How long did it take you to learn Japanese?
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gmw
Mai's Apprentice
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Started taking Japanese classes in 1988, took Japanese for four years in high school, took four more years of Japanese in college (my major), lived in Japan for three years total, finishing my Ph.D. in Japanese studies at the moment. Passed the Nihongo nouryoku shiken (Japanese language proficiency exam) at the highest level (1-kyu) in 1998. I'd been taking the language for about 6 years before I could easily read an academic book or newspaper without a dictionary. If you want to attain a high level of fluency, you need to formally study the language, spend time in a Japanese speaking environment, and read constantly (mass market novels are probably the best practice).
Video games aren't bad practice - I learned a ton from playing PC Engine and SuFami RPGs when I was in high school many moons ago, but they aren't a good substitute for newspapers, articles, and books. Plus, they lead to the Japanese teacher's nightmare: the contemporary American otaku language, which bears only slight resemblance to standard Japanese.
Video games aren't bad practice - I learned a ton from playing PC Engine and SuFami RPGs when I was in high school many moons ago, but they aren't a good substitute for newspapers, articles, and books. Plus, they lead to the Japanese teacher's nightmare: the contemporary American otaku language, which bears only slight resemblance to standard Japanese.
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TemJin3000
Axel's Trainer
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2 years into it, i figure that im at least 20% fluent, but i know i still got a long way to go...great language tho....i pronounce it better than my english (which im obviously totally fluent in, lol) with what i know. ^__^
i wasnt otaku enough.
took a semester to satisfy my language requirement then said fuck this.
didnt seem too bad though after 3 months i knew the katakana and hiragana alphabet. and i could read and write very basic shit.
hardest part is vocab though. thats the killer.
took a semester to satisfy my language requirement then said fuck this.
didnt seem too bad though after 3 months i knew the katakana and hiragana alphabet. and i could read and write very basic shit.
hardest part is vocab though. thats the killer.
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took three semesters in undergrad and could hold my own at an internship speaking Japanese all the time. Can't remember much anymore, but I'm sure if I wanted to, I could relearn it all fast.
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started in 97 by picking up 100 words or so and a few useful phrases with some home study.
went to japan later that year and lived here for two years... was working full time the whole time so i studied at home and used what i studied while talking with friends and girlfriends.
went back to australia and went to computer school but organized heaps of language exchange for the year or so i was in oz and kept the studying up to maintain what id done til that point. last 6 months of 2000 did 1 semester of japanese at my uni in brisbane.
headed off to live in thailand and half my thai language class was japanese so again managed to maintain my level.
the year after that did 1 year exchange at a japanese uni, the first semester went into the highest level of japanese then the 2nd semester went into academic japanese where i took classes in the normal (non international) part of the uni with japanese students doing stuff like environmental science and the like.
for the last 2 years ive been working full time as an english teacher, i only use my japanese a little with the staff and in my freetime with gf and friends. still study heaps though coz its harder to maintain my advanced japanese seeing as i never get to use it with friends and the like (academic japanese is so different from spoken/casual japanese that you would almost never flex your advanced japanese skills talking to friends).
if a native were 100, and a near perfect speaker (whod learned the language) was 80 then id put myself at 70 maybe..... (still got a lot to learn even after 8 years though...)
went to japan later that year and lived here for two years... was working full time the whole time so i studied at home and used what i studied while talking with friends and girlfriends.
went back to australia and went to computer school but organized heaps of language exchange for the year or so i was in oz and kept the studying up to maintain what id done til that point. last 6 months of 2000 did 1 semester of japanese at my uni in brisbane.
headed off to live in thailand and half my thai language class was japanese so again managed to maintain my level.
the year after that did 1 year exchange at a japanese uni, the first semester went into the highest level of japanese then the 2nd semester went into academic japanese where i took classes in the normal (non international) part of the uni with japanese students doing stuff like environmental science and the like.
