Suuketu,

 

Which college are you a senior at?  Your Japanese sounds pretty natural to me, but what would I know about that.  Maybe I can lend an ear to assist in helping your English level up.

 

I'm an old guy with interests in both Japanese and Mandarin.  I like to sing, a lot, but I'm a harmony singer, not a soloist.  I like to be "in the mix" and not "out in front".  I'm already out of college, and have a "day job", that gives me the luxury of pursuing a few hobbies, like singing and learning a language or two.

 

I think it would be fun to exchange culture and language tips.  There is no good translation for 頑張ります.  I think the closest that I can think of (as a native speaker) is "Just gotta hang in there!".  You and me both, right?

 

Charley from Alabama

Wakaba,

 

There are several different verbs that grant a nuance to the concept of "say".  "He grumped...", "She muttered..."  "He sighed..."  "They believe..."  "The kid stated...", etc.  Also, in English, we're more likely to insert tense/time into the sentence.  I did it automatically, using past tense there.  But we also might put it "He says" or "He is saying that...".  It would not be completely unnatural to hear "She would hope to say developers like to add humor...", but that is getting out there a little bit.

 

So, yeah.  I think the most natural expression is some verb in the past tense.  "He yelled...".  Perhaps this is not exactly the point of your discussion, but it was fun trying to help out. 

 

See ya round the forums.

 

Charley

Looking for exchange partner

I'm looking for a language exchange partner who canwould enjoy learning Japanese. I plan to go to Europe in onea week or so and stay there about 2 months. Let me know if you'd really wantlike to improve your Japanese... or just have conversation withfor fun :)

I'm looking forward to seeingmaking new friends there.

Oh, let me introduce myself.

I'm Sean from Japan currently working in Ghana as a merchant. (That is really rewarding job. I love it.) I export some nice products such as shea butter or African recycled beads from here to other countries.

I make it a point to put aside some money to donate to organizations which all are very impressive and doing good things for both environment and people in Africa.

Hope to see you soon :)

Brainer, As a native speaker, I wouldn't say either of these sentences. They sound odd to me. The closest I can use "set" with "the wind's direction", would be "The wind will set in from the south." but that still sounds stilted and odd. But why try to say something using a certain word, eh? I'd probably use "The wind comes/blows from the south". That feels pretty normal to me. Charley