Learning Japanese?

[fayebelly]

H o s h i r i

The_Brightest_Moon

Weeaboos are people, usually girls ages 11-18, who have watched way too much anime, and are convinced that Japan is exactly what anime depicts it to be. They think that all Japanese are giggling 16 year old schoolgirls wearing near pornographic school uniforms, they think they can learn Japanese through anime, and they also usually think that "YOU'RE SUCH A BAKA DESU DESU DESU" is speaking Japanese. They often wear anime T-shirts, dye their hair pink, eat pocky while sitting like L, and wear those cat-ear hats while spewing and abusing random and mispronounced Japanese words in places they should not belong. they think they can BE Japanese, and the Japanese will love them unconditionally and accept them. They think that Japan has absolutely no problems (when in reality it seems like a very miserable place under all that kawaii-ness) and that THEY CAN LEARN JAPANESE OFF OF GAIA.

http://i38.tinypic.com/2ext47c.jpg



●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●Hoshiri
●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●»says



Still one problem with that. People can learn
Japanese off of Gaia. x__x Not completely
off of Gaia itself, but the people here.

You can NOT learn Japanese off gaia!
You can NOT be taught Japanese from other gaians.

You CAN learn Japanese on the internet.
You CAN ask people on gaia for help and support (or abuse, depending on who you're asking).

Also, Bightest moon... Have you been to Japan? It's not a miserable place... It's just not all sparkly and insane like people think it is... It's just a normal place, which most people find dissapointing...

[terradi]

The_Brightest_Moon

Weeaboos are people, usually girls ages 11-18, who have watched way too much anime, and are convinced that Japan is exactly what anime depicts it to be. They think that all Japanese are giggling 16 year old schoolgirls wearing near pornographic school uniforms, they think they can learn Japanese through anime, and they also usually think that "YOU'RE SUCH A BAKA DESU DESU DESU" is speaking Japanese. They often wear anime T-shirts, dye their hair pink, eat pocky while sitting like L, and wear those cat-ear hats while spewing and abusing random and mispronounced Japanese words in places they should not belong. they think they can BE Japanese, and the Japanese will love them unconditionally and accept them. They think that Japan has absolutely no problems (when in reality it seems like a very miserable place under all that kawaii-ness) and that THEY CAN LEARN JAPANESE OFF OF GAIA.

Granted, the suicide rate is a little high. But I don't really think Japan is miserable. It's just like everywhere else, with a few differences in culture and the like. People are people.

Gaijin are always gaijin. Doesn't matter if you marry a Japanese person, doesn't matter if your children are half-Japanese, doesn't matter if you get citizenship.

外人は何時も外人ですよ。 Yeah. Aware that's probably butchered, but I did have to try.

That's an awful lot of venom to be loosing at a group of people. I doubt it's entirely accurate as well. Granted, yes, people who speak with the occasional Japanese word thrown in are painful to listen to. But they're honest in their attempts and they'll either grow out of it or grow up soon enough. Why get angry.

[m o r i k k o]

terradi

The_Brightest_Moon

Weeaboos are people, usually girls ages 11-18, who have watched way too much anime, and are convinced that Japan is exactly what anime depicts it to be. They think that all Japanese are giggling 16 year old schoolgirls wearing near pornographic school uniforms, they think they can learn Japanese through anime, and they also usually think that "YOU'RE SUCH A BAKA DESU DESU DESU" is speaking Japanese. They often wear anime T-shirts, dye their hair pink, eat pocky while sitting like L, and wear those cat-ear hats while spewing and abusing random and mispronounced Japanese words in places they should not belong. they think they can BE Japanese, and the Japanese will love them unconditionally and accept them. They think that Japan has absolutely no problems (when in reality it seems like a very miserable place under all that kawaii-ness) and that THEY CAN LEARN JAPANESE OFF OF GAIA.

Granted, the suicide rate is a little high. But I don't really think Japan is miserable. It's just like everywhere else, with a few differences in culture and the like. People are people.

Gaijin are always gaijin. Doesn't matter if you marry a Japanese person, doesn't matter if your children are half-Japanese, doesn't matter if you get citizenship.

外人は何時も外人ですよ。 Yeah. Aware that's probably butchered, but I did have to try.

