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Mr.E, for questions, it's probably best if you don't use a "?".
The "か" at the end of the sentence already denotes the sentence being a question.

Slasherbaven wrote:Mr.E, for questions, it's probably best if you don't use a "?".

No. The question mark isn't used in formal Japanese writing, but it's very common in informal Japanese writing such as, say, visual novels. I've read at least a dozen Japanese visual novels, and IIRC every one of them used question marks.

There's a very good reason for using question marks. In informal language, not all questions end in "か". For example, "それでよろしいですか？" could be shortened to "それでいい？", which doesn't look like a question at all without the question mark.

I suppose you're right.
My mistake.

Wintermoon wrote:

Slasherbaven wrote:Mr.E, for questions, it's probably best if you don't use a "?".

No. The question mark isn't used in formal Japanese writing, but it's very common in informal Japanese writing such as, say, visual novels. I've read at least a dozen Japanese visual novels, and IIRC every one of them used question marks.

There's a very good reason for using question marks. In informal language, not all questions end in "か". For example, "それでよろしいですか？" could be shortened to "それでいい？", which doesn't look like a question at all without the question mark.

それでいいか　is same as　それでいい？, just having sentence without 敬語 (KEIGO) (それでいい) ending with か is very rude, that's why you use intonation to show that it's a question (that is using ? in sentences).

I'm confused... so which one is the real one?...

Enerccio wrote:"それでよろしいですか？"

This is formal so if you want to use standard grammar then you won't need the ?

Enerccio wrote:それでいい？

This is informal so if you don't use ? it would be confusing since それでいい means 'that is okay' instead of 'is that okay?'. Also Enerccio said that without ? it would be rude.

I can actually imagine someone like kanjikun (P4) saying SOREDEIIKA????!)!!?!?!?!?

*sigh* Here goes nothing...

The particle か (ka) can be used in japanese about the same way as the question mark in english. It's put at the end of a phrase and marks it as a question. In spoken Japanese the intonation also changes whether it's a question or not, just like in English. In informal Japanese however, the ka may be dropped ( particularly by women ) and only the intonation remains. At that time the question marks is very useful in written Japanese to show it's a question, but not use the か particle, thus leaving the speech informal.
But the question mark has started really sinking into Japanese language lately, and it's becoming used quite frequently even together with the ka particle. Of course, they show up more in manga, games and suchlike, where the language doesn't need to follow utterly strict patterns. I assure all of you that "それでよろしいですか？" wouldn't raise any eyebrows between regular japanese readers. I know this because I've seen it written like that in professional eroges. But if you want to go the grammar nazi way then by all means, go ahead. Just don't count on me for that. I never presumed to be any expert in Japanese and I just tried to help, but my patience has its limits.

So the one with the "?" is OK to use.

Thanks