Do you think Japanese people are limited by their language? It seems to be a much less versatile language than English. pic unrelated

File: 11 KB, 577x656, china.gif [View same] [iqdb] [saucenao] [google]

Anonymous Mon Mar 21 12:19:37 2011 No.7127551 [Reply] [Original]

Do you think Japanese people are limited by their language?

It seems to be a much less versatile language than English.

pic unrelated

>>	Anonymous Mon Mar 21 12:20:37 2011 No.7127553 >>>/lang/

>>	Anonymous Mon Mar 21 12:22:37 2011 No.7127563 >>>/jp/

>>	Anonymous Mon Mar 21 12:24:37 2011 No.7127566 Define "versatle."

Anonymous Mon Mar 21 12:27:37 2011 No.7127572

Well firstly, it seems they only have one way of saying most things. You will hear the same phrases used constantly. Amazing is always "sugoi", whereas in English there are hundreds of ways to say this.

Also, there are plenty of things that are virtually impossible to translate from English to Japanese without losing some of the meaning, whereas when translating from Japanese to English the danger is that you might actually gain another layer of meaning. It doesn't seem to be a very expressive language.

>>	Anonymous Mon Mar 21 12:32:37 2011 No.7127582 >>7127572 Language is so deeply implemented in culture that you can't separate them. There are plenty of things that will never translate vice-versa, you sound like your knowledge of japanese comes from fansubbers.

wtH !hWtHG71Z1c Mon Mar 21 12:32:37 2011 No.7127583

HELL yea,
http://www.cracked.com/article_18823_5-insane-ways-words-can-control-your-mind.html
interesting read on how words can limit things
"In experiments they were told to describe three photos of a guy approaching a soccer ball, kicking it and then watching it sail away. The Indonesians would often use exactly the same terms to describe all three, something like "man ball kick." Quiz them later on what was different about the three photos and they often can't tell you. Because their language doesn't require them to state the time sequence, they tend to not notice it. The language drives their thinking."
the top quote is on page 2 of the article link below
http://www.cracked.com/article_18823_5-insane-ways-words-can-control-your-mind_p2.html

>>	Anonymous Mon Mar 21 12:33:37 2011 No.7127585 One syllable can change the meaning of a phrase. Arguably, they rely on wordplay more than we do in their humor.

>>	Anonymous Mon Mar 21 12:33:37 2011 No.7127588 >>7127572 >Amazing is always "sugoi", whereas in English there are hundreds of ways to say this. Really..? Really /jp/? Are you this fucking stupid?

>>	Anonymous Mon Mar 21 12:34:37 2011 No.7127589 >>7127588 Prove me wrong bro.

>>	Anonymous Mon Mar 21 12:35:37 2011 No.7127592 Comparing anything to English is stupid. English is the half-nigger bastard child of languages.

>>	Anonymous Mon Mar 21 12:37:37 2011 No.7127595 >>7127583 Interesting, this is exactly what I was talking about. I think the English language might be part of the reason the Western world is so awesome. Indonesian sounds like a piss poor language.

Anonymous Mon Mar 21 12:37:37 2011 No.7127598

>>7127589
Hard to prove you wrong when you wouldn't understand the examples, and given the fact that your knowledge comes from anime fansubs and you don't even know Japanese.

There are millions of different ways to describe the same things in Japanese, ranging from expressions to adjectives.

>>	Anonymous Mon Mar 21 12:38:37 2011 No.7127600 >>7127598 >millions Come on bro that's just a blatant lie. I doubt Japanese even HAS a million words.

Anonymous Mon Mar 21 12:38:37 2011 No.7127601

>>7127589

"Sugoi" is like saying "whoa." It's an interjection. Most of those "hundreds of ways" were once used to qualify why something deserved an interjection, but the language has gotten so abused that most people never make the connection between "awesome" and "awe." It's just a lumpy, shapeless thing to say when something is closer to positive than negative.

>>	Anonymous Mon Mar 21 12:39:37 2011 No.7127604 >>7127595 I agree that language matters a lot. But the western world was not always awesome in the history of the world.

