SkyPigeon123
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Aug 28, 2024 7:58 PM
SkyPigeon123
39561
1162
4
dashriproc1
I learned English watching Sesame Street with a side of Electric Company and of Zoom like a proper immigrant.
Beaverbrown55
Lane Meyers' nemesis enters the chat. https://youtu.be/J6BA3wstTyA?si=6tnp7XXyqH6l0oB8 for the rubes.
PileOfWalthers
When being tasked with conducting a site survey, I'm like, you want I should case the joint, boss?
DaCrazyBeggar
Baka mitai... kodomo na no ne....
ShimmerinStrider
OOOOOOOOOOOOOO!
OliverOtter
A variant of this was in "Better Off Dead." The protagonist was constantly taunted at red lights by a pair of Japanese brothers who wanted to drag race him, only one of them spoke no English, and the other learned English from watching Howard Cosell announcing footbal games.
SuperFlamingTominoHead
When I took Japanese, I was told I was pretty good, but I spoke like I was picking full sentences from movies or books etc., not by making my own. I guess that comes from not using the language enough.
yingjun
I've met a few folks who learned English from teachers from Alabama. Born and raised in Taiwan but sounding like sweet tea and whatever else is in Alabama
youcanttrustthegreenones
When I was in Japanese class my professor told me I spoke with a Spanish accent. Because I took Spanish for 3 years in high school. Took a bit time to correct but I finally got past it
ImAghast
I have an Indian friend that came from Gujrat to North Jersey when has was about six. He learned English from cartoons, and goes by a nice Jersey nickname like "Tony". To meet him, you'd think he had a nice gramma who made a great lasagna every weekend, and you absolutely should not borrow money from him. "I don't work in IT. I work in collections. You gotta problem with that?"
Sonicschilidogs
Imagine someone saying "Gabagool" or "pass me tha gravy" (in an Italian restaurant) but with a stereotypical Indian accent.
dashriproc1
HINT FOR IMMIGRANTS TO THE USA: the Pacific Northwest of the US has what is called a "media accent," the accent used by people on the news. It is the most neutral accent easily understood by all Americans and most English speakers.
staceBugTerror
Or a comma.
aThingWithTheStufAndTheJunk
P00pdalla
q2grapple
Meanwhile my teacher said I sounded like a schoolgirl from all the anime I was watching.
TheWarHymn
ProjectDA
i went through the trouble of teaching myself japanese to a degree i talk and get things across. then every person i could interact with IRL learned from anime and talked that way. i would abandon japanese as they eroded my desire, while spanish and cantonese were more important for work.
FrankTheThunderbird
That’s a weird thing for your math teacher to say.
nitemayr
jaggcomputing5
I have an Australian colleague who learned his English from sesame St. He has an American accent.
youreathing
Ain't no way that whole freakin' siberian orchestra is Trans!
bikergeek6249
Isaac Asimov tells the story of how someone he knew when he was a boy in the Russian émigré community in NYC growing up, had learned English by reading Shakespeare--and spoke perfect Elizabethan English, in 1930s NYC.
Keairan
In my last year of high school I knew a taiwanese guy who I'm pretty sure learned English through badly translated porn. He'd drop random "fuck pussies" and "fuck dicks" all over the place that made no sense.
nonickname23
My ex-father-in-law told me I spoke Czech like a Russian.
BernieSandersMittens
Oof. Sounds like he haaattttted you.
nonickname23
Oh, he really did. Among other things, I had the audacity to marry his younger daughter while his elder daughter was still unmarried. This happened in Canada where we all lived. He never got Prague out of his mindset.
Qrader
I made friends with a Korean guy in Tokyo. He learned Japanese from watching hard rock anime and spent his first few years in Japan trying to set up a business with that vocabulary.
SilfenQuarn
The Japanese F1 driver Yuki Tsunoda speaks like a British mechanic. He learnt a lot of his English from them and has a bit of a potty mouth.
ministerofheresy
During WW2 it was quite common for non-English-speaking WAAFs in England to learn English from the ground crews. Apparently "potty mouth" doesn't even begin to describe the results.
