Forum Rocket Japanese Japanese Grammar Examples of syntax / word order

Examples of syntax / word order

AC747

AC747

Instead of trying to swallow the whole elephant, at once, I'm trying to think of ways to do it a bite at a time. To try to better understand Japanese syntax / word order, I thought one way might be to find examples of English written or spoken with Japanese syntax. So far, I've found nothing spoken and only isolated sentences in written English. I was hoping for a (probably very) short story.

Has anyone else run across anything like this?

ac747
teacup

teacup

Are you looking for something like this https://www.wasabi-jpn.com/japanese-grammar/topic-particle-wa-and-particle-mo/ ? It's teaching grammar points but there are a good number of example sentences that are broken down.
AC747

AC747

Thanks for the suggestion (and I poked around a couple of pages and will probably return in future to have a better look around) but that is not what I'm searching for. Let me try to explain:

In the Star Wars franchise, Yoda speaks English with an odd syntax. When you first hear it, you spend a lot of your attention, just trying to figure out what he is trying to say. But after a short while, you get used to the rhythm of the speech and understanding becomes more automatic.

I'm not yet able to read Japanese, but was looking for a largish chunk of English - more than just isolated sentences - to get a feel for the syntax. Sort of the syntactical equivalent of romaji. As if someone made a literal translation of a Japanese text - without rearranging the subjects, verbs and objects of the sentences.

Does this to help explain for what I am searching?
 
Tony-S10

Tony-S10

Do you mean like this:

駐車場に車を止めます - ちゅうしゃじょう に くるま を とめます

車を駐車場に止めます - くるま を ちゅうしゃじょう に とめます

Both sentences are I will park the car in the parking lot. Yet by mixing up the grammar particle placement it changes the whole sentence.

公園をよく散歩します - こうえん を よく さんぽします

よく公園を散歩します - よく こうえん を さんぽします

above are two ways to say "I often walk in the park"

More like these:

二年前に京都へ行きました に ねん まえ に きょうと へ いきました
一昨年京都へいきました おととし きょきょうと へ いきました

I went to Kyoto two years ago.

or

その映画は面白かったです その えいが は おもしろかった です

その映画は楽しかったです その えいが は たのしかった です

two ways of saying you enjoyed a movie either by using omoshiroi or tanoshii

Is this the sort of stuff you are asking about? 
AC747

AC747

SIGH! You're all just not getting what I'm looking for and i don't know how to explain it any better. ARRGGGH...
teacup

teacup

Do you mean like this:
Tonight / sushi / go to eat / shall we?
こんや    おすし    を    たべ に       いきましょう   か ?
konya      osushi     wo   tabe  ni       ikimashou           ka?
Shall we go to eat sushi tonight?

 
 
Tony-S10

Tony-S10

I see your post above and will try this. Maybe we don't know what you are asking but keep trying and it might come.

Here is some Japanese on an Instagram page I follow.

腰がまだすっきりしないけど
昨日のメンテナンスでも大丈夫だったので
まずは来月のハーフマラソンに向けて頑張る
Tony-S10

Tony-S10

something went wrong there and my post vanished. It has happened before when something malfunctions.
 
Tony-S10

Tony-S10

the above translation I was going to do was a marathon runners post which said

waist still clean not but
yesterdays maintenance but alright because
first next month half marathon to face try hard

My waist is still not feeling refreshed despite training yesterday it is feeling alright. So first I want to try hard for next months half marathon.
teacup

teacup

@AC747
I have what I would consider a high number of learn-Japanese texts in my collection, and I can't think of any that present English in Japanese-style syntax outside of beginner translation (i.e. single sentences in the first chapter) and maybe when covering more difficult grammar points later on.

Reading raw Japanese is the best way to familiarize oneself with Japanese syntax and I believe you know hiragana & katakana—why not try baby/toddler books?
Tony-S10

Tony-S10

Its difficult because perhaps their definition of syntax is different to what others are coming up with as even doing a internet search of that word it comes down to grammar....
AC747

AC747

夫婦茶碗 wins the prize for figuring out what for looking am I! As to the other question, about using the Japanese version of "See Spot run. Run Spot. Run.", I think I'll get there soon. Just not quite there yet. This idea about English in Japanese syntax just popped into my head, so I thought I'd search around (didn't find anything) and ask if anyone else had run across something of the sort. After all, if you don't ask, you seldom get.

Patience was never one of my strongest virtues!
teacup

teacup

A "See Spot Run" equivalent might be a little too basic (^^;), but generally anything where the text is horizontal and left-to-right and has pictures is a good to start with. The nice thing about children's books is that the art directly relates to the text, unlike manga where characters can talk for pages at a time and all you get is anguished faces from twenty angles.
ClaudiaR27

ClaudiaR27

Kids' books have been great for me to try to read.  I still need more grammar but it is easier to see the way sentences are organized.  The books are also interesting and the pictures help a lot.
teacup

teacup

I was recently reminded of this page:

https://8020japanese.com/japanese-word-order/

@AC747  It's not exactly what you're looking for, but it's a really good visual explanation of syntax and the examples do show the step from literal translation to natural translation.
 
AC747

AC747

夫婦茶碗 - Thanks for the link to 8020. I gave it a quick long and think that it will help answer some of my questions. I'm looking forward to giving it a longer look when I get some time.

Thanks again!
 

Ask a question or post a response

If you want to ask a question or post a response you need to be a member.

If you are already a member login here.
If you are not a member you can become one by taking the free Rocket Japanese trial here.