Oh man, that is so cool.  How long were you in Japan?

I was there for a week... Not NEARLY long enough.  Man, I'd love to go back so much...  I wish I could live there for an extended period, but I've come to the realization that that will never happen.  *shrug*

As for my Japanese language skills... I honestly don't know how to appraise them.  I can read and get the gist of most adult-level books, but I have a hard time understanding spoken conversational Japanese.  And an even worse time trying to put my thoughts into words.  I guess that's to be expected, though, considering that my self-study has all been book-based.  I don't want to overestimate my ability, but I think if I were immersed in the language for an extended period of time, I could probably get to a relatively good level...  Not too many opportunities to experience that, but I am trying to pursue them.

In any case, if you ever want to kill some time and get some practice in, email me.  (henjin(at)gmail.com)  Kanji/kana are easier to read than romaji anyway.

That japanese chick is quite hot.

Had to wait until the wife wasn't looking to click the link, didn't you.  

Haha I stayed in Japan for 6 months.
Being 10 years old at the time, and speaking absolutely no Japanese at the time, it was pretty darn confusing, but it's what got me interested in it.  

Hrmm, well if you're interested in going for an extended period, you could try one of the exchange programmes like JET (http://www.jetprogramme.org/).  I'm planning on trying that one out after I finish university this year.

Hehe yeah... I'd pretty much spent most of the past 8 years after doing that stay in Japan learning from textbooks and non-native teachers.  When I went there for a holiday last year, I found I couldn't undertstand anything.  
One thing I've found that helps a lot is just listening if at all possible.  If you can get some fansubbed anime or something along that boundary, and just watch that, it helps a lot.

Oh cool, I might take you up on that maybe sometime hehe, thanks.

Okay, I'll stop thread-jacking now.

I'm wondering if ads like that actually work in selling the product... ROFL

-TiM

Thread-jacking my ashi.

I'm aware of JET and other exchange programs... The problem lies in the fact that I have no bachelors degree, and am not going to be getting one anytime soon.  Zannen!

I honestly don't watch anime besides Ghost In The Shell (and no way that would EVER be comprehensible in Japanese!), but I do have a more than adequate supply of Japanese dramas/movies... It's just a matter of getting around to watching them.  But I'm slowly coming to the realization that I need to do that much more than I need to study written sentence patterns right now.  *shrug*

@Groggy:  Very true, but I still feel dirty watching it.  I prefer to ogle the newsgirls on Fujisankei News.

Quote (Agent007 @ June 22 2006, 10:00 am)

Thread-jacking my ashi. I'm aware of JET and other exchange programs... The problem lies in the fact that I have no bachelors degree, and am not going to be getting one anytime soon.  Zannen! I honestly don't watch anime besides Ghost In The Shell (and no way that would EVER be comprehensible in Japanese!), but I do have a more than adequate supply of Japanese dramas/movies... It's just a matter of getting around to watching them.  But I'm slowly coming to the realization that I need to do that much more than I need to study written sentence patterns right now.  *shrug* @Groggy:  Very true, but I still feel dirty watching it.  I prefer to ogle the newsgirls on Fujisankei News.

Start taking some community college courses at night.  My mom got her bachelors degree over the course of a few years, while raising three kids and working as a nurse  on the 11pm to 7 am shift.  If she can do it, so can you.  Doesn't matter what the degree is in... just start working on it.

Wanna go to Japan?   Then drop this lazy crap and get working...  Do it now before time starts going faster (this happens as you get older) and all your chances for start disappearing in a cloud of "should haves" and "could haves"...

MotivationalPork

Strangely, I'm finding the opposite to be the case with Hebrew: I'm watching a lot of English shows with Hebrew subtitles and that seems to be helping a bit.  Also, just straight Hebrew with no subtitles is helping.  For me, it's sort of the same situation, except I studied under stupid native speakers between when I left in '95 and when I got back in like summer of '04 and spring of '05 before moving back in fall of '05.

I know that last paragraph was entirely unrelated, but it's somewhat similar to the whole "I lived there for a bit as a kid and learned the language while there, so now I'm trying to learn more" situation.  I hope I do as well as 71M seems to be doing.

@Pork:  It's more complicated than just laziness.  (though in honesty, that does play a part)
I have a lot of things going on that take up my time, and I'm trying to limit the amount of time I work so I can focus on those things which personally, are more important than my dreams of stalking the streets of Shinjuku.  Heh.  
So I'm really trying to get by on as little income as I can so that I can focus on those more important things.  And right now, the next major expense in the foreseeable future is getting a car at some point.  So even a return trip to Japan doesn't really seem feasible right now.  Obviously, even w/ the minimum time investment to get a BA through a community college (how I got my Associate degree, btw), the money investment is another issue.  It'll be a while before I can pay off my current student loan debt.

Still, there are some opportunities for Japanese language 'immersion' around here, one of which is switching to a Japanese language congregation.  That's something I've been considering, and honestly, putting off...  So in that regard, yeah, I could probably get off my lazy butt and get working on that.  Heh.

@Gal:  I've seen some stuff w/ Japanese subs, and it does help, but like I was saying, all my study has been printed Japanese.  I have barely any experience w/ spoken Japanese, and carrying on a conversation.  So I think Japanese shows w/ English subs are what I need right now.  Both are equally helpful, but I've been focusing on one too much.  (through a mix of circumstances and general sissiness when it comes to trying to speak Japanese to a native speaker)

Quote (YummyPork @ June 22 2006, 1:10 pm)

Do it now before time starts going faster (this happens as you get older) and all your chances for start disappearing in a cloud of "should haves" and "could haves"... MotivationalPork

Porks right, time flies by when you get older, getting burryed in mundane crap of bureaucracy and every day living. Making things 10 time more complicated than need to be.