The farther you get, the less you worry about fluency. Because you know you will reach it, if you just keep going.

I want to find work where I can use this skill to my advantage. I'm sure there is a need for Japanese speaking people in many companies (who are also familiar with the culture, I bet everyone has heard about us having trouble communicating with them), or even a Western person who speaks Japanese (+ English and various other languages) in Japanese companies. I've noticed that they have trouble understanding our culture from time to time, and they don't want to communicate in English (due to not wanting to be ashamed due to their lack of fluency or whatever).

aphasiac Wrote:Actually think I'd just walk around Tokyo in this t-shirt and see what happens:

http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_T1R3Jlx9TTA/ST...friend.jpg

I walked around Japan with this on. I had no idea what it meant at the time either...

Kidnapincolour Wrote:

aphasiac Wrote:Actually think I'd just walk around Tokyo in this t-shirt and see what happens:

http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_T1R3Jlx9TTA/ST...friend.jpg

I walked around Japan with this on. I had no idea what it meant at the time either...

did something happen?

but like i'm following ajatt so i'm doing so i would want to do when i became fluent in japanese so that i become fluent in japanese doing it.
so i think thread is like discouraging since it's like oh i'll do ONCe i become fluent.

Tykkylumi Wrote:

zachandhobbes Wrote:I'm going to いく to にほん and 言う to みんな how すごい and じょうず I am at にほんご and how すし is my いちばん　たべもの.

(,,#ﾟДﾟ)ノ

zachandhobbes Wrote:Haha! にほんじんs are so funny. Just because I'm a ばかがいじん doesn't mean I never tried なっと haha! It's sooo とてもおいしい I たべる it while I みる Japanese アニメ :3

But I like らめん better! It's すごい! that means グレイ- oops, I mean, "great"! Haha I'm so good at にほんご that I'm typing in かたかな~ I'm such a ばか hee hee

Oh god, I laughed so hard. Some of the best posts I've read on this forum by far.

+1
I'm still laughing ごめん、maybe I'm also a ばか and らめん is good, but 킴치라뮨 is better. (I'm having too much fun with this)


The way I look at it is, when you learn another language, your personal world expands. A brand new culture opens up to you. It's really exciting. This amazing world has so much to offer, and I want to experience as much of it as I can. I'm working hard to be able to understand some Japanese and French by the end of the summer. Eventually I'd love to visit Japan (and many other countries), and actually experience the culture as purely as possible (no English). In the meantime, while I'm stuck in the middle of nowhere Utah (US) I'm excited for the day I can watch anime without needing subtitles.

・・・I will get a japanese girlfriend, a schoolgirl anime otaku/cosplayer, marry her and live there on japan satisfying our otaku desire and also to ride the life size Gundam!
(　＾∀＾)

kigai Wrote:・・・I will get a japanese girlfriend, a schoolgirl anime otaku/cosplayer, marry her and live there on japan satisfying our otaku desire and also to ride the life size Gundam!
(　＾∀＾)

lol, is this really a goal of fluency for Japanese? Or personal desire?

I thought the life-size gundam was gone. It was a temporary display..

I was told by a Japanese girl that it fell in the earthquake.

..and it crushed all the schoolgirl otaku in the land.

Kigai's dream will never come true!

ta12121 Wrote:The farther you get, the less you worry about fluency. Because you know you will reach it, if you just keep going.

That is the point where I am at now... I'm close enough to taste it already... but I still have a little time to go. I think my viewpoints about Japan have changed through the process too. Before I was like "OMG Japan rules!!" and now I'm like "Japan has its ups and downs just like anywhere else in the world".

When I become fully fluent, I'm going to walk around Tokyo and pretend I don't speak a word of Japanese, but the hand puppet I'm holding is perfectly capable of translating for me.

Kidnapincolour Wrote:

aphasiac Wrote:Actually think I'd just walk around Tokyo in this t-shirt and see what happens:

http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_T1R3Jlx9TTA/ST...friend.jpg

I walked around Japan with this on. I had no idea what it meant at the time either...

I actually just saw this exact shirt on a train in Singapore!

six8ten Wrote:When I become fully fluent, I'm going to walk around Tokyo and pretend I don't speak a word of Japanese, but the hand puppet I'm holding is perfectly capable of translating for me.

This is a great idea! Did you come up with it yourself?

Tzadeck Wrote:This is a great idea! Did you come up with it yourself?

Back when i first came to Japan and was doing the English teaching thing, I used a couple of hand puppet toys in the kids classes on occassion. The idea sort of grew out of that.

Jarvik7 Wrote:..and it crushed all the schoolgirl otaku in the land.

Kigai's dream will never come true!

So, are you Bandai? to tell that making a 1:1 scale Gundam ends there?
And are you some God / Supernatural to predict someone else's dream?

Oh come on, if you have supernatural abilities go outside, show it to the people and maybe they'll give you money!

Learn Chinese.

Omoishinji Wrote:Learn Chinese.

How motivating and rewarding. Srsly lol

Tori-kun Wrote:

Omoishinji Wrote:Learn Chinese.

How motivating and rewarding. Srsly lol

If I said Kanbun (漢文) very few would understand. Maybe I should have wrote classical Chinese.

It's actually really a pity that I live somewhere where we have 0% Japanese in the population but in an area with lots of people/guys from Hong Kong (Cantonese?) - which you cannot find ANYwhere else in a radius of 100km around my village lol So, perhaps Cantonese next?

If I get close to fluency I would love to live in Japan. I would be able to benefit from being able to understand manga, anime, music, jmma without needing it translated. I plan on opening a business in the near future so it would be great to open it in Tokyo.

kigai Wrote:So, are you Bandai?

Yes

I enjoy learning Japanese because I love challenging my mind and Japanese does it in just the right way.

When I've reached a satisfactory level I want to be able to access and appreciate a range of texts (movie/music/literature) in a way that won't be obscured by translation.

Lately though I've been quite unmotivated and held back with my learning. My boyfriend is passively discouraging so i barely expose myself to any Japanese anymore (can't do it when i'm with him) and it has caused it to become quite a struggle but I'm not ready to let it go yet =(

Although he is planning to come to Japan with me when I have to study there next year it's difficult to keep study from him so my motivation has died massively.

I posted earlier in this thread that I was studying for fun, so I could understand games, movies and anime.

But now I've moved to Asia, it's really made me realise - language is for communication with other people.

It's easy for me to live here without learning the local language; there's english on TV, I speak english at work, I have the internet and FB for wind-down time. Most foreigners I've met have done just that, despite being here years. But the experience is shallow - you end up going to foreigner-friendly bars and places to eat; The real native experience still feels like a world away...

Please people - practise speaking, practise output and make native friends. It's a waste if you don't..