# I decided to start studying Japanese



## shapirog

Hi,
How would I translate something like this:

"Last year I decided that I wanted to start studying Japanese"

My attempt:
去年、私は日本語を勉強を始めたかったことに決めました。


よろしくお願いします


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## Ototsan

shapirog said:


> Hi,
> How would I translate something like this:
> 
> "Last year I decided that I wanted to start studying Japanese"
> 
> My attempt:
> 去年、私は日本語を勉強を始めたかったことに決めました。
> 
> 
> よろしくお願いします



The Japanese sentence does not make sense. What exactly do you want to say by the English sentence you give above?


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## shapirog

Ototsan said:


> The Japanese sentence does not make sense. What exactly do you want to say by the English sentence you give above?



Well, I want to understand how you connect verbs together in Japanese.  I know some work because they can be added onto the end of verbs, (such as 〜たい or 〜つもりです) but what about others? 

For example, how would you say "I *started* *studying* Japanese last year"?  
My try: 去年日本語を勉強するの始めました。

Or how would you say "I *decided to study* Japanese"?  
My try: 日本語を勉強することに決めました。

My example was a bit more complicated: "Last year I *decided* that I *wanted* *to start* *studying* Japanese."  I'm just not sure how to translate it.  

よろしくお願いします！


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## Wishfull

shapirog said:


> Well, I want to understand how you connect verbs together in Japanese.  I know some work because they can be added onto the end of verbs, (such as 〜たい or 〜つもりです) but what about others?
> 
> For example, how would you say "I *started* *studying* Japanese last year"?
> My try: 去年日本語を勉強するのを始めました。
> 昨年日本語を勉強し始めました　is better.
> 
> Or how would you say "I *decided to study* Japanese"?
> My try: 日本語を勉強することに決めました。　OK.
> 
> My example was a bit more complicated: "Last year I *decided* that I *wanted* *to start* *studying* Japanese."  I'm just not sure how to translate it.
> 
> よろしくお願いします！



"Last year I *decided* that I *wanted* *to start* *studying* Japanese." 
Hi.　Is this sentence natural as English?
I （or maybe we) think your English doesn't make sense.
You made an unnatural English for the purpose of "a-more-complicated sentence translation", didn't you?

Do you mean;
Last year I made up my mind that I should become the mental status of "wanting to start studying Japanese" (by hypnotism or something??).

Then, 昨年私は、（どうにかして）日本語の勉強が始めたくなるようにならねば（ならない）と決意しました。
It is difficult to make natural Japanese, because the context is unnatural itself.

How about this;
Last year I got the feeling suddenly that I wanted to start studying Japanese.
=昨年私は、日本語を勉強し始めたいと突然思うようになりました。

edit) I have to apologize if my post would be offensive, but I'm curious to know that the phrase such as "decide to want something" is natural for native-English speakers.
From what I understand, someone cannot decide "to want" or "not to want", because "wanting something" is his/her natural feeling which cannot be decided by his/her will.
I would like to know your opinion.
"Try to want something" might be possible, instead.


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## shapirog

Hi,
The English sentence does make sense.  I suppose it could be a little bit simpler, and you are right that in general you don't decide to want to do something.  Perhaps "Last year I decided to start studying Japanese" is better.

Does this work? 昨年私は日本語を勉強し始めることに決めました。


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## Wishfull

shapirog said:


> Hi,
> The English sentence does make sense.  I suppose it could be a little bit simpler, and you are right that in general you don't decide to want to do something.  Perhaps "Last year I decided to start studying Japanese" is better.
> 
> Does this work? 昨年私は日本語を勉強し始めることに決めました。



Hi.
昨年私は日本語を勉強し始めることに決めました。
is a perfect Japanese.

Alternative expression;
昨年日本語を勉強し始めることに決めました。（The subject is often abbreviated in Japanese, but in this context, I like your version with 私は, better.)
昨年私は日本語の勉強を開始する決心をしました。(This is a little written expression. Yours is a little spoken expression.)
昨年私は日本語を勉強することに決めました。（"To start" might be redundant, because without it, the meaning is almost the same.)


