American Gaijin
-
Speaking Out
Today’s post isn’t going to be about Japanese at all, though I might find a way to fit it in. I do have a Japanese post waiting in the wings, but I think I want to discuss something else. If you would like a Japanese post, please skip this one, and the next one will…
-
Politeness
One of the more frustrating things about Japanese to a beginner is the multiple levels of politeness. At first glance they seem completely foreign, but I really don’t think they are. It’s baked into English as well, it’s just not so much a grammatical construct as a manner of speaking. Contrast, for example, Greetings, I…
-
Cultural Neuroses
I think every country has something I call “cultural neuroses” – or at least I started to about twenty seconds ago. Something in the culture that lives deep inside the cultural zeitgeist and underlies invisible assumptions that a culture makes. In my opinion, this is one of the primary reasons to learn a foreign language –…
-
Working Hard at Japanese Doesn’t Work.
I have been on Wanikani for a few months now. I am taking the lessons very slowly so that I don’t get overwhelmed. It’s funny – every time I learn a new kanji or a new pronunciation, I think “how am I going to remember that?” And then, a month later, I look at it and…
-
The Intimidation Factor of Kanji
Let’s face it. As a Japanese learner, Kanji are intimidating. They are this set of pictographs that really seem to have nothing to do with anything, each of them have a whole bunch of readings, all of which apply only in specific contexts. There is a sentence: 明日は日曜日です Where the same kanji appears three times,…
-
Education Gaps
Here is a secret about me: I did not actually go to traditional high school. I was home-schooled. My feelings about home-schooling, based upon my experience, are decidedly mixed, and lean negative, but that’s not a discussion I want to get into here. One of the things that has haunted me through most of my…
-
Multithreading
I am a computer engineer. Before I learned Japanese, I have learned about sixteen different computer languages to a degree of proficiency with which I can make production applications out of them. In doing so, I realized that there are features every language that runs on a procedural basis will have, and each language implements…
-
Thanksgiving
I don’t often pay attention to the stats on this blog. Quite frankly, I write because I want to. I have no illusions that I’ll ever be able to monetize this, and I have never sought to. If this blog ever gains enough popularity that I can try other projects I’ve been meaning to, perhaps…