for the last 2 years ive been working full time as an english teacher, i only use my japanese a little with the staff and in my freetime with gf and friends. still study heaps though coz its harder to maintain my advanced japanese seeing as i never get to use it with friends and the like (academic japanese is so different from spoken/casual japanese that you would almost never flex your advanced japanese skills talking to friends).
if a native were 100, and a near perfect speaker (whod learned the language) was 80 then id put myself at 70 maybe..... (still got a lot to learn even after 8 years though...)
tsukaesugi
Holy shit, it's a ninja!,
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I first started drinking when I was about 19. Pot was what we mainly did all through high school, but once we started to hit the legal age me and my friends all switched over to beer. Beer was easier to get- you didn't have to run around trying to find someone who was holding, and you didn't have to worry about getting ripped off, all you had to do was show up at the liquor store.
Back then five bucks would get you either a six pack of Old Milwaukee or a pack of smokes, so I'd bum ten bucks off my old man and get both, and then I was set for the evening. Later on, when I was around 21 or 22 I started hanging out with skinheads, and man, these guys could drink. Just from hanging out with them I graduated from drinking six packs to twelve or thirteen at a time. My friends would come over to my apartment on Friday night, we'd drink all night long, wake up on Saturday, start drinking in the morning, go out, cause trouble somewhere, go back home, drink more, pass out, and then we'd finally wrap things up on Sunday morning. Course then I didn't have alot of spare cash, so scrounging up enough cash for a case of twelve was a real pain in the ass.
Now that I'm in Japan I have enough money to finally be able to drink all the time. Plus Japan has a real drinking culture- after work it's customary to sometimes go out with your co-workers for a drink or two (or three heh heh). And Japan has sake, which has twice the flavor and alcohol content of beer, another reason why I love this country.
Yep, my drinking ability is now at the level where I can easily walk into any Japanese bar and freely... oh wait. What were we talking about again?
Back then five bucks would get you either a six pack of Old Milwaukee or a pack of smokes, so I'd bum ten bucks off my old man and get both, and then I was set for the evening. Later on, when I was around 21 or 22 I started hanging out with skinheads, and man, these guys could drink. Just from hanging out with them I graduated from drinking six packs to twelve or thirteen at a time. My friends would come over to my apartment on Friday night, we'd drink all night long, wake up on Saturday, start drinking in the morning, go out, cause trouble somewhere, go back home, drink more, pass out, and then we'd finally wrap things up on Sunday morning. Course then I didn't have alot of spare cash, so scrounging up enough cash for a case of twelve was a real pain in the ass.
Now that I'm in Japan I have enough money to finally be able to drink all the time. Plus Japan has a real drinking culture- after work it's customary to sometimes go out with your co-workers for a drink or two (or three heh heh). And Japan has sake, which has twice the flavor and alcohol content of beer, another reason why I love this country.
Yep, my drinking ability is now at the level where I can easily walk into any Japanese bar and freely... oh wait. What were we talking about again?
shirt
Andy's Clothes Designer
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I took three semesters in high school, and one at a junior college. The one at JC didn't teach me shit I didn't already know, which is a pretty small amount. I don't see myself taking it again as actually staying in Japan for 3 weeks taught me more than all of the classes combined.
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tsukaesugi said:
I myself would like to cut back on my drinking. A six pack of XXX a night has become routine, and if it's just regular beer I tack on a few more. If I go out bent on drinking I can throw back a 12 pack like it's water, and I soldier on with more booze like it's no problem at all. Now that I know it's such a part of the Japanese culture I might just have to visit the country one day and drink some natives under the table.
Is weed hard to get in Japan? Something I always wondered.
I don't know what this thread was about either.
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Abasuto said:
I've just decided that I'm never going to Japan. Fuck them.
tsukaesugi
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Stinky-Dinkins said:
From what I know, it's around but very hard to get, very poor quality, and very very expensive.
Mushrooms were legal due to a loophole in the law up until a few years ago. The loophole was something like they were legal to possess, but not to use. You could buy them over the counter in head shops. Then a couple years back a TV personality took some, freaked out and ran around his neighbourhood naked, bringing the matter to the attention of the media, so the politicians quickly rewrote the law and made possession illegal as well.
