HelperElfMissy 42 Posted November 11, 2009 Share Posted November 11, 2009 Originally Posted By: Go Native Believe me they knew. Maybe they are just showing off their language skills or possibly they have become so engrossed in the culture that they only want to associate with those that speak Japanese. They were native English speakers themselves, as that's what they do, teach English. I have occasionally found on my language journey that those in my field who 'teach' sometimes have their heads so far up it, that they WOULD continue in the language beyond where appropriate just to show off. Link to post Share on other sites
Jynxx 4 Posted November 11, 2009 Share Posted November 11, 2009 Originally Posted By: Creek Boy Originally Posted By: Indo don't worry snowhuntress. Many a time (eg ordering at a restaurant) I would speak perfect Japanese (with Nagoya ben) and the person would just stand there like a stunned mullet. I think it throws them as they are expecting to hear English. saa, After a long time in the place you will naturally pick up an accent, especially if you have Japanese mates. Sounds better I think. X2 Do you think the same thing about Japanese who use gambits as well, Bobby? All the ã‚ã®ã†ã€‚。。ã¦ã‚†ã‹ã€‚。。ãˆã£ãƒ¼ã¨ã€‚。。ã§ã™ã。。。ãªã‚“ã¦ã„ã†ã‹ã€‚。。ã›ã‚„ã‚“ãªã€‚。。what about all the different colloquial styles as well? Do you think Japanese sound dumb for using them? We are a product of our environment, much like babies learn, we learn what we hear, and repeat it as well. I dont understand the difference. The only thing I cringe at when I hear other gaijin speak Japanese is when they sound like their girlfriends and use female speech patterns. Otherwise, for me it is nothing odd to be sitting around with my J-mates speaking Kansai ben here, or Hiroshima ben when I go back there. Now only if I could learn ZuZu ben and really mess with people that's really good guys. no, it doesn't sound dumb by using them. But if you talk like a girl, people will think you are ãŠã‚«ãƒžã¡ã‚ƒã‚“ Link to post Share on other sites
Jynxx 4 Posted November 11, 2009 Share Posted November 11, 2009 Love 関西å¼ã€€ ã‚ã»ã…　何ã„ã†ã¦ã€€ã‘ã¤ã‹ã‚“ãã‚“ï¼ Link to post Share on other sites
DumbStick 13 Posted November 11, 2009 Share Posted November 11, 2009 Whats more annoying to hear is the gaijin SHOUTING in their bad Japanese. Please, turn the volume down. Link to post Share on other sites
DumbStick 13 Posted November 11, 2009 Share Posted November 11, 2009 Japanese SHOUTING as well, but at least they can speak Japanese proper! Link to post Share on other sites
gerard 6 Posted November 11, 2009 Share Posted November 11, 2009 Hmm... I've never seen a foreigner who deliberately puts on a silly high accent when speaking Japanese. That would seem like a strange thing to do. As for foreigners who sound like chicks coz they learn it from their girlfriends - hopefully they'll loose that habit as they improve and speak with more people. I'm jealous of the foreigners that I know who speak such shit-hot Japanese that you wouldn't know they were foreign. That's the goal, there. I don't want to sound English or Canadian or whatever. It's already obvious enough that I'm not Japanese. Link to post Share on other sites
gerard 6 Posted November 11, 2009 Share Posted November 11, 2009 And Snowhuntress, you're discouraged after taking a weekly class for 4 months. What is that, like 16 lessons? ie 16 hours. ie two thirds of one day... Somehow I don't think you'll get much sympathy here Link to post Share on other sites
Jynxx 4 Posted November 11, 2009 Share Posted November 11, 2009 ger, my advice is: Do not analyze and think in terms of individual words strung together. Get into the melody and the rhythm of that language. A lot of things gets worked out under your conscious brain. When you start getting caught up with words, you won't be able to keep up with the flow. Listen and sing sentences. Let the logic you learnt work sporadically behind your brain. Link to post Share on other sites
RobBright 35 Posted November 11, 2009 Share Posted November 11, 2009 What are you smoking? Link to post Share on other sites
Tubby Beaver 209 Posted November 11, 2009 Share Posted November 11, 2009 dunno but hurry up and pass it on!! actually kinda know what you mean Jynxx, my Japanese is pretty bad TBH but I've found that I can actually understand a lot more than I thought I could, but only if I'm passively listening. If I try to listen to each word it takes too much time in my brain to try and compute it by which time the conversation has got away from me Link to post Share on other sites
HelperElfMissy 42 Posted November 11, 2009 Share Posted November 11, 2009 That is also the case with Sign langauges - you get more by following the flow/gist and 'drinking' it in than you do going word by word. I reckon it is probably the same for all languages. Link to post Share on other sites
