Hello from Japan

[TWDaryl]

You seem to be in a very good position if all you really need to learn is the vocabulary. As I'm sure you already know, people who are fluent in the English language will still learn new words. I wish I had that much knowledge of the language, but I'm slowly learning it and sometimes having trouble memorizing. There are no real Japanese classes that I know of around here, sadly, so I just make due.

Not sure where you live, but here, Japanese classes don't exist. And if, by some chance, you find one, it will cost a lot.

 

It's a real shame not being able to speak my own families' language.

 

Of course I pick up a few words, but that's not much.

[Croix]

Not sure where you live, but here, Japanese classes don't exist. And if, by some chance, you find one, it will cost a lot.

I have some small connections with the government. If the class is in a school, I can probably get in for no expense to myself. Money isn't an issue.

[TorCharDrawings]

Welcome from Holland, Europe

[CodyMKW]

Welcome to the forums of PokeMMO!  :)

[PandyBear]

I would say that my Japanese is quite good for someone who's lived here for only one year. I studied for a couple of years prior to coming. My goal is to become "fluent" during my time here but I've come to realize I have the rest of my life to become fluent. At this point, I can pretty much do anything I need to do. The other day, I called my insurance company to file a claim and later that night, discussed politics with some old men (one of whom was a politician apparently). I never claim to be fluent, but I'm only starting to realize that I'm getting there. The list of 2,000 or so kanji is sort of a rough estimate and doesn't truly represent any practical command over the language. If it were, it would be kind of like if someone took 5,000 of the statistically most commonly used words in English and said you had to know all of them to be fluent in English. (Apparently, I just looked it up and such lists exist: http://www.englishclub.com/vocabulary/common-words-5000.htm You can probably become fluent by most accounts without knowing quite a lot of the words at the bottom of this list.) In reality, the amount of kanji that you encounter in real life is much more than 2,000, not limited to the official list, and you find that the more rare kanji on the list are not as common as it appears. I just practice by reading newspapers; I understand the ideas of all the articles I read and most of the details if I read it hard enough. It's just learning vocab at this point and I don't worry myself with the amount of kanji I know.

 

And yeah, I'm here through the JET Program so that's why I'm on a random small island in the middle of the ocean that no one has ever heard of. It does get lonely though. I'm the only foreigner here, so I have no choice but to level up my Japanese.

 

 

 

いや、別に注目を求めていないけど、自己紹介する時、普通に「I'm from _____.」とか、「I live in _____.」と言わないでしょうか？この場合、私は日本に暮らしていることは否定できないものじゃないですか？ PandyBearさんのプロフィールページによると、あなたはオランダに住んでいる日本人だそうですね。それは素晴らしいです。やっぱり日本語で話すのが必要ではないですね。 このメッセージ以外、誰かに英語で話しかけられたら、もちろん互いに英語で答えて、日本語だったら同じように日本語で答えますよ。リアルでも一緒です。それでも、もし私は日本人だったら、最初に日本人同士でいつも通りに日本語で喋らないですか？じゃ、必要はなくても、なぜ今日本語で書いてるのと思っているかもしれませんね。それは、もし恐らく私の言葉を信じてなければ、私の日本語能力について疑いがあれば、ちょっと分かりやすくするため、ちゃんと日本語で伝えようかなと思っていただけですね～。　 ^_^

 

とにかく、PandyBearさん、KONICHIWA. ^__________^ 　これからよろしくね～

 

In English:

 

No, I wasn't particularly looking for attention, but when you introduce yourself, wouldn't it be normal to say "I'm from ________." or "I live in _______."? In my case, the fact that I live in Japan isn't something that you can really deny, right? According to your profile, it seems that you're a Japanese person living in the Netherlands. That's wonderful! It seems like I don't have to write in Japanese after all. Except for this message, if someone comes and talks to me in English, of course I'll reply back in English to them in return. If it's Japanese, then I'll reply in Japanese the same way. I do the same in real life as well. Even so, if I were actually a Japanese person, wouldn't it be typical to speak first in Japanese as Japanese people usually do? Well, you might be wondering why I'm writing in Japanese now then. The reason is that just in case you don't believe what I'm saying or you have doubts about my Japanese ability, I thought I would make myself more easily understood if I spoke in Japanese instead is all. ^_^

 

Anyway, PandyBear, KONICHIWA. ^__________^  It's quite nice to meet you!

 

Well atleast you explained yourself well.

Its just not neccesary on an english forum.

And who cares if people dont believe you?

[Tetsurou]

Since you're in a very rural part of Japan and since you're the only foreigner there, is anyone xenophobic towards you or was when you first arrived?

 

 

Actually, I'm Asian so I blend in very well. People are always surprised to hear that I'm not Japanese and tell me that I don't look like an American (duh). I think that fact makes it easier for other people to talk to me which is unfortunate in some ways. I don't really encounter a lot of xenophobic attitudes. People aren't really that open about those kinds of opinions. There is a lot of closed-minded that I encounter though so it's difficult to introduce them to new ideas.

 

Well atleast you explained yourself well.

Its just not neccesary on an english forum.

And who cares if people dont believe you?

 

Yeah, it's not necessary, but if there happened to be any Japanese players who couldn't speak English (as far as I know there aren't), I would have no problem talking to them.

 

I usually don't care what other people though, but it bothers me when other people doubt me when I've worked so hard to get this far.

 

 

And thanks again everyone! It's interesting how the PokeMMO community is so geographically diverse. ^_^

[ThinkNice]

Since this thread reached two pages I will now bless this thread with my pressence. Yes, bless your thread may you stay with our community for many many years. May you not be swallowed by the Void of this community.

On a more serious note: Welcome from the Netherlands. If you are looking for a team that is fun to be with and with not to much competitive pressure you can try out BONG or Bushido. See you around ^^