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...they speak back to you in really really bad English. There's this one guy I know who insists on speaking in English to me when I try to speak to him in Japanese. My Japanese is nowhere near perfect, but it's a damn sight better than this guy's English which is almost non-existant.

 

Very annoying. Does anyone else find that?

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I don’t really find it annoying any more. The truth is I sat down and made some thinking one day. I speak to them in Japanese because I wana practice my Japanese, so samewise if someone speaks to me in English is most probably because he thinks that is a good opportunity for him to practice his English. Aeon, Nova e.t.c are charging these people way too much money for their crappy quality of lessons they give. I think that someone that takes these lessons want at least to check if he is actually learning or not as I wana check if I can express my self in Japanese. What is more important to me now is if the answer that I take back in Japanese or English makes me feel that the person I addressed the question to understood what I was asking. I also don’t ever forget the time that my Japanese was crappy; I wonder how I sounded back then sometimes.

As they say, “practice makes better” and this works both ways. ;\)

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Oh, HoRoTD I could not read between the lines.

Muikabochi, if "Nihongo de shabette kudasai" does not work, try some violent way " Nihongo de shabere iutoru yaro!" lol... This may be hard if you don't speak Kansai dialect. You have to take the risk when you try this way because this is really an agressive and impolite way \:\(

 

As tsondaboy says, practice makes it better. For example if you try karaoke to sing some Japanese songs often, it would improve your pronounciation because that is how I tried to practice English when I was a high school student. -Make sure, it was almost 30 years ago when English speaking teachers were never available in schools, don't calculate my age! lol..... It doesn't matter even if you don't understand the meanings of the songs. It just works to improve your pronounciation then you are getting used to Japanese.

Good luck!

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Actually I sang English songs at home not in a karaoke box coz karaoke boxes were not available at that time.

I bought some records (not CD!! lol )and sang some songs of Olivia Newton John, Jon Denver, Glen Campbell and mostly ABBA after my sinior high school days.

So my English may sound like some Swedish accent :p

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Some more points I think important are

 

**Practice same phrases again and again**

 

And please note some points below.

 

#1 Each and every Japanese word doesn't always have a stress in it.

 

#2 if you put a stress in mistake, the meanings changes as 'desert' and 'dessert' have a stress in different syllable.

 

#3 Pronounce vowels clearly. If it's a single vowel, we have only 5 - a, e, i, o, u.

English has a lot more vowels.

 

Good luck

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 Quote:
Originally posted by gamera:
It doesn't matter even if you don't understand the meanings of the songs. It just works to improve your pronounciation then you are getting used to Japanese.
Good luck!
:D haha. I have a Japanese friend that tried really hard to teach me an old Japanese kindergarten song from some 20 years ago about a policeman and his dog. The chorus goes something like "wan-wan wan wan, wan-wan wan wan...." (ie, a 'dog' noise). It was a great tune, I used to march around singing it.
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 Quote:
Originally posted by muikabochi:
...they speak back to you in really really bad English. There's this one guy I know who insists on speaking in English to me when I try to speak to him in Japanese. My Japanese is nowhere near perfect, but it's a damn sight better than this guy's English which is almost non-existant.

Very annoying. Does anyone else find that?
I hear what youre saying and have felt that way in the past when I had only been here like 2 years or so but for me I think it went in waves, the longer youre here the less it bothers you...at least for me.

Look at it from his perspective, especially if youre in the inaka, If you speak Japanese with him and he speaks English with you whats the big deal? Youre both satisfied ya? You might be the only person he has contact with who isnt Japanese and has a strong interest in learning/speaking English. Surely there are 145,000,000 other Japanese you can speak with. He may not have that luxury. Just my 2 cents \:\)
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 Quote:
Originally posted by Dear Britain:
\:D haha. I have a Japanese friend that tried really hard to teach me an old Japanese kindergarten song from some 20 years ago about a policeman and his dog. The chorus goes something like "wan-wan wan wan, wan-wan wan wan...." (ie, a 'dog' noise). It was a great tune, I used to march around singing it.
Zannen! A policedog and a kid cat that got lost.
But see, it worked, right?
You still remember it.

Maigo no maigo no koneko chan
Anata no ouchi wa doko desuka?
Ouchi o kiite mo wakaranai
Namae o kiite mo wakaranai
Nyan nyan nya nyan
Nyan nyan nya nyan
Naite bakari iru koneko chan
Inu no omawari san
Komatte shimatte
Wan wan wa wan
Wan wan wa wan ;\)
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Ocean, Gamera: YES! that is the song!

 

 Quote:
Originally posted by Ocean11:

You were a bit of a closet student of Japanese weren't you db?

Me? Not really. I do not know a gaijin that knows less Japanese than me. A few took shallow joy in reminding me of this fact whenever they felt the need to Japanerate themselves.

 

But I have other things.....

 

My connections with Japan are actually now closer than ever. The time I spent there continues to enrich my life in an increasing manner and to my advantage and goodwill. This enrichment is often unexpected and comes in packages of unusual form. So, Japan and I are becoming much better friends through a diverse set of 'relationships'. My life in Japan was thankfully not 1 dimensional which, no offence intended, I see many supposedly more enlightened short term resident gaijin's experiences to be. I built a foundation. At the human level I have a magnificent Japanese friend who is at the same time my role model, mentor, equal and mirror on which I can experience myself and consequently grow. The 'wan wan' song is amongst the 1000's of things she has taught me. The oddity is that apparently I teach her as much as she teaches me. I quietly thank Japan for offering me these things and feel that Japan should be quite proud of its many representatives.

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Clock, you can hear some old japanese men say Washi for himself which means 'I'. Usually it's said in Kansai area and western.

Good job, Yamakashi - Washi and Onushi are a nice combo clap.gif

 

Muikabochi, how about saying 'Eigo o shaberita kattara, eigo no sensei to shabette kudasai, boku wa nihongo de shaberi tai' to him?

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