The Chat Thread

[Karl Henning]

Fer kids.

[TheGSMoeller]

Gooooood morning. (sung)

[Karl Henning]

Rise and shine!

[Lethevich]

Hi.

sup son n__n

[Karl Henning]

For a while there, mail.com was talking German to me (in one dialogue box, where it ought to have read "Do not ask me this again"). A new update has fixed this, though. Sehr gut.

[Coco]

sup son n__n

Currently pulling my hair out whilst working on Japanese stuff. Eyah.



F'kin languages, how do they work?

[Karl Henning]

Does the pictures thread absolutely have to become about Philo's sexual tastes?  Aren't there other fora for that sort of rannygazoo?

[ibanezmonster]

Currently pulling my hair out whilst working on Japanese stuff. Eyah.



F'kin languages, how do they work?

Hey man, feel free to send me a message if you ever need any help. 

[Coco]

Hey man, feel free to send me a message if you ever need any help. 

I'm actually progressing pretty well — I'm good with hiragana and katakana, I get the basic sentence structure and I've learned about 50 kanji so far (which is not in my school course), it's just speaking that trips me up. Afterwards I feel like my mouth has been using muscles it normally doesn't.

[Karl Henning]

I'm actually progressing pretty well — I'm good with hiragana and katakana, I get the basic sentence structure and I've learned about 50 kanji so far (which is not in my school course), it's just speaking that trips me up. Afterwards I feel like my mouth has been using muscles it normally doesn't.

Probably true.

[ibanezmonster]

I'm actually progressing pretty well — I'm good with hiragana and katakana, I get the basic sentence structure and I've learned about 50 kanji so far (which is not in my school course), it's just speaking that trips me up. Afterwards I feel like my mouth has been using muscles it normally doesn't.

Cool. 
Well, I don't get much chance to do any speaking myself (unless I'm whispering to myself  ), but it gets easier over time. I don't know if this will help or not, but it helps to "get in character"- try to sound like a Japanese guy talking; one thing that helps is shaping and pronouncing vowels at the back of your throat (rather than in the front of your mouth, like in English). The 'r' sound is also very tricky, but the only tricky sound in Japanese (some say the syllabic 'n' in 'fun'iki' is tricky, but I disagree). If you can say "ryuu" perfectly, while completely relaxed and without twisting your mouth unnaturally, that's a major accomplishment. Japanese isn't as hard to speak as, say, Mandarin or Cantonese. 

[Coco]

Cool. 
Well, I don't get much chance to do any speaking myself (unless I'm whispering to myself  ), but it gets easier over time. I don't know if this will help or not, but it helps to "get in character"- try to sound like a Japanese guy talking; one thing that helps is shaping and pronouncing vowels at the back of your throat (rather than in the front of your mouth, like in English). The 'r' sound is also very tricky, but the only tricky sound in Japanese (some say the syllabic 'n' in 'fun'iki' is tricky, but I disagree). If you can say "ryuu" perfectly, while completely relaxed and without twisting your mouth unnaturally, that's a major accomplishment. Japanese isn't as hard to speak as, say, Mandarin or Cantonese. 

Yeah, the pronunciation is pretty easy. I've seen lots of Japanese films, and my instructor is a native, so I can mimic it pretty well. I should upload a recording of me reading a few sentences. Reading the kana at a normal speed is a little more difficult, though, especially if the words are new.

[TheGSMoeller]

I'm employed. 

[mc ukrneal]

I'm employed. 

That's great news! Congratulations!

[Karl Henning]

I'm employed. 

Excellent!

[TheGSMoeller]

That's great news! Congratulations!

Excellent!

Thank you, and thank you.   

[TheGSMoeller]

Now, if only I could find the energy to go upstairs and grab another beer. Gotta get a fridge in the basement.

[ibanezmonster]

Anyone from Finland that I could interview about the Finnish education system?
I'm doing an essay on the Finnish education system and need a variety of sources... I wouldn't need much, because I'd only plan to include no more than a couple of sentences. 

[DavidW]

Congrats Greg!

[Lethevich]

Amazon changed. I hate them.

http://www.amazon.com/

Now instead of that familiarly ugly layout I feel like I stepped out my front door into a different country.