日本語会話: The Japanese Conversation Thread

[Firestorm]

Thank you Goki-Senpai
maybe i should be calling you Goki-Sensei instead lol

I really need someone i can talk to in Japanese for longer than just 1 hour a week, (japanese class)

[liegeprime]

heh , just use oishi for good/delicious with food related wise eheheh.

[GoktimusPrime]

Thank you Goki-Senpai
maybe i should be calling you Goki-Sensei instead lol

Goki-sama

[GoktimusPrime]

Continued from here

Why drink Australian beer in Japan? (you can do that when you get back) -- might as well try Japanese beers while you're there. Where else can you purchase alcohol from vending machines?! Enjoy your time in Japan and just immerse yourself in the culture and language - for better or worse (every culture/society has its good and bad elements). Worry about experiencing Aussie things for when you're in Australia. When I was in Japan I made a conscious effort to distance myself from the English language and Anglo-culture and tried as much as possible to immerse myself in Japanese language and culture.

[Ode to a Grasshopper]

Truth be told I'm not too fussed on the beer count, the beer here isn't too bad and I'm rather fond of Kirin. Couple it with it being cheaper than Oz, and a certain weakness for sake and umeshu and I'm quite content booze-wise.
Sadly vending machines require an ID card now, so I just use supermarkets and combinis.
Pity you can't get decent wine here, but again sake and umeshu are nice enough to make up for it

Food-wise I really miss affordable cheese, and Vegemite on toast for breakfast is pretty much a staple. I'm not a morning person and am a slow eater to boot so having something I can make easily and quickly and eat while doing the morning prep routine is pretty important.

Ultimately though, I'm not looking to 'go native' even though I do love it here in Osaka. A lot of gaijin and especially JETs do and all power to them, but there are aspects of being both Australian and internationally minded that I like and want to keep, just as there's a lot of valuable traits in the Japanese way I'd like to take (and am taking) on board. My house has a fold-out couch for a bed because it's more comfortable for me than a futon, and because having my home be effectively the pseudo-uni-student setup I'm used to makes me feel at home and reduces culture shock. I'll still happily sit on the floor with guests and when the girlfriend is around we usually do, but I also have the option of a couch. I loved going to the Sports Day at my chugakko, but found the tea ceremony one of my shogakko did was less enjoyable, albeit still quite interesting on a cultural level.
Similarly while I like a lot of Japanese foods I also like pizza and hamburgers. Language-wise I try to use Japanese where I can, but at my very very basic level I still have to resort to English more often than not. Most of the TV (well, computer files) I watch is Japanese anime and movies with subtitles and the occasional English movie, while most of my news comes from the ABC and international sites like the BBC and Al Jazeera.

Besides the fact that my job as a JET ALT is as much about exposing the students to gaijin and our gaijin-y ways as it is about teaching English (ergo 'going native' would be a bit counterproductive), IMO the best approach to living overseas is to try and combine useful/positive aspects of your own culture and the cultures you live with, with the end goal of being the most well-rounded person you can be.

Sorry if that was a bit rambling, I'm pretty wiped out atm.

[Slag]

[QUOTE=Ode to a Grasshopper;279504]Truth be told I'm not too fussed on the beer count, the beer here isn't too bad and I'm rather fond of Kirin.

Drinking a Kirin as we speak. I heard fosters was different/better overseas but I wouldn't drink it here or there.
I agree with Goktimus about immersing yourself. I'd love to go one day(dreaming) .. Maybe take some cheese.. live out my life on the fat profits of being a cheese dealer.. buy all those Japanese only releases.
one day....
one day..

[GoktimusPrime]

I'll show you rambly!!

Food-wise I really miss affordable cheese, and Vegemite on toast for breakfast is pretty much a staple. I'm not a morning person and am a slow eater to boot so having something I can make easily and quickly and eat while doing the morning prep routine is pretty important.

Yeah, I'm not a massive fan of Japanese bread. Much prefer the taste of Aussie bread. Mind you, Aussie bread probably has WAY more kilojoules in it.

I'll still happily sit on the floor with guests and when the girlfriend is around we usually do, but I also have the option of a couch.

To this day I still prefer sitting on the floor. (as anyone here who's been in my Transformer room will know )

Also, please understand by saying "immerse" oneself into a culture, it doesn't mean you have to like everything. I think it's impossible to find any one culture where you can like everything. There are things about Japan that I like and dislike and things about Australia that I like and dislike too... and I'm sure you have your own likes and dislikes when it comes to JP and AU.

Similarly while I like a lot of Japanese foods I also like pizza and hamburgers.

Yeah... not a fan of Japanese pizza (blecch). I do like Japanese burgers though... especially Mos Burger! But one thing I cannot deny is the health benefits of living a Japanese lifestyle. I may be a podgy fatso now, but when I was in Japan I was thin and tanked. I was at the peak of my physical health... and damn I wish I could get back to that!

Pics for comparison...