That's an awful lot of venom to be loosing at a group of people. I doubt it's entirely accurate as well. Granted, yes, people who speak with the occasional Japanese word thrown in are painful to listen to. But they're honest in their attempts and they'll either grow out of it or grow up soon enough. Why get angry.

+1

[terradi]

yay!

sweatdrop I have about zero confidence in my ability to write things with correct grammar. I can get my point across when I'm buying lunch or ordering things, but no one bothers to correct me much. I think they're just happy that I can explain that I don't need chopsticks, or that I don't need a receipt.

My reading and writing ability sucks. Which is why I don't post in the Japanese writing threads. I'm at about a second grade level when it comes to reading and writing, and I have the second grade textbook to prove it. The reading is about my level, though I make mistakes on how to pronounce certain combinations of kanji.

Disadvantage to living in Japan and just speaking Japanese but not really practicing that aspect of it. I think everyone here whose doing more learning on the internet and via workbooks has me beat there.

I think any language can be divided into a couple of different parts. You've got reading, writing, listening, and then speaking. They all rely on similar knowledge of vocabulary, sentence structure, and grammar. But you can be good at one but not be good at the others. With handwriting especially. I know plenty of Japanese people who forget the proper kanji for things and have to check ... kinda like English speakers forget spelling. It's frustrating to know that.

[PolyglotKoko]

terradi

The_Brightest_Moon

Weeaboos are people, usually girls ages 11-18, who have watched way too much anime, and are convinced that Japan is exactly what anime depicts it to be. They think that all Japanese are giggling 16 year old schoolgirls wearing near pornographic school uniforms, they think they can learn Japanese through anime, and they also usually think that "YOU'RE SUCH A BAKA DESU DESU DESU" is speaking Japanese. They often wear anime T-shirts, dye their hair pink, eat pocky while sitting like L, and wear those cat-ear hats while spewing and abusing random and mispronounced Japanese words in places they should not belong. they think they can BE Japanese, and the Japanese will love them unconditionally and accept them. They think that Japan has absolutely no problems (when in reality it seems like a very miserable place under all that kawaii-ness) and that THEY CAN LEARN JAPANESE OFF OF GAIA.

Granted, the suicide rate is a little high. But I don't really think Japan is miserable. It's just like everywhere else, with a few differences in culture and the like. People are people.

Gaijin are always gaijin. Doesn't matter if you marry a Japanese person, doesn't matter if your children are half-Japanese, doesn't matter if you get citizenship.

外人はいつもも外人ですよ。 Yeah. Aware that's probably butchered, but I did have to try.

That's an awful lot of venom to be loosing at a group of people. I doubt it's entirely accurate as well. Granted, yes, people who speak with the occasional Japanese word thrown in are painful to listen to. But they're honest in their attempts and they'll either grow out of it or grow up soon enough. Why get angry.

Don't write｢いつも」 as ｢何時も」because it's out-dated and is only used in classical literature (Manga and Songs (if the singer wants to make herself/himself look Kanji-intelligent).
Somebody in this thread: Yes, Japan is not that bad but I want to see more than the Weeaboo-Capitol (Tokyo). I would definitely like to visit Hokkaido(Sapporo) though. Also certain areas of Japan are more friendly to gaijin than others like Hokkaido, Okinawa, Kumamoto and less friendly ones most likely be the Kansai region (Osaka, Kyoto, Kobe, etc) and Tokyo (granted Tokyoites are more friendly than Kansai people). Kansai people don't like Japanese from outside their region using their dialect and despise foreigners (who weren't born there) who try to. (Which is why I only use it occasionally online but I prefer Hokkaido (and Touhoku) dialects though.

[terradi]

Ahh. Thankyou. Usually if I get kanji when I try typing something in online, I just go ahead and use it. I've got the advantage of Rikai-chan here, which is awesome.

What? Kansai is awesome for foreigners! Kyoto is so used to tourists that people don't stare too much. And my Japanese teacher is pretty damned determined to teach me proper Kyoto-ben one of these days. Of course, she's a Kyoto obachan and refuses to teach me casual because it's ugly and rude. rofl

One of my coworkers speaks excellent Osaka-ben. The students think it's a riot. When he chooses he can use Kansai-ben as well. I have never heard him get trouble for it. Granted, Osaka-ben sounds pretty casual, and I don't think it'd be good to use in anything but casual conversation, but living in Kansai myself, I haven't had any sort of issues with being accepted as a foreigner. Even though my Japanese is still not great.

