I'm confused about if I should speak casually or politely when I'm with a friend and a superior/boss/teacher
Do I just switch back and fourth between causal speach and polite speech? Or do I just stick to polite? Seems kind of weird to talk to a friend when using masu and desu, heh.
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Anonymous2009-03-20 6:41
It's not like you won't make 8192 mistakes when trying to use 敬語 so you might as well just stick to casual speech. 日本人 will laugh about your poor language skills either way because it's completely impossible to master japanese perfectly.
>>535
ネットでは別として、リアル世界ではとりあえず「いつでも敬語」の原則が無難。他人から「こいつなれなれしい外人だな」と思われると嫌われるぞ。日本人はas reserved as the Englishだからな。いずれにせよ日本語に浸っているうちにいつ敬語を使うべきか、いつ使わなくてよいかの違いぐらいわかってくる。まだおまえは日本語文化の空気が読めてないんだよ。
>>528
You cannot master English perfectly, either.
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Anonymous2009-03-22 4:33
>>538
Yea that's true but I think I have mastered it pretty well and it's nowhere near as difficult as Japanese. I don't think I'll eve speak Japanese as fluently as English because as I said Japanese is impossible to master.
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Anonymous2009-03-22 6:38
>>539
If you threw out the kanji shit, Japanese is pretty simple intuitive-grammar language being compared to (for example) Russian. Additionally, it recently got a shitload of English loanwords, thus becoming even easier.
On the separate note, after years of learning English I still can't feel it as a language that anyone really speaks as a mother tongue. It's like mathematics, I'd say.
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Anonymous2009-03-22 7:04
>>540
I think Japanese Grammar gets harder the more you study it. Up to JLPT3 or so it's easy as pie I agree but after that it gradually gets harder. Well and most loanwords have been so assimilated into Japanese phonology that most of the time you still don't get wtf they are talking about IMO.
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Anonymous2009-03-22 8:45
>>539
You can “master” Japanese just as well as you can “master” English. It takes a lot longer because most of were not raised in a kanji using culture.
In five years time I have managed JLPT1, good speaking and listening skills with long-term practical experience, and I am capable of reading research articles within my field in Japanese and discussing my own research and thoughts in Japanese. Give me another five years, and I will be able to speak fluently and be capable of reading and writing anything I want in Japanese without needing a dictionary any more than I do for English or my native language.
But I do sometimes need a dictionary for my English as well as my mother tongue, so if by that definition I have not “mastered” those languages, than Japanese cannot be mastered as well. By that definition most Japanese have not done so either.
How much Japanese is it possible to learn in one month of straight study IN Japan?
I have an opportunity to go, but I want to make sure I'll be able to learn enough to say... teach myself the rest when I get home, through music.. or Rosetta Stone. Stuff like that.
nothing. seriously what do you expect? if you truly want to learn japanese, you should check your local university. they will usually let you take courses even if you are not a student there.
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Anonymous2009-03-23 15:50
>>547
I dunno. Depends on how much you pay attention and actually study. If you just go there and listen and expect to learn you're a dumbass but if you study shit every day then go out and listen you might be able to learn a good amount of basic shit and maybe more.
Well you know... Japan might be a good place to learn Japanese... crazy thought I know, but oh well.
Aside from the sarcasm, it's because taking a 4 credit hour class in another country looks good on applications and resumes, specifically... it looks good on applications for places I want to go, and it will look good on a resume to the employer I would like to hire me.
>>552
be aware of the notorious japanese racism then. have fun being constantly stared at and people standing up when you sit down next to them in trains etc. they generally won't talk to you even if you speak perfect japanese.
>>555
I guess you are right. I shouldn't expect otherwise from a bunch of degenerate low life racists. I mean just look at them, I have yet to see a single attractive japanese woman, so it's only natural they developed an inferiority complex.
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Anonymous2009-03-24 9:18
>>554
that's not racism at all. their characteristic shyness and reservedness account for that. japanese are the least racist of the peoples in the world. you're mistaking them for koreans.