Crush...Yiff...Destroy!

ZenZhu · Needs to get out more Joined: 22 Mar 2004 Posts: 897

I came across this surfing around for some language and cultural info. I'm looking into taking a class on Chinese, and trying to figure if it's better to persist in my Japanese lessons/self-teaching or take up Chinese as a more serious effort despite needing more in-class instruction, at least until I had the tonal thing figured out.... each one having their own easy points and very big hurdles.

Anyway... this fellow, who is actually a major in the language, takes a rather comically biting look at his own language and culture of choice. I give you So You Want to Learn Japanese...

Edited to make it more apparent I was talking about the Japanese I'm already studying vs. Chinese.

Dr. Dos · Qualificator Joined: 11 Oct 2004 Posts: 33

baka!!!!!!!!! ^____________________________________________________^;;

Rankin · Needs to get out more Joined: 03 Jan 2004 Posts: 891

Dogthing · Vociferator Joined: 26 Oct 2003 Posts: 307

SUGOI DESU~!

Now I can live out my dreams and go to japan and talk to hot japanese women about anime they'll love me I know!!!!! Japan is so sugoi ^___^

edit: I would much rather learn Chinese and Spanish. Chinese because with the economy of China doing fucking gymnastics and their new urban centers starting to explode, and Spanish because... well... I live in South Florida. And I like cigars and I'd like to actually read those boxes sometime.

ZenZhu · Needs to get out more Joined: 22 Mar 2004 Posts: 897

Having been interested in both cultures, I took up Japanese partly because it was easier to start up on your own, since there's not as much reliance on tonal differences. There is in some words.. like kami, which can mean "paper" or "god," depending on how you say it. Unfortunately, I don't get much chance to develop it. The local continuing education classes don't offer an intermediage Japanese course. There are several levels of Chinese you can take here, however.

Chinese would be a little more useful, since there's a high population of Chinese here in St. Louis, and a lot more in the U.S. in general, except maybe in Hawaii. So, I'd at least get some listening practice.. although, apparently Cantonese is more prevalent in Chinatowns here, whereas Mandarin has come to be the primary dialect of "learned" China. The economic boons are a plus as well if you're in something with the prospects for international business.

Since I'd like to visit both China and Japan as well, I'm starting to think a better level of fluency in the country that is less advanced would be advantageous. It might be easier to find help with a limited knowledge of Japanese in Japan, versus being more advantageous to know more Chinese if you get stranded in the middle of BFE in China.

Wayd Wolf · Vociferator Joined: 06 Oct 2003 Posts: 563

If present trends continue, we will be inundated in Chinese, looking at a majority of humans being Muslim, and most speaking Spanish by the time of Star Trek.

Of course the phrase If present trends continue... has been used to claim we'd have a twenty-five billion population and eating each other ala Soylent Green, buried under a mile of ice in a new ice age, boiled as Earth became a new Venus, or almost extinct due to starvation by now.

Present trends never continue.

ZenZhu · Needs to get out more Joined: 22 Mar 2004 Posts: 897

No, but old ones come back.. like bell bottoms and ALF. We've gone through retro 60s and 70s... I'm hoping we can fly past the 80s and pretend like they never existed. Speaking of which, I just bought David Carradine's Kung Fu Workout. It was made in 1987. OMG....... so much teased hair and pastel colors! It nearly gave me a stroke.

Gargoyle · Coadjutor Joined: 04 Sep 2004 Posts: 91

In the related news:
SO YOU WANT TO REARN ENGRISH?

(Team Ninja official website)

MagKnightX · Venter Joined: 04 Dec 2003 Posts: 286

The reason for engrish would be that many people forget the cardinal rule of translating: You translate from your weak language into your strong one.

I'unno. Of all the far eastern languages, I'd probably prefer to learn Mandarin. May come in useful someday. Of course, hopefully I could learn it in a classroom setting. Although as far as languages go, I'm more interested in ancient western... Hebrew, Aramaic, Ancient Greek, Latin.

