# Try the Japanese! It's invigorating! **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [April 24, 2006, 4:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/try-the-japanese-its-invigorating/353945 "2006-04-24T04:52:18Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![LiveOnAPlane](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/3d9bf3/32.png) [@LiveOnAPlane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LiveOnAPlane)\ **Post date:** [April 24, 2006, 9:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/try-the-japanese-its-invigorating/353945/21 "2006-04-24T21:55:19Z")
**Sunspace** , I really think you should go for it! (Liveonaplane, who knows karate, judo, macrame and five other Japanese words…) ---
**Author:** ![Sunspace](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sunspace/32/1250_2.png) [@Sunspace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sunspace)\ **Post date:** [April 25, 2006, 1:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/try-the-japanese-its-invigorating/353945/22 "2006-04-25T01:24:21Z")
> [@Anastasaeon](#): > > \*Konyanyachiwa! > > Sugoi! Sugoi! _pachi pachi_ > > **Sunspace** -san ichiban desu! Ganbatte! \* > > * * * > > **Translation** … Dankon!\* **LiveOnAPlane** : macrame is Japanese? I had no idea! **Kythereia** : check your email. 🙂 [sub]\*Thanks! in Esperanto[/sub] ---
**Author:** ![Johnny\_L.A](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnny_l.a/32/1084_2.png) [@Johnny\_L.A](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_L.A)\ **Post date:** [April 25, 2006, 1:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/try-the-japanese-its-invigorating/353945/23 "2006-04-25T01:39:32Z")
> [@KlondikeGeoff](#): > > What ever happened to “benjo?” Just remember when you’re ordering food that it’s _ben **t** o_ box. ---
**Author:** ![Morgyn](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/morgyn/32/3041_2.png) [@Morgyn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Morgyn)\ **Post date:** [April 25, 2006, 1:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/try-the-japanese-its-invigorating/353945/24 "2006-04-25T01:42:52Z")
> [@Sunspace](#): > > Eventually I met a friend who was really into anime. I went to a convention, but felt decidedly out of place–most people there were much younger than me. And I most definitely am not “cute”. I’ve seen a picture of you. You are not hard on the eyes, and cute is often overrated. ---
**Author:** ![TokyoBayer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tokyobayer/32/13989_2.png) [@TokyoBayer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TokyoBayer)\ **Post date:** [April 25, 2006, 1:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/try-the-japanese-its-invigorating/353945/25 "2006-04-25T01:44:43Z")
> [@KlondikeGeoff](#): > > What ever happened to “benjo?” That used to be the word for toilet when I lived there many years ago? That’s pretty much never used any more. One thing you will find out about “gambaru” or in the imperative form, “gambatte” is that this is not really directly translatable into English. Japanese use this in situations where English speakers would more likely use “good luck.” **Sunspace** That’s great. I first came to Japan in '81, and have lived her for a total of 18 years. It’s an interesting place and you should really enjoy your visit. If you do come, let me know and I’ll let give you some ideas of places to go and see. > [@Liveonaplane](#): > > Liveonaplane, who knows karate, judo, macrame and five other Japanese words :dubious: macrame comes from French, according to my dictionary. At any rate, it’s not Japanese. ---
**Author:** ![Sunspace](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sunspace/32/1250_2.png) [@Sunspace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sunspace)\ **Post date:** [April 25, 2006, 2:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/try-the-japanese-its-invigorating/353945/26 "2006-04-25T02:29:25Z")
> [@Morgyn](#): > > I’ve seen a picture of you. You are not hard on the eyes, and cute is often overrated. Thanks :: blush :: But I am a 42-year-old man starting to go grey at the temples. The “cute” they had tended to be the bouncy enthusiastic 13-year-old-girl kitten-and-puppy-and-unicorn kind of thing, all glitter and giggles: it was simply not me. On the other hand, in the late nineties, I had great fun writing stories about [evil sapient rabbits](http://www.devilbunnies.org) bent on the conquest of Earth, using cuteness (“The Ky00t”) as a psychological weapon to undermine a disbelieving humanity. 🙂 Thanks, **TokyoPlayer**! Local knowledge is always appreciated. ---
**Author:** ![Morgyn](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/morgyn/32/3041_2.png) [@Morgyn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Morgyn)\ **Post date:** [April 25, 2006, 3:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/try-the-japanese-its-invigorating/353945/27 "2006-04-25T03:34:36Z")
> [@Sunspace](#): > > Thanks :: blush :: > > But I am a 42-year-old man starting to go grey at the temples. The “cute” they had tended to be the bouncy enthusiastic 13-year-old-girl kitten-and-puppy-and-unicorn kind of thing, all glitter and giggles: it was simply not me. > > On the other hand, in the late nineties, I had great fun writing stories about [evil sapient rabbits](http://www.devilbunnies.org) bent on the conquest of Earth, using cuteness (“The Ky00t”) as a psychological weapon to undermine a disbelieving humanity. 🙂 And I’m an almost 42-year-old woman who’s definitely rounder than she should be. Get thee to a science fiction convention. “Cute” comes in all ages, shapes, and genders, there. Best of all, most of the attendees have _minds_. Cute’s no fun when it’s boring. Those bunny stories sound amusing. You should post one sometime. ---