>>	Anonymous Mon Mar 21 12:39:37 2011 No.7127606 >>7127600 You don't need a million words for a million combinations.

>>	Anonymous Mon Mar 21 12:40:37 2011 No.7127610 >>7127600 Are you trolling now? I thought it was obvious that I used the word "millions" to emphasize the fact there are multiple ways to express things.

>>	Anonymous Mon Mar 21 12:42:37 2011 No.7127617 >>7127601 So why do they say it all the time? The only American's who go around saying "whoa" all day are mentally deficient skaters/surfers. Are they all just retarded?

wtH !hWtHG71Z1c Mon Mar 21 12:42:37 2011 No.7127618

>>7127595
HELL yea, check this one out
http://www.cracked.com/article_18615_the-horse-goes-vrinsk21-6-noises-foreign-languages-suck-at.html

page 2 below
http://www.cracked.com/article_18615_the-horse-goes-vrinsk21-6-noises-foreign-languages-suck-at_p2.h
tml

HELLa weird sound effects they have!

>>	Anonymous Mon Mar 21 12:43:37 2011 No.7127622 Do you think English speakers are limited by their language? It seems to be a much less versatile language than Spanish.

Anonymous Mon Mar 21 12:44:37 2011 No.7127624

>>7127572
Yeah, let's ignore the fact that you couldn't pick up the different Japanese words fansubs translated as "awesome" used in anime. Basically you're saying that the language is limited to only one word you know as "awesome". I can't even begin to fathom how stupid this is

>>	Anonymous Mon Mar 21 12:45:37 2011 No.7127627 >>7127617 Just because you translate it as "Whoa" doesn't mean it has the same meaning as "whoa". For example using the literal equivalent of "fuck" in my native language to the degree Americans use it would have me sound quite silly.

>>	Anonymous Mon Mar 21 12:47:37 2011 No.7127637 >>7127624 Whatever man it's not just sugoi. They always say like "ohayo" "gomenasai" and "UMEI" every time they do one of those things.

>>	Anonymous Mon Mar 21 12:49:37 2011 No.7127646 >>7127617 They don't. Quit using cartoons as a barometer for language. I bet you think they inflect like Looney Tunes, too.

>>	Anonymous Mon Mar 21 12:50:37 2011 No.7127648 >>7127637 >Basically you're saying that the language is limited to words you picked up from anime. I can't even begin to fathom how stupid this is Yeah, whatever man.

>>	Anonymous Mon Mar 21 12:50:37 2011 No.7127649 >>7127637 Yes. Clearly any language where people say "hi" and "I'm very sorry" the same way every time is very limited. Thank god we have hundreds of ways to say "I'm very sorry" in English.

>>	Anonymous Mon Mar 21 12:50:37 2011 No.7127650 >cracked You realize this is the fratboy equivalent to Sankaku, right?

>>	Anonymous Mon Mar 21 12:51:37 2011 No.7127653 >>7127637 do english speakers use anything else than "good morning" when they wake up?

>>	wtH !hWtHG71Z1c Mon Mar 21 12:52:37 2011 No.7127655 File: 3 KB, 245x184, yeah_man.png [View same] [iqdb] [saucenao] [google] >>7127650 HELL yea...

>>	Yutanpo !1DeKKAi00Y Mon Mar 21 12:53:37 2011 No.7127658 >>7127653 I say "What a kawaii morning~ ^__^"

>>	Anonymous Mon Mar 21 12:53:37 2011 No.7127659 >>7127650 lol yeah

>>	Anonymous Mon Mar 21 12:56:37 2011 No.7127666 Then why do the japanese have to steal so many words form english?

>>	Anonymous Mon Mar 21 12:58:37 2011 No.7127672 >>7127666 What words have they borrowed that doesn't exist as a concept in Japanese?

>>	Anonymous Mon Mar 21 12:59:37 2011 No.7127675 >>7127666 a better question would be why does english steal words from other languages

>>	Anonymous Mon Mar 21 13:01:37 2011 No.7127677 >>7127672 well ironically japanese doesn't even have a word for "concept" or "nuance" or any of those other more deeper ideas that only English can express.

