how are you using japanese?

[sutekikanojyo]

hey! greetings from texas... i'm chyllin here with a couple of cousins and just blew them away with the whole "hajime mashite" speech... and that's really the first use i've gotten out of japanese... but i plan to use it later on too and for much ebtter reasons! lol ^.~'

how about all of you? how has japanese come in handy, or how have you been able to show it off? ;-P

love to hear about it!

[Jason]

You're on one of them right now.

[Charles]

Just for reading websites now, I'm afraid. One day I'll travel there.

I thought I would be able to practice at some Japanese restaurants nearby, but everyone I've met so far is Chinese (usually from Taiwan). The funny thing, though, is that there's a Japanese waitress at the nearest Korean restaurant.

Here's to our endlessly fascinating multicultural world. :)

[Alan]

There are three Japanese bookshops in London, and I always use Japanese in there. However, if I buy any introductionary books they tend to switch to English, which is a shame. This happened recently when I bought a pile of JLPT 4kyu stuff. There are also a few Japanese restaurants in London, which I intend to patronise, but haven't got round to yet, mainly because I live in Farnham, which is about 50 miles south-west.

The main use so far, was my Japan trip in April. My slightly better than survival level Japanese was adequate for most situations, but inadequate for holding conversations (at least ones that cover more than who I am, why I'm in Japan, and who my relatives are). I'm tentatively planning another trip for next year as I want to go to Nikko & also visit Matsumoto castle.

「まつもとじょ」は行きたいです。「にっこ」も。
http://www.jcastle.info/castle/matsumoto.html
http://www.nikko-jp.org/english/index.html

[Elderp]

I was a California Youth Ambassador to Japan back in 1992-3 and I really wish this site was around back then. When I was in Japan everything was such a blur because I knew so very little Japanese. Lucky for me there was alway people around me and I was able to get by. I remember trying live Uni boy do I wish I knew how to say dame back then! Anyhow, I hope I get to go back one day. I don't many Japanese people these days. I live up in the hills and there are not many foriegners around here. I do go to Disneyland a lot and there are a bunch of Japanese tourists there. I plan on practicing my Japanese there. Poor tourists all they wanted to do was get Mickey's autograph and instead they are going to get some crazy Californian speaking bad Japanese at them. Oh well, short of going to Japan that is about as good as it gets for me.

[Belton]

There are three Japanese bookshops in London,

Wonder if you know one I don't. Always looking for new places.
Japan Centre, Mitsukoshi basement, and a 2nd hand store on Gerrard Street. ? There's also one up in Colindale but it's been a long time since I went there.

Japanese Restaurants
Often Chinese restaurants in disguise. I went to one recently where the menu was written in Japanese and I got irrashiamase when I went in so I spoke Japanese. no response maybe my pronunciation isn't right. When I asked for the bill again in Japanese, the waitress gave me an indignant, I'm Chinese. None of the staff was Japanese. Fooled again.

Other embarrassing time was when I tried Japanese on a pretty girl who asked me directions, it turned out she was Korean though.

Using Japanese.
There aren't that many opportunities sometimes. It feels odd to speak Japanese in London somehow. When I do it in a store, it's very much because I want to practice.

I carry on a couple of email correspondences.
I try to speak to the couple of Japanese students in Japanese. I often can't follow what they say to me.
I survived as a tourist in Japan. Was quite proud that I could get train tickets and food. Only major hiccup was when I got my first limited express and didn't understand the ticketing system. (also got off at the wrong stop, but I think the previous station called ahead because I was hustled along and had my ticket changed by an eki-in that was waiting for me.) But the station attendent who was trying to help me, eventually resorted to a little English Japanese booklet that had situations like this explained!

Proudest moment was in a little bar I went into for lunch in Kyoto. There was one other patron at the counter. He recommended the teisyoku to me. Surprised when I spoke japanese to him he asked how long I was in Japan. When I said about 7 days his reaction was priceless he thought I was living there.
For some reason they were also impressed that I could use chopsticks. and it was never said to me but to someone else so I don't think it was polite praise. (mind you I found myself showing a Chinese student (not from PRC) how to use chopsticks a while ago. I probably shouldn't make cultural assumptions)

[Alan]

There are three Japanese bookshops in London,

Wonder if you know one I don't. Always looking for new places.
Japan Centre, Mitsukoshi basement, and a 2nd hand store on Gerrard Street. ? There's also one up in Colindale but it's been a long time since I went there.

I didn't know about the Colindale one. So there are four bookshops
Edit: Five with the one in Gerrard St. Is that the oriental bookshop near the British Museum?
Edit2: Nope, just found Gerrard Street on the map. South & parallel to Shaftsbury Avenue.

