日本語 Japanese Ask Questions Thread 6

If you have a question about the language, ask it and fellow 4channers might see it and answer it for you.

Japanese - Ask questions thread
http://dis.4chan.org/read/lang/1174719097/1-40

日語 Japanese Ask Questions Thread2 質問
http://dis.4chan.org/read/lang/1206158123/1-40

日本語 Japanese Ask Questions Thread 3
http://dis.4chan.org/read/lang/1267485093/1-40

日本語 Japanese Ask Questions Thread 4
http://dis.4chan.org/read/lang/1302350850/1-40

日本語 Japanese Ask Questions Thread 5
http://dis.4chan.org/read/lang/1330050873/1-40

>>208
Just about what something meant or why things worked the way they did. This is also a good place to ask such questions, as is the forum for Tae Kim's.

>I'm 'getting' it first time round, but I wouldn't say my understanding is anything better than tentative.

That depends on what your goal is. My only real goal is/was to understand Japanese. I only thought about it as much as it helped me to understand. Some people are more interested in the linguistic dissection of Japanese, and want to fully explain why things work the way they do, which is also valid. It helps if you think about these things day to day, and keep trying to find examples of them until you feel comfortable. it's a matter of volume.

>it's my first language
Do you mean that you're actually a Japanese heritage learner, or are you saying that this is the first language you've learned? I'm going to assume the latter.

Grammar is valuable, but only so far as it helps you to better understand the author's intent. Asking out of the blue what the difference between "must" and "have to" is in English and getting an explanation will not help you as much as seeing each 100 times in actual context will. At least, not on a subconscious level. Now, if you're like me, you don't actually know what the hell the difference is, and you'd need to look it up. Still, you manage to use it absolutely perfectly every day of your life, with no problems at all. That is my goal in Japanese.