Asian

[Shade]

I'm just wondering, how many people here actually DON'T know how to speak, read, or write in Korean, Japanese, Chinese, etc.?

Other then me that is.

[Pugtm]

I don't im I started learning japanese on my own 2 months after i started kendo. I have an okay vocab and most of the hiragana down.

[Kyung]

I think I speak decently. I picked up some japanese from watching cartoons, but i doubt they're any useful.
My friend taught me some Cantonese, but I'm having issues with intonation.

[Sparv]

The only japanese words I know are those that I hear during the kendo classes. I have no contacts with Korean or Chinese languages.

I just don't care. :p

[Oroshi]

It's probably easier to ask who does speak an East Asian language, as I'm pretty sure 90% of people here don't.

I've studied Japanese for 4 years and lived in Japan for 18 months total. I'm fairly competent and aim to take my Level 1 JLPT in the next year or so.

I've recently begun to study Mandarin Chinese, and I can just about introduce myself. My written Chinese is much better than my spoken, because I'm used to writing in kanji.

I don't speak any Korean.

[Kenzan]

We speak "Nihongrish" at my home.
I never took a test for fluency, but I can mostly understand the "Dotchi" cooking show.
Does that count?
:D

[satsumaruma]

I can understand preety much what Oshita Sensei says to me most of the time.

But then "crappo" is fairly easy to work out let's be honest.

Yet more supposed jocularity

[Aries]

I guess I'm fluent in Chinese(Manderin).. just the occasional twinkie turrets.
I've been taking Japanese in College for ... too long, still useless in it. Actually stayed there for a summer back in highschool to try to pick up more of the language.

[ZtefaNNN[K]]

I know a very few words in japanese basically kendo related words or "joke-words" or stuff like that, but I hardly speak or read anything.

[a.hong]

I'm strong enough in Korean to not be completely lost when I go to Korea, and have been learning Japanese for the past two years.

[Andoru]

I'm fluent in Mandarin and Hokkien (a chinese dialect) and competent in Cantonese. I'm seriously thinking about learning Japanese. Not too sure where to start though.

[Kenshi]

Not too sure where to start though.

How about at あ?

Oroshi -> im envious of you getting to study nipponese properly... ive cobbled it together somehow!! "Ropey" is a good description....:ogre:

[Oroshi]

Oroshi -> im envious of you getting to study nipponese properly... ive cobbled it together somehow!! "Ropey" is a good description....:ogre:
Most of my knowledge comes from my formal education, but a fair amount is what I've worked out on my own (I taught myself most of the kanji I know, for example). Having teachers does help though, especially with grammar! I realise I'm lucky.

When I lived in Japan I learned to speak a rough approximation of Kobe ben, but unfortunately my lecturers here don't care too much for it...

[xvikingx]

That's Kansai-ben... Where did you go to school in Kobe?

[Kenshi]

When I lived in Japan I learned to speak a rough approximation of Kobe ben, but unfortunately my lecturers here don't care too much for it...

I recently met someone who spoke the most amazing 標準語 (he was Japanese of-course) and I realised that I have no friends that speak like that (except king?) ... it was a bit... 女々しい if you ask me!

I spotted a new 関西弁入門 book in the shop the other day.. looks good. Fancied getting it to learn proper 関西弁丁寧語 but it has a stupid cd with it that made the price sillly.

[Oroshi]

Kobe-ben is slightly different to Osaka-ben (the 'standard' Kansai-ben, I guess). One difference is that in Kobe they say やっとう instead of やっとる. Okayama-ben's the same, I think. It's still close to Osaka-ben. One of my best friends has a really strong Kobe dialect so I needed to learn it to talk to her properly! It's sometimes hard for me to juggle 標準語 and 方言, so I tend not to use the dialect unless I'm around Kansai people.

I was at Kobe Gakuin University for a year as an exchange student, and I lived quite close to Akashi. I'm hoping I can get back to Kobe for work once I graduate.

[Andoru]

How about at あ?



LMAO!!! Indeed!

[MrChow]

I'm fluent in spoken Cantonese and Shanghai dialect.

My Mandarin and Japanese skills are work in progress.

[Kenshi]

I'm hoping I can get back to Kobe for work once I graduate.

レッツ稽古！

I lived in 広島 for a couple of years. Of course they have じゃけん and しっとる　（知っている） etc but ive found that that some things that are classed as classic 関西弁 (like ほんま) and such are found everywhere from 京都～福岡. I guess its the influence of TV.

