Nukemarine Wrote:Now, telling some sailor that that "cool looking" tattoo on his arm (洗濯機) means washing machine is a reward unto itself.

No way- fantastic.

This year on big brother Australia there is a guy whose parents are from Japan but he was born here and speaks Japanese. One of the other housemates was showing him his tattoo 星土　and said "it says star samurai" - the Japanese guy is like- dude, that's not samurai, that's dirt. Classic.

I also saw a girl a couple weekends ago at a club that had 奇 tattooed on her back- I had to ask her "why do you have strange tattooed on your back?" She said it wasn't strange, it was "mysterious." It may be, though it doesn't come up on WWWJDIC as a translation.

I got to correct a Japanese girl in Japan when I wrote 園 - she said it had another stroke on the bottom and I said "no it doesn't" and she looked at it again and said "yeah, you're right."

Most of my friends didn't think I'd gone mad when I decided to take up Japanese, mainly because they already knew me LOL

I get annoyed with people thinking I'm really into Manga and Kung-foo movies when they hear I'm studying Japanese. I love Asian cinema, but endless jumping around on wires does nothing for me. As for Manga, I just can't get into it, my brother is heavily into manga (English only) and let me have a look at a few but, it just doesn't interest me in the slightest.

As for picking up girls, I must admit that was actually what got me started in a round about way, there was a Japanese girl I quite liked working at one of my local pubs, and I had just started reading James Clavell's Shogun and had heard from somewhere that the Japanese used in the book was quite bad, so I started asking this girl about each new bit of Japanese I came across in the book. She got a job somewhere else (different town) but it was too late, I'd got the bug, Japanese had become my new intellectual pursuit LOL

~Mex

I think my family thinks I'm crazy, too. And they would always tell me to learn french instead. But when I tell my Japanese friends that I can write about 1000 kanji, they're really impressed. I can converse in Japanese and I'm always complimented on my accent. It's fun to talk to them especially when they say that I'm much better than some kids who went to university to learn the language.

Now most people are impressed when they learn that I can speak Japanese but most people think I'm crazy when I tell them I translate dramas for free spending 16 hours or more per episode.

I think learning languages is interesting (especially when there's competition). I wish I knew earlier then I would've been a linguist. I think I'll learn Korean as my fourth language.

*Am I the only girl here?

mhaellix Wrote:*Am I the only girl here?

Nah, there are a lot of females here and active on these forums. It's strange that you think that, though. Is the fansubbing community predominantly male?

mhaellix
Tks for subbing doramas. Please keep on with your hard work. I hope I'll soon de able to do some too!

How long did it take you before you were able to translate dramas?

up!

down!

Turn it to the left
Turn it to the right
Stand up,
sit down,
Fight, Fight. Fight!
Yay Heisig!

何

Savara Wrote:How long did it take you before you were able to translate dramas?

About 2-3 years of regularly watching dramas and studying some books.

I used to just join various groups as a temporary member now I have my own group.

mhaellix Wrote:

Savara Wrote:How long did it take you before you were able to translate dramas?

About 2-3 years of regularly watching dramas and studying some books.

I used to just join various groups as a temporary member now I have my own group.

That's pretty awesome. Where can I find your stuff?

Many of my friends thought I was crazy long before I started study kanji. "That crazy black guy," is what many of the online friends call me. 'Hey what up I'm *blank* and this is *blank*, but we just call him that crazy black guy.'

alyks Wrote:

mhaellix Wrote:

Savara Wrote:How long did it take you before you were able to translate dramas?

About 2-3 years of regularly watching dramas and studying some books.

I used to just join various groups as a temporary member now I have my own group.

That's pretty awesome. Where can I find your stuff?

This is my group's website:

Massuki Fansubs - http://www.massuki.com

You can find our releases in d-addicts.com

Dramas I've translated:

14 Sai no haha
Dance Drill
Tantei Gakuen Q
Dream Again
One Pound Gospel
Sense wa Erai SP
Change
Furuhata Chuugakusei SP
Seigi No Mikata - current project

yeah .. that happens to me a lot ..
and the last time was before yesterday when a brazilian friend told me that i'm crazy when he knew that i'm learning japanese ..^^
but i guess my family used to it now ..thank god!! ^.^

Ｍｏｓｔ　ｏｆ　ｍｙ　ｆｒｉｅｎｄｓ　ａｒ　ｊｕｓｔ　ｒｅａｌｌｌｙ　ｉｍｐｒｅｓｓｅｄ　ｂｙ　ｍｙ　ｄｅｄｉｃａｔｉｏｎ　ａｎｄ　ｋｎｏｗｌｅｄｇｅ of large numbers of seemingly incomprehensible complex symbols. I often take my Kanji book
(number three at the moment) to school, and tell them my particularly funny stories. One of my friends even attempted chapter one because he was convince by my insane amount of enthusiasm

oh and about shitty Kanji tattoos I've seen 血龍 on somebody before and thought" hah whats that your world of warcraft username?" also 天使 on some guys neck.

Nobody thinks I'm crazy, but they don't seem to get it.

For quite some time I've been on again, and off again, trying to learn Japanese. The "on" periods usually last about a week, and the "off" periods for about four-six months. Now all the sudden I've kicked things into high gear and study even when I don't want to. I'm on some crazy motivation drive, which is where they quickly get confused.

