Comments on: the koto trick; yes you can http://japanese.nearlythere.com/2005/11/02/the-koto-trick-yes-you-can Notes from my self-study and my Japanese lessons Tue, 06 Jan 2009 09:34:35 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.0.2 by: Wouter http://japanese.nearlythere.com/2005/11/02/the-koto-trick-yes-you-can#comment-4608 Fri, 06 Oct 2006 01:43:04 +0000 http://japanese.nearlythere.com/2005/11/02/the-koto-trick-yes-you-can#comment-4608 Hm.... If I may comment... Chou sekushii desu sounds *strange* Chou being a very informal word, and desu being a formal word... I would not say it like that... Being very informal, I could say "chou sekushii na~", na being the colloquial form of da which in turn is an informal form of desu. Besides, mecha is kansaiben, used in the Kansai regions (around Osaka), and it means "very", "extremely", but since kansaiben is quite popular (from television series etc) it gets spread throughout Japan :) Okay, this is a reply on quite an old post, but still :) I was googling for "how to play pachinko" and came on this page and decided to read further anyway heh. Hm…. If I may comment…

Chou sekushii desu sounds *strange* Chou being a very informal word, and desu being a formal word… I would not say it like that…

Being very informal, I could say “chou sekushii na~”, na being the colloquial form of da which in turn is an informal form of desu.

Besides, mecha is kansaiben, used in the Kansai regions (around Osaka), and it means “very”, “extremely”, but since kansaiben is quite popular (from television series etc) it gets spread throughout Japan :)

Okay, this is a reply on quite an old post, but still :) I was googling for “how to play pachinko” and came on this page and decided to read further anyway heh.

]]> by: 日本語 a go-go http://japanese.nearlythere.com/2005/11/02/the-koto-trick-yes-you-can#comment-140 Mon, 14 Nov 2005 02:22:48 +0000 http://japanese.nearlythere.com/2005/11/02/the-koto-trick-yes-you-can#comment-140 <strong>The Koto Trick</strong> Heather over at I want to learn Japanese has a great write up of what she&#8217;s deemed The Koto Trick - which is basically a handy way of saying you&#8217;re able/unable to do something. It&#8217;s certainly something I plan to add my notebook of t... The Koto Trick

Heather over at I want to learn Japanese has a great write up of what she’s deemed The Koto Trick - which is basically a handy way of saying you’re able/unable to do something. It’s certainly something I plan to add my notebook of t…

]]> by: heather http://japanese.nearlythere.com/2005/11/02/the-koto-trick-yes-you-can#comment-135 Mon, 07 Nov 2005 12:51:51 +0000 http://japanese.nearlythere.com/2005/11/02/the-koto-trick-yes-you-can#comment-135 oh that's good to know... does it matter if you're talking to a man or a woman... so like, can i say this to a guy: とてもせくしいです (or is it in katakana) とてもセクシーです Totemo sekushii desu and does it matter which i say to someone i know well? what if i know someone well and i want to tell them this, which level of formality would i use? would this be okay? ちょうセクシーです chou sekushii desu oh that’s good to know… does it matter if you’re talking to a man or a woman… so like, can i say this to a guy:

とてもせくしいです (or is it in katakana) とてもセクシーです
Totemo sekushii desu

and does it matter which i say to someone i know well? what if i know someone well and i want to tell them this, which level of formality would i use? would this be okay?

ちょうセクシーです
chou sekushii desu

]]> by: Ronan http://japanese.nearlythere.com/2005/11/02/the-koto-trick-yes-you-can#comment-131 Mon, 07 Nov 2005 00:25:05 +0000 http://japanese.nearlythere.com/2005/11/02/the-koto-trick-yes-you-can#comment-131 A very good question Heather-san. And you'll be happy to know that there are many ways to say it. Let's start with the most formal and descend slowly into slang: Totemo sekushii desu Kanari sekushii desu suibun sekushii desu sugoku sekushii desu meccha kuccha sekushii desu bari bari sekushii desu chou bari sekushii desu chou sekushii desu I'm sure there are others but I can't think of them right now. Any more questions, you know where to find me. A very good question Heather-san. And you’ll be happy to know that there are many ways to say it. Let’s start with the most formal and descend slowly into slang:

Totemo sekushii desu
Kanari sekushii desu
suibun sekushii desu
sugoku sekushii desu
meccha kuccha sekushii desu
bari bari sekushii desu
chou bari sekushii desu
chou sekushii desu

I’m sure there are others but I can’t think of them right now. Any more questions, you know where to find me.

]]> by: Japanese! Japanese! » Blog Archive » bite-sized japanese http://japanese.nearlythere.com/2005/11/02/the-koto-trick-yes-you-can#comment-129 Fri, 04 Nov 2005 13:21:30 +0000 http://japanese.nearlythere.com/2005/11/02/the-koto-trick-yes-you-can#comment-129 [...] aquo; Kana and Kanji Immersion bite-sized japanese i made my own notes after a japanese lesson- but wow- not fun to read even with all the h [...] […] aquo; Kana and Kanji Immersion bite-sized japanese i made my own notes after a japanese lesson- but wow- not fun to read even with all the h […]

]]> by: heather http://japanese.nearlythere.com/2005/11/02/the-koto-trick-yes-you-can#comment-128 Thu, 03 Nov 2005 21:22:33 +0000 http://japanese.nearlythere.com/2005/11/02/the-koto-trick-yes-you-can#comment-128 thank you! i got my gold star! thanks for the corrections too. i got some from shiho as well. i'll edit this and fix the errors. oh, and how do you say "very sexy" then? i look forward next week! ;) thank you! i got my gold star!

thanks for the corrections too. i got some from shiho as well. i’ll edit this and fix the errors.

oh, and how do you say “very sexy” then?

i look forward next week! ;)

]]> by: ronan http://japanese.nearlythere.com/2005/11/02/the-koto-trick-yes-you-can#comment-127 Thu, 03 Nov 2005 05:52:15 +0000 http://japanese.nearlythere.com/2005/11/02/the-koto-trick-yes-you-can#comment-127 Well, that was a very concise retelling of our lesson last night! I should print this out and give it to Peter and Angelo. A couple of notes: Amari dekimasen means 'I can't really.' Amari combined with the negative form of a verb or adjective means not really .... eg - amari sekushii dewa arimasen (casual - amari sekushii ja nai) means 'not really sexy' or 'not very sexy'. It can also mean 'not often' as in 'pachinko wa amari shimasen' (casual - shinai) meaning 'I don't play pachinko often'. As for the 'Nihongo o hanasu koto ga dekiru' thing. I can see why the use of the casual form of the verb at the end might be confusing but really its just the same as the sentence 'Nihongo o hanasu koto ga dekimasu', its just politer. Hope these notes help a bit. But you don't need much help, you get a gold star! Well, that was a very concise retelling of our lesson last night! I should print this out and give it to Peter and Angelo.

A couple of notes:
Amari dekimasen means ‘I can’t really.’ Amari combined with the negative form of a verb or adjective means not really …. eg - amari sekushii dewa arimasen (casual - amari sekushii ja nai) means ‘not really sexy’ or ‘not very sexy’.
It can also mean ‘not often’ as in ‘pachinko wa amari shimasen’ (casual - shinai) meaning ‘I don’t play pachinko often’.

As for the ‘Nihongo o hanasu koto ga dekiru’ thing. I can see why the use of the casual form of the verb at the end might be confusing but really its just the same as the sentence ‘Nihongo o hanasu koto ga dekimasu’, its just politer.

Hope these notes help a bit. But you don’t need much help, you get a gold star!

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