, there's often "tarou", like "Keitarou", "Joutarou", "Shintarou", or just "Tarou" on its own.

Now, "rou" is one of the kanji in "tarou", and also appears at the end of male names. You have "Ichirou", which leads to "Shinichirou". Then there's "Jirou", "Saburou".

"Rou" more or less means "son", and there you have a lot of names, which mean "first son", "second son", "third son".

Hope that sheds a bit of light there. And thank-you for at least one topic to work on.

Thanks for the detailed reply! I'm glad my questions were interesting to you!

[Konekone]

An update on how things are going. I've sent in the application form for the panel, and so we shall see what the verdict is.

[Konekone]

Again, I could use some suggestions for topics to discuss in the panel.

[MS06FZ]

Konekone, on 11 June 2010 - 05:50 PM, said:

Again, I could use some suggestions for topics to discuss in the panel.

A section of the panel where we laugh at Engrish and weird uses of English in anime could be fun - the multiple instances of DANGAR, ROCK ON and so on you see, or the murder of the English language used to represent being AMERICAN (Swann from GGG, Texas Mack etc.)

EDIT: Something about hilarious subbing errors and how to avoid them would be fun - examples include Dragonar's "I'll Send You to the Netherlands," the indecipherable Mazinger Z subs featuring lines like "only with this crabstick can i now control huge mechanical beasts army" and the best double entendre ever from Char's Counterattack when Quess claims her newtype powers let her feel "people coming inside" her.

This post has been edited by MS06FZ: 16 June 2010 - 10:36 PM

[Konekone]

Ah, yes, I did plan on having some fun poked at bootleg Hong Kong subs, and perhaps some more gentle joshing at Engrish, like "Remenber" or examples that are more understandable, once you know why they come about.

[MS06FZ]

Konekone, on 16 June 2010 - 10:54 PM, said:

Ah, yes, I did plan on having some fun poked at bootleg Hong Kong subs, and perhaps some more gentle joshing at Engrish, like "Remenber" or examples that are more understandable, once you know why they come about.

A little bit on "things on monitors" and other easter eggs with that could be fun (like the Photoshop user manual in Gundam Wing, the Apsalus startup program including iirc printer drivers and DirectX in 08th MS Team, the Budweiser can and Arcadia in Do You Remember Love and so on)

EDIT: Another good one was Usso on SPACE CHATROOM in Victory Gundam, talking about THE REAL MOBILE SUITE.

This post has been edited by MS06FZ: 16 June 2010 - 11:24 PM

[Konekone]

I'll keep those in mind as little things to break up the parts some might feel are less exciting. Though I could still use some more topics in regards to the language that people would like to learn about, if anyone else has any ideas.

[MS06FZ]

Something I'd like a bit on is the way pronouns work and the difference between ore, ware, watashi etc. Also an explanation of verbs and so on - isn't it the case the Japanese doesn't have different verb forms (or is that Chinese, I forget?)

Similarly, a bit about different registers of speaking and how shows differentiate between high and low status characters by idioms and vocabulary choices would be interesting.

A third idea is something about the nonsense sounds/words that certain characters use like -desu, -ne, ~uguu etc and how best they should be translated (I always imagine desu as being like "innit," making most "cute" characters into chavs)

Why not also do something about onomatopoeia, because Japanese has some hilarious and weird ones like "kyuun-kyuun" and so on.

If none of those are good ideas, why not do a bit on just basic tourist Japanese?

[Konekone]

Onomatopoeia will be a lot of fun. I hope to buy a dictionary, to improve my vocabulary in them.

I will be touching on the difference between formal and less formal and plain informal speech, as I can at least think of one character who really exemplefies this.

In regards to "nonsense words", this will probably be going under 'Particles', as a lot of those are particles, which act as verbal tics. "Desu" is just acting cutesy, by the way. I'd equate it to the girl trying to be cutesy with it saying "Blah-blah-blah, it iiiiiiiis." Elongating it like a child, or so. Otherwise, it can show they're being polite. For "innit", I think "darou" would be more suitable.

Meanwhile, Japanese does have some forms to their verbs. It'd be very darn difficult, otherwise, if there weren't some type of conjugation. However, I do believe I shall explain about that in the panel.

However, thank-you for the suggestions, now I can actually list things and come up with a way to do things.

So far, the topics are (in no particular order, as of yet):

- Verbs (how they are formed)
- Pronouns (how to refer to oneself)
- Honorifics (-san, etc.)
- Formality in speech (with reference to certain characters, such as a certain galactic emperor)
- Derivation in speech (e.g. speaking like a hick)
- How certain people differ in how they speak, i.e. how tough guys will use certain words (this is slightly combined with the previous two points)
- Curse words/Swearing in Japanese
- How some translations are... Not the best
- Misconceptions of famous quotes
- Hiragana, katakana, kanji and furigana (the differences between them all)

Games:

- Guess the Song
- Guess the Onomatopoeia
- Translate Bootleg Japanese
- Let's Speak Like a [Insert]!

After all that, there's also the chance to ask me questions. (Though not necessarily to just translate anything off the top of my head. ^^;; I'm not THAT fluent.)

