日本語 Japanese Ask Questions Thread 7

If you have a question about the language, ask it and fellow 4channers might see it and answer it for you.
日本の方からのご協力も大歓迎です。


■USEFUL TOOLS

Rikaichan
http://www.polarcloud.com/rikaichan/
A pop-up dictionary for Firefox that shows readings and definitions when you hover over words.

Rikaikun
https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/jipdnfibhldikgcjhfnomkfpcebammhp
Same as above, but for Chrome.

Anki
http://ankisrs.net/
Flash card program mainly useful for vocab and kanji repetition. Can sync decks between computers and your phone.


■WEB-BASED DICTIONARIES

ALC
http://www.alc.co.jp/
Offers a web interface to the Eijirou dictionary, made for use in translation work.

kotobank
http://kotobank.jp/
Pretty good for J-J lookups. J-E/E-J definitions from Progressive.

Tangorin
http://tangorin.com/
The best interface to Jimu Buuriinu-sama's EDICT, which is a mess, so don't use this unless you have to.

weblio 類語辞典
http://thesaurus.weblio.jp/
It's an extensive thesaurus.

(If you want the best J-E/E-J dictionary, get an EPWING copy of Kenkyusha.)


■MEDIA

D-Addicts
http://d-addicts.com/forum/torrents.php
It's a horrible community, but it's THE go-to for drama series. Many variety shows turn up there as well.

JPopsuki
http://jpopsuki.eu/
It's a private music tracker with an extensive selection of just about everything.

KeyHoleTV
http://www.v2p.jp/video/english/
An application that lets you stream live TV in shit quality.

Tokyo Toshokan
https://www.tokyotosho.info/
anime anime anime anime anime


■PREVIOUS THREADS

See >>2 for links.

>>666

Ok, let's get some things straight, ます form is always going to be used in any kind of situation where you want to be polite. That is a system outside of humble/respectful forms. You can use humble/respectful forms without using ます, but I can almost guarantee that isn't what your professors are hunting for.

If it's for a test, you're probably best off just proving that you know the forms and using things like ております or お+v+します  when talking about yourself and ていらっしゃいます or お+v+になります when talking about the interviewer. Surely your teacher has at least shown you some example conversations, or something? If they just say "hey, these are the forms, go do an interview", you have a rather poorly taught class indeed.

>>667
That text is broken for me as well. 昔 doesn't have to mean "olden days", and it's often used just to mean "back then" or "before" (possibly even only a few years in some situations).