Now, that's not to say people aren't demeaning. Not on purpose ... but I get people complimenting me on my Japanese a lot ... for being able to say basic greetings. If you go out to the islands and away from where there's a lot of foreigner traffic, I think they expect more.
　

[PolyglotKoko]

terradi

Ahh. Thankyou. Usually if I get kanji when I try typing something in online, I just go ahead and use it. I've got the advantage of Rikai-chan here, which is awesome.

What? Kansai is awesome for foreigners! Kyoto is so used to tourists that people don't stare too much. And my Japanese teacher is pretty damned determined to teach me proper Kyoto-ben one of these days. Of course, she's a Kyoto obachan and refuses to teach me casual because it's ugly and rude. rofl

One of my coworkers speaks excellent Osaka-ben. The students think it's a riot. When he chooses he can use Kansai-ben as well. I have never heard him get trouble for it. Granted, Osaka-ben sounds pretty casual, and I don't think it'd be good to use in anything but casual conversation, but living in Kansai myself, I haven't had any sort of issues with being accepted as a foreigner. Even though my Japanese is still not great.

Now, that's not to say people aren't demeaning. Not on purpose ... but I get people complimenting me on my Japanese a lot ... for being able to say basic greetings. If you go out to the islands and away from where there's a lot of foreigner traffic, I think they expect more.
　

Well, not ALL Kansai people will get upset naturally. Kyoto is typically more friendlier than Osaka too so you never know. My friend move to my state from Osaka and discourages me from using as I'm a foreigner and not born in Kansai. Also, Kyoto-ben is more beautiful and more proper than say in southern Osaka.

[m o r i k k o]

terradi

Ahh. Thankyou. Usually if I get kanji when I try typing something in online, I just go ahead and use it. I've got the advantage of Rikai-chan here, which is awesome.

What? Kansai is awesome for foreigners! Kyoto is so used to tourists that people don't stare too much. And my Japanese teacher is pretty damned determined to teach me proper Kyoto-ben one of these days. Of course, she's a Kyoto obachan and refuses to teach me casual because it's ugly and rude. rofl

One of my coworkers speaks excellent Osaka-ben. The students think it's a riot. When he chooses he can use Kansai-ben as well. I have never heard him get trouble for it. Granted, Osaka-ben sounds pretty casual, and I don't think it'd be good to use in anything but casual conversation, but living in Kansai myself, I haven't had any sort of issues with being accepted as a foreigner. Even though my Japanese is still not great.

Now, that's not to say people aren't demeaning. Not on purpose ... but I get people complimenting me on my Japanese a lot ... for being able to say basic greetings. If you go out to the islands and away from where there's a lot of foreigner traffic, I think they expect more.
　

I'd love to be able to speak Kansaiben.
8D

[terradi]

PolyglotKoko

Well, not ALL Kansai people will get upset naturally. Kyoto is typically more friendlier than Osaka too so you never know. My friend move to my state from Osaka and discourages me from using as I'm a foreigner and not born in Kansai. Also, Kyoto-ben is more beautiful and more proper than say in southern Osaka.

I've lived in Kansai for about three years now. Granted I don't have a Kyoto or Osaka accent ... my Japanese is fairly textbook because I'm just not fluent enough to have the vocabulary or the conjugations down. (Exception to the word mecha). But anyways, I have never had issues in Kansai. Granted I haven't traveled outside of it much. But it's one of the few places that is really popular for teachers to come to teach in because everyone wants to live in Kyoto. A lot of the people I know here have lived here for a long, long time. So there are foreigners who don't get chased out of the perfecture.

When I lived in Osaka I thought it was a lot friendlier than Kyoto. My Japanese was a lot worse then, but people would stop and chat with me very much at random. Kyoto ... is a lot more quiet and a lot more about having connections. Mostly I just wander around and no one talks to me.

