Isn't this one of the most relaxing voices you've ever heard?

[greg]

[mp3=200,20,0,center]http://speaking-japanese.com/mp3/RASHOMON/ShockingSight.mp3[/mp3]

[Mark]

No. And I don't what language that is, but it grated on me in just a few seconds.

[greg]

oh, come on, you can't be serious 

[Mark]

I really am DEADLY serious. It got right on my wick. Which language was it?

[greg]

ok, i won't leave you in suspense

the coolest language ever.... Japanese, of course! 

hey, let me get you a TRULY annoying sound file.

[Renfield]

Wakata... Well, it does have a way of putting you to sleep, but I'd more "blame" that on the steady timbre and lengthy pauses between phrases, than on the voice itself.

Mark, it's Japanese.

Edit: Stop responding while I'm typing!

[Mark]

hey, let me get you a TRULY annoying sound file.

You reading 'The Hound of the Baskervilles'?

In Japanese?

[greg]

You reading 'The Hound of the Baskervilles'?

In Japanese?

lol, no

[mp3=200,20,0,center]http://speaking-japanese.com/mp3/TenNightsofDreams/SeventhNight.mp3[/mp3]
seriously, listen to this about 1/3 of the way in. The part where he tries to sing. Yes, it's bad, but not as bad as some of the traditional Japanese singing i've heard before, which can make you want to shoot yourself right there, on the spot.

[greg]

Wakata... Well, it does have a way of putting you to sleep, but I'd more "blame" that on the steady timbre and lengthy pauses between phrases, than on the voice itself.

is it just me or does the voice also sound like the voice of a speaker for a plane ride?
that must be the point, "fasten your seatbelts".... by the time everyone does, they've fallen asleep lol

[Mark]

lol, no

[mp3=200,20,0,center]http://speaking-japanese.com/mp3/TenNightsofDreams/SeventhNight.mp3[/mp3]
seriously, listen to this about 1/3 of the way in. The part where he tries to sing. Yes, it's bad, but not as bad as some of the traditional Japanese singing i've heard before, which can make you want to shoot yourself right there, on the spot.

Yep. Still annoying. And the singing sounds like some drunk old geezer in an English provencial town boozer at about ten minutes to closing time, trying to serenade the barmaid.

[greg]

Yep. Still annoying. And the singing sounds like some drunk old geezer in an English provencial town boozer at about ten minutes to closing time, trying to serenade the barmaid.

well, at least we agree on something on this thread, Mark

and if anyone's curious, the story is the Seventh Night of the Ten Nights of Dreams by Natsume Soseki.
It's about this guy who dreams he's on a ship and he's so bored and depressed that he eventually just throws himself overboard and the end.
The first dream is about this guy who is beside the bedside of this woman who dies and when she dies, he buries her and has to wait 100 years by her tomb to see her again. When she does reappear, she is a plant. 
Then there's this other dream about the guy carrying his child on his back, and the child leads the man to this place, but the guy gets annoyed, though he doesn't know why. It turns out that the child tells him that 100 years ago, he killed him.... so the man suddenly remembers 100 years ago he killed a man.

[Renfield]

Yep. Still annoying. And the singing sounds like some drunk old geezer in an English provencial town boozer at about ten minutes to closing time, trying to serenade the barmaid.

I think there's a significant lack of "gusto", in comparison to a drunk old geezer. It's more like a half-stoned social dropout ruminating on the state of the world in song, if you ask me.

[greg]

Is it true that the final goal
Of the wet-tending sun is the east?
Is it true that the ancient home
Of the east-rising sun is the west?
On the sea
This boat is our home
Roll on. Roll on.

I think there's a significant lack of "gusto", in comparison to a drunk old geezer. It's more like a half-stoned social dropout ruminating on the state of the world in song, if you ask me.

i think it could go either way 

[Michel]

I agree, it sounds nice to my ears. Mandarin is my fave, though, of the east-asian languages to hear.

[m_gigena]

[mp3=200,20,0,center]http://speaking-japanese.com/mp3/RASHOMON/ShockingSight.mp3[/mp3]

No. It's not even close to András Schiff on his lectures and man, he is relaxating. To the point that I usually fall asleep when listening to his discussions on the Beethoven sonatas.

[oyasumi]

No. It's not even close to András Schiff on his lectures and man, he is relaxating. To the point that I usually fall asleep when listening to his discussions on the Beethoven sonatas.

Yes. There's something very pleasing and comfortable about his voice. Just listening to him talk is awesome. That he's talking about music and knows it makes it even better.

[Bonehelm]

I agree, it sounds nice to my ears. Mandarin is my fave, though, of the east-asian languages to hear.

Give this man a beer.

Japanese is the most disgraceful language in all of human civilization and history. Let's copy some Chinese, add some weird circles, and call it our own language!

単に不名誉 。とても日本の人々および彼らの恐ろしい文化的な盗人 。

[Renfield]

Give this man a beer.

Japanese is the most disgraceful language in all of human civilization and history. Let's copy some Chinese, add some weird circles, and call it our own language!

And what should Greeks say for most of the languages used in the "western world"? Or the Romans (Italians)?

I give the Japanese credit for smart use of other people's resources to fit their needs - their language itself works differently than yours, doesn't it?

[The Mad Hatter]

Mark: you really don't like the sound of Japanese? I think it's beautiful!

But then, to each their own, I suppose.

That said, greg, I don't really find this relaxing...it reminds me of the Linguaphone tapes I used to use.

[M forever]

And what should Greeks say for most of the languages used in the "western world"? Or the Romans (Italians)?

I give the Japanese credit for smart use of other people's resources to fit their needs - their language itself works differently than yours, doesn't it?

And let's not forget that in the last century, China was basically a hopelessly backwards country which could easily have been erased off the map by Japan, a country many times smaller with a population only a fraction of that of China, if they hadn't been kept down by other powers, most notably the US...

And aren't we all happy they were stopped? As much as there is to admire about Japanese culture, they were on a really bad trip then.

But then the same poster who makes these stupid remarks about Japan finds it cool to display a triumphant picture of Mao, a man who was involved in killing more Chinese people, tens of millions more, than the Japanese ever did, and a man whose political organization tried to delete traditional Chinese culture for good. That doesn't make sense.

And the big steps forward China has made in the last decades which have brought some prosperity at least to some parts of the population - while hundreds of millions still live under conditions even animals don't have to live under in Japan - were exclusively achieved by copying Western industrialization. If the adaptation of outside influences, e.g. elements of the Chinese language and writing system, by the Japanese is seen as "disgraceful", we have to assume he thinks the same things about that process and wishes China to discard the Western influence and sink back into poverty and chaos.