Japanese

[deralte]

I've been meaning to mention that we're doing the keigo (polite language) chapter in Japanese atm and I'm kinda disappointed that it's so easy. I'd expected with all the fuss and the fact that I'm taking a lower level course because of it, that it'd be hard. A lot of the phrases are familiar in a 'huh. I've heard that before' sort of way just from my everyday life in Japan. Oh well, at least my spelling in Japanese is improving. I'm a little disappointed I only got a 88 on the midterm, but how was I supposed to know I'd need to be able to spell 'robot', 'pants' and 'cup' in katakana? (If I know before hand, I can memorize the spelling, but I invariably misspell even the most obvious of words when switching from English to katakana. It's quite frustrating.)

I'm looking forward to our next chapter which is 'humble expressions' or as I've dubbed it, "The Learn to Speak Like Kenshin" chapter degozaruyo!

Comments

[gramarye1971]

I swear that I learned a good 60 percent of my keigo from anime. However, I always feel a little embarrassed about using it -- probably because the one time I ventured to use it when I was in Japan, the person I was speaking to practically applauded me.

[deralte.livejournal.com]

You kinda have to take praise for your Japanese from a Japanese person with a grain of salt. They're so happy you're speaking their language, they don't really care if you mangle it, and they feel obligated to say something which won't insult you. I once got told my Japanese was skilful after only saying, "Arigatou." *rolls eyes*

[ashfae.livejournal.com]

Yay, Kenshin speak!