>>	wtH !hWtHG71Z1c Mon Mar 21 13:01:37 2011 No.7127678 File: 3 KB, 126x125, stocking.jpg [View same] [iqdb] [saucenao] [google] >>7127672 toire

Anonymous Mon Mar 21 13:01:37 2011 No.7127679

Language is just a tool for communication. English may be more versatile because it was used by Great Britain and then transferred to all of their colonies. Japan is more relatively closed off. This doesn't really mean that Japanese is worse than English though.They have been using their language for thousands of years now, and the language has been revised and updated several times.

>>	Anonymous Mon Mar 21 13:01:37 2011 No.7127680 File: 1.55 MB, 250x197, 1281058369990.gif [View same] [iqdb] [saucenao] [google] >Amazing is always "sugoi", whereas in English there are hundreds of ways to say this.

>>	Anonymous Mon Mar 21 13:02:37 2011 No.7127684 >>7127677 >well ironically japanese doesn't even have a word for "concept" or "nuance" Uh.. what..

>>	Anonymous Mon Mar 21 13:05:37 2011 No.7127696 >>7127677 Troll thread but I'll bite >"concept" 概念 >"nuance" 意味合い語感 (word nuance)

>>	Anonymous Mon Mar 21 13:05:37 2011 No.7127698 >>7127680 a hundred ways yet why does everyone always use AMAZING for everything

>>	Anonymous Mon Mar 21 13:06:37 2011 No.7127702 >>7127677 概念機微

>>	Anonymous Mon Mar 21 13:06:37 2011 No.7127703 File: 34 KB, 487x332, hiroshige_waves.jpg [View same] [iqdb] [saucenao] [google] Versatile? Let's see how you say tsunami in your language.

>>	Anonymous Mon Mar 21 13:07:37 2011 No.7127705 >>7127703 Big wave.

>>	Anonymous Mon Mar 21 13:08:37 2011 No.7127711 File: 27 KB, 340x314, 1274626829672.jpg [View same] [iqdb] [saucenao] [google] >>7127705 yeah a big wave just trashed japan, probably a sound wave or something

Anonymous Mon Mar 21 13:09:37 2011 No.7127712
File: 1.43 MB, 275x208, 1297431981138.gif [View same] [iqdb] [saucenao] [google]

>>7127551
The same way as I'm limited when I have to use English on /jp/ or internet. It's irritating when I'm forced to skip part of post just because it's not possible to translate it to English.

>>	Anonymous Mon Mar 21 13:09:37 2011 No.7127719 >>7127666 Because they are new things which did not have their beginnings in Japan. Japan could use "lightning box" for computer, but they just took the word already used. Why does everyone else have to use the word "sushi" for sushi?

>>	Anonymous Mon Mar 21 13:12:37 2011 No.7127727 >>7127719 >Japan could use "lightning box" for computer 計算器けいさんき計算機けいさんき (n) computer; calculator 電子計算機でんしけいさんき (n) computer

Anonymous Mon Mar 21 13:13:37 2011 No.7127729

>>7127719

now you are just being an idiot. the computer industry says that all things computer related must use the "proper" name. and since americans invented all things computer related its the only way to say PC, or RAM, or keyboard, or mouse, etc etc etc etc.

lightning box? wtf are you on bro?

Anonymous Mon Mar 21 13:17:37 2011 No.7127740

English is the most versatile language ever. We have a comprehensive ABC, we have words with the etymology in latin and borrow words from spanish that sound natural in English. I'd say all in all English is superior to all languages.

Japan's problem is that they use Kanji in their language and have always looked to the Chinese ever 500 years for a revision on characters and language. I think their accent also makes it hard for them to fully pronounce words such as "r" and "L" which everyone here knows. Japanese tho it sounds cool, limits the citizens of Japan from contact with the outside world. But that was the original goal of the Samurai Lords and Emperors. Isolation.

