How not to write Japanese
Aug 31st 2011 08:00
While I was correcting Japanese on lang-8, I've encountered some really stupid broken Japanese non-natives tend to write.
It's not about the correct grammar or vocabulary.
It's about the things you shouldn't come up in the first place and you can easily avoid it.
As a Japanese, I think I need to explain these.
#1 。 cannot be used as ellipsis
Some people write 。。。 to express ellipsis.
It doesn't work that way!
I wonder how did they think that works.
You should use ・・・ or … .
Traditionary, Japanese didn't have punctuations nor ellipsis.
So generally, using an ellipsis in Japanese isn't a good idea.
#2 Don't use "I, My, Me, Mine". Just Don't!
I've seen so many people wrote unnecessary verbose 私.
Trust me, It looks horrible.
You should rather ban all 私. That looks much much better.
You write that because you probably think in non-Japanese language.
So remember, you only write "I, my, Me, Mine" in Japanese if and only if it's 100% totally absolutely necessary to explicitly indicates that's you or yours...
Or somebody pointing a gun at your head, insisting you to write so.
It's just that bad.
For the same reason, you shouldn't use you, he or her in Japanese.
Think twice before you write 私.
#3 Literal translation
If you need an explanation why the literal translation is bad(except for a joke), you probably shouldn't learn a new language.
It's not about the correct grammar or vocabulary.
It's about the things you shouldn't come up in the first place and you can easily avoid it.
As a Japanese, I think I need to explain these.
#1 。 cannot be used as ellipsis
Some people write 。。。 to express ellipsis.
It doesn't work that way!
I wonder how did they think that works.
You should use ・・・ or … .
Traditionary, Japanese didn't have punctuations nor ellipsis.
So generally, using an ellipsis in Japanese isn't a good idea.
#2 Don't use "I, My, Me, Mine". Just Don't!
I've seen so many people wrote unnecessary verbose 私.
Trust me, It looks horrible.
You should rather ban all 私. That looks much much better.
You write that because you probably think in non-Japanese language.
So remember, you only write "I, my, Me, Mine" in Japanese if and only if it's 100% totally absolutely necessary to explicitly indicates that's you or yours...
Or somebody pointing a gun at your head, insisting you to write so.
It's just that bad.
For the same reason, you shouldn't use you, he or her in Japanese.
Think twice before you write 私.
#3 Literal translation
If you need an explanation why the literal translation is bad(except for a joke), you probably shouldn't learn a new language.
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While I was... /While I have been...
It's about (the) things that shouldn't come up in the.../It's about things you shouldn't come up with in the...
As a Japanese (person), I think I need to explain these.
I wonder how did they think that worked./..that would work.
Traditionally, Japanese didn't have punctuation (n)or ellipsis. [I only use "nor" after "neither", but I'm not 100% certain if that's ocrrect]
#2 Don't use "I, my, me, mine".
Just don't!
I've seen so many verbose people write an unnecessary verbose 私. [people, texts, writing can be verbose, but not a word/character.]
Trust me, it looks horrible.
That looks [or: That will look] much much better.
You write that because you probably think in a non-Japanese language.
So remember, you only write "I, my, me, mine" in Japanese if and only if it's 100% totally absolutely necessary to explicitly indicate that it's you or yours...
Or somebody is pointing a gun at your head, insisting you to write so./forcing you to write so.
For the same reason, you shouldn't use "you", "he" or "her" in Japanese.
If you need an explanation why a literal translation is bad, you probably shouldn't learn a new language./...shouldn't be learning a new language
I thought I had seen "。。。" written quite often in Japnese, but maybe it was only learners writing it.
While I was correcting Japanese (entries) on lang-8, I've encountered some really stupid mistakes made by people learning Japanese. broken Japanese non-natives tend to write. I'm not sure if you really meant this, but your usage of "stupid" makes it seem like you are insulting the people who make the kinds of mistakes that you discuss.
It's not about having the correct grammar or vocabulary.
It's about the things you shouldn't come up in the first place and you can easily avoid it. that are easily avoided.
As a Japanese person, I think I need to explain these.
I wonder how did they can think that would even work.
Traditionary Traditionally, Japanese didn't have punctuations nor ellipses.
Just don't!
I've seen so many people who have used wrote 私 unnecessarily, which is verbose.
Trust me, it looks horrible.
You should rather ban all 私. In fact, the character 私 should be banned.
That makes things looks much, much better.
You People write that because you they are probably thinking in a non-Japanese language. "non-Japanese language" basically means any language that is not Japanese, so it would actually be better to say "...thinking in their own languages."
So remember, you should only write "I, my, Me, Mine" in Japanese if and only if it's 100% totally and absolutely necessary to explicitly indicates that's that something is yours or that you are the subject...
Or, for example, if somebody is pointing a gun at your head, insisting that you to write so like that.
For the same reason, you shouldn't use you, he, or her in Japanese.
If you need an explanation why the literal translations is are bad, you probably shouldn't learn a new language.
That's really confusing.
If you need an explanation why the literal translation is bad (except for a joke), you probably shouldn't learn a new language.