Hello :) Soon a japanese exchange student will come to my class and I learn Japanese since half a year now but I don't know how to say sentences like ''Note that down'' or ''listen carefully'' or something like that. Do you know where I can get help for translating??
Hmm… There’re a few ways to solve your problem. But unfortunately auto-translating is not one of them _:(´□`」 ∠):_ Here’s what you could do…
Politely ask someone to do something/give instruction with 〜て下さい(te-kudasai)
If you’re looking for way to give instruction to your exchange student, you can use the simple basic pattern of ~て(te) form of a verb + 下さい (kudasai).So for example, “Note that down” and “Listen Carefully” would be:書き取って下さい KakitottekudasaiPlease take a note (of what you heard/see)* To take note : 書き取る (kakitoru)
よく聞いて下さいYoku kiitekudasaiPlease listen carefully* To listen : 聞く(kiku)
The pattern above should help you with basic instruction, but we’re quite sure that you will require more various sentences/phrases. In that case, you could try to list all the words you might need, and either google the correct translation (based on real people answers) for each or give the list to a translator and ask them to help you translate them.
Why auto translating won’t work in Japanese
It’s quite impossible to get a good auto translation since Japanese - English is not a literal translation but rather contextual one. Most of the time, the word we see in the English translation will not be the same word which is being used in the Japanese text.
How Japanese translator work: They will read the sentence, try to understand the full context of the situation and then rephrase an English sentence which represent the same context.
If you would like to have more preparation on your own, here’s a good recommendation for your need. It should be cheaper than hiring translator and give much more boost to your language skills so you’ll be able to confidently speak to your exchange student in no time !
SHADOWING! One of the best way to learn practical Japanese!
If you’ll mainly use Japanese for basic speaking/conversational purpose, Shadowing Book is the best book, or might be THE ONLY BOOK you will need. The book offer a very unique way to learn which is only by shadowing the sound you hear as you read it. It will also give additional information regarding the sentence in the situation when it feels needed.
The book comes with quite convincing testimonials which you can see below.
Note that this method will take you to a level where you can use Japanese language for basic everyday casual situation, but if your purpose is to take a JLPT test or to read Japanese literature, just consider it as a supplement, since it won’t be sufficient.
HOW IT WORKS:Actually, just by listening and re-speaking a lot of sentences repeatedly, your brain will pick up the grammar pattern on it’s own. It’s just as how children learn language from their parents! That’s also why we can find people in a country who can speak but cannot read & write.
It’s a very simple method, really. Basically the book will provide all common/very practical conversation, written in Kanji with furigana. Then you will read it as you HEAR it from the CD. The most important thing is that you will need to repeat it a lot until it’s becomes natural for your brain to recall it. Here’s the preview below:
In case it’s unreadable, On the left side is the list of conversation. Mostly Question & Answer, written in Kanji with furigana. On the right is the translation (English, Chinese, Korean). Below is the enlarged size of some of the sentences provided (the English translation)
There are only 2 books for this series and it cover beginner - intermediate (Green) and intermediate - advanced (Blue) conversation.
Here’s the link to get them:• Shadowing (Beginner - Intermediate) (CD Included)• Shadowing (Intermediate - Advance) (CD Included)
Hope this help to solve your problem! Happy learning 。゚✶ฺ.ヽ(*´∀`*)ノ.✶゚ฺ。