Tommy (fictional friend name): So I hear you are spending a ton of time now learning Japanese.
Camron (that's my name): Why yes I am. About three hours a night after work and necessary time with my wife.
Tommy: Cool. Say something to me in Japanese!
Camron: Umm...."something to me in Japanese"?
Tommy: Funny. If you can't say something then what are you studying?
Camron: I'm learning how to write out the 2000ish standard use Kanji for everyday Japanese.
Tommy: So, you are just learning to write them.
Camron: No, I'm also learning a little bit about what they mean.
Tommy: So, can you read Japanese then?
Camron: Nope.
Tommy: Let me get this straight, you can't say anything, you can't read anything. You are spending three hours a night and you know as much Japanese as I do.
Camron: That's pretty much it in a nutshell. Don't worry though, once I know how to write all 2000ish of them, then I'll start learning how to say them and how to read.
Tommy: Let me get this straight; you are learning how to write before you know how to read and talk?
Camron: Yep. I'm trying to gain the same advantage that Chinese people have when learning Japanese.
Tommy: Oh, so you learned Chinese first!?
Camron: No, they are basically the same thing when it comes to writing.
Tommy: That makes sense (points to me and makes crazy swirly finger thingy).

And that my friends is the gist of the majority of conversations I have regarding my studies. My wife on the other hand though seems to really understand what I'm doing. To her it makes sense to learn the Kanji first, and then take on reading.

When we went to Japan she saw how much Kanji played a part in day to day life and can see how not knowing it can really hinder ones ability to dive into the language. Hopefully others will eventually see it this way too.

Machine_Gun_Cat Wrote:I often take my Kanji book
(number three at the moment) to school, and tell them my particularly funny stories.

My friends also think it's funny to hear my stories. "The samurai go door to door trying to SELL wind up crowns with disembodied human legs." "If you are going to TRANSPORT something you need to put it in your car, and then take it to the meeting place of butchers." I make sure to always say them as I am drawing the character. It's good for some laughs and shaking heads.

Well, nobody laughs at me or says I'm crazy. Some people find it entertaining or amazing. I just don't like telling people I'm doing self study because some of them may not consider self study as an option to learn a language.

I have to note that my school is a bit unusual. People who attend to this school tend to be more homogeneous than the people from normal universities. What I mean is that there's a lot of variety in a normal University (in my country), but in mine people are more devoted to the study, more intellectual, the spectrum of personalities tend to be smaller, and that's the result of the admission process.

Besides I'm studying International Relations, so I tell that I chose Japanese as my second foreign language to the people from other universities, and that fact makes a little more comprehensible the idea of studying Japanese.

Here's the breakdown for me:
- Father: Thinks its stupid, worthless, and 'gay.' He's just learnt to live with it though.
- Friends: Think its really awesome, and ask me how far along I am with the kanji, etc. Some even speak/ are learning Japanese.

- Random old dude on the trolley: Thinks I'm a Japanese spy.
- Random other dude on the trolley sitting next to the random old dude: Thinks its cool.
- Random Japanese dude on the trolley sitting next to the random other dude sitting next to the random old dude on the trolley: Says "that's fukin' sick bro!!" and I realize that Japanese people in California are actually Californians that look Japanese.

Those last three don't really count (new rule, never study kanji on any kind of train). So, my father's dislike provides encouragement (naturally, everything he says, I do the opposite). My friends support provides support (they're some really cool, respectable people). So that is my motivation. And yes, they all thought I was crazy long before I started studying Japanese.

My friends don't know about my Japanese studying or RtK.

I'd rather wait until I can speak and read properly before surprising them with my mad l33t skillz..

As I recall, my friends showed some skepticism back during my Heisig phase (much like wonderflex's story, above), but since I started using those moon runes to actually read books, they appear convinced. At this point, my main problem seems to be with people mistaking RtK mastery for actual fluency. Explaining the difference doesn't seem to help, either, as surprisingly few people have any sense of scale when it comes to language studies.

Someone: How much Japanese do you know?
Me: I can write 3000 kanji, know actual words containing about 1700 of those, and probably have a vocabulary of 5000 words or so...
Someone: Fluent! \o_o/ So what's your next language project? How do you say (insert random profanity) in Japanese?

captal Wrote:

Nukemarine Wrote:Now, telling some sailor that that "cool looking" tattoo on his arm (洗濯機) means washing machine is a reward unto itself.

No way- fantastic.

This year on big brother Australia there is a guy whose parents are from Japan but he was born here and speaks Japanese. One of the other housemates was showing him his tattoo 星土　and said "it says star samurai" - the Japanese guy is like- dude, that's not samurai, that's dirt. Classic.

I also saw a girl a couple weekends ago at a club that had 奇 tattooed on her back- I had to ask her "why do you have strange tattooed on your back?" She said it wasn't strange, it was "mysterious." It may be, though it doesn't come up on WWWJDIC as a translation.

I got to correct a Japanese girl in Japan when I wrote 園 - she said it had another stroke on the bottom and I said "no it doesn't" and she looked at it again and said "yeah, you're right."

Ｉ once corrected a girl on how to write 鬱

Even if it did say "Star Samurai", that is a retarded thing to get as a tattoo.

Wow, a long topic I haven't written in, this has to be remedied.

When it comes to being thought crazy, it usually comes in waves. When you're a beginner, people are going to think it can't be done, that you're wasting your time. When you get good at the language, suddenly everyone and their grandma want you to translate things. When you get REALLY good, they think you're crazy because it's supposedly impossible.

Jarvik7 Wrote:Even if it did say "Star Samurai", that is a retarded thing to get as a tattoo.

I lol'd. Mostly because the stupidity of "Star Samurai" didn't even cross my mind when I read the original post, somehow I just concentrated on the mistake.

As for thinking I'm crazy, I really haven't had that experience back home. That's probably because I was studying it in college slowly under an Asian studies major.

However, now I think that my staff room at my school thinks I'm a little crazy because they saw me do RTK for about 8 hours a day for the last couple of weeks. I got a pretty bad reaction from one of Japanese teachers especially when I explained the stories, and she made it a point to tell me that those radicals actually mean something else, haha.