Can you speak japanese?

[Roxie Faye]

[QUOTE=lava lamp]Japanese people have extremely weird and varied ways of speaking. You really have to stick your head in to get the feel because they slur words together and exaggerate words for reasons that an English speaker like myself wouldn't understand...
...I thought I picked it up quickly but at the same time my Japanese will never be as good as a native speaker's and I really believe that's the case for all people trying to learn a language. The language is such a huge part of the culture and people; without all pieces of the puzzle you're screwed.[/QUOTE]
[color=#9933ff]Not only you, but everyone else seems to have replied to my comment, so here's the general statement: I think that the very simplistic basics can be learned by teaching yourself (basic sentence construction), but I do agree that not everything can be learned from books, and that, yes, you really have to experience it to get a good feel for it. Like I said, the people I spoke Japanese with said I had the basics down, but not everything.

It's the same in any language. I mean, here's another example: I'm practically at the top in my Spanish classes at school, but I'm sure if I spoke to anyone from any spanish country, they'd laugh at me the whole time. (Actually, when I was practicing once with someone from Chile, they laughed at me for using the word "coche"...
*sigh* My point: Basics = books. Getting really good & learning useful stuff = practice with natives. Er.. yeah. [/color]

[quote name='lava lamp']I felt like an idiot because I constantly had to ask people to repeat themselves and when they used words that I was familiar with, they sounded completely different. This is especially a problem with people that become fans of the language through music, because Japanese music really makes the language much longer than it is if that makes sense. Music does that with every language but with Japanese it's just really extreme. [/quote]
[color=#9933ff]Yeah, I think that music really doesn't give an accurate picture of a language, because, like you said, it slows it down, a lot. P.S.: I noticed you like Hamasaki Ayumi. I want a CD by her. ¬.¬[/color]

[Hevn]

[COLOR=RoyalBlue][SIZE=1][B]Eeh? Me familiar with a few... so I can't brag unlike most of ye... but if I ever learn and get fluent in Japanese... I think I'd be better speaking the language instead of writing or reading its alphabets... I think? no...I hope ^_^x

Sadly basic Japanese was taught in our school as an elective but I chose French over it... yeah... the bonjours and the au revoirs... I was insane over french for a term...[/B] [/SIZE] [/COLOR]

[Guest lavalamp]

[quote name='`hEvN][COLOR=RoyalBlue][SIZE=1][B]Sadly basic Japanese was taught in our school as an elective[/B] [/SIZE'] [/COLOR][/quote]

Another problem is the different dialects. Japan's dialects really aren't even dialects considering you [b]can't[/b] understand more than Kanto/Tokyo [kantou/toukyou to be exact] dialect which is the "standard" that's taught to Japanese students.

When I went to Hiroshima I seriously couldn't understand 50% of what was being said. It's sort of a shame too because Hiroshima-ben is associated with Yakuza and criminal activity...

Wouldn't you rather learn something like that?

[Panda]

Like my title of this post states, Japanese was my first language. My parents speak Japanese at home and that is what I grew up with. I have recordings of my brother and I speaking only in Japanese...it is really cute!

My big brother when he started school actually had to take english as a second language classes with the spanish speaking kids! After that my parents wanted us to practice english all the time. They continued to speak Japanese at home and help us learn english. I understand Japanese, but when it comes to recalling words, I draw a blank, it's weird. I even took Japanese in high school. My mom pretty much just laughed at me since she said I have a thick American accent and my writing looks like a 1st grader! :rolleyes:

At family get togethers everyone is speaking Japanese except for my brother and me. We can understand, but respond in english. My mom sometimes forgets and speaks to my husband in Japanese and he is getting to the point where he actually understands her. I am quite impressed with it. When you are around someone speaking the language it does make it much easier to learn than just with books or tapes. When my hubby speaks Japanese my mom, like most Japanese, get really excited and praises his attempt even if what he said made no sense. LOL

I wish you all the best of luck in learing the language. ^_^