Just in Tokyo: Page 27

Just in Tokyo by Justin Hall Page #27 This is a browsable copy of the original pdf hosted on Rikai.com If you enjoy this work, please consider donating to the author This work is licensed under a Creative Commons License.
Page 1 Page 2 Page 3 Page 6 Page 7 Page 8 Page 9 Page 10 Page 11 Page 12 Page 13 Page 14 Page 15 Page 16 Page 17 Page 18 Page 19 Page 20 Page 21 Page 22 Page 23 Page 24 Page 25 Page 26 Page 27 Page 28 Page 29 Page 30 Page 31 Page 32 Page 33 Page 34 Page 35 Page 36 Page 37 Page 38 Page 39 Page 40 Page 41 Page 42 Page 43 Page 44 Page 45 Page 46 Page 47 Page 48 Page 49 Page 50 Page 51 Page 52 Page 53 Page 54 Page 55 Page 56 Page 57 Page 58 Page 59 Page 60 Page 61 Page 62 Page 63 Page 64 Page 65 Page 66 Page 67
Back to Rikai... Rikai Sitemap

offer basic greetings, many folks will then
feel welcome to ask you questions they
invariably have for anyone not Japanese.

And Japan presents some unique
affordances. Plastic food will help you
order. Most of the subway hotspots are
marked in English. If you want to wander
off the beaten path where there are fewer
foreigners, so you can see some of the
"real Japan," you will find little English.
There will be moments of massive mis-
communication and great insecurity. And
someone might help you. And you will
survive.

Long-Term Learning

The research has been done. While
having a romantic partner who speaks
Japanese is the best way to alleviate both
illiteracy and loneliness, the best way to
quickly learn Japanese is to study the rules of grammar before you
arrive in Japan. Living there is a bath in vocabulary. Knowing which
is a verb and which is a noun will be far easier after a few hours in a
wooden chair somewhere in your home country.

Engrish - Japanese English

The Japanese have taken English and made it their own. Much has
been made of "Engrish," the seemingly mangled Japanese English
on packaging and signage in Japan. There's a web site entirely
devoted to cataloging these strange moments of adapted Japanese-
English, www.engrish.com. From their archives: from the side of a
"Palnap" tissue box: "What feeling do you need the best in your
lifestyle? Trendy feeling, natural feeling and traditional feeling. We'll
lead a tasteful life to find your personal style. Mild and tenderness are
basic of our living life."

Engrish should not be read literally. Think of Japanese English as
non-specific, expressing feeling. For example, the use of "let's" to
express enthusiastic collective activity: "Let's Kiosk!" "Let's Skiing!"

Language -

Japanese grammar is not for the
faint of heart or weak of mind.
What's more, the Japanese also
do not have any words for "me",
"them", "him, or "her" that
anyone could use without being
incredibly insulting (the
Japanese word for "you", for
example, when written in kanji,
translates to "I hope a monkey
scratches your face off").
Because of this, the sentence "He
just killed her!" and "I just killed
her!" sound exactly the same,
meaning that most people in
Japan have no idea what is going
on around them at any given
moment. You are supposed to
figure these things out from the
"context", which is a German
word meaning "you're screwed".
- Dan Barrett, So You Want To
Learn Japanese, danbarrett.cjb.net