Comments on: Great News

By: Flyin

Flyin — Tue, 13 Jan 2009 09:08:35 +0000

@Tsukiki - I agree with celestia!
I was on a trip in Japan - in Tokyo, all alone (exept one acquaintance who work there whom I met only 2 times) with no understanding of Japanese and only the words “Sumimasen” and ” Gomennasai” :). And that was one of the best vacations I had in my life. The japanese people are very nice and friendly and will help you no matter what - even if they don’t know English.
So don’t worry and enjoy your stay there as much as you can. :)))

By: celestia

celestia — Mon, 12 Jan 2009 09:43:08 +0000

You’ll be all right. You’d be surprised with how far you can get by pointing and gesturing.

By: Tsukiki

Tsukiki — Mon, 12 Jan 2009 01:50:46 +0000

Lol that’s what I’m scared of. I’m taking a trip to Japan soon for 10 weeks and I can barely comprehend it, let alone speak it, so I’m freaking out. =D I’m trying to teach myself, but… grammar…. it hurts….

Luckily I’m staying with Americans. So it’s all good. They can communicate for me.

By: Flyin

Flyin — Sat, 10 Jan 2009 08:35:35 +0000

Thank you for answering! So I need more time to get used to it. I was planning to study by myself but I met a Japanese teacher and she has giving me some lessons. I still cannot “flip” my mind to their structure although I know the basics.
As for kanjis - I think we are not used to image characters as letters so we cannot remember images so much :).
But if you are there - you have more opportunities to learn since everything around you is in kanjis - you are forced to acquire the knowledge of them :). Since your arrival in Japan - do you have more success in remembering and understanding the language?
How is the life there - is there something that is not as you thought it would be?
As you could guess I want to go to Japan but since my native language is not english I cannot apply for teacher although I want to… So for now I am just learning…

By: celestia

celestia — Fri, 09 Jan 2009 12:25:38 +0000

I started studying Japanese in class my first year of high school,studied it through high school, and for a year in college. I kind of slacked on it for a while, but started reviewing like mad the last half of my senior year of college since I found out I’d be going to Japan.

I have been studying on my own, using books mostly, since I came here.

All of that, and I feel like I’m barely competent. I can understand pretty well now, I don’t speak very fluently or naturally, but well enough that I can always make myself understood eventually. As for reading…good luck. There are sooo many fricking Kanji out there that I’m pretty hopeless at that.

As for keigo, you usually don’t even start learning that until you’ve had 4 or so years of normal Japanese, at least that’s how it worked at my school.

By: Flyin

Flyin — Fri, 09 Jan 2009 09:39:53 +0000

Hi,
Your luck is good :)! I was afraid also that I would not get the DVD but the person that was in Japan had found it and I also had a good luck :)!
What you wrote about keigo is interesting… I didn’t know this super polite form. I was wondering how did you learn Japanese - self study, school, private lessons - and how long did it take to began to understand and speak? I began to study Japanese several months ago and wanted to ask about other’s experience…
I know this is off Kat-tun but it all began because of them :))))).