Anonymous Mon Mar 21 13:18:37 2011 No.7127742

>>7127703
Anomalous wave, tidal wave or seaquake (if accompanied by underground tremors), just like we used to say before borrowing that word from the Japanese. Seriously, it's something that happens in every corner of the world not just something exclusive to Japan. Why do you think we didn't already have a term for it?

>>	Anonymous Mon Mar 21 13:20:37 2011 No.7127751 >>7127740 >We have a comprehensive ABC I'll have you know right now that English adopting Latin alphabets was the stupidest thing ever to happen to English.

>>	Anonymous Mon Mar 21 13:21:37 2011 No.7127758 >>7127740 >I'd say all in all English is superior to all languages. Pretty sure some French fags are gonna get mad. Also ITT language experts with only proficiency in English talking shit.

>>	Anonymous Mon Mar 21 13:22:37 2011 No.7127762 >>7127740 How many languages do you know by the waY?

>>	Anonymous Mon Mar 21 13:23:37 2011 No.7127763 >>7127740 1/10

>>	Anonymous Mon Mar 21 13:24:37 2011 No.7127766 >>7127751 you're an idiot

>>	Anonymous Mon Mar 21 13:25:37 2011 No.7127771 >>7127740 Except English is Germanic and as a result incredibly fucking clumsy. Most people have a hard time learning it later on, and the Romance languages are much easier to pick up on.

>>	Anonymous Mon Mar 21 13:25:37 2011 No.7127772 >>7127751 what would be the option of choice in your opinion. this should be good.

>>	Anonymous Mon Mar 21 13:28:37 2011 No.7127780 >>7127766 >>7127763 >call someone an idiot >use that as ur only argument wow, flawless victory dudes. lol

>>	Anonymous Mon Mar 21 13:29:37 2011 No.7127783 >>7127772 how about that anglo-saxon runes retard?

>>	Anonymous Mon Mar 21 13:32:37 2011 No.7127790 >>7127758 >Also ITT language experts with only proficiency in English talking shit. Pretty much this. People praising English as the "best" language ever can't speak/read any other than English.

Anonymous Mon Mar 21 13:34:37 2011 No.7127794

>>7127771

Over time English has been refined and tweaked and really has a way of drawing the attention from the foreign world, even in parts that have seen no rule by English speaking countries.

The original topic is versatility. Now if we look at Europe, just with knowing English we can already fully communicate with a lot of countries and be effective with that communication. Japan can't just go to Korea or Hong Kong or whatever and have that same kind of understanding that we have with a country even further than the Asian countries near Japan.

For goodness sake, we can go to S.Africa and be understood fully there by the Swiss and Swedes living there.

Anonymous Mon Mar 21 13:34:37 2011 No.7127795

The Japanese have a limited amount of phrases for large variety of situations.

We you hear people speaking the languages and using these phrases, it doesn't really sound weird or anything. In fact, you might even think there isn't a better way to put it. But you'll often see non-Japanese people annoyed by how they can keep using the phrase for too many situations.

"It can't be helped," I'm looking at you. Depending on the context, it can be translated into English in hundreds of different ways, not all of them the same. Just related.

>>	Anonymous Mon Mar 21 13:35:37 2011 No.7127801 >>7127740 English accents make it hard for the speaker to know the difference between j, q, x, zh, ch, and sh, which everyone in China knows.

>>	Anonymous Mon Mar 21 13:35:37 2011 No.7127802 >Japanese a limited language >Around 5000 kanjis. Yeah, ok.

Anonymous Mon Mar 21 13:37:37 2011 No.7127804

>>7127758
I'm not mad.
I think French is a very beautiful language, but I feel very sorry for people who must learn it. I understand that it's a very difficult language to learn for foreigners.

English is not very beautiful, in my opinion, but it's quite easy.

>>	Anonymous Mon Mar 21 13:37:37 2011 No.7127805 ITT: >implications >implications everywhere >>7127790

Anonymous Mon Mar 21 13:37:37 2011 No.7127806

>>7127794

>Over time English has been refined and tweaked and really has a way of drawing the attention from the foreign world, even in parts that have seen no rule by English speaking countries.

This has nothing to do with English as a language and everything to do with language power politics in the last few hundred years.

