Is That So? Discussion

Most Recent Most Votes

Alethian, Great reference, i played through the whole game last year, and i loved it, and it feels good to know what the title of the game means now.

I was wondering why it said じん instead of ひと and now I know because of the footnote.

ええ is not the only casual way to say "yes" you can also say うん, this is more common between friends I think. It's very "extreme" to use はい though, at least the Japanese exchange students here say so, so if you're familiar with the person go with ええ or うん. Making the う into a longer ううん means "no" though, so be careful.

A small thing I'd like to throw out there is that the phrase "そうですか" isn't the only way of asking "is that so?" "そうですね" is also another term that can be used. While "そうです" strictly means "that's right", "そうですか" asks, "is that right?" although I believe it can mean "I see" when said in a flat tone. "そうですね" can also mean "is that so?" when said with a rising intonation, albeit it's more rhetorical than "そうですか". It has other uses, such as "I see", "that's right", "let's see", "yeah", as well as a filler to say while you think, (much like "hmm" in English) and can also indicate you're listening to the speaker. As tell, it's a very useful word.

I'd just like to politel add that the reading of 中国 is ちゅうごく、 and the reading of 韓国 is かんこく。 Some syllables got mixed around.

It would be best to introduce some more useful Kanji right here! First off, learning "私" in place of "わたし" will really make your writing and reading easier! [It takes less strokes to write AND mind power to read as well!] (7 strokes, "わたくし/わたし/シ" are possible) [First two Kun-yomi, third is On]. 国 or "くに" is kun-yomi (native Japanese) reading of 国 or country. (コク is the on-yomi) Note: The reason I used Katakana for on-yomi is because most dictionaries will too, on-yomi are Chinese, thereby foreign). Some friendly uses of "国" include "中国" which is China (ちゅうこく) or 韓国 which is (South) Korea (かんくこ). And of course, where would 日本語 (にほんご; Japanese) be without 日本 (Japan)? Here: 日, normally read "ひ" is read "に" and 本 is read as is, because it only has one reading here, "ほん." Here's a good mnemonic to use to remember Japan as 日本 if you need one...but I don't think anyone will: 日 (Sun) + 本 (Origin). They don't call 日本 "the Land of the Rising Sun" for nothing, you know! It's also probably well understood at this point that "にほんじん" and "にほん" are not the only way to say "Japan[ese]."Another variant exists: "にっぽん." This is a special use, like the "にっぽんぶどかん" or "にっぽんれっとう" (Japanese Islands). Of course, that doesn't mean that you won't hear "にっぽん" used frequently either, they are both correct, so they are both used.