**Author:** ![BraheSilver](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/ecccb3/32.png) [@BraheSilver](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BraheSilver)\ **Post date:** [April 25, 2006, 5:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/try-the-japanese-its-invigorating/353945/28 "2006-04-25T05:52:31Z")
And I just bought _Japanese for Dummies_ last weekend… No, really, I did. I work for the American arm of a Japanese company, and I deal with translations (I’m the final link in the “Japanese \> Janglish \> English” chain) on a daily basis. Actually knowing Japanese is definately not required, but it might help, plus it’s always nice to improve myself. That, and my direct superior got a free business trip to Japan this month, so I’m trying to crawl my way up that corporate ladder. The book comes with a CD, but I’ve found that while I have the pronunciations okay, and most of the sentence structure down, I can’t get actual vocabulary without using it! (and don’t start on me yet, I’m not done with the book! 😉 ) ---
**Author:** ![Cerowyn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/82dd89/32.png) [@Cerowyn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cerowyn)\ **Post date:** [April 25, 2006, 6:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/try-the-japanese-its-invigorating/353945/29 "2006-04-25T06:36:39Z")
> [@Sunspace](#): > > Thanks, **TokyoPlayer**! Local knowledge is always appreciated. 'Cause the guy you know isn’t a good enough source? :dubious: Besides, I have it on good authority that **TokyoPlayer** ignores emails. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Gozu\_Tashoya](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/7993a0/32.png) [@Gozu\_Tashoya](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gozu_Tashoya)\ **Post date:** [April 25, 2006, 6:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/try-the-japanese-its-invigorating/353945/30 "2006-04-25T06:48:32Z")
What a great story, **Sunspace** , best of luck to you. If you can find a good “learn basic kanji” book on Amazon or something, I’d recommend getting a head start. IME, the Japanese language itself isn’t terribly difficult once you get the hang of it, but learning/memorizing kanji drives me batshit crazy. I’d probably still be taking the language if I could find a high-level class that was more “conversational” in the sense that I wouldn’t have to memorize quite so much characters. 😛 ---
**Author:** ![Sunspace](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sunspace/32/1250_2.png) [@Sunspace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sunspace)\ **Post date:** [April 25, 2006, 7:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/try-the-japanese-its-invigorating/353945/31 "2006-04-25T07:22:05Z")
> [@Cerowyn](#): > > 'Cause the guy you know isn’t a good enough source? :dubious: > > Besides, I have it on good authority that **TokyoPlayer** ignores emails. 😃 **Cerowyn**! I… haven’t seen you around here lately! :: stammers apology in some form of language, hits head on floor :: :: makes mental note to offer **Cerowyn** a biru at the next TronnaDope :: ---
**Author:** ![Sunspace](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sunspace/32/1250_2.png) [@Sunspace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sunspace)\ **Post date:** [April 25, 2006, 7:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/try-the-japanese-its-invigorating/353945/32 "2006-04-25T07:27:12Z")
> [@Morgyn](#): > > And I’m an almost 42-year-old woman who’s definitely rounder than she should be. So, how _you_ doin–_thwap_ :: ahem :: Sorry. > [@Morgyn](#): > > Get thee to a science fiction convention. “Cute” comes in all ages, shapes, and genders, there. Best of all, most of the attendees have _minds_. Cute’s no fun when it’s boring. And to think that I didn’t go to the World SF convention when it was in Toronto a couple of years ago. _twitch_ > [@Morgyn](#): > > Those bunny stories sound amusing. You should post one sometime. I’ll see what I can do. That could be… tricky, given that they were interwoven with other authors’ posts on Usenet. (Remember Usenet?) ---
**Author:** ![LiveOnAPlane](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/3d9bf3/32.png) [@LiveOnAPlane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LiveOnAPlane)\ **Post date:** [April 25, 2006, 12:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/try-the-japanese-its-invigorating/353945/33 "2006-04-25T12:17:52Z")
> [@TokyoPlayer](#): > > … > :dubious: macrame comes from French, according to my dictionary. At any rate, it’s not Japanese. That was meant as a joke on myself! 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Sunspace](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sunspace/32/1250_2.png) [@Sunspace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sunspace)\ **Post date:** [April 25, 2006, 2:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/try-the-japanese-its-invigorating/353945/34 "2006-04-25T14:07:00Z")
> [@LiveOnAPlane](#): > > That was meant as a joke on myself! 🙂 I’ve seen people spell anime with an accent on the end, as if it were French. It’s not so far-fetched that a similar spelling of macrame, with accent and C instead of K, might have caught on years ago and become the standard, is it? ---