>>	Anonymous Mon Mar 21 13:37:37 2011 No.7127809 File: 66 KB, 400x400, 1273538844440.jpg [View same] [iqdb] [saucenao] [google] >>7127794

>>	Anonymous Mon Mar 21 13:37:37 2011 No.7127810 >>7127802 Excuse me, my mistake. Around 2000-4000 commonly used. 50000 total confirmed, some accounts put the number at 100000.

>>	Anonymous Mon Mar 21 13:38:37 2011 No.7127812 >>7127804 >English is not beautiful yet American singers are by far the most popluar artists in the world and sell millions and millions of CD's and mp3's around the world and constantly go on world tours. because English is not pretty. Right.

>>	Anonymous Mon Mar 21 13:38:37 2011 No.7127813 Japanese people don't like fake Japanese restaurants run by Korean or Chinese in U.S.

Anonymous Mon Mar 21 13:40:37 2011 No.7127818

>>7127804
My experience is that spanish is not to difficult to learn though providing you have a teacher that isn't Peggy Hill. I recommend people should learn a new language no matter what, even if they feel embarrassed for learning japanese for eroge.

>>	Anonymous Mon Mar 21 13:40:37 2011 No.7127821 >>7127809 >>7127806 2 butthurt faggots that have nothing to add to the conversation. Yup, we're on 4chan. lol

Anonymous Mon Mar 21 13:40:37 2011 No.7127824

>>7127812
It has to do with the fact that English is lingua franca, you know? English sounds pretty horrible when you think about it. The reason it even sounds tolerable because our mind is instilled with English related shit coming from everywhere, mostly media

Anonymous Mon Mar 21 13:41:25 2011 No.7127830 [DELETED]

>>7127821
Yeah nevermind the fact that what you wrote was extremely fucking stupid.

>Japan can't just go to Korea or Hong Kong or whatever and have that same kind of understanding that we have with a country even further than the Asian countries near Japan.
Maybe because they don't speak Japan, retard?

>>	Anonymous Mon Mar 21 13:41:37 2011 No.7127826 Ok. So how many of you actually speak language other than English?

Anonymous Mon Mar 21 13:43:37 2011 No.7127833

>>7127821
Yeah nevermind the fact that what you wrote was extremely fucking stupid and didn't make much sense.

>Japan can't just go to Korea or Hong Kong or whatever and have that same kind of understanding that we have with a country even further than the Asian countries near Japan.
Maybe because they Japanese, Korea and Chinese are three different languages, retard?

>>	Anonymous Mon Mar 21 13:43:37 2011 No.7127834 >>7127812 I said in my opinion. Prettiness is not objective. And now that you're saying that, I realise I also really love some english-speaking bands, so I'm not sure any more. Maybe French is prettier in conversations and English prettier in songs.

>>	Anonymous Mon Mar 21 13:43:37 2011 No.7127835 >>7127818 Yes, adding a foreign language to your repertoire is very useful, fun and full-filling. Unless you are a racist asshole ignorant fool then that's a good excuse.

>>	Anonymous Mon Mar 21 13:45:37 2011 No.7127844 >>7127826 Spanish at a middle school level, meaning I am not fucked if I was stuck in an all spanish speaking country today. I also watch anime without subs, I doubt that counts though.

>>	Anonymous Mon Mar 21 13:45:37 2011 No.7127846 >>7127833 >>7127833 I think its funny how you have absolutely nothing to add to the conversation. You should probably just leave before your butthurt keeps showing. so much asspain in you.

Anonymous Mon Mar 21 13:46:37 2011 No.7127849

>>7127824
>English is lingua franca
It is in very narrow "western culture" (few countries).
Even in Europe nobody really speaks English.

>yet American singers are by far the most popluar artists
Sorry, putting aside trolling I can't name even 5 American singers. (Michael Jackson, Justin Bieber and that's all). Sure American singers are most popular... in USA and Canada.

>>	Anonymous Mon Mar 21 13:47:37 2011 No.7127851 >>7127846 Are you still on this? I bet no one even understood what you were trying to convey there with your shitty English.