Munchkinman73
Surely not! British mechanics are the height of politeness and eloquence.......
zimbler
*sips wrench with pinky extended*
fompositpro
Did a year exchange in Germany and met a nice French girl also on exchange. A year after returning home, I told this to a German co-worker, who exclaimed “THATS why you speak German with a French accent!”
bwittekoekover9000
makes me think of Better Off Dead
cdlong
I'm ashamed I had to scroll this far to get to your comment.
sailorjurai108
My Japanese teacher in college was Chinese as were 1/3 of the students so I used to fear I’d be told I had a Chinese accent.
ZaphodBbx
Fugedaboudit.
cuddleskunk
Nani?
drunkbs
ふげたぼうでつ
rookie23
wakarenai
BloomAndGrowIris
"renai" on a verb indicates you're incapable of something
cuddleskunk
So...based on a mix of Google-fu and your explanation...Unable to write poetry or unable to be young...so either un-artistic, or regretful in old age?
BloomAndGrowIris
The verb in question is "wakaru", to know/understand. Wakaranai would mean "I don't understand", but wakarenai would be "I can't understand."
FckleberryFarms
I had a Japanese teacher in high school who had lived in Japan for a while to learn (white guy). He told me that as he was getting on the plane to leave, the Japanese people he had been with the whole time told him he spoke like a woman - they had been too polite to correct him.
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Thisisabigmistake
I learned from Japanese children when I was living there and then from women teachers, a Russian girl, a Ukrainian musician, and a white guy studying medieval Japanese history. So I sound like a 5 year old samurai girl. It's good I don't really go to Japan cuz it'll be weird to hear a Chinese Canadian speak the strangest Japanese.
Ifarsenicfailstrysalgebra
This was a big deal with a lot of the American and English service men stationed in Japan following WWII. They would learn Japanese from the women they met and didn't understand how the gendered pronouns worked. There's a term for it that escapes me at the moment.
Uberdoomer
My grandfather was in Okinawa during the occupation. He always called it "shackanese" because you learned it from the lady you were shacked up with.
itrytoonlysaypositivethings
Reminds me of this TED talk https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FPhHHtn8On8
DVSBSTrD
Bet they weren't too polite to mock him behind his back.
methix
All the Japanese speakers in my family are women so I grew up learning feminine Japanese and even feminine tones and inflections. Then I discovered I'm a trans woman. So... Task failed successfully?
somethingsomethingwittyhere
Nexus297
Knew this would be here
Kukabuksilaks
IwishKimPinewasmygirlfriend
"I'm the Chosen One! Outside the wall!"
IhopeyougetstageIIIcoloncancer
The problem with Japanese is that gendered inflection is very contextual in a way only a human can explain to you.
For example: There are multiple pronouns for I/me and you, all of which are officially gender-neutral and technically interchangeable. They have differing levels of formality/familiarity, but ostensibly can all be used by any gender... except cultural norms have ascribed gendering to them as a byproduct of the vibe they give.
hetnkik999
There's a Tim Rogers video where he mentions he once met an 80-year-old woman who used "boku" for "I". "Boku" is usually used by male children. I enjoyed that story.
IhopeyougetstageIIIcoloncancer
I refuse to accept that. That feels SO WEIRD. I tried saying and hearing it in my head, and just... No.
I used to be the executive director of a Japanese language school and there were probably 30+ native-born Japanese women on staff, ranging from 30's to 50's. I could not imagine a single one of them using 'boku' other than sarcastically. Even then, most of them probably wouldn't even as a joke because they'd find it uncomfortable.
Thanks, I hate it.
hetnkik999
I just spent like two hours finding this 10 second anecdote in a 6 hour video for you lol. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=779coR-XPTw&t=1915s
IhopeyougetstageIIIcoloncancer
Friend, I tip my hat to you. May both sides of your pillow be cold, and may there always be one last roll under the sink, even when you're certain you were out.
IhopeyougetstageIIIcoloncancer
Separately, I mentioned this to a female friend of mine who worked in Japan a while back. She told me she used 'boku' a few times, just for fun, and once got a coworker to sincerely give her an indignant "onna deshou!"
