So You want to learn Japanese.

[ZOMBIE USER 6185]

http://www-unix.oit.umass.edu/%7Ethoureau/japanese.html

I found this amusing, and since someone here is taking Japanese I thought I'd post it here.

now back to studying for finals..... soon.

[Al_fayyed]

It's not that bad, although being in Japan can really suck if you don't have an English-speaking friend around to talk to and feel sort of at home.

Back in middle school, my friend from down the street had a baseball cap with the logo of the band "Foreigner" on it. He said it was his Miami cap (foreign tourists tp Florida being dragged from their cars and murdered back then).

A lot of the time in Japan, I felt I was wearing that cap.

But I like natto, actually, and if you get a Japanese class where the professor introduces so much subject matter per week that the anime-loving student can't hope to learn anything dopey without flunking a kanji test, it all works out.

In retrospect, though, I should have taken biblical Hebrew, Arabic, or Spanish.

[KathleenJ]

Hee...that was great. I think I'll send the link to my Japanese class studybuddies.
I'm actually really glad I chose Japanese as my language option. It's got that tear-your-hair-out complexity factor and it took up about as much time this semester as all my other classes combined, but what the hell, I find it that much more interesting.
I used to have this fantasy that I'd like to spend a year in Japan after graduation, maybe teaching English. But I really don't think I'd adapt well to the whole psychological thing of always being an outsider in society. Hell, I even feel like that here sometimes...so wait, maybe it wouldn't seem so weird. But anyway, I've given up on that idea, also for practical reasons, but I'd still love to visit someday.
I think my Japanese class this term was outside the norm, in that it was taught by a guy (non-Japanese) that actively encouraged anime geeks. When a couple people cited anime as their reason for taking the course, he thought that was perfectly cool. When the class didn't understand things, he'd sometimes say things like "C'mon, this phrase is in anime all the time!". He was really good natured and the class was a lot of fun.
The language I took all through high school was French, which never held any great interest for me. But hey, now I can read what Canadian cereal boxes say no matter which side is facing me.

[KathleenJ]

Speaking of which, while I was just having lunch I was reading the back of this box of animal crackers sitting on our table, which listed what about two dozen animals were called in French.
"English: Leopard. French: Panthere."
What the hell! That's just confusing. Those are two different animals.
Also, this is post #1234 for me on these boards. Woo.
Edit: Oddly enough, they're Japanese animal crackers.

[Dalhar]

http://www-unix.oit.umass.edu/%7Ethoureau/japanese.html

So I want to learn japanese?????!!!

*Thud*

[Kalmazoo702]

Actually, since French is more directly related to Latin than English is, the panthere was probably referring to the common genus of all the big cats, Panthera.

Upon closer inspection, panth

[ZOMBIE USER 6185]

Nonetheless, the French-English thing is sometimes confusing. I remember when I was around 7years old, looking at the Kool-Aid package thinking "What kind of idiot puts raisins in grape kool-aid".

If you punch a French guy in the stomach does he say "egg"?
Okay this one might take a while to process..

[Justinpie]

Actually, since French is more directly related to Latin than English is, the panthere was probably referring to the common genus of all the big cats, Panthera.

Does this mean noted metal band Pantera is closer to Latin than I am?

[Al_fayyed]

I don't know...some whipped cream, some raisins, and grape Kool-Aid sound like the beginning of an interesting dessert.

Could be worse, though -- in France, I accidentally ordered rabbit when I thought I was getting fish. Mostly because I speak no French whatsoever.

[KathleenJ]

Gah...but not as bad as the old urban legend about the travellers who didn't understand the language and ended up getting their own dog served to them in a restaurant.
I think I'm always safer from scary food in unfamiliar situations by not eating meat. I'm safe from, say, thinking something is beef and it's really ferret.
The trick is just figuring out what's meat and what's not.

If you punch a French guy in the stomach does he say "egg"?

Sure..."Oeuf!"

[ZOMBIE USER 6185]

Teacher : Uh, my wife recently past away

[EteRock]

Ha, that's what I was just about to post! You beat me to it.

Just goes to show you that addicted Simpsons fans (who quote the show every five minutes) think alike