>>	Anonymous Mon Mar 21 13:48:37 2011 No.7127852 File: 214 KB, 575x393, 1295335052939.jpg [View same] [iqdb] [saucenao] [google] >>7127833 >>7127833

>>	Anonymous Mon Mar 21 13:50:37 2011 No.7127857 File: 376 KB, 427x493, 1282607791269.png [View same] [iqdb] [saucenao] [google] >>7127851 >>7127833 >>7127809 whoah, calmdown Samefag.

Anonymous Mon Mar 21 13:50:37 2011 No.7127858

>>7127849
What does speaking have to do with it? English is a language that is taught in most of the world's countries. You don't need to use it daily to understand what the occasional English speaking tourists are trying to convey should they strike up a conversation with you.

>>	Anonymous Mon Mar 21 13:51:37 2011 No.7127859 My opinion is that English is so easy even a caveman can learn it.

>>	Anonymous Mon Mar 21 13:52:37 2011 No.7127861 >>7127859 You do realise that cavemen were just as intelligent as we are now, right?

>>	Anonymous Mon Mar 21 13:52:37 2011 No.7127862 >>7127851 I'm not him, but attacking some ones language skills is really stupid and proves your low manners. Realize that not everyone was born in USA/UK to be native English speaker.

>>	Anonymous Mon Mar 21 13:53:37 2011 No.7127863 >>7127849 You are the biggest troll in /jp/ and to say that no one in Europe speaks English, Lol Ireland, the UK, Scotland. i just named 3 right there. youse trollin

>>	Anonymous Mon Mar 21 13:54:37 2011 No.7127864 >>7127857 >>7127852 I do not know who you're talking to, nor do I know who's right or wrong, but stop using memes on a discussion board. If you have something to say, say it. All this "u mad" crap is /a/ or /v/ related, so keep it there.

Anonymous Mon Mar 21 13:55:37 2011 No.7127866

>>7127862

don't worry about that piece of shit. he is just a troll and actually isn't adding anything that is factual or intelligent. obviously he is seeing my words come up as a different language or his english reading skills are lacking.

obviously my english skills suck according to him.

Anonymous Mon Mar 21 13:57:37 2011 No.7127872

>>7127858
Learning =/= knowing how to speak it or understanding it. Good example that you may know is Japan. And still in Asia (even in Japan) most of people speak Chinese as secondary language instead of English and in Europe people learn languages of neighbouring countries. Face it.

>>	Anonymous Mon Mar 21 13:59:37 2011 No.7127878 File: 5 KB, 189x187, pill.jpg [View same] [iqdb] [saucenao] [google] Are you guys so used to terrible trolls that you can't recognize the half-decent ones anymore?

Anonymous Mon Mar 21 14:07:37 2011 No.7127898

Japanese is a linguist/lyricist's wet dream.
Do you know the concept of a mora?

It's vaguely defined like this:
A short syllable has one mora.
A long syllable has two.

It's easy to sing a song replacing every syllable with "La."
Try doing the same with "strength."

Japanese works roughly like this:
one syllable = one mora = one tall kana (meaning ちゃ counts as one)

On top of that, there's no worry about stress or rhyme.
Rhyme is kind of boring when all words end in either a vowel or n anyway.

To write lyrics for a song in Japanese, all you have to do is count syllables.

Anonymous Mon Mar 21 14:09:37 2011 No.7127904

>>7127872
I was rather referring to the fact that English is indeed lingua franca. Not sure what you're trying to get at here.
>And still in Asia (even in Japan) most of people speak Chinese as secondary language
.. highly impropable unless you happen to be Chinese.

>>	Anonymous Mon Mar 21 14:34:37 2011 No.7127973 >>7127872 >And still in Asia (even in Japan) most of people speak Chinese as secondary language instead of English. Bullshit.

Anonymous Mon Mar 21 14:34:37 2011 No.7127975

>>7127872

>And still in Asia (even in Japan) most of people speak Chinese as secondary language instead of English and in Europe people learn languages of neighbouring countries. Face it.