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## shapirog

Great!  Thanks for your help.  Now my only question is why is 「日本語を勉強し始めました」 better than 「日本語を勉強するのを始めました」?  What's the difference?  What is the construction that is used in the first example?  Could you say 「日本語を勉強することに始めました」?


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## Wishfull

Hi.

For example, what is the difference of 
"My teacher teaches us very kindly."
and
"My teacher is very kind to us". ?

Both are correct, grammatically.
But natives have preference to the latter, don't they?

Reference;
http://forum.wordreference.com/showthread.php?t=1786407



shapirog said:


> Great!  Thanks for your help.  Now my only question is why is 「日本語を勉強し始めました」 better than 「日本語を勉強するのを始めました」?  What's the difference?  What is the construction that is used in the first example?  Could you say 「日本語を勉強することに始めました」?



日本語を勉強するのを始めました　seems "translation style of English→Japanese" to me. Or the sentence structure is preferred by children under 12.

日本語を勉強し始めました　is preferred by adults and children above 12.

Do you understand what I mean?
For beginner learners, there are translation style sentences, which might be plain or might be childish.
For advanced learners, there are more-native-speaking-way expressions.
That is the difference.

/////
日本語を勉強することに始めました　is wrong. 
But
日本語を勉強することに目覚（めざ）めました　is good.


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## shapirog

Wishfull said:


> Hi.
> 
> For example, what is the difference of
> "My teacher teaches us very kindly."
> and
> "My teacher is very kind to us". ?
> 
> Both are correct, grammatically.
> But natives have preference to the latter, don't they?
> 
> Reference;
> http://forum.wordreference.com/showthread.php?t=1786407
> 
> 
> 
> 日本語を勉強するのを始めました　seems "translation style of English→Japanese" to me. Or the sentence structure is preferred by children under 12.
> 
> 日本語を勉強し始めました　is preferred by adults and children above 12.
> 
> Do you understand what I mean?
> For beginner learners, there are translation style sentences, which might be plain or might be childish.
> For advanced learners, there are more-native-speaking-way expressions.
> That is the difference.
> 
> /////
> 日本語を勉強することに始めました　is wrong.
> But
> 日本語を勉強することに目覚（めざ）めました　is good.



Thanks for the explanations!  If I wanted to use other verbs with this, how do I form this kind of sentence?

I started studying Japanese.
日本語を勉強し始めました。

Here are my tries:

I started reading a book.
本を読み始めました。

I started eating that hamburger.
あのハンバーガーを食べ始めました。

Am I on the right track?


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## lrosa

shapirog said:


> "Last year I decided that I wanted to start studying Japanese"



This sentence does make sense and seem natural to me, even if it is a little bit more complicated than it needs to be. But I think that the word "decide" might be a bit misleading, because I think in this case it means something closer to "realise" rather than "actively decide". 

Another example of this kind of use of "decide" might be: "Since no one else could have committed the crime, I decided that it must have been him."

But shapirog, I would advise you that it's dangerous to try and translate specific grammatical structures from English to Japanese! It's better to take one sentence at a time. Having said that, "し始める" is a useful construction for translating "to start doing something". You are right in how you used it - just use the -masu form of the verb.

I wonder how "去年日本語を勉強しようと決めました" would be?


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## Wishfull

shapirog said:


> I started studying Japanese.
> 日本語を勉強し始めました。
> 
> I started reading a book.
> 本を読み始めました。
> 
> I started eating that hamburger.
> あのハンバーガーを食べ始めました。


I think these are natural Japanese.



lrosa said:


> This sentence does make sense and seem natural to me, even if it is a little bit more complicated than it needs to be. But I think that the word "decide" might be a bit misleading, because I think in this case it means something closer to "realise" rather than "actively decide".
> *→I got it. I mislead it as you said. Thanks.*
> 
> Another example of this kind of use of "decide" might be: "Since no one else could have committed the crime, I decided that it must have been him."
> *→ I couldn't agree with this sentence. I think in this context, "decide" is used as what-I-realize-it-as-original-usage-of "decide". "I judged he was innocent or guilty, and decided that he was guilty."* How do you decide?
> 
> I wonder how "去年日本語を勉強しようと決めました" would be?
> *→I think it is natural Japanese.*


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