Serge wrote:

Jon_B wrote:

This makes me think if there was a time where ukiyoe was big, way back in like the 1800s or something where there was a boom in people learning japanese to go see ukiyoe, but others said that they were suprised that everyone wants to go over just to see that, even though that one thing might mean alot to them.

Speaking of Ukiyo-E, actually, a lot of parallels are being drawn between the work of that time and today's manga. I guess that's when it all started. For those who are interested to see for themselves this book is a good start:

http://www.amazon.com/Hokusai-First-Mas … 0810993414


@QuackingShoe

Thanks for the tips! I'll check them out.

in addition to being one of the first great manga artists, hokusai was also responsible for tentacle porn.

Whow, today I saw a sentence that made remember why I'm in love with japanese:

架空の人物

I love how abstract concepts from kanji fit so well in the language.

mentat_kgs wrote:

@kazelee, @watashimo, my list:
90%-99%: portuguese, english
50%: french, german
10%: japanese
0%: russian, finnish

You spend a lot of time here if you only want to learn Japanese 10%!!!  (or is that how much you know so far?)

I needed to take a language course in college. During high school I had taken French, but never took it seriously(though I do now), and at college languages that were offered were Chinese, German, Italian, Spanish, French, Tagalog, etc. Normally, I would pick Italian, I think its the most beautiful language in the world and I would love to live in Italy. However:

There are no Italians in San Diego, California. There are Japanese, Chinese(both mainland and Taiwan/HK), Koreans, etc. Obviously people from Latin America as well, but being born in Mexico City I already have that language down. And so I picked up Japanese. First semester I took sucked pretty bad. The class was good, the teacher knew how to teach, but I was just a bum. I had to retake the class and so I did. This time I actually tried to a degree and found out that hey...I don't suck too bad at this. While my classmates were busy saying things like NEkO gA SUUKI DESUUU, thanks to my spanish background I could pronounce things with more ease though still far from native.

Anyways, that continued, I liked the class and people I met there and took all 4 levels of Japanese. During this time, without RTK, I become Kanji KING in my class and learned to love them. All 2 thousand of them. I learned about 1,300 the hard, medieval way and then discovered RTK and kind of breeze by, though I haven't finished it(procrastination).



As for interests in japan or japanese things I have very few:

-I don't really want to go to Japan. I mean, I'd love to go there but if I had a choice I'd visit Italy, France, Spain, Argentina, travel around Mexico before going to Japan.

-Japanese people and I do not mix, at least in terms of how our outward culture makes us. Mexico City Vs Tokyo culture might as well be magnet ends. I still have japanese friends, but the old tale of foreigner "getting" japanese culture is true for me. I'll understand it, but I know, well I never really WANT to fully integrate myself into japanese customs.

-I DO love japanese literature. I love books in general and I get extreme joy out of reading things in their native language. When I talk to someone about Don Quixote or Cien a?os de soledad(One Hundred Years of Solitude) or other spanish books, I just feel that what I got from the book was maybe more than people who read the translated versions in english. I want that same experience in Japanese. I'm reading Norwegian Wood right now in Japanese and I like short stories by Yoshimoto Banana for example. These are pretty light reads but I want to read better things. Also, books translated into Japanese. I own a copy of Brothers Karamazov in japanese, however I can barely read it. That is basically my goal for this year.


As far as other little things like japanese tv, movies, music, toys, clothes. I think some are cool, and there are a lot of things since Japan is one of the leading industrialized nations, but I never really felt an interest in those things more than any other cultures. Maybe if I ever go to Japan I'll feel differently.



PS. While 10 languages before 30 is above my goals, I do want to be fluent in 3 Romantic Languages(French, Italian, Spanish) and 3 South east asian languages(Japanese, Korean, Mandarin Chinese)

Check back with me in 15 years.

Last edited by Erubey (2008 September 02, 8:00 pm)

Erubey wrote:

Also, books translated into Japanese. I own a copy of Brothers Karamazov in japanese, however I can barely read it. That is basically my goal for this year.

Oh, that translation was quite a hit in Japan last year, partially due to the fact that the translator supplied his own ending or something!..

Jon_B wrote:

How do they katakanize the names? I think that would be the hardest part for me to read. I have trouble with some katakana words, and usually read them veeeerrrry slowly.

It's very straigtforward, actually:

フョードル、ドミートリー、イワン、アレクセイ（アリョーシャ）

The problem is that for every Russian name there is a variety of 'nicknames', like アレクセイ = アリョーシャ. That's what usually confuses non-native speakers.

Erubey wrote:

PS First time I bought a japanese novel I only bought the first or 上 section, only to find I needed 中　下 as well. Anyone experience this? And the immediate fury afterwards.

I did this on my very first Japanese novel (a crime story taking place in London) that I bought in Amsterdam many years ago! I still own it and never managed to complete it at the time... Actually, it might want to go back to it now and properly read it... And even buy the 下.