So I started learning Japanese

[UtwigMU]

In life I act on triggers and impulses for the things I like to do and it has been very rewarding. This is how I decided to learn Russian and decided to go on a few trips.

So triggers are:
- With whole country going under I need a bit of Japanese spirit. Like that WW2 soldier on some island who surendered only sometime in 1970's. (only to direct such effort at something meaningful)
- I really like Japanese movies and one of my favourite bands (Asobi Seksu) has lots of Japanese songs, so I picked up quite a few words already without much effort
- 2 years ago I got drunk with some Japanese designer with great sense of humour and I'd like to follow his thoughts and comments on design - Google translate sucks big time.
- I have a Japanese neighbour, so every time I meet her I exchange a few words. I'm still at very beginner level, so I can just greet, ask how are you and I asked her name
- Some girl at the office studied Chinese so she might be of help with kanji
- It's very different from the 5 languages I'm fluent in, so it's challenging and studying occupies my mind enough that I forget about problems.


So, presently I learned hiragana (took about 8h in 10 days) and went through some introductory free online lessons. Also Japanese punk rock is now blasting from my car ("Boku Panku Rokku ga suki na!" ) I'll see how long it takes, it took me about 3 years with Russian to express myself at satisfactory level.

[TransformX]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XuFe5lqBAYE

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g_RM8To5mjU

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wDNtzMUy4vs

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S3wPT7O_L0g

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U8CmVOZ-sUg

[UtwigMU]

Brilliant!

Actually I had a similar running joke with some Central-Asian (they have nothing to do with Japan but look Asian) friend - I spoke English with fake Japanese accent and then she would say Japanese words back.

[Brian Ellis]

My little experience after a few trips to Japan is not what you say but the gestures that accompany it. For example, the Japanese never say no. 'Hai' means yes, translated literally, but it can also mean no, in the sense that "I hear what you are saying but don't agree with a word of it" or, more succinctly, "Bollocks". Applied at the end of a statement, it can make it into a question such as "Do you agree?" or it can mean "I have stated my position and I don't want to argue with you, so shut up!". Each sense of the word is accompanied with a slightly different position of the head.

If you have to apologise for something, you have to learn how far to bow to express the degree of regret, from a tiny downwards nod to a full scale horizontal bow from the waist. Similarly, when meeting someone, you have to guess his status by a combination of age, his intellect and his position in society, compared with yours, taken contextually with the reason for meeting him. This is accompanied by knowing when to add 'gozaimasu' to a greeting as a mark of extra respect and, more important, when not to!

In other words, the learning of Japanese language must be accompanied by learning Japanese culture and habits as much of their language is unspoken..