>>やっとう instead of やっとる<

dont you mean やってん？I get it from all sides... 京都・大阪・神戸 so im all mixed up.

My fave 関西弁 at the moment is こった・もろった　and I really need to work on my はる for 丁寧語 (やっぱ関西弁入門買うわ)

[Oroshi]

レッツ稽古！
押っ忍！


dont you mean やってん？I get it from all sides... 京都・大阪・神戸 so im all mixed up.
I think I might have slipped up - I didn't go to Osaka much so I was mainly exposed to Hyogo dialects (like Viking is in Takarazuka! I only just spotted that). I might have mixed it up with Gifu-ben - I lived in Gifu-ken for a short while too.

In Kobe they have the long vowel sounds, so やってる becomes やっとう. Instead of やってん, they'll say やっとん. Hence a favourite phrase of my teacher's, 「何やっとんネン！」


My fave 関西弁 at the moment is こった・もろった　and I really need to work on my はる for 丁寧語 (やっぱ関西弁入門買うわ)

My regional 敬語 isn't too hot, but in Kobe they use ～って instead of ～はる, so 「行かれますか」 becomes 「行ってですか。」 I can understand it, but there's no way I'm going to be able to use it any time soon. (俺もさ、何か関西弁についての本を買わないとなぁ)

[xvikingx]

I lived quite close to Akashi.
Ah okay, now I understand. Makes sense now.
I've never heard the word Kobe-ben used however, only Kansai-ben for those outside of Kyoto and Osaka. ～はる is a Kyoto-ben thing. My Japanese is all screwed up because I work in Kyoto, live in Takarazuka, and my fam speaks thick Osaka-ben (from Tennoji). Ah there was once a time when I spoke nice 標準語, now I struggle to speak properly when it's necesarry.
My personal favorite is どうないすんねん？

[SmellsLikeBogu]

I just finished my first year of evening classes japanese. finished my year with an 81.5% average :)
I know my katakana, hiragana, and basic sentence structures. I have a tiny vocabulary. reaching from good morning, counting to a lot,how to say what day and date it is, to asking where the postoffice is, and where can I buy booze,
we also learned the basics of conjugating the adjectives. so I can ask where to buy delicious booze, or where I should have bought delicious booze instead of the crap I just drank.

summer break now :) lets see what next year holds in stock.
strange thing is, if you say 2 words in japanese to a native speaker, they think you know it perfectly, and just start rambling :) so I know how to say I dont understand, and "slower please" "more slowly" even more slowly please"

[h2o]

Been studying full japanes full time for a year know. I can read or write japanese fairly well (although I could have tried to memorize more kanji and vocabulary), but I really need to speed up listening and speaking.

[Sparv]

This thread is quite fun. My internet browser (firefox without extensions) show me lots of ??? . Looks like you're swearing. :D
BTW, if someone knows where I can find a good tutorial about showing asian characters in firefox, PM me.

[bullet08]

i know how to say beer in japanese. i think i'm set.

pete

[Andoru]

i know how to say beer in japanese. i think i'm set.

pete

No no you must know how to say "bottoms up!" too!

[lucy]

I can read and write hiragana, should be able to do the same with katakana and a few basic kanji (fire, woman, mountain, you get the idea :wink: ).

I can introduce myself and the stuff, I guess I'm at about the same level as SmellsLikeBogu.

[Kyung]

i know how to say beer in japanese. i think i'm set.

pete

ビル　下さいました！
They should set a universal word of beer. I feel bad for the travellers

[Kyung]

No no you must know how to say "bottoms up!" too!

乾杯しましょうかな

They should make a universal word for 'cheers' too. Or merge the two togethr into one word. chirbir?

[Oroshi]

For a (Japanese) beer, you can just say 'namachu.'

Just be a little careful with ビル and ビール: the former is a building, the latter is a drink.

[Oroshi]

They should make a universal word for 'cheers' too. Or merge the two togethr into one word. chirbir?
When someone got the Japanese guys at our dojo to all shout "chin-chin!" instead of 「乾杯」, it led to accusations of セクハラ from the female dojo members. Should have seen that one coming, really.

[Kyung]

why would they use that instead of 乾杯?
female dojo members...sounds intriguing.......

[Oroshi]

why would they use that instead of 乾杯?
English meaning (http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/chin-chin). It's not common.

I'll leave it up to you to find the Japanese meaning ;).