L: me living in Japan, R: me living in Australia

Language-wise I try to use Japanese where I can, but at my very very basic level I still have to resort to English more often than not.

I personally avoided using English, and this included not seeking out Japanese people who can speak English... because as you know, the vast majority of people in Japan don't speak English! (so it's really easy!) But I know a lot of Gaijin who do seek out or allow themselves to be drawn toward English speaking Japanese people -- and they are attracted to Gaijin like moths to a flame as they're keen to practise their English.

Most of the TV (well, computer files) I watch is Japanese anime and movies with subtitles and the occasional English movie, while most of my news comes from the ABC and international sites like the BBC and Al Jazeera.

I didn't have home internet when I was in Japan.

Besides the fact that my job as a JET ALT is as much about exposing the students to gaijin and our gaijin-y ways as it is about teaching English (ergo 'going native' would be a bit counterproductive),

I was there as a university student, so I wasn't required to speak English to anyone really -- but all English speaking students make extra pocket money by coaching/tutoring English at jukus or kateikyou (home tutoring) etc... and that's what I did. So when I was "on the job," okay, I would use some English -- even then, Japanese was the language of instruction. There's no way my students would have understood the subtleties of dental fricatives or egalitarianism if I explained them in English!

But anyway, the only time I used English would be:
+ With other English speaking foreigners - even then, it was sometimes. As our Japanese improved, we actually started speaking Japanese amongst ourselves. So we'd only use English (which increasingly became a hybrid Japanese-English, e.g. "Nee, ashita you wanna meet at the eki?" ) with more recently arrived foreigners - but for any Gaijin who'd been in Japan for 3 months or more, we often just exclusively spoke Japanese to each other.
+ During tutoring/coaching.

So basically, the only time I used English with Japanese people was if they were paying me! Once the lesson was over - that's it, I'd be switching back to Japanese. Wanna speak more English? It'll cost you.

Admittedly as a full time student (on a student visa - which restricts working hours), I only had limited amounts of tutoring/coaching time... as a full time ALT I guess you're pretty much on-call to use English for hours a day. But if I were a JET, I wouldn't use English outside of when I had to in my job. e.g. during explicit classroom tasks/activities. We have German ALTs at our school and they only speak German to our kids when they need to. Outside of class they speak English (e.g. socialising in the staffroom or outside of school etc. ). With the younger kids they speak more English and with the senior HSC students they'll speak more German.

I don't know about you, but when I used to coach/tutor English in Japan, I would actively correct all their text books from American English to Standard English! And I'd also correct their pronunciation too, e.g. insist on the use of Received Pronunciation etc. If anyone questioned it I'd tell them that I speak/teach 英語 (えいご), not　米語 (べいご)!

[Ode to a Grasshopper]

Fosters is crap, and I say this as a trained bartender. Most export beer from most countries is pretty bad.

As far as immersion goes, it's less about how much you like a place than about how much you get into it. For me I fond if I go out on nights before work then I don't do so well at my job the next day, so I try to focus on work first and play/immersion second.
I've got five years here, I'll be plenty immersed and more so as my Japanese improves. Right now I'm one of those recently arrived foreigners, and one whose job is largely pandering to those English speaking Japanese.
On which topic I have to go now and see one in particular...gomen.

[GoktimusPrime]

For me I fond if I go out on nights before work then I don't do so well at my job the next day, so I try to focus on work first and play/immersion second.

Yeah, that's fair enough. I was there as a uni student and... I don't know if you're aware of this yet, but Japanese undergraduate university is a complete bludge. Nobody studies - they just party a LOT. It's like in compensation for their senior high school years where they have no social lives and study their butts off to get into university, but once they're in, they need to learn how to socially interact (i.e. get drunk ). So JP university is less about べんきょう and more about のみかい! Which was great for me, because basically partying was the main way that I learnt Japanese! It was far more efficient and fun than learning out of books.

Having said that, I've heard that post-grad study in Japan is really hard though (I did my post-grad in AU; only ever did undergrad in JP so I can't comment first hand about JP post grad study - but JP post grad students all tell me it's heaps hard).

I've got five years here, I'll be plenty immersed and more so as my Japanese improves. Right now I'm one of those recently arrived foreigners, and one whose job is largely pandering to those English speaking Japanese.

Five years! That's freakin' awesome! I'm sure you'll be more fluent than me before you can say りゅうぐうのおとひめのもとゆいのきりはずし! (that's a real word btw ;p)

[1AZRAEL1]

Fosters is crap, and I say this as a trained bartender. Most export beer from most countries is pretty bad.

I have to say that Fosters sucks as well. I love alot of the aussie beer myself, that one not lol. Tooheys Old or any other dark beers are my fav. I would say I'm a bit of a coniseur of beers. I tend to go to Dan Murphys and go in the international beer isle and buy whatever looks good, or the name appeals to me lol.

As for vegimite, yes that does rule, and does kinda suck that you can't get it cheaply over there. Why not ask some aussies over here to send you some? gotta be cheaper that way than buying it there.