Haha what?

The whole world learns English as second language. To master it is a different thing, in my country everyone studies English since primary school but few people can speak it. Japan seems to be the same.

Chinese is taught appart from English, only if you want to, and if people chooses it is because they are fooled by thinking it will be easy because Japanese and Chinese share characters, they are given a decent amount of European languages too to choose from the same in Europe people can easily study Asian languages.

>>	Anonymous Mon Mar 21 14:45:37 2011 No.7128011 >>7127898 > To write lyrics for a song in Japanese, all you have to do is count syllables. So ez modo. To a lyricist or a poet, English is the true challenge.

Anonymous Mon Mar 21 14:52:37 2011 No.7128023

>>7128011
I thought German was the real deal challenge.

>>7127975
>in my country everyone studies English since primary school but few people can speak it.
I lived in america all my life so I would like your perspective, how long are you taught english normally? If it is taught for a long while, why wouldn't more people be able to speak it? It it because the curriculum is slowed down and dumbed down? Or is it because people do not really care to put effort in it?

Anonymous Mon Mar 21 14:57:37 2011 No.7128041

>>7128023
Not the one you're asking, but I can give you my answer. Where I live, a french-speaking province of Canada, English is taught almost all the time we're at school. The ones who are more normalfag have a harder time in English classes and often end up not actually speaking English. The ones who are more geek often simply sleep in English class, because being often on Internet, playing online games and watching downloaded movies in English makes all the difference.

>>	Anonymous Mon Mar 21 15:00:37 2011 No.7128048 This thread is both hilarious and horrible. Takes an expert in the subject to write as terrible replies as possible, I suppose.

Anonymous Mon Mar 21 15:04:37 2011 No.7128058

I learned Spanish in junior high and HS, French in college. Learning one makes it really easy to pick up other European languages. I have the tools to learn Japanese now, but haven't started yet. Seems like a fun challenge, looking forward to it.

inb4 'learning' in HS/college =/= fluency. When I went to Mexico, Peru and France I got by just fine without a phrasebook. I doubt Japanese will be much different.

>>	Anonymous Mon Mar 21 15:05:37 2011 No.7128063 I took 4 years of French over middle/high school, had a blast, but I doubt that I actually learned much at all. So many people say that they know multiple languages, but I find myself unable to say that I "know" French. Am I just a pessimist?

>>	Anonymous Mon Mar 21 15:06:37 2011 No.7128064 >>7127553 >6: I bet I'm the only INDONESIAN here! (391) aw shit.

Anonymous Mon Mar 21 15:08:37 2011 No.7128075

>>7128048
Discussing languages with people from North America is awful experience. Expect obvious lack of knowledge of world comes ideology of America as centre of world (and English being "master" language).
And for most of people Japan was "baby first foreign country" and first language that they had interest in.

Also this is obvious troll thread. Anyone bumping it should feel bad for it.

>>	Anonymous Mon Mar 21 15:08:37 2011 No.7128076 >>7128063 When you were taking French, did you want to learn it or were you just there b/c you had to? I really wanted to learn it, so maybe it's just a question of motivation.

>>	Anonymous Mon Mar 21 15:10:37 2011 No.7128087 >>7128075 That's not very nice. Who hurt you?

Anonymous Mon Mar 21 15:14:37 2011 No.7128097

>>7128023
Passing the class and speaking English are not really related. You have to want to learn English in order to learn to speak it, just like any other language. The amount of classes you had isn't very relevant.

My school had accelerated English class (begin at 5th grade, Last few years are english grammar + verbal, separate classes) and most of the people that passed could barely speak and couldn't understand anything that wasn't textbook.
You have to actually read and listen to things in that language in order to grab a decent foothold, otherwise its in one ear, cram for test or speech, forget, like any other class.
I mean a few years ago you probably could do fine on that last semester calculus test, what about now?

Anonymous Mon Mar 21 15:15:37 2011 No.7128102

>>7128076
Oh, I certainly wanted to learn. I was just constantly frustrated that I lacked the vocabulary to say anything meaningful. I felt like I used the same canned sentences all the time. I never had trouble understanding what was said to me, mainly because I was always aware of the context, but this didn't carry over to when I tried to watch movies in French or listen to some of the AM stations that occasionally get all the way down to Maryland in the evenings.