Yuki's Passion 1 Posted November 12, 2009 Share Posted November 12, 2009 Originally Posted By: bobby12 Is it just me, or is it really irritating when a gaijin puts on a really hardcore Japanese accent? I like my Britishness to come out in my accent, as long as its pronounced correctly I don't see the need to put on a whiny voice or a deep voice, or deliberately put in redundant words like 'sa' or 'nanka ne...' I think Bobby is just frustrated that all other foreigners he encounters speak better Japanese than him Link to post Share on other sites
thursday 1 Posted November 12, 2009 Share Posted November 12, 2009 "I like my Britishness to come out in my accent" How does scouse come out in a Kansai ben? Link to post Share on other sites
RobBright 35 Posted November 12, 2009 Share Posted November 12, 2009 "ei ei ei eigo oooo 'anashimasu ka ei ei ei" Link to post Share on other sites
Yuki's Passion 1 Posted November 12, 2009 Share Posted November 12, 2009 Originally Posted By: RobBright "ei ei ei eigo oooo 'anashimasu ka ei ei ei" Link to post Share on other sites
BagOfCrisps 24 Posted November 12, 2009 Share Posted November 12, 2009 Do you get the joke in full there CB? They're scousers speaking scouse Japanese. You forgot some "la's" in there Rob. Link to post Share on other sites
thursday 1 Posted November 12, 2009 Share Posted November 12, 2009 Bag, CB is well into it. Link to post Share on other sites
gaijindrifter 0 Posted November 12, 2009 Share Posted November 12, 2009 Ironically enough one of the things that really irritates me is speaking Japanese with other English-speaking foreigners. I don't know why, but since way way back I just could never stand it. What makes it worse is that I went to school with all these ugly, usually well overweight, girls that INSISTED on putting on cartoon-ish high pitched 'yellow' Japanese school girl accents that just made me wanna choke myself out. I distinctly remember going to class after a quick 'bar run' and calling a girl out in class cause she was just so damn annoying... to which I received great applause haha But as for accents, I keep my Japanese as simple and authentically foreign as I can. I try to speak like I do in English, though I tend to flatten everything I say as I'm regularly told by people in the Tokyo area that the most annoying thing about foreignors speaking Japanese is when they fluctuate pitch too much. Link to post Share on other sites
bobby12 0 Posted November 12, 2009 Author Share Posted November 12, 2009 fluctuate pitch means what? Link to post Share on other sites
gerard 6 Posted November 12, 2009 Share Posted November 12, 2009 Originally Posted By: bobby12 fluctuate pitch means what? Over-intonate their Japanese as they would English. TBH I was thinking about the original post here and thinking "why the hell would you want to sound like a foreigner and not a native speaker?" But the thing is, native speakers often sound stupid if not just plain lazy. A lot of people talk like this: "It's like... dude... **** man. Like Whatever...." Me too after a few drinks sometimes. I don't think this is something my students should really aspire to. We meet a lot of people over here who speak English as a second language better than people who speak it as a first language so the whole 'native speaker' thing is a bit of a fallacy. (Sorry to get serious. I really didn't understand that pic up there anyway....) Link to post Share on other sites
thursday 1 Posted November 12, 2009 Share Posted November 12, 2009 OK Ger, here's an epic journey. It started with: Originally Posted By: bobby12 I like my Britishness to come out in my accent, Bobby is a notorious Scouser. And asked about sounding his Britishness when speaking Japanese, I presumed he was speaking Japanese with a Scouse accent. Hence the brilliant photo of the Scousers from Harry Enfield, RIP. thanks RobBright. They all look like that thanks to these two-ats and Graeme Souness. Can't be arsed to get a pic of that arse. Link to post Share on other sites
JA2340 16 Posted November 12, 2009 Share Posted November 12, 2009 Originally Posted By: ger A lot of people talk like this: "It's like... dude... **** man. Like Whatever...." And this has some meaning?? To my English speaking brain, (admittedly somewhat old school) this is simply dribble inserted so the brain can catch up with the mouth. It signifies nothing except that the speaker is sublimely stupid (or too lazy to shut up and think before activating mouth!). Link to post Share on other sites
Tubby Beaver 209 Posted November 13, 2009 Share Posted November 13, 2009 Originally Posted By: JA Originally Posted By: ger A lot of people talk like this: "It's like... dude... **** man. Like Whatever...." And this has some meaning?? To my English speaking brain, (admittedly somewhat old school) this is simply dribble inserted so the brain can catch up with the mouth. It signifies nothing except that the speaker is sublimely stupid (or too lazy to shut up and think before activating mouth!). I think thats Ger's point BTW is Hary Enfield dead??!! Link to post Share on other sites
bobby12 0 Posted November 13, 2009 Author Share Posted November 13, 2009 I'm pretty sure Enfield is not dead, I heard he had a new series out last year. Wasn't it Rik Mayall that died? By the way, I am a Londoner not a scouser! Link to post Share on other sites
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