BAliBASE · Rasophore Joined: 22 Oct 2004 Posts: 52

I remember showing that page to some kids in my Japanese class in high school. We laughed for a pletty rong time.

http://www.americakokki.com/english/english.html
Learn English!

M0us3_Zero · Venter Joined: 22 Mar 2004 Posts: 278

If any Anime Fans don't laugh at that, I will personally place a boot upside their frontal lobe. It might make their brains work.

SLaitila · Prattler Joined: 03 Jun 2003 Posts: 197

A friend of mine is actually majoring in japanese, and, though it doesn't seem, as I have heard, so hard at the beginning I assume it will sooner or later. The classmate stereotypes were pretty much what she told me they would be, except for the japanese spouse thing, that doesn't really apply to Finland as we don't have too many japanese people around. One fairly common stereotype here is the J-rock/j-pop fan, which I have heard of, are annoying as hell. Dir en grey rocks ass, though.

Kadius · Vociferator Joined: 10 Feb 2004 Posts: 370

Dir en grey rocks ass, though.

I only have a few of their songs. Malice Mizer kicks ass. To me, they're almost like the japanese japanese version of The Smashing Pumpkins.

And japanese does seem pretty hard, considering there's like 20 words for 'you'. You silly gaijins. Kowai no ka?

SLaitila · Prattler Joined: 03 Jun 2003 Posts: 197

I only have a few of their songs. Malice Mizer kicks ass. To me, they're almost like the japanese japanese version of The Smashing Pumpkins.

Oh yes. I love the way japanese rock bands break the genre barriers. In scandinavia it's absolutely horrible how bands tend to make a "one style music." They put obvious rip-offs in genres (melodic power metal = helloween rip off) and vice versa (bands that use techno-synths = Rammstein rip off.)

creature · Venter Joined: 06 Nov 2003 Posts: 221

Oh yes. I love the way japanese rock bands break the genre barriers. In scandinavia it's absolutely horrible how bands tend to make a "one style music." They put obvious rip-offs in genres (melodic power metal = helloween rip off) and vice versa (bands that use techno-synths = Rammstein rip off.)

Scandinavian deathmetal. that's some funny shit right there.

M0us3_Zero · Venter Joined: 22 Mar 2004 Posts: 278

One thing I do know, Death Metal is only a product of America.

I know, since I've heard Japanese attempts at it. It just sounds like Speed Metal with some pissed off Japanese guy trying to do a "gore" voice.

21st Century Digital Boy · Rasophore Joined: 27 Dec 2003 Posts: 60

Oh yes. I love the way japanese rock bands break the genre barriers. In scandinavia it's absolutely horrible how bands tend to make a "one style music." They put obvious rip-offs in genres (melodic power metal = helloween rip off) and vice versa (bands that use techno-synths = Rammstein rip off.)

Scandinavian deathmetal. that's some funny shit right there.

Nonono, Scandanavian BLACK FUCKIN METAL is where it's at. A friend of mine who's deeply into that shit recently lent me my new favorite book, which among other things, details just how utterly goatfuckingly crazy some Norwegian and Swedish metalheads have gotten.

Also, death metal doesn't have corpse paint.

One thing I do know, Death Metal is only a product of America.

Actually, if I remember correctly, it started in American--Florida, specifically, of all places--and Scandanavia pretty much around the exact same time (with most of the big death metal bands claiming they were "TRUE BLACK FUCKIN METAL from the start!" when that started to hit it big).

SLaitila · Prattler Joined: 03 Jun 2003 Posts: 197

Fucking AYE!

Dogthing · Vociferator Joined: 26 Oct 2003 Posts: 307

Actually, if I remember correctly, it started in American--Florida, specifically, of all places

Dammit, why does my state always have to be the one to fuck up America? :(

ZenZhu · Needs to get out more Joined: 22 Mar 2004 Posts: 897

And japanese does seem pretty hard, considering there's like 20 words for 'you'. You silly gaijins.

And yet, the funny part is they rarely use any of them.