Quote:Still, there are some barriers to learning Japanese that must be overcome, starting with the two syllable-based writing systems, hiragana (the wavy looking one) and katakana (the boxy, masculine looking one), which you can tackle by memorizing the shapes and what sound they make (we can help). Kanji is also no small challenge unless you happen to come from China, although you'd be surprised how much you can read with just a few hundred characters under your belt after a year or two of study. Grammatically there are some confusing areas, such as having to get used to two different verbs for to be (in a place), aru (ah-ROO) for inanimate objects like a car or building, and iru (ee-ROO) for anything that's alive, like people or animals.

Jarvik7 Wrote:JList's Peter may live in Japan and have a Japanese wife/extended family, but his knowledge of Japanese culture & Japan is pretty superficial. I somehow ended up on his mailing list awhile ago (and just as mysteriously ended up off of it about 8 months ago) and would always spot several gaping errors in each one.

Jarvik7 Wrote:ah-ROOOOOO