Osaka-ben just sounds casual, I think. Comedians use it, but I think for a foreigner to randomly speak it does sound pretty rude and crass. That may be what your friend was objecting to. Most Osakans don't have the full-on Osaka accent that goes on TV and the movies anyways. Though they do use obachan and obaachan instead of obasan and obaasan. One of my former teachers was a very proud Osaka obachan. biggrin

[Konayuki_ko]

fayebelly

H o s h i r i

The_Brightest_Moon

Weeaboos are people, usually girls ages 11-18, who have watched way too much anime, and are convinced that Japan is exactly what anime depicts it to be. They think that all Japanese are giggling 16 year old schoolgirls wearing near pornographic school uniforms, they think they can learn Japanese through anime, and they also usually think that "YOU'RE SUCH A BAKA DESU DESU DESU" is speaking Japanese. They often wear anime T-shirts, dye their hair pink, eat pocky while sitting like L, and wear those cat-ear hats while spewing and abusing random and mispronounced Japanese words in places they should not belong. they think they can BE Japanese, and the Japanese will love them unconditionally and accept them. They think that Japan has absolutely no problems (when in reality it seems like a very miserable place under all that kawaii-ness) and that THEY CAN LEARN JAPANESE OFF OF GAIA.

http://i38.tinypic.com/2ext47c.jpg



●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●Hoshiri
●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●»says



Still one problem with that. People can learn
Japanese off of Gaia. x__x Not completely
off of Gaia itself, but the people here.

You can NOT learn Japanese off gaia!
You can NOT be taught Japanese from other gaians.

You CAN learn Japanese on the internet.
You CAN ask people on gaia for help and support (or abuse, depending on who you're asking).

Also, Bightest moon... Have you been to Japan? It's not a miserable place... It's just not all sparkly and insane like people think it is... It's just a normal place, which most people find dissapointing...

No I've never been to Japan (could've gone this summer but not enough money....I'm not complaining though because I got to go to Germany for half the price! Even better!). I didn't say it IS a miserable place. It just SEEMS like a miserable place once you study modern culture and their social mentality.

I would still very much love to go to Japan and I hope that my view of that is corrected once I'm there.

[terradi]

The_Brightest_Moon

No I've never been to Japan (could've gone this summer but not enough money....I'm not complaining though because I got to go to Germany for half the price! Even better!). I didn't say it IS a miserable place. It just SEEMS like a miserable place once you study modern culture and their social mentality.

I would still very much love to go to Japan and I hope that my view of that is corrected once I'm there.

Conformity is pretty big. As compared to the US, it's worth a lot more to blend in. There's also an idea of social harmony and certain things that you just don't do. I personally think that Japanese society is a lot more reserved. There's also the fact that you see people doing what is socially acceptable but thinking or feeling the exact opposite.

Dunno. It is safe. And mostly peaceful. Though ... one of these days Japan's going to have to really take a hard look at why so many of its neighbors don't like it so much and confront some of the uglier things in its past. Maybe the new prime minister will help with that. ^^

[Konayuki_ko]

terradi

The_Brightest_Moon

No I've never been to Japan (could've gone this summer but not enough money....I'm not complaining though because I got to go to Germany for half the price! Even better!). I didn't say it IS a miserable place. It just SEEMS like a miserable place once you study modern culture and their social mentality.

I would still very much love to go to Japan and I hope that my view of that is corrected once I'm there.

Conformity is pretty big. As compared to the US, it's worth a lot more to blend in. There's also an idea of social harmony and certain things that you just don't do. I personally think that Japanese society is a lot more reserved. There's also the fact that you see people doing what is socially acceptable but thinking or feeling the exact opposite.

Dunno. It is safe. And mostly peaceful. Though ... one of these days Japan's going to have to really take a hard look at why so many of its neighbors don't like it so much and confront some of the uglier things in its past. Maybe the new prime minister will help with that. ^^

Yes. Japan's mentality depresses me xD Especially when nihonjinron is thrown in there.

"Nanjing? What is this Nanjing you speak of? We haven't done anything wrong!" + Nihonjinron = "Nanjing? What's Nanjing? We Japanese are a smarter, more peaceful and superior race. We would NEVER do ANYTHING awful to our inferiors, even though they should welcome our influence!"

[terradi]

The newspapers here talk about Nanjing, and some of the older veterans have started speaking up. There are people who deny what went on, or who don't think it was as big a deal as it was. Japan was never really forced to take a good hard look at what it did during that time and think about it, unlike Germany which seems to have looked at everything long and hard, and come to some sort of peace.

I don't think it's really fair to class all Japanese as being that.

Frankly, I'm amazed that they've so much gotten over the fact that Americans like me came in and bombed the heck out of so many cities. I've spoken with WWII survivors and they've told me stories about running into the mountains or watching dogfights during the war. I expected some kind of hostility from that, but it never came. Not that I'm complaining.