Stinky-Dinkins said:
Come on over, I'll take you out drinking in Shinjuku.
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tsukaesugi said:
Hahahahahahaha.
tsukaesugi said:
Who knows, maybe some day... maybe some day...
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I took a year and an nalf of it at my college. Only took a couple of months to forget most of it. Just tonight I had a hell of a time just reading the katakana in the test menu of my CPS-2 board. I cant beleive how easy it is to loose it if you dont use it.
tsukaesugi
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You know, I bet you if you cleaned Tubgirl off, I mean really went at her with some soap and water, she'd be pretty hot.
shirt
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tsukaesugi said:
I was only 16 at the time I went and staying with a family. I was pretty much out in the countryside but they still managed to plunk down a big beautiful beer machine for almost every single block. There was one in the alley directly in front of the house and they couldn't keep it stocked.
As for now, I think I'm already past the point of drinking every single night, which I pretty much did for a couple years. I get my fill on weekends though. Weed on the other hand I partake of quite generously.
gmw
Mai's Apprentice
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tsukaesugi said:
Just as an aside, I managed to smoke a fairly large amount of weed when I first lived in Japan, but I pretty much just bummed off some guys I knew - I never made a buy myself. In the larger cities, it's not too difficult to come by, but as tsuka said, it's expensive as hell - average prices are way higher than what you'd be used to in a major American city. On the other hand, when I was in Japan the second time I was living there, I saw an absolute shitload of coke floating around - seemed like every other person I met had access....
tsukaesugi
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gmw said:
Wow, I've never seen or heard of anyone doing any coke in the whole seven years I've been here. The hardest drug I've ever heard about is shabu (speed) and even then, I've only read about it in newspapers and stuff.
BTW gmw, did you ever buy or read 'Burst', the Japanese punk / tattoo / porn / drug magazine? That rag is awesome, if you've haven't ever read it, I'm sure you'd love it.
gmw
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tsukaesugi said:
When I was in Kyoto, I used to go to Tokyo on some weekends to stay with a friend of mine from college. He hung with a bunch of folks (a lot of international students) who went to Jouchi-dai (Sophia) and ICU, and every time I would go to a party with these people there would be coke everywhere. It was definitely strange. Didn't see much of it elsewhere, but there was quite a bit of the green herb and shrooms up in Hokkaidou when I was there too.
I've never read Burst - it sounds familiar, but I can't remember having read it. I'll have to see if I can find some info online about it.
dakingofzumunda
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Japanese Class: Took two years highschool and three quarters in College.
Hanging out with so many International students and the fact that my last three girlfriends have all been nihonjin, have really broaden my Nihongo skills(even though, they think I sound really bad). Going to Osaka in 2002 really was a test.
I managed to order my own food, while I was there. I really miss those Takoyaki vendors on the streets.
I'll never forget my first Japanese conversation partner in College. Never will forget his facial expression when he first saw me. He was so shocked to find out that I wasn't Caucasion. I guess he was expecting a beautiful: blonde haired, blue eyes type of gal.
He never met up with me and always had excuses not to. Lame. What a Maroon. Mukatsuku!!!
Hanging out with so many International students and the fact that my last three girlfriends have all been nihonjin, have really broaden my Nihongo skills(even though, they think I sound really bad). Going to Osaka in 2002 really was a test.
I managed to order my own food, while I was there. I really miss those Takoyaki vendors on the streets.
I'll never forget my first Japanese conversation partner in College. Never will forget his facial expression when he first saw me. He was so shocked to find out that I wasn't Caucasion. I guess he was expecting a beautiful: blonde haired, blue eyes type of gal.
He never met up with me and always had excuses not to. Lame. What a Maroon. Mukatsuku!!!
tsukaesugi
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gmw said:
The newer issues aren't so good- there's less punk and porn, and more pot and body piercing, still, I'll send you a copy one of these days. I'm pretty sure you'd get a kick out of it.
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tsukaesugi said:
level 60 alcoholics