[Kyung]

ohh
That's something you won't here in US lol
I wouldn't have imagined it was an English word...heh

[Dervish]

I studied Japanese for 2 years in the early 90's, but I forgot most of it. Still, I never forgot Hiragana and Katakana, as well as some grammar and vocabulary. My dojo has a high percentage of Japanese Senseis and students, as well as non-Japanese who are fluent, so I still felt this need to learn much more. :p

[Andrew S]

I've lived in Japan for a total of about 10 years. Was a high school exchange student for a year back in 1989. Got my JLPT level 2 in 2000, but marriage and kids have kind of stopped me from studying to get level 1.
I'm also a victim of the digital age - I can't hand write as many kanji as I used to be able to. もう21世紀。だから書初めはパソコンでやればいいんじゃない？

[joekc6nlx]

For those of you who have studied Japanese, have you had any experience with Rosetta Stone software? They claim it's interactive, so you get the chance to say the words that the other person is speaking. They also say it's used by the State Department (U.S. equivalent of the Foreign Service) for their language classes.

The Department of Defense uses an entirely different system, which I have very little knowledge about, and probably couldn't discuss on a public forum anyway.

[Dervish]

For those of you who have studied Japanese, have you had any experience with Rosetta Stone software? They claim it's interactive, so you get the chance to say the words that the other person is speaking. They also say it's used by the State Department (U.S. equivalent of the Foreign Service) for their language classes.

I got Rosetta Stone for Persian language, and I am really not a fan of the system. I must say, it's good for memorizing vocabulary, but that's just one facet of the language learning process. They didn't teach how to write the alphabet (I'm betting that Rosetta Stone doesn't teach Hiragana and Katakana) (in Persian language case, I already knew the alphabet, but I felt an alphabet course should have been there for people who didn't know).

Grammar isn't dealt with or explained directly, but of course you're exposed to grammar as the lessons go on. I'm accustomed to textbooks (like Japanese for Busy People), so I want some structure, not just vocabulary memorization.

One gripe that may seem trivial to some -- ALL the visual aides are of American people in what seems to be suburban Virginia, USA. I want a lot more cultural immersion, please. :)

Overall; good for vocab, but it's way overpriced for what it offers. I get the distinct impression that they just plugged in words from each language, putting little effort into the system.

As for which government agent learns a language how -- forget it. Just join the Mormons, tell them you want to preach in foreign countries. They have these crash courses that get you in conversational shape in 1-2 months.

Just kidding, don't join a religion because I say so, please. :D

[nysamurai]

Just to chime in;

Speak - A few Chinese phrases, certainly not nearly enough to get along, but probably enough to insult someone and piss them off enough to take a poke at me.

Nearly conversant Japanese, providing that people speak to meeee veeeery slooowly. The Japan Society here in New York has some pretty good programs. I have a decent vocabulary if you consider that it's almost exclusively martial art related words and phrases. Most folks don't.

No Korean.

As an American and a New Yorker, I am quite fluent in our version of what used to be referred to as "The Queen's English". But, we were never much on Royalty around here.

Write - only English. I am a very poor specimen indeed.

[Kenzan]

I had been living in L.A. for 37 years before I realized I could understand Spanish fluently.
:D :silly:

[joekc6nlx]

Dervish, thanks for the reply. I really just want to learn conversational Japanese. In the "second dojo", I'm usually the only one who doesn't speak Japanese, so it's necessary for someone to translate for me. The fact that I don't understand it is of no concern, since if they're talking about me, it's usually in the context of how good my latest batch of beer tastes.

I just want to be able to share in some of the jokes they tell, as well as when sensei is speaking to one of them on the dojo floor, he usually speaks in Japanese, because it's easier for him to get his message across. I think that if I had at least a smattering of Japanese, I could benefit by that instruction, too.

It's my belief, and I've asked sensei about this, when he's instructing a senior student, it's all right for the junior students to listen and watch, because we are learning, too. If sensei is teaching a senior student about certain things, then if we understand those things as well, he won't have to teach them again. Having said that, I do NOT mean advanced kendo for sandan and above being applied to sankyu and below. The senior students in my dojo happily teach me advanced kendo, all the while they're beating on my men, kote, and do. :D

[ZealUK]

Well I have to live with bloody unintelligible かっごま弁.

There's a Kagoshima song called 茶碗むしの唄 which is an example of the utter weirdness of the Kagoshima dialect..