Japan Centre（書籍及び食品販売、劇場・航空券等の手配）
212 Piccadilly London W1V 9LD
TEL: 020 7439 8035
Mon-Sat 10:00-19:00, Sun 10:00-18:00
1 minute walk from Piccadilly Circus, Piccadilly Line

JP-BOOKS（船便中心のため価格が安め）
Dorland House, 14-20 Regent St., London SW1Y 4PH
TEL: 020 7839 4839, FAX: 020 7925 0346
Mon-Sat: 9:30-18:00, Sun & Bank Holiday 10:30-16:30
2 minute walk from Piccadilly Circus, Piccadilly Line

OCS Book Shop（日本人学校近くで参考書や辞書が豊富）
2 Grosvenor Parade Uxbridge Rd., W5
TEL: 020 8992 6335
Tue-Sun 10:00-18:00 (Sat from 9:30)
Ealing Common Station, Piccadilly or District Line

Adanami Shobo（一般書、漫画など古本の買取販売）
Shop1: 70 Brewer St, Picadeilly
TEL: 020 7439 3844
3 minutes walk from Piccadilly Circus, Piccadilly Line
Shop2: 387 Edgware Rd, Colindale NW9 6NL
TEL: 020 8201 3499
7 minutes walk from Colindale Station, Northern Line

[Belton]

Oops.
I think, well I'm sure, I got Gerrard Street wrong.
(I'm not a Londoner, go everywhere on foot and navigate by landmarks rather than street names. )
It must be the Adamani Shobo in Brewer Street. (in a former dry cleaners next to a NCP parking lot.)

I didn't know of the OCS shop. I must check that out.

Thanks.

[Bueller_007]

The main use so far, was my Japan trip in April. My slightly better than survival level Japanese was adequate for most situations, but inadequate for holding conversations (at least ones that cover more than who I am, why I'm in Japan, and who my relatives are). I'm tentatively planning another trip for next year as I want to go to Nikko & also visit Matsumoto castle.

「まつもとじょ」は行きたいです。「にっこ」も。
http://www.jcastle.info/castle/matsumoto.html
http://www.nikko-jp.org/english/index.html

Matsumoto Castle is disappointing, especially if you've already seen Himeji. You can't even compare the two in terms of size or beauty. I wouldn't bother with it, to tell you the truth.

Nikko, on the other hand, is outstanding. Spend the extra time there and do some hiking out away from the temples.

[Alan]

...It must be the Adamani Shobo in Brewer Street. (in a former dry cleaners next to a NCP parking lot.)

I think you're right. Somewhere for me to visit

I didn't know of the OCS shop. I must check that out.

It's quite small; about the size of the Japan Centre bookshop, but the prices were (mostly) fairly reasonable. There are some Japanese schools in the area, so it mostly caters for the local japanese ex-pat population. A bit far to go from central london as a special trip, although I did have one of my best all-japanese conversations there.

To get there, turn right when exiting Ealing Common tube & walk about a hundred yards. I think you cross a junction or two. If I recall correctly, it's on the right just after crossing a side road. It's set back from the road slightly. Keep your eyes open

Alan

[BIGmog]

In Japan, I frequently had people coming up to me to practice their English. Usually I didn't mind but not everyone is the same. They assumed I was American but what if I were European?

In America, you never know what decent people are or what language they speak. Don't assume that just because they look Asian, that they speak Japanese. Even if they are Japanese, that doesn't mean that they speak it. Bottom line, be cafeful about practicing your language skills on unsuspecting by-standers.

[Balrog30]

I've only been studying Japanese for about 3 weeks now, but I've already had a couple of chances to practice. I sort of work in tourism, more retail, but I get a lot of tourist customers. I sell Maple Syrup, not far from Niagara Falls, Canada.

Niagara Falls seems to be a very popular destination for Japanese tourists. I find that it is very common for them to travel in a group of about 5-10 people, with 2-3 of them able to speak English, so that they can translate for the rest of the group. I started studying with this in mind, so that I can speak directly to these groups without them having to go through the person who can speak English.

Since I only get Japanese speaking customers a few times a week, I practice my listening skills by watching Anime films with the Japanese language track. I usually watch Hayao Miyazaki's films, just because I love them. I can usually pick up words like hai, iie, daijobou, arigatou, etc. The simple ones. I was soo happy the first time I watched Spirited Away after I started studying, and I actually understand a whole 2 sentence conversation.

[lucasburns]

For some reason they were also impressed that I could use chopsticks. and it was never said to me but to someone else so I don't think it was polite praise.

This is one of things that maddens foreigners living here. You get told all the time how skillful you are with chopsticks that you can get sick of it. I personally don't care. It is nice to hear something that you definitely know you understand!

Strange though that they said it to someone else though!

I had a friend who used to always answer in Japanese with "Are you Chinese?" when someone would ask whether he was American. That was probably a littl ebit cheeky, but it often made some people think about what they had actually asked. Also I read on the net about someone whose used to say in Japanese that "you are skillful with a knife and fork", just to throw the Japanese people onto the other foot!

[theresachan]

Well, I have a private Japanese teacher so I can pracise speaking Japanese every Wednesday but I'm really bad with my vocab so I often have to rely on English.

The girlfriend of my best friend's brother is Japanese and I try to start a conversation in Japanese whenever I go over to their house. Hehe. It usually ends in English.

I watch a bit of Japanese anime with the original voiceover to practise my listening skills. It's a good way to learn slang.

I suppose it's best to have causal talks with Japanese tourists to gain confidence. However, being a Chinese (HK) living in New Zealand, I myself is often mistaken as a Japanese... (but all they know is konnichiwa... so i can't practise with Kiwis). On the other hand, 'real' Japanse tourist won't approch me 'cos they want to practise Japanese on a Kiwi...

Oh well, I really should visit Japan one day. Kyoto would be cool!

[Chigaimasu]

I mostly use Japanese to speak with my other friends who speak Japanese so we can have private conversations while other people are around. There's three of us that can speak it on varying levels, but we can usually have a lengthy talk. I'm planning on going to Japan in about a year for school, and I hope that while I am there I will be using English as little as possible.