Domo arigato, Mr. Roboto
I decided to learn Japanese a couple of weeks ago. It has nothing to do with watching all those Naruto videos on the web - Really! The origins of my interest in Japanese lies in trying to figure out what this guy was saying. (Yeah, I could have just read that article first, but where’s the fun in that?)
It sounds impressive when I say this will make the fourth language I’ve studied - fifth if you count American Sign Language. In reality, however, studying and becoming fluent are two entirely different concepts. I can barely communicate in any of those languages and some may doubt my ability to do so in English as well.
Regardless of how well I do as a student, I enjoy learning about different languages. Each language gives some insight into the culture and history of the people. And I feel slightly ashamed when I meet people and cannot at least say "hello" and introduce myself. Not that I run into many people that cannot speak English in New England, but on those occasions when I can Sign, or fumble through and say something slightly intelligent, I don’t feel quite so useless.
And people are surprised and pleased when you make an effort to talk to them in their native language. I was introduced to someone’s mother who was visiting from Germany a few years ago and got a smile when I spoke to her. I can understand more than I can speak and had to quickly revert back to English, but on the whole she seemed to enjoy my attempts.
I do not have a natural talent for learning languages. At best I can parrot some simple phrases. And all the languages I’ve studied get muddled together so I end up with "English" and "Foreign" in my head. If I’m not careful, I’ll mix and match words and say absolute nonsense in all of them at the exact same time - not unlike my normal mode of communication.
And if you need help with the title, domo arigato is probably the best known - or perhaps only known bit of Japanese in the United States. Sad. So very, very sad.
Study hard - and practice. I took Japanese for quite some time at 'Tech. It started as an elective that would not count toward my degree. Then, I changed to pass/fail. Then, I changed to audit (no grades at all). I finally had to drop it altogether, because, though it was well taught and enjoyable, auditing this class was taking more time than all my other classes combined!!
I still remember a sad little bit, most notably "wakarimasen" (I have forgotten)
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I'm sort of "auditing" my class in that I downloaded three different immersion audio books, so no credit for me.
It's interesting to listen each "class" as they go over similar material but with slightly different emphasis. One is far more social with phrases like "I want to eat sushi" and "let's go drink beer". I guess that identifies their target audience. Another is a sort of adventure, where you are trapped in an amusement park that's been taken over by fans of "Flower Arrangers, a truly horrible live-action television show." You must learn enough Japanese to infiltrate their group and learn their secret plans.
I haven't listened to the third much because it's pretty dry and focuses on vocabulary without any context. Counting, colors, etc... Useful to be sure, but tough to wrap my head around.
Since I'm listening while driving (and no one is listening to me mangle the poor, defenseless language) I get two good hours practice each day of listening and repeating.
But it has shown a weakness in the mp3 player I purchased. It's rather cumbersome to scan through the recordings. The words and phrases are only repeated twice before moving on to the next and I like to hear and practice them at least a dozen times. But the controls on the player only skip forward or backward an entire recording. Great if you want to skip a song or listen to it in its entirety again but lousy for backing up 30 seconds. For that you have to go through the menu. But then the controls are locked because I'm using the FM transmitter so I have to unplug the unit, scan back, then plug it in again. Ugh. I finally just started listening to one chapter from one book, then a chapter from the other, then repeating the first chapter... switching back and forth until I feel comfortable with the material.
Time for more homework. Gotta watch those Naruto episodes with English subtitles so I can practice picking out words and phrases.
It's a good excuse, eh?
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