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posted by Steven at
5:09 AM
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2 Comments
Wednesday, April 18, 2007
Language Difficulties
Well, this will be a sweet surprise to the one or two of you still visiting this site. Sorry it's been so long, but well, even being lazy here is hard work. I found this out as I tried to log into my blogger account about 2 hours ago. See, Blogger knows I'm in Japan--in fact, they probably know my address etc from my IP. Internet=Police State--but it doesn't seem to realize that I have the vocabulary of... of... well an American. So I had to do some creative button pushing. Anyway, I'm back in the Matrix, baby! Now here's a dose of Japan at it's finest!
So I have a new Language Exchange. This is a position that has many definitions, so I'll start with the standard. So I have two Language Exchanges, both are Japanese women who speak English better than I speak Japanese and basically we hangout and try to teach each other each other's language. Now, my definition has basically boiled down to me having laughs and occasionally throwing little dried food at people twice a month with Yumiko
and having Mineko teach me Kansai Ben (that's Japanese of the local dialect, which is just way cooler than the stuff in the books) in the finest cheap restaurants of Namba.
Now, the popular definition can be summed up by an often angry J-girl friend of mine as "Fluid Exchange." Basically, it's away for Japanese girls who are interested in Western guys to meet Western guys who are interested in having lots sex. Which you can't blame them for really. I mean, these are guys, most of them just out of college, in a foreign country on vacation, not to mention that Western guys are even more exotic to Japanese girls since theres so few of us here. There's a bulletin board at the International House in Tennoji that serves as a kind of free education/ personals room. For the record, I have yet to get romantic with anybody I met as a Language Exchange, it just seems too desperate. However, the one Japanese girl I did date for a while wound up being a huge help to my learning. I got a ton of great words including but not limited to: kawaii (cute) kushii (beautiful) usotsuki (liar). (That last ones for laughs, laughs both funny (omoshiroi by the way is funny) and paranoid.)
Anyway, my other language difficulty is finding good reading. Though many of my friends have some great books and the library has a few gems and there is a fantastic bookstore in Shinsaibashi that has a better fiction selection than Brookline Booksmith, I am going through poetry withdrawl. I want the new Aaron Anstett book. I want the new Bill Knott book. I want to find new poets and find old books by poets I love but have read too little of (including but not limited to Stephen Dobyns, Bob Hicok, Mark Halliday, and on and on).
Well, afraid I gotta stop there. Me and a friend are going to the Italian place across the street to get some J-Italian food; you know seafood pizza, mayo on everything, etc.. I love the little button you press to get the waiter to come over.
BONUS!
Japanese Fun Facts:
Dog's don't say bow-wow, or woof, they say "wan-wan" like whan whan. And cat's say "neya" oh and bells go "ping-pong"
Ok, that's all I got. Oh, and I miss Kurt Vonnegut.
So I have a new Language Exchange. This is a position that has many definitions, so I'll start with the standard. So I have two Language Exchanges, both are Japanese women who speak English better than I speak Japanese and basically we hangout and try to teach each other each other's language. Now, my definition has basically boiled down to me having laughs and occasionally throwing little dried food at people twice a month with Yumiko
and having Mineko teach me Kansai Ben (that's Japanese of the local dialect, which is just way cooler than the stuff in the books) in the finest cheap restaurants of Namba.
Now, the popular definition can be summed up by an often angry J-girl friend of mine as "Fluid Exchange." Basically, it's away for Japanese girls who are interested in Western guys to meet Western guys who are interested in having lots sex. Which you can't blame them for really. I mean, these are guys, most of them just out of college, in a foreign country on vacation, not to mention that Western guys are even more exotic to Japanese girls since theres so few of us here. There's a bulletin board at the International House in Tennoji that serves as a kind of free education/ personals room. For the record, I have yet to get romantic with anybody I met as a Language Exchange, it just seems too desperate. However, the one Japanese girl I did date for a while wound up being a huge help to my learning. I got a ton of great words including but not limited to: kawaii (cute) kushii (beautiful) usotsuki (liar). (That last ones for laughs, laughs both funny (omoshiroi by the way is funny) and paranoid.)
Anyway, my other language difficulty is finding good reading. Though many of my friends have some great books and the library has a few gems and there is a fantastic bookstore in Shinsaibashi that has a better fiction selection than Brookline Booksmith, I am going through poetry withdrawl. I want the new Aaron Anstett book. I want the new Bill Knott book. I want to find new poets and find old books by poets I love but have read too little of (including but not limited to Stephen Dobyns, Bob Hicok, Mark Halliday, and on and on).
Well, afraid I gotta stop there. Me and a friend are going to the Italian place across the street to get some J-Italian food; you know seafood pizza, mayo on everything, etc.. I love the little button you press to get the waiter to come over.
BONUS!
Japanese Fun Facts:
Dog's don't say bow-wow, or woof, they say "wan-wan" like whan whan. And cat's say "neya" oh and bells go "ping-pong"
Ok, that's all I got. Oh, and I miss Kurt Vonnegut.
posted by Steven at
4:23 AM
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1 Comments
