The (hopeless) prospect of the Japanese language!?

kenisu3000 · Post by **kenisu3000** » Mon Mar 28, 2005 2:27 am

I've been studying Japanese religiously ever since April '99, and yet I've never been in the country, and to go there, even for a brief vacation, seems like such a faraway accomplishment, given my already-busy life and my tight budget.
To this day, I continue to watch raw Japanese DBZ, and I catch snatches of the greater part of each line spoken, but snatches just aren't good enough! I want to master this!
It gets worse outside of anime. I try watching a show that wasn't animated, like The Seven Samurai, but even with the subs on I don't even catch snatches. Not a single word. I guess anime has a language all its own, then.

SpaceKappa · Post by **SpaceKappa** » Mon Mar 28, 2005 2:31 am

Most anime has a very casual tone in its dialog. When you take a movie about samurai, who have a very dignified tone, you're going to miss a lot.

DBW · Post by **DBW** » Mon Mar 28, 2005 3:44 am

Well, DBZ doesn't exactly have the most complicated dialogue. When you think about it, it's pretty rare that the characters say anything difficult to comprehend. It's pretty basic, and that's probably why you can't understand when you watch other Japanese stuff.

As for mastering Japanese, it's not gonna happen by just watching TV and movies. I'd say the only way to truly master the language is to actually live there for a while (force yourself to know and use the language on a daily basis). Just because you've memorized the rules to baseball, and never miss a game on TV, it doesn't mean that you can actually play the game. You know what I'm saying?

Pedro The Hutt · Post by **Pedro The Hutt** » Mon Mar 28, 2005 9:37 am

Or first take classes for a few years before actually heading there.

kenisu3000 · Post by **kenisu3000** » Mon Mar 28, 2005 11:00 am

I think I could get by fairly well in Japan, it's only a matter of budget to get myself there, plus I probably would need a quick "refresher course" on everyday language... otherwise I might end up asking people if they can sense the restroom's ki or something

SpaceKappa · Post by **SpaceKappa** » Mon Mar 28, 2005 12:00 pm

If you wanna find the bathroom, isn't it just "Otearai wa doko desu ka?" It's been a couple of years since I've taken Japanese.

Jerseymilk · Post by **Jerseymilk** » Mon Mar 28, 2005 1:06 pm

Ya but you have to take your own toilet paper. ^^

kenisu3000 · Post by **kenisu3000** » Mon Mar 28, 2005 1:07 pm

Too late, already wet myself

Kanzenshuu

The (hopeless) prospect of the Japanese language!?

The (hopeless) prospect of the Japanese language!?

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