chochajin Wrote:Me: こんにちは。
Japanese dude: わぁ、日本語とても上手ですね！

Lol
Me: こんにちは。
Japanese dude: わぁ、日本語とても上手ですね！
Me: おおっ！あなたの日本語もすごく上手〜っ！
Japanese dude: ...えっ！

I also don't see it as an issue - seems like one of those anecdote to myth things. My one experience in several years was a very old man explaining to me that foreigners cannot speak Japanese because they are not able to think like Japanese. But he was explaining it in Japanese! :-).

In his defense, his idea was really that socialization and language are inextricably linked, and knowledge about a culture is not a sufficient substitute. But it's more amusing to repeat the story that Japanese think their brains are different or are unable to recognize that we are in fact speaking Japanese. In doing so, we perpetuate the myth.

As for a friend who would insist on always speaking a particular language with you in order to improve - what a drag. Confused priorities imo.

@Jarvik - sounds like groceries haven't been your responsibility if you assume daikon comes in sets. ;-)

@Thora: Asking for a bunch of things all at once does not assume they are being sold as a group. You can still ask for it as if they were a single thing though.

ex: You go to the grocery store with cucumbers and daikon on your shopping list. You know what you need to buy. "5 carrots and 2 daikon please"

vs

You goto the grocery store and look over the produce and ask the clerk "I'd like....... five carrots and........hmmm...... 2 daikon.."

The former can be thought of as a set while the latter cannot.

Thora Wrote:a very old man explaining to me that foreigners cannot speak Japanese because they are not able to think like Japanese.

foreigners are foreigners because they are not able to think like Japanese. One who thinks like Japanese is not a foreigner. May the force be with you

By the way, I'm so lazy so I'd be like, あ、大根２本ときゅうり５本 period.

hehe. I'm also lazy (but a lazy polite girl?) and didn't learn the proper grammar, so I'd probably say 大根２本ときゅうり５本ください. (大根２本をください　sounds okay, but a list of stuff +をくださいsounds a bit odd to me.) I guess this proves how dangerous learning things in the wild can be.　

Jarvik - I wasn't really being serious. The image I have of you just didn't include you being concerned about the art of buying large radishes.

hmm I wonder what it is to think like a Canadian?

カナダ人を二人ください。

Thora Wrote:My one experience in several years was a very old man explaining to me that foreigners cannot speak Japanese because they are not able to think like Japanese. But he was explaining it in Japanese! :-).

One of my 'sorta' bosses is an American girl, and occasionally she goes around to schools to see how the English teachers are holding up. So, she observes a few classes and stuff. Anyway, the kids in the hallway and in class always ask her if she speaks Japanese, and she always says no in Japanese, and then keeps talking to them in Japanese, haha.

They probably notice, but they certainly don't say anything so it seems like they don't.

Edit:
Also, that's gotta be the most classic example of 日本人論 that I've ever heard. Man I hate that shit.