Comments on: Why do you need to study Japanese?

By: kirin

kirin — Fri, 18 Dec 2009 00:44:20 +0000

Thank you, Julia for your comment! ４ヶ月でそんなに日本語が上手になるの？？すごいー。漢字も書けるなんて！！私は英語がわかるようになるまですごい時間かかったよ、何年も！（爆=LOL）I'll refer to the difference of speech between men and women, adults and children, as well as polite and casual sometime on Youtube. So…you liked my rambling in Japanese? I'll make more of them in the future. Stay tuned!

I'd be happy to be friends with you! If you ever come to Japan (Tokyo) contact me.

By: kirin

kirin — Fri, 18 Dec 2009 00:38:55 +0000

Oh ^ ^ Thanks for sharing. You like Visual-kei?

By: Julia

Julia — Thu, 17 Dec 2009 20:54:07 +0000

キリンさん、こんにちは＾＾ブログ本当に、ありがとうございます。
私は４ヶ月前に日本語の勉強を始めました。でも、まだ上手じゃありません。日本のすべてが大好き。
Well, I'm new to this blog,but once I discovered it,I fell in love Thanks Kirin for the hard work!! And your tutorials are certainly useful in both cultural and linguistic way ( even if it's just rambling,its still good to tune our foreign ears to japanese conversation xD) My relationship with japanese is fresh and new.I'm trying to grasp the basics of grammar,kanji and to expand my vocabulary as much as possible. Sometimes it's easy,but sometimes I'm confused to the point of crying! Anyway,I do agree with the above comment that its a shame to travel without the attempt of learning a language and its culture. No doubt,japanese culture is unique and mysterious.( マンガ、アニメ,茶道、書道、温泉、大河ドラマ・・・・） Well,it may sound wierd to someone,but I like the shyness of japanese people and the interesting division in a language ( polite/casual and kid/woman/man style of talking) But there is still much more to Japan,which I'm going to find out :p
友達になりましょうね＾＾

By: isabelle

isabelle — Tue, 17 Nov 2009 13:32:35 +0000

For me i study because i love japan and want to go there because of this ^_^
[youtube fntkA-q8J14&feature=PlayList&p=42B4F4B33C4100D8&index=0&playnext=1 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fntkA-q8J14&fe... youtube]

By: kirin

kirin — Mon, 16 Nov 2009 02:08:32 +0000

Hi Becca,
It's very strange even our economy situation changed from good old days, moms still have this idea, good school = good job = stable in the future. I think that's out-of-date, and if one wants to be really stable financially, then he or she should learn how to invest in real estate or something besides 9-5 jobs. Who knows good companies are still good 30 years later? I'm still wondering how I can write about Uchi/Soto…this is the hard one! Really!! ^ ^; Stay tuned!

By: Becca

Becca — Sun, 15 Nov 2009 02:52:52 +0000

this is one of the things we talked about in anthropology class, the stress for Japanese mothers to raise their children to do well in entrance exams/get into good schools/get good job with a good company for life.

I took this course I am taking now on Japanese anthropology, honestly, because it fit my school schedule =P I found the material interesting and stayed in the class.

I am so glad for your unique personality =) because now I get to read about the culture from an insider's view! I would not like to wear those recruiter suits and go through those manuals either =( maybe that is why I am an arts student and not in business or science haha

By: kirin

kirin — Sat, 14 Nov 2009 12:53:57 +0000

Wow, I respect your attitude! But it's definitely fun if you can speak the local language while you are travelling there.

>I think it's terribly rude to visit other countries without being able to speak even just a handful of words from the >language

カイクン！You mean the dog modelling for Softbank cell phone? ^_^;

By: Troo

Troo — Fri, 13 Nov 2009 16:13:03 +0000

I like Japan, and I think it's terribly rude to visit other countries without being able to speak even just a handful of words from the language. Having been to Japan three times, I'd like to have a far better grasp of the language before I return so that I can go on a hiking holiday and have the ability to stop in at minshuku and ask for a room, or phone ahead and book a place.
The countryside is beautiful, the people are polite and friendly, the culture is significantly different from European (yet startlingly similar to English in so many ways), the language is intriguing (having developed essentially in isolation), and I enjoy the ease with which one can travel around.

It would be nice to be able to read newspapers, signs (you never know if that one you just passed was important!), books (especially cookery books!), and magazines. Japan has a vast wealth of written material just begging to be read, from craft magazines to manga, and I do love to read

And, of course, I'd like to buy all those books of カイクン posing around Tokyo =^-^=

By: kirin

kirin — Thu, 12 Nov 2009 15:22:52 +0000

In your case I know you had to use it to live in Japan! ^__^
Do you enjoy Japanese dramas, TV shows, magazines, etc. so much? You don't have those in the U.S or where you live now or before? (You've lived in so many different places, that's so interesting.) Compared with them, Japanese magazines or TV are more fun to you? Anyway it's good you can enjoy both!

By: Lisa

Lisa — Tue, 10 Nov 2009 20:12:32 +0000

Good question!
I wish I had a straightforward answer, hehe. I first started taking a part time course while at university, because many of my friends were Japanese. (I was in Australia, it's very popular to learn English there!). Then I visited Japan…then I moved there… so it was more out of necessity and usefulness initially. But along the way I've really enjoyed solving little 'mysteries' of words, kanji radicals, proverbs and cultural quirks that can often only be discovered through language.
Now of course I study because I want to be able to work in Japan again, but with a job more suited to my degree and other studies. ….and then of course because I like watching shows like Tokyo Kawaii TV, Ai Nori (though they stopped airing ), drama series and some anime as well. Fashion magazines are of course a giant plus too. ^^
But my main motivator that keeps me going is to be ableto communicate with my friends, former students and make new friends using Japanese.
(I just need to start studying more regularly… JLPT is creeping up too fast!!!)