Anonymous Mon Mar 21 15:21:37 2011 No.7128120

>>7128023
>how long are you taught english normally?

It's 8 obligatory years, for those who choose to take high school it would make 10 years.

It's really a mix, most people are just ignorant fools who think they don't need English because they plan to live in the same place until the die and culture is just a pain in the ass.
But the system is pretty useless too, teaching books center mostly on explaining grammar, and over the years only the same grammar is teached with few new additions. The vocabulary is very base, only a few words enough to make exercises about grammar.
Listenings are a rare happening and speaking is never taken care of, not even when doing a degree especialized in English, to the point I can't pronounce half of the words I'm writting.

>>	Anonymous Mon Mar 21 15:29:37 2011 No.7128149 >>7128102 I guess being in Texas helped me with Spanish. No shortage of native speakers here to learn from. French was easier because I already knew spanish and knowing 2 euro languages makes learning a 3rd pretty easy...in my experience.

>>	Anonymous Mon Mar 21 15:35:37 2011 No.7128173 なぁみんな～　夢はあるかい？夢を追い続けてゆくことができるかい？決して決して自分に負けたりしないかい？オーライ決して君の夢が消えないようにそして夢が押し潰されてしまわないようにいつまで俺は叫び続ける　ワーーーーーオ　カモーーーン http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GkNU7MYvqfA#t=4m46s

Jap Mon Mar 21 15:38:37 2011 No.7128186

I personally don't find myself having any problems expressing myself in either language. You probably feel that Japanese is limited due to your limited exposure to media that is more often than not made for children or a niche crowd that uses specialized or oyakusoku expressions(can't think of english equivalent).

You should try reading a full novel if you want more diverse and beautiful Japanese.

>>7127872
I'm Japanese and I've never been taught a shred of Chinese.

>>	Anonymous Mon Mar 21 15:38:37 2011 No.7128188 I was at some boring obligatory dinner thing, and the 3dpd next to me said she was learning Chinese and she was planning on going to China soon. She knew one character,　好, and tried to strike up a conversation over it. Ugh

>>	Anonymous Mon Mar 21 15:47:37 2011 No.7128220 whenever I talk to Japanese people where neither of us are fluent in the other language it's a mix of charades, the Japanese I do know, and dictionary use. It's kind of fun.

Anonymous Mon Mar 21 15:51:37 2011 No.7128237

>>7128188
People like to wave how cultured they are all the time, this is my experience. In her head she was probably impressive, at least to the layman that is. That kind of half assed thinking always bothered me.

Learning Chinese must be a real challenge and I would respect her for doing it.

>>7128186
>I'm Japanese and I've never been taught a shred of Chinese.
I don't know what he was talking about either, sounded like trolling to me...

>>	JP friends Anonymous Mon Mar 21 17:08:37 2011 No.7128577 Has anyone tried using this? http://www.japan-guide.com/local/?aCAT=2 It's the only free site I know of to meet people. ;_;

Reply to thread

Name
E-mail
Subject
Comment
Action

Advanced search
Text to find
Subject [?]Search by post subject. Leave empty for any.
Username [?]Search for user name. Leave empty for any user name.
Tripcode [?]Search for tripcode. Leave empty for any.
Email [?]Search by email. Leave empty for any.
Filename [?]Search by image filename. Leave empty for any.
From Date [?]Enter what date to start searching from. Format is YYYY-MM-DD
To Date [?]Enter what date to start searching until. Format is YYYY-MM-DD
Image hash
Search in	All Posts OPs Only
Deleted posts	Show all posts Show only deleted posts Only show non-deleted posts
Internal posts	Show all posts Show only internal posts Show only archived posts
Order	New posts first Old posts first
Capcode	All Posts Only by Users Only by Mods Only by Admins Only by Developers
Results	Posts Threads
Action	[ Simple ]

/jp/ - Otaku Culture