Commas in Japanese

[badmigraine 0]

What's the basic story on using commas in Japanese writing?

 

I was looking at a Japanese 1st grade writing book, and was shocked to see one of the exercises asked the students where to put the comma and the period in the sentence. It brought back bad memories of Mrs. Psaila's 1st grade English class so long ago...

 

Obviously, the period goes at the end. That knowledge transfers from English to Japanese very well. Nothing new to learn there.

 

But the thing that threw me was the placement of commas in Japanese. They seemed to appear where I would not have bothered to put one. For example:

 

雨が、だんだん強くなってきた。

 

Is it that commas are loose and frequently optional in Japanese, but this book is just making a point of showing where one can be put?

 

Or are there strict rules on commas in Japanese?

 

[mikazooki 0]

i think, given our current predicament, u should be more optimistic with your example sentence and say:

 

雪が、だんだん強くなってきた。

 

that would help with our mental imagery of the comma issue.

[slow 0]

This is the rule. Not too many, not too few.

[OnTheTin 0]

Good rule. Doesn't sound much like a Japanese-rashii rule though

[Ocean11 0]

That's sort of a 'this is the subject of the sentence' delimiter comma that isn't generally used in English. It's often the sign of a poor translator if you find that in an English translation.

 

(Sometimes where I'm translating fast, I'll follow the Japanese use of commas if I keep the structure of the sentence. Then when I proofread I go through deleting this sort of comma).

 

slow, you've started posting gaijin-style, uninformative, flippant messages now. You won't be able to get married you know, with an attitude like that.

[slow 0]

Ahhh!, ocean...

Bad influence from ocean...

 

OK, I try to be a modest woman.

As for the commas, hm.... It's difficult for me. But not too many and not too few rule is one of the rules, really. 　

[Weegeoff 0]

badmmgraine

 Quote:

But the thing that threw me was the placement of commas in japanese. they sees to appear where I would not have bothered to put one

My question is which one is the comma