こんいちは、お元気ですか。 That's what it looks like on the computer, but nobody writes with such precision. Can somebody show me what *actual* handwriting looks like? i.e.. Do you know anbody, who writes their *a* or *g* like this?

Konnichiwa! You are entirely correct in saying that "computer written Kanji" is extremely clean and precise while the "Actual written Kanji" by Real people - is perhaps not so readable. Just like everybody writes differently in English (some are readable / some are not) it is the same with Japanese writing. :shock:

Which the ironic thing of this all is that the roman character set (which is my native character set) is my crappiest writing ever... The only thing that can really offset that is that I type 70-80 (or more) WPM. The irony of it is that my Hiragana and Kanji... look pretty much like they were typed on computer... which makes me seriously wonder "WTF!?!". So yeah... I'm weird like that. -Derek

Derek-san Perhaps you're better off in Japan then!! I think that many Japanese people (including myself) can have unreadable handwriting when writing fast. Sometimes, you can't even read your own handwriting!! I'm glad to hear your Hiragana and Kanji are as accurate and clean as those typed on the computer! I'm sure that no-one will have a problem reading your writing in Japanese. Keep it up! Gambatte ne! :D

[quo]*Quote from * rljapan Perhaps you're better off in Japan then!! [/quo] With some of the cultural "OK" vs. "NOT OK" things I see in the US I can pretty much say I think that on a daily basis... (Argh... it makes no sense!!!) Speaking of being better off in japan... At one point I was wondering if there would be a more accurate or logical way to translate one's name into Japanese. So based purely off of speculation I did this: [quo]*Quote:* ...take the actual meaning of your english name and translate that into japanese... For example, my name is Derek Fuerstenberg. Derek means Prince in some weird language (a baby naming book said it... it listed the origin and etc. but I forgot it.) Anyways, so then you could take the closest japanese word that isn't borrowed... which on some sites they tell me that Leader or sousui would be said word. My last name is german for prince mountain (Couldn't my names been less arrogant sounding Mom and Dad?). Thus I'm Prince of Prince Mountain or (my guess/speculation): sousui no yama 総帥の山[/quo]

Dear "Prince of Prince Mountain" What a spectacular name!! :D I would say that a better and more common way to say "Prince" is _*Ōji*_ or the name kids usually use: _*Ōji-sama*_ :wink: So, your name would be: _*Ōji-Yama no Ōji-sama*_ or _*Ōji-San no Ōji-sama*_ (**San is a suffix which means "mountain" - like Fuji-San "Mt.Fuji")

[quo]*Quote from * rljapan Dear "Prince of Prince Mountain" What a spectacular name!! :D I would say that a better and more common way to say "Prince" is _*Ōji*_ or the name kids usually use: _*Ōji-sama*_ :wink: So, your name would be: _*Ōji-Yama no Ōji-sama*_ or _*Ōji-San no Ōji-sama*_ (**San is a suffix which means "mountain" - like Fuji-San "Mt.Fuji")[/quo] xD :lol: *thinks* "Oh great, now I'm gonna be called Prince of Prince Mountain on the forums" */thinks* However... doesn't the sama and or san in the name make it sound arrogant?... As I remember in the audio lessons they said "Don't put san or sama in front of your own name when introducing yourself" Domo, Derek

Ah! yes... :!: well, if you're going to refer to yourself by this name, then you can say: :idea: *Ōji-Yama no Ōji* or *Ōji-___San___ no Ōji* The *_SAN_* in the second one refers to "mountain" and not the polite ending when addressing someone above you.

[quo]*Quote from * rljapan Ah! yes... :!: well, if you're going to refer to yourself by this name, then you can say: :idea: *Ōji-Yama no Ōji* or *Ōji-___San___ no Ōji* The *_SAN_* in the second one refers to "mountain" and not the polite ending when addressing someone above you.[/quo] If anything I'd probably take Oji-Yama no Oji so as to prevent confusion... I got that San is a reference to mountain and/or the polite reference... just I was thinking about that one person who you meet who misinterprets everything you say into the worst case scenario of your wording... Thinking about how much effort we just put into translating a name from japanese to english all I have to say is: This conversation is funny! *Ekae wa omoshiroi desu ne* let me know if I spelled english converation in romaji correctly or not I keep thinking its diferent. I probably said something along the lines of this conversation is fun rather than funny... :lol:

Derek-san, Oji-Yama no Oji! :lol: Konnichiwa! To say: "This English conversation is funny!"... *Kono Eikaiwa wa omoshiroi!* *Eikaiwa* = "English Conversation" The *Ei* bit refers to "English" and *Kaiwa* is "conversation" *Nihongo kaiwai* = "Japanese Conversation" :idea:

[quo]*Quote from * rljapan Derek-san, Oji-Yama no Oji! :lol: Konnichiwa! To say: "This English conversation is funny!"... *Kono Eikaiwa wa omoshiroi!* *Eikaiwa* = "English Conversation" The *Ei* bit refers to "English" and *Kaiwa* is "conversation" *Nihongo kaiwai* = "Japanese Conversation" :idea:[/quo] W00t! I knew English Conversation... Just I butchered the spelling... >.>