うんだもこら　いけなもんや　あたいげどん　ちゃわんなんだ　ひにひにさんども　あるもんせば 　
きれいなもんごわんさ　ちゃわんについた　むしじゃろかい　めごなどけあるく　むしじゃろかい
まこて　げんねこっじゃ　わっはっはー

If you think that's bad, it's not a patch on 種子島弁, which frankly sounds more like Korean than Japanese.

I was trying to find an example of spoken Kagomma ben on youtube, but instead I came across this rather funny video of Fujiwara...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vHMhFVyx-3s

[Kenshi]

im sorry, but not only is this kagoshima-ben unintelligible, but its not even funny!

[Avenger]

I got Rosetta Stone for Persian language, and I am really not a fan of the system. I must say, it's good for memorizing vocabulary, but that's just one facet of the language learning process. They didn't teach how to write the alphabet (I'm betting that Rosetta Stone doesn't teach Hiragana and Katakana) (in Persian language case, I already knew the alphabet, but I felt an alphabet course should have been there for people who didn't know).

Grammar isn't dealt with or explained directly, but of course you're exposed to grammar as the lessons go on. I'm accustomed to textbooks (like Japanese for Busy People), so I want some structure, not just vocabulary memorization.

One gripe that may seem trivial to some -- ALL the visual aides are of American people in what seems to be suburban Virginia, USA. I want a lot more cultural immersion, please. :)

Overall; good for vocab, but it's way overpriced for what it offers. I get the distinct impression that they just plugged in words from each language, putting little effort into the system.



I'm a first generation American, but sadly I can only speak and read English. My parents are Chinese Filipinos, so they spoke Mandarin, Hokien (a dialect of Mandarin), Tagalog, Ilongo (a dialect of Tagalog), and English in the house when I was growing up. I consider myself lucky to have just mastered one of the five! :nervous: I'm currently trying to re-learn the Chinese from college that I am exponentially forgetting, as well as learn Korean (I attend a kumdo dojang) and Japanese (so I can understand kendo terminology to translate into Korean - so I can then translate it into English!).

As for those asking about the Rosetta Stone brand of computer language courses, I think they're a good supplement to serious language courses or immersion. As previously mentioned, the programs focus more on vocab recognition and phrases (at least in the low level courses I have used) rather than actually teaching you grammar and cultural context (which you would get far more of in a class or through immersion). However, they're a good program if your local options for learning are limited and you're focused on conversational skills as opposed to reading and writing.

I actually live in suburban Virginia, USA, and I can tell you that the versions of Rosetta Stone that I've seen have a diverse set of pictures representing people and places (also, many parts of suburban Virginia are fairly diverse to begin with). Maybe I've seen newer versions than others. The only thing I don't get is why "elephant" seems to be one of the first ten words they teach you for all languages. I'm not sure about everyone else, but the number of times I utter "elephant" on a given day is just about nil.

The U.S. Department of Defense has all of the Rosetta Stone courses available online to all employees and military members, but there are also immersion language courses for Special Forces types and others who have the need to quickly and efficiently learn a foreign language. I think the strength of Rosetta Stone is being able to attain a basic comprehension of a language fairly quickly, if you're dedicated to putting in the time.

[Andrew S]

I work and train with some people from Kagoshima, Miyazaki etc and occasionally wind them up with: "You're from Kyushu? But you speak Japanese so well!"

[Bokushingu]

I know enough to explain what I'm doing to Japanese patients that can't speak english or express in english when they are sick.(medical terms in Japanese such as shindenki jikan o shinakereba narimasen) I also understand enough of kendo japanese to fully enjoy the colection of AJKC videos i watch over & over.
Plus my wife speaks to me in japanese when i piss her off.:)

[Bokushingu]

I know enough to explain what I'm doing to Japanese patients that can't speak english or express in english when they are sick.(medical terms in Japanese such as shindenki jikan o shinakereba narimasen) I also understand enough of kendo japanese to fully enjoy the colection of AJKC videos i watch over & over.
Plus my wife speaks to me in japanese when i piss her off.:)
oop! I'm not asian descent.

[xvikingx]

Plus my wife speaks to me in japanese when i piss her off.:)
Heh. Fighting with my old lady did wonders for my language ability.

[ZealUK]

Heh. Fighting with my old lady did wonders for my language ability.

I stick to English when I argue with the wife. She represents Kagoshima and I represent England. Kind of like the 薩英戦争

[xvikingx]

Hey, the Pacific War was a long and bloody one. I’m not up for repeating it.

[Oroshi]

Looks like I need to get a Japanese girlfriend to argue with.