This post has been edited by Konekone: 17 June 2010 - 06:09 PM

[MS06FZ]

Konekone, on 17 June 2010 - 05:16 PM, said:

Onomatopoeia will be a lot of fun. I hope to buy a dictionary, to improve my vocabulary in them.

I will be touching on the difference between formal and less formal and plain informal speech, as I can at least think of one character who really exemplefies this.

In regards to "nonsense words", this will probably be going under 'Particles', as a lot of those are particles, which act as verbal tics. "Desu" is just acting cutesy, by the way. I'd equate it to the girl trying to be cutesy with it saying "Blah-blah-blah, it iiiiiiiis." Elongating it like a child, or so. Otherwise, it can show they're being polite. For "innit", I think "darou" would be more suitable.

Meanwhile, Japanese does have some forms to their verbs. It'd be very darn difficult, otherwise, if there weren't some type of conjugation. However, I do believe I shall explain about that in the panel.

However, thank-you for the suggestions, now I can actually list things and come up with a way to do things.

So far, the topics are (in no particular order, as of yet):

- Verbs (how they are formed)
- Pronouns (how to refer to oneself)
- Honorifics (-san, etc.)
- Formality in speech (with reference to certain characters, such as a certain galactic emperor)
- Derivation in speech (e.g. speaking like a hick)
- How certain people differ in how they speak, i.e. how tough guys will use certain words (this is slightly combined with the previous two points)
- Curse words/Swearing in Japanese
- How some translations are... Not the best
- Misconceptions of famous quotes
- Hiragana, katakana, kanji and furigana (the differences between them all)

Games:

- Guess the Song
- Guess the Onomatopoeia
- Translate Bootleg Japanese
- Let's Speak Like a [Insert]!

After all that, there's also the chance to ask me questions. (Though not necessarily to just translate anything off the top of my head. ; I'm not THAT fluent.)

Sounds brilliant! Looking forward to the famous quotes one - although what do you mean by misconceptions?

[Konekone]

How famous quotes in anime are not exactly translated correctly. I have at least two in my mind, already. Hokuto no Ken fans, please don't kill me, when you find out.

[MS06FZ]

Konekone, on 17 June 2010 - 06:10 PM, said:

How famous quotes in anime are not exactly translated correctly. I have at least two in my mind, already. Hokuto no Ken fans, please don't kill me, when you find out.

Awesome.

Is one of them "YOU ARE ALREADY DEAD?"

Also I would laugh so hard if it turned out that "I UNDERSTAND WHAT YOU'RE SAYING BUT CAGALLI IS CRYING" isn't actually what's being said.

[Konekone]

*wags finger* That would be telling. Konekone-sensei shall impart his wisdom on the day. What little wisdom he has, the poor idiot.

[Kei Lin Sama]

I'd love to come to this! Fantastic idea!

If you ever do a phrasebook for anime fans, I'd buy it. Would be good to hear more than 'Kawaiiiii!' all the time. And 'desu'.

[Konekone]

I've gathered (and translated) a good few songs, for the "Guess the Song" game. And once I have my onomatopoeia dictionaries arrive, I can get some of those put down for that round. I just need to hear whether the panel has been accepted. Has anyone else heard of theirs being accepted yet?

[Konekone]

^-^ Okay, everyone. I just got word back that Otaku Japanese 101 is okay to go. I've been given a time, and we'll be just before the closing ceremony. I'm going to confirm what time I'm going to go with, looking over the layout for it, like how much time I'll be doing on games, what topics I've got, and then I'll give everyone here my times.

This post has been edited by Konekone: 17 July 2010 - 10:33 AM

[Konekone]

Okay, everyone, an update.

I haven't received any feedback from Mr. Myst yet, as he is evidently having troubles with his Internet and can't reply, but the official confirmed time for Otaku Japanese 101 is 17:00 to 18:00. In other words, I'm the last event right before the closing ceremony. So no pressure, whatsoever, to make sure we have a good time before the end.

However, there is an hour or so gap before that, and I have been offered that, if I'd like to do the event earlier or extend the time. So I've given a little message and said that I'd like to extend it by about 45 minutes to the whole hour. What I'll most likely want to do is use the first 10-15 minutes for setting up the laptop and tech stuff, making sure everything's together. You're all welcome to head in at this point, at 16:00. I'll do my best to entertain you all while I set up. Then I hope to start by 16:15 at the latest, and take the panel all the way to 18:00. Hopefully, I'll give you a good final panel at Amecon.

I've started trying to put together the Powerpoint presentation. It's my first time making one, so I can't promise that it'll be great. Please forgive any silly things I do with the presentation, if there are things I could have done with it to make it work better, but I've not really ever done one before.

As I said, I hope to entertain you, educate you and generally have fun with all of you, in the panel, and I would consider it a job well done if this panel could be considered in the slightest to be a good send-off to Amecon 2010, a good way to end the panels.

[Konekone]

Just received confirmation from Mr. Myst today on the time. He has allowed me to extend the panel.

It'll obviously be in the schedule, but to put it here... The event "Otaku Japanese 101" will be running from 15:30 to 18:00, or in other words, right up to the closing ceremony.

[Idioteva]

Helping give a confidence boost ^^ I was thinking of going to Name that Tune but now Japanesse 101 is put at the same time on the events timetable, I'm coming to this instead =)