I came across this gem of Gaijin insight and thought I'd share lol.

Wow, how can he say his ex was not a stupid girl (apparently because she was a university student - doesn't he know that's like a daycare system in Japan?), and yet she only knew about 500 kanji. She couldn't even read a newspaper. She was a very stupid girl.

I spent a few months on a university campus recently (as a 留学生) and I met a lot of Japanese people. They ALL knew pretty much all the joyo, as well as a few students being able to read much more. I don't know whether the university I went to was better or not, but seriously... you can't survive in Japan with only 500 kanji. You'll get made fun of by your peers.

Wow, that's retarded.

Like English, has like, ummm, lots of words, like ummm, and if ummm you don't know every word there is, like, umm that's like annoying I'd think. So like umm English should umm stop using like words and stuff. </stupidhaircut>

If his girlfriend only knew 500 kanji she wasn't in university, she was in special ed or he is a pedophile.

Jarvik7 Wrote:Wow, that's retarded.

Like English, has like, ummm, lots of words, like ummm, and if ummm you don't know every word there is, like, umm that's like annoying I'd think. So like umm English should umm stop using like words and stuff. </stupidhaircut>

If his girlfriend only knew 500 kanji she wasn't in university, she was in special ed or he is a pedophile.

Oh god. </stupidhaircut> made me lose it XD

heromode Wrote:

Jarvik7 Wrote:Wow, that's retarded.

Like English, has like, ummm, lots of words, like ummm, and if ummm you don't know every word there is, like, umm that's like annoying I'd think. So like umm English should umm stop using like words and stuff. </stupidhaircut>

If his girlfriend only knew 500 kanji she wasn't in university, she was in special ed or he is a pedophile.

Oh god. </stupidhaircut> made me lose it XD

ditto.

His point of view must be a bit skewed. If only everyone could read 1/4 of everything it would take 4 people combined to read anything. Get with the program. Japanese people can read.

Wow... I mean..... wow.

I'm pretty sure there's not one Englishman out there who knows every single word in the English language too.

@activeaero: Hahah owch, is it jellyfish season down there in gulf-shores ??

The best part of it all is that he would see something he didn't know, then ask his girlfriend that would tell him she didn't know either, and then with the all powering knowledge of nobody knowing what the word is he proclaims it as being something "common" they should know lol. Brilliant.

stehr Wrote:@activeaero: Hahah owch, is it jellyfish season down there in gulf-shores ??

Sadly I haven't been to the beach since the 4th of July.

I'm from Birmingham so I used to go down there to swim. There was always a week or two where the ocean was filled with jelly-fish, and if you came after a storm they would be washed up all over the beach. Watching this video makes me feel like that time i stepped on one :p

"I've met extremely few people who know that many."

Maybe he didn't mean in Japan, specifically. I've met extremely few people who know 2000 kanji in Sweden, myself.

heromode Wrote:

Jarvik7 Wrote:Wow, that's retarded.

Like English, has like, ummm, lots of words, like ummm, and if ummm you don't know every word there is, like, umm that's like annoying I'd think. So like umm English should umm stop using like words and stuff. </stupidhaircut>

If his girlfriend only knew 500 kanji she wasn't in university, she was in special ed or he is a pedophile.

Oh god. </stupidhaircut> made me lose it XD

Yeah me too, I mean Jarvik7 never starts the <stupidhaircut>, how can he close it? It wont have an effect!

I think the guy in the video is trying to motivate people to start learning japanese by alleviating fears of the kanji. Or it might help him sleep better, because hes been stressing out over the fact that he doesnt know enough kanji, etc.

disclaimer: I couldn't watch more than 1 minute due to the awful background noise, gave me an f-ing headache.

nonpoint Wrote:

heromode Wrote:

Jarvik7 Wrote:Wow, that's retarded.

Like English, has like, ummm, lots of words, like ummm, and if ummm you don't know every word there is, like, umm that's like annoying I'd think. So like umm English should umm stop using like words and stuff. </stupidhaircut>

If his girlfriend only knew 500 kanji she wasn't in university, she was in special ed or he is a pedophile.

Oh god. </stupidhaircut> made me lose it XD

Yeah me too, I mean Jarvik7 never starts the <stupidhaircut>, how can he close it? It wont have an effect!

I think the guy in the video is trying to motivate people to start learning japanese by alleviating fears of the kanji. Or it might help him sleep better, because hes been stressing out over the fact that he doesnt know enough kanji, etc.

disclaimer: I couldn't watch more than 1 minute due to the awful background noise, gave me an f-ing headache.

I think the point was the guy in the video was the one who opened the <stupidhaircut> and he was closing it to do him a favour

I like how in the comments, when anyone says "Uh look dude, I'm not Japanese and I've only been studying Japanese for a couple months and I already know [number greater than 500] kanji..." he says "well yeah you're not japanese, so it doesn't count".

Right. I'm sure a foreigner who has been studying for a couple months knows how to read better than a native.

Also according to anki I know at least one reading for 542 kanji so I guess I'm reaching native level? Sweet, hello fluency!

sup3rbon Wrote:Also according to anki I know at least one reading for 542 kanji so I guess I'm reaching native level? Sweet, hello fluency!

Nice! You can go to a Japanese university and be a random Danish guy's girlfriend anytime you want now!

That guy is way out there!

nonpoint Wrote:disclaimer: I couldn't watch more than 1 minute due to the awful background noise, gave me an f-ing headache.

Yeah, was at least 14khz or some shit, ***** annoying

Moral of the story: Guy is an idiot with nfi.

Jarvik7 Wrote:If his girlfriend only knew 500 kanji she wasn't in university..

Maybe she didn't know the English word for the kanji and found it easier to pretend not to know the character. The poor girl may also have been tired of answering kanji questions.

liosama Wrote:

nonpoint Wrote:disclaimer: I couldn't watch more than 1 minute due to the awful background noise, gave me an f-ing headache.

Yeah, was at least 14khz or some shit, ***** annoying

Moral of the story: Guy is an idiot with nfi.

Yeah, that background noise is killer... But more annoying was the fact that he talked like he just got done doing a hit of weed. The whole time. One of the cuts even had him coming back with that holding-the-smoke-in-and-talking thing that they do. Ugh.

There's no doubt in my mind that he has totally misunderstood the situation. Maybe she was claiming 500 to make him not feel so bad about sucking at kanji, for all we know. Of course, she had no idea he'd go brag about it on the internet, so now he looks a fool anyhow.

Wow, This guy is highly uninformed to use a nice word.

Wow! That was surrealistic. This guy is basically convinced that the majority of Japanese can't read.

I'm assuming she was trying to be humble about how many kanji she did know. Japanese people don't tend to brag much.

I laughed so much at this video! If Dane Cook or Carlos Mencia were this funny their fame would be deserved.

I'm only assuming that his girlfriend and the other Japanese people he met said 'I don't know' because they didn't know the English/Danish word for the Kanji....

This guy is... not so bright.

As I commented on his video, Japan probably wouldn't have the top 5 newspapers in circulation if people couldn't read them.

http://www.newspapers24.com/largest-newspapers.html