Do not learn japanese.. (Specific Languages) Language Learning Forum

Do not learn japanese..
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Language Learning Forum : Specific Languages

28 messages over 4 pages: 1 2 3 4 Next >>

goosefrabbas
Triglot
Pro Member
United States
Joined 6367 days ago
393 posts - 475 votes

Speaks: English*, French, Spanish
Studies: German, Italian
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Message 9 of 28

25 January 2010 at 6:43am | IP Logged

This is great! :D It reminds me of the essay Mark Twain wrote about German.
The Awful German Language
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nadia
Triglot
Groupie
Russian Federation
Joined 5513 days ago
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Speaks: Russian*, English, French
Studies: Hindi

Message 10 of 28

25 January 2010 at 7:05am | IP Logged

Jerome K. Jerome also wrote rather interestingly about the Germans and the German language in "Three Men on the Bummel", esp. in Chapter 7, 9--14.

Well, I'm probably going horribly off-topic but just to even things out - "Xenophobe's Guide to the English". :)

Edited by nadia on 25 January 2010 at 7:05am
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Johntm
Senior Member
United StatesRegistered users can see my Skype Name
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616 posts - 725 votes

Speaks: English*
Studies: Spanish

Message 11 of 28

25 January 2010 at 8:07am | IP Logged

nadia wrote:

The reason I'm writing this is that a similar article could be written about my country/language/culture and I'm not sure I'd be able to take the criticism/joking without the good sides mentioned.

I have to take it I'm America and I get a lot of crap on the internet sometimes...not that I care considering we could most likely take over the country of the person whose criticizing me :)
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Siberiano
Tetraglot
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Russian Federation
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Message 12 of 28

25 January 2010 at 10:59am | IP Logged

nadia wrote:

The reason I'm writing this is that a similar article could be written about my country/language/culture and I'm not sure I'd be able to take the criticism/joking without the good sides mentioned. I like very much the series of small books called "The Xenophobes Guide to...", like this one about Russians -- they are also very jokey but not really xenophobic.

That was funny! And all almost true, just a bit exaggerated. I could hardly restrain from laughing at work xD

Edited by Siberiano on 25 January 2010 at 10:59am
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Pyx
Diglot
Senior Member
China
Joined 5734 days ago
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Speaks: German*, English
Studies: Mandarin

Message 13 of 28

26 January 2010 at 4:22pm | IP Logged

Here's the equivalent for Chinese: Why Chinese is so Damn Hard
Highly recommended!
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GauchoBoaCepa
Triglot
Senior Member
Brazil
Joined 5418 days ago
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Speaks: Portuguese*, English, Spanish

Message 14 of 28

26 January 2010 at 6:02pm | IP Logged

The first article on Japanese is funny but it brings up some stereotype...
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Tyr
Senior Member
Sweden
Joined 5781 days ago
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Speaks: English*
Studies: Swedish

Message 15 of 28

26 January 2010 at 6:15pm | IP Logged

The advantage of learning Japanese is no one knows the difference between it and Chinese and hence think you're absolutely amazing for learning Japanese...despite it actually being pretty logical and not having all that tonal sillyness.
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cathrynm
Senior Member
United States
junglevision.co
Joined 6124 days ago
910 posts - 1232 votes

Speaks: English*
Studies: Japanese, Finnish

Message 16 of 28

26 January 2010 at 10:39pm | IP Logged

Yeah, that article on Chinese is pretty funny/scary.

The contest involved pulling a book at random from the shelves of the Chinese section of the Asia Library and then seeing who could be the first to figure out what the book was about. Anyone who has spent time working in an East Asia collection can verify that this can indeed be a difficult enough task -- never mind reading the book in question.

Oh yeah. Here in Berkeley at the college they've built an East Asian library and it is intimidating. Row after row of books, sorted by Library of Congress numbers with the Japanese books and the Chinese jumbled together.

The other day one of my fellow graduate students, someone who has been studying Chinese for ten years or more, said to me "My research is really hampered by the fact that I still just can't read Chinese.

That's a little bit scary there...

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