Comments on: who needs ‘e’ anyway?

by: heather

Wed, 16 Nov 2005 15:07:39 +0000

i end up writing ikimas, since you don’t actually say the ‘u’ at the end, and i always find that confusing.

thanks for the corrections. bad typo!

by: Vince A.

Wed, 16 Nov 2005 15:02:48 +0000

- Just a question about your hiragana for “bijutsuku”

I suppose I mean “bijutsukan”

by: Vince A.

Wed, 16 Nov 2005 15:01:04 +0000

I used to study Japanese and your site gives me the chance to try and recall them (after so many years). I recognise and recall most of them especially if I cheat and peek at bit at your romanisation. It takes a little getting used to though, because I’m used to seeing “ikimasu” instead of “ikimas”.

Just a question about your hiragana for “bijutsuku” , I recall clearly what “tsu” looks like in hiragana, and so I cannot make out your rendering.

by: scott

Tue, 15 Nov 2005 22:54:39 +0000

Japanese For Busy People I seperates へ by direction and gives the example of considering the two like “-ward”. ”とうきょうに／へ” - “Tokyo-ward”. The author suggets that they are interchangeable.

Over at YesJapan they explain that に is used for a direct location like ”とうきょうにいきます,” and that へ is more often used for directions like in ”みなみへいきます。” They then go on to say that most Japanese speakers tend to swap between に and へ without regard for specific grammatical rules.

Swapping with aplomb it would seem! Either way, it can be quite confusing.

I’d hadn’t seen Tim Matheson’s site before you linked it. Thank you!