trying to self-study some japanese to get out of my school's language requirement without taking the class, and I have a quick question about frequency adverbs:

Are these both appropriate ways to say "I often read books?"

watashiwa hon o yoku yomimasu
watashiwa yoku hon o yomimasu

If so, is one more natural sounding? Basically I'm wondering if it's okay to stick the adverb anywhere in the sentence.

Also since I'm here, yoku can mean either often or well (as in yoku hanasemasu, or can speak well). Is context your only clue to differentiate these two rather different meanings?

allluckysevens7777

United States53 Posts

June 17 2009 20:49 GMT

Both work fine, I'm pretty sure. My professor tended to use the second form fwiw. Never said anything explicitly though.
As for the often/well, I think you're correct there as well.

VIB

Brazil3567 Posts

June 17 2009 20:54 GMT

What a coincidence, I just learned yoku last class. In my book they always use the first form and so does my sensei. I also didn't know yoku could also mean "well". I'll ask my sensei when he comes online on msn ^^

EchOne

United States2906 Posts

June 17 2009 20:58 GMT

Both ways work. Good luck learning Japanese, I'm sure you won't regret it.

Shauni

4077 Posts

June 17 2009 20:58 GMT

'watashi wa yoku hon o yomimasu' sounds more natural to me, it was how we wrote it in class at least (although there is nothing wrong with either of them grammatically). And I think yoku is more common for often than well in most contexts (at least there's a lot of other alternatives for saying well).

Cambium

United States16368 Posts

June 17 2009 21:13 GMT

First way is definitely more common.

You'll soon find out that the Japanese language depends heavily on context, which can be annoying at times.

Ecael

United States6703 Posts

June 17 2009 21:27 GMT

Technically speaking you can distinguish between the meanings of yoku by the kanji used, but very rarely do people pay attention to that or make the kanji transformation in the first place, so context is the easiest way. First is more common simply because it is clearer, but both are fine.

Tbird

Canada42 Posts

June 17 2009 21:32 GMT

Both ways work fine, although I tend to use the first one. Because Japanese is a particle marked language, sentence structure is largely variable. And yes, yoku means both often and well, and you have to decide from context. Good luck!

Igakusei

United States610 Posts

June 17 2009 22:07 GMT

Thanks for the replies everyone!

My book tends to use the second form as well (torrented the genki elementary books), but I've been listening to pimsleur and they seem to prefer the first form.. which also seems more clear to me.

Trying to memorize kanji too. I'm at 40 now, but they're quickly becoming very complicated. I need a pen pal

Ecael

United States6703 Posts

June 17 2009 22:20 GMT

#10

Well, it is best if you don't start trying to divide it into forms right away, for example, 私はよく本屋で本を読む is more common than 私は本屋で本をよく読む. It really depends on the clarity imo, the location of the よく changes depending on what other things might be in the sentence to a place where the meaning would be the least ambiguous.

EDIT - Actually that's kind of a bad example since the location of よく was made to make meaning more obvious, not quite the same as "clearer".

Cambium

United States16368 Posts

June 17 2009 22:28 GMT

#11

良く= better
よく= often

Cambium

United States16368 Posts

June 17 2009 22:31 GMT

#12

On June 18 2009 07:20 Ecael wrote:
Well, it is best if you don't start trying to divide it into forms right away, for example, 私はよく本屋で本を読む is more common than 私は本屋で本をよく読む. It really depends on the clarity imo, the location of the よく changes depending on what other things might be in the sentence to a place where the meaning would be the least ambiguous.

EDIT - Actually that's kind of a bad example since the location of よく was made to make meaning more obvious, not quite the same as "clearer".

Actually, I think there's a slight difference between the two sentences you gave:

I often go to a book store to read books (where "go to" is implied), versus
When I'm at a book store, I often read books (where "when I'm at" is implied).

That's at least how I interpret those two sentences.

Ecael

United States6703 Posts

June 17 2009 22:41 GMT

#13

How often do people actually kanji change into 良く outside of some sort of printed literature anyway.

Well, if you want to say "when I am at a bookstore", that's a conditional, in which case you'd say 私は本屋にいったら時によく[そこに]本を読む instead of 私は本屋で本をよく読む. The meaning of the two that I gave does differ slightly, that's why I added in the edit about how in those two the former is clearer about the intended meaning. The point is more that as we elongate the sentences and add in more implications, the よく can change locations too. Or rather, as the よく change location, the implication can change like you said, it is hard to pin it down to a form more used.

VIB

Brazil3567 Posts

June 17 2009 22:55 GMT

#14

I just asked my sensei and he told me that "watashiwa hon o yoku yomimasu" can mean both frequently and well. But "watashiwa yoku hon o yomimasu" can only mean frequently. So he uses that second form when he wants to be specific about frequency.

Oh well... I guess that whatever is fine ><