Author Topic: The General Chit Chat Thread (Read 1541866 times)

Aesthesis · « **Reply #11400 on:** January 05, 2010, 05:35:29 PM »

Yeah, I intend to visit Japan as part of the JET program after I've finished my course, plus its a sell-able skill and I've always wanted to be bilingual. Thanks for the advice, sadly I don't know anyone who could help me, if I wanted to learn Mandarin it'd be a different story but its not a popular language here. Are there any groups or websites where I could find someone who could help? Maybe a mutual exchange?

I guess I should focus on Hiragana and volcab. I learned Katakana first because it was useful for when I played Japanese game imports. I have head of kids books with Furigana to help them learn Kanji but I've never heard of it beyond that. :/ Well no point in thinking about that yet, I need to understand Hiragana before it becomes useful anyway.

Borror0 · « **Reply #11401 on:** January 05, 2010, 05:38:53 PM »

Quote from: psyren on January 05, 2010, 08:58:50 AM

You're not allowed to be a retard.

But... Havoc10k has been able to do so for months already!!

newy · « **Reply #11402 on:** January 05, 2010, 05:41:36 PM »

That was good, Borror0!

kureshii · « **Reply #11403 on:** January 05, 2010, 06:05:08 PM »

Quote from: Borror0 on January 05, 2010, 05:38:53 PM

Quote from: psyren on January 05, 2010, 08:58:50 AM
You're not allowed to be a retard.
But... Havoc10k has been able to do so for months already!!

Yeah, he has. He's also taken a weeks' leave on a couple of occasions... Are you itching for a vacation too? :O

kurandoinu · « **Reply #11404 on:** January 05, 2010, 06:07:34 PM »

Can we pick the destination? I'm sick of the UK now

(jk)

Borror0 · « **Reply #11405 on:** January 05, 2010, 06:39:05 PM »

OMG! I was about to go looking for job today, and a dream job offer appeared in my email box!

I already love 2010.

logos · « **Reply #11406 on:** January 06, 2010, 01:29:00 AM »

yeah 2010 is looking promising, I'm moving to longbeach california next week...to bad the water will be cold...

mizore · « **Reply #11407 on:** January 06, 2010, 05:16:47 AM »

Quote from: kureshii on January 05, 2010, 06:05:08 PM

... Are you itching for a vacation too? :O

Quote from: kurandoinu on January 05, 2010, 06:07:34 PM

Can we pick the destination? I'm sick of the UK now (jk)

Dubai plzkthxbai.

Plzzzzzzzzzzzzz.... <3

Morgia · « **Reply #11408 on:** January 06, 2010, 06:20:53 AM »

Quote from: Aesthesis on January 05, 2010, 05:35:29 PM

Yeah, I intend to visit Japan as part of the JET program after I've finished my course, plus its a sell-able skill and I've always wanted to be bilingual. Thanks for the advice, sadly I don't know anyone who could help me, if I wanted to learn Mandarin it'd be a different story but its not a popular language here. Are there any groups or websites where I could find someone who could help? Maybe a mutual exchange?

Isn't it much more sell-able in the US if you speak spanish, russian or german as your second language?
About groups... uhm... never been in a chatroom? You got da intanetz! I think even in the BBT irc you may be able to find one or another native speaker from the country of your choice. If not here, try Minitokyo or whatever.

mizore · « **Reply #11409 on:** January 06, 2010, 06:52:12 AM »

Not to mention, there has been such a large integration of Kanji into Japanese that it seems specious to spend exorbitant amounts of time solely with Hiragana and Katakana. And then there's Romaji....

There are plenty of programs designed to fast-track a basic foundation for current Japanese language utilization. These are perfect for outlining the integral specifics and will provide a basis for directing you to a more informed authority for where you should focus your efforts.

My sister spent a lot of time learning Japanese in college, and her experience was that the majority of her comprehension and incorporation came from real-world encounters. She felt that the textbook knowledge mostly served as an orientation.