**Author:** ![tremorviolet](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/e47774/32.png) [@tremorviolet](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tremorviolet)\ **Post date:** [April 25, 2006, 4:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/try-the-japanese-its-invigorating/353945/35 "2006-04-25T16:04:48Z")
> [@nevermore](#): > > dude, dude, dude. there is this amazing thing at UT MWF from 4-5 pm during which several Japanese and English speaking people meet up and practice conversation in Japanese. I just went for the first time last week (unfortunately I never get to go because I always work MWF, except today, but of course I forgot). it’s sort of a place where Japanese people can meet up and talk to each other, but they’re also willing to converse with anyone who’s interested in talking to them. most of them also come to the 3-4 English version, so if you help them by conversing in English with them during that time, they’ll be happy to speak Japanese with you too. it’s free, it’s totally informal (you come when you want to, no obligation at all), and it’s very helpful. > > if you’re interested, email me (should be in my profile) and I’ll send you the building and room number. 🙂 Man, that sounds really cool. I wish I didn’t have a real job. But, that gives me an idea. Maybe I can find out if there are any Japanese students who want to have a conversation exchange and doesn’t mind talking to a non-student aged person. I’ve even actually done ESL tutoring before. But I’m also gonna have to get over my paralyzing phobia of sounding like an idiot. Of all the weird coincidences, my landlady is actually Japanese but I’m usually too embarassed to say much to her. :smack: > [@Necros](#): > > And I wouldn’t worry about having a hard time with manga: Very slangy. My best advice for people wanting to learn to read would be to find a book published in both English and Japanese that you love, and wouldn’t mind reading over and over again. Read a few times back to back in English to get it fixed in your head, and then start in on the Japanese copy. Since you know the story and dialogue, you will find it increasingly easy to understand the Japanese version… Manga’s the main reason I started learning Japanese and my main motivation. I still try to read my manga every night; it’s really cool how I go back and read stuff I got a couple of years ago and I can now pretty much tell what’s going on (but, then again, I mostly read romances and “aisheteru” is pretty easy). I do get the English translations and go back to see what I don’t get. My biggest problem is basic vocabulary. I’m doing OK with the kanji but I don’t know that many words beyond the kanji I’ve learned. I like your idea about the book. I’ve toyed with the idea of getting a copy of Harry Potter from Amazon.jp. There’s an audio book too so I could listen to it as well… ---
**Author:** ![Cerowyn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/82dd89/32.png) [@Cerowyn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cerowyn)\ **Post date:** [April 25, 2006, 4:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/try-the-japanese-its-invigorating/353945/36 "2006-04-25T16:06:10Z")
> [@Sunspace](#): > > :: makes mental note to offer **Cerowyn** a biru at the next TronnaDope :: Nomimasho! Futatsu biru o onegai shimasu! ---
**Author:** ![Sunspace](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sunspace/32/1250_2.png) [@Sunspace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sunspace)\ **Post date:** [April 25, 2006, 4:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/try-the-japanese-its-invigorating/353945/37 "2006-04-25T16:12:09Z")
> [@Cerowyn](#): > > Nomimasho! Futatsu biru o onegai shimasu! Okay! Okay! I give! I give! I’ll start taking the classes as soon as I can! _Mi devas paroli cxiame per la pleja plimulto da lingvoj, kiu eblas! Biru des! Allemand left! Voilà! Voici! Radio-Canada!_ ---
**Author:** ![Necros](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/necros/32/11086_2.png) [@Necros](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Necros)\ **Post date:** [April 25, 2006, 4:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/try-the-japanese-its-invigorating/353945/38 "2006-04-25T16:38:16Z")
> [@tremorviolet](#): > > My biggest problem is basic vocabulary. I’m doing OK with the kanji but I don’t know that many words beyond the kanji I’ve learned. I like your idea about the book. I’ve toyed with the idea of getting a copy of Harry Potter from Amazon.jp. There’s an audio book too so I could listen to it as well… I was actually going to recommend some Harry Potter. I used Battle Royale to learn from, so my vocabulary is a tad…skewed. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Sunspace](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sunspace/32/1250_2.png) [@Sunspace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sunspace)\ **Post date:** [April 25, 2006, 4:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/try-the-japanese-its-invigorating/353945/39 "2006-04-25T16:42:26Z")
> [@Necros](#): > > I was actually going to recommend some Harry Potter. I used Battle Royale to learn from, so my vocabulary is a tad…skewed. 🙂 Would it be a good idea to start with something simpler, like, say, _Winnie the Pooh_? ---
**Author:** ![Necros](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/necros/32/11086_2.png) [@Necros](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Necros)\ **Post date:** [April 25, 2006, 4:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/try-the-japanese-its-invigorating/353945/40 "2006-04-25T16:52:37Z")
> [@Sunspace](#): > > Would it be a good idea to start with something simpler, like, say, _Winnie the Pooh_? Yes. 🙂 There are children’s books you could start with, written entirely in hiragana. I’m not sure how valuable they would be, since they tend to be very short, and not exactly something you’d want to read over and over. But it might be something nice to help you remember and apply your kana knowledge once you start in on the class. Plus, the language will be simple enough that the constructions you learn early will be applicable. Oh, and by the way, **Cerowyn** ’s sentence translates to: “Let’s drink! Two buildings, please!” Not quite sure why you’d want to drink buildings, though… 😉 [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/try-the-japanese-its-invigorating/353945.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/try-the-japanese-its-invigorating/353945.md?page=3)