IhopeyougetstageIIIcoloncancer
It's like how sitting down to pee is a decidedly feminine action.
There is ZERO substantiation for this, as toilets are designed for sitting on, males are perfectly capable of peeing while sitting on them, and males will normally pee while sitting if they're pooping.
It would be utterly incoherent to an alien, but you and I implicitly know that a male sitting down to pee just feels feminine by vibes alone, and so it "is" feminine.
Esion9302
Well...that is certainly an explanation.
vigojones
Sometimes you want to silently pee, or look at your phone, or cry at work, or hide from your kids or spouse. There's a ton of reasons a man would sit to pee
IhopeyougetstageIIIcoloncancer
That's exactly why I picked that analogy. There's no real justification, it just IS and everyone knows it. And if someone unfamiliar asked why, your answer would be ".......because?"
69thStPepper
All my teachers were women, it's a common issue. I got past it by using short form and grunting a lot, people started telling me I sound like an old man instead
NoPunsNoLife
I feel you. Had the same experience. Plus I lived in Kyoto but had studied in Venice and by watching anime, so they said that my accent was too much from Tokyo and I should learn some Kyotoben xD
69thStPepper
Didn't help my old man image that I picked up Chububen like a fish being introduced to water. Why does this foreigner sound like a mountain farmer?
AyatollahBahloni
Still a better love story than トワイライト.
Gerthquake
I know literally zero Japanese, but given the contextual clue I'm going to guess those characters phonetically represent to-wa-ai-la-ai-to
yathatsgood
Fuck, you can't win, eh?
69thStPepper
I consider it a complete victory. Do you have any idea how common daddy issues are?
Foxsayy
I can't tell how much of that is a joke.
69thStPepper
The unvarnished truth can be funny
FartsSmellBad
Was he always tossing in an "atashi" or a "desu wa"
FckleberryFarms
It's been like 30 years man, I forget the details.
PerfectlyNormalHuman0011
I always use wagahai wa.
MEDdMI
Neko de aru.
OozingRabbit
Maybe referring to himself as "ore" a lot too.
SailorPupitar
Ain't that the "manly dude"one though?
HypnagogicHallucinations
uwu
hollenqual
UwUr
MuffinProof
cuddleskunk
~Ara Ara...
rookie23
nani the heck
PerrinAybara564
Kawaii desu innit?
Yenaldooshi
Gomenasorry
fractalsphere
Sounds more impolite to NOT tell him and let him keep speaking in a poor way.
xmaneds
have you ever heard of japanese culture. example: doctor won't tell you that you have terminal cancer because "that would be rude"
DVSBSTrD
That's fucking stupid.
CoachMcgurl
"You have a happy fun time kawaii.....tumor. It's super go happy kwaii malignant!
SSinnlos
I'm going to hell for laughing like a hyena at this, +1
fractalsphere
I actually work in the US for a Japanese company so I get some basic exposure. But a doctor not telling you a diagnosis sounds insane
xmaneds
here's the reference: https://academic.oup.com/jjco/article/28/1/1/832562
Totallyscrewedinaustin
That seems like commen sense kind of stuff, but I guess the saying about common sense is a saying for a reason!
Psionickitten
あたしはびっくりですわ! ("I'm surprised" in a very feminine manner)
AyatollahBahloni
Odoroita zo!
69thStPepper
え！(The masculine equivalent)
IhopeyougetstageIIIcoloncancer
I use a convenient workaround: I just alternate between eeeeh? and yabai! in lieu of all reactive declarations.
You can't accuse me of speaking like a woman if I don't speak like a coherent adult!
Psionickitten
By interjecting those while someone is speaking you may be indicating that you're paying attention by using proper 相槌（あいずち). Lack of such might actually indicate you are disinterested in what someone might be saying within Japanese culture.
IhopeyougetstageIIIcoloncancer
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Backchannel_(linguistics)
While backchanneling is by no means unique to Japanese, I still hate the extent to which it's incorporated. That shit is EXHAUSTING!
Psionickitten
Well, not if you're a tally interested in the topic... But if you're disinterested, absolutely! An うん、そうそう here and there isn't too difficult.