Aesthesis · « **Reply #11410 on:** January 06, 2010, 08:48:44 AM »

Quote from: Morgia on January 06, 2010, 06:20:53 AM

Isn't it much more sell-able in the US if you speak spanish, russian or german as your second language?
About groups... uhm... never been in a chatroom? You got da intanetz! I think even in the BBT irc you may be able to find one or another native speaker from the country of your choice. If not here, try Minitokyo or whatever.

I live in the UK but it's still true that any of the above would be more beneficial when it comes to job searching. Through school I haven't had much success with French or Russian. Still, unlike other languages I have a personal motivation to learn Japanese so I'm hoping it'll stick easier. I guess I could go trawling through a few sites to see if I can find somebody, although that said I'm not really comfortable with bugging/asking for help from someone I don't know.

Quote from: mizore on January 06, 2010, 06:52:12 AM

There are plenty of programs designed to fast-track a basic foundation for current Japanese language utilization. These are perfect for outlining the integral specifics and will provide a basis for directing you to a more informed authority for where you should focus your efforts.

Care to name a few? I'm currently using Rosetta Stone, Pimsleur and IKnow/Smart.fm as learning tools, but they all seem to be relatively free form in terms of learning order. I'm always pushed for time when it comes to my extra curricular learning but I've decided at my current pace, progress is just too slow so I made it my 'new years resolution' to structure my learning and get it done this year. So the first stage is to set out targets and I'm just curious about what kind of targets I should make for myself, challenging, yet realistic.

kurandoinu · « **Reply #11411 on:** January 06, 2010, 08:50:29 AM »

I was using Japanesepod 101 when I started trying to learn a few years back. But they seem to have made all the old podcasts paid for now, so its become a little useless (I couldn't navigate anything on the paid site properly :S).

My sister got a recall for Britains Got Talent!

Morgia · « **Reply #11412 on:** January 06, 2010, 10:18:41 AM »

Quote from: kurandoinu on January 06, 2010, 08:50:29 AM

My sister got a recall for Britains Got Talent!

What did she do? Look cute and speak with her parrot?

kurandoinu · « **Reply #11413 on:** January 06, 2010, 10:23:40 AM »

Sang Memories from Cats. She's only 13, but she's pretty good.

psyren · « **Reply #11414 on:** January 06, 2010, 10:32:07 AM »

Get her to enter the next BBT Idol <__<

kurandoinu · « **Reply #11415 on:** January 06, 2010, 10:35:40 AM »

Lol. Maybe I will. She has her own fan page on facebook now xD

Morgia · « **Reply #11416 on:** January 06, 2010, 11:05:00 AM »

ah meh... so that's the reason... I dunno... from what I've seen so far you can do whatever you want if you're under 14 and look halfway cute and never get dismissed... people just seem to have a knack for children. Really... I looked at the stuff on youtube that finalist girl from the first season sang... and it just curled up my toenails. And she was in the friggin' finals.

kurandoinu · « **Reply #11417 on:** January 06, 2010, 11:17:02 AM »

I don't think my sisters on youtube yet or I'd send you a link. But she's been doing lessons for singing, various forms of dance and acting for years now. Since she was about 7. She didn't just get through for her youth factor, in fact for a lot of stuff thats held her back because shes too young.

I wish I had a link to her singing, she is pretty darn fab

EDIT- I found one!

http://vimeo.com/6569140

She's dressed as a Lion, from 9:19

temuchin · « **Reply #11418 on:** January 07, 2010, 03:14:05 AM »

she's also at 5:39. from what i heard she sounds pretty good.
i noticed a mj imitator and a dancing midget as well.

somebody should go in and sing something non-English like Rammstein's "tier" or whatever.
that would be pretty cool.

kurandoinu · « **Reply #11419 on:** January 07, 2010, 10:04:45 AM »

I must have missed that one, lol.

I wanted to go shopping, but its minus 7 today, snowy as hell and theres loads of burst water pipes in the town centre. :/