I guess Japan is heaven for white men

[boondock]

so...how in the hell is this article 'news worthy'?

http://www.csmonitor.com/2007/0917/p19s01-hfes.html

"Like many Western men who spend more than a year in Japan, I learned most of my intonation, expressions, and slang – the things not taught in the classroom – by mimicking a Japanese girlfriend."

"Most of these guys were in an English-speaking environment all day at teaching institutes that employed mainly foreigners. After work, they would go home to their Japanese wives or meet their Japanese girlfriends, and therefore had little contact with Japanese men."

wtf???
this just sorta sounds like a white guy puffing his chest out, look at all us white guys gettin foreign women.
wow, japanese women must be just begging for a chance to be with a big white guy.

[Atealtha]

He must be proud of himself.

[kimpossible]

If you put that quote back within the context of the entire article, the guy was explaining why everyone was laughing behind his back while giving him false flattery about his spoken Japanese because he spoke like a woman. I like the part about the woman at the ice cream shop who couldn't take his girly Japanese and chewed him out.

[eos]

wow when i saw this i was like BORING, another one of those articles, so i didn't read it. but i learned...never trust what anyone says.

i also liked the the part where his gf snapped at him and told him he sounds like a girl. LOL

[popculturepooka]

There's always a couple foreigners like that. It's funny as hell. It's understandable though, most Japanese teachers are women. And most of these guys copy everything their Japanese girlfriend says. It's hard habit to break. I know because my nephew used to speak like a girl....

Besides the ONLY way you KNOW you're good at Japanese is if Japanese people stop complimenting you on your Japanese. THE ONLY WAY.
When they say "Nihongo ga joozu desu ne" (Or your Japanese is good) They're really saying: "Silly foreigner, just to hear your Japanese grinds my soul away, but good effort, maybe one day you'll sound as good as a 3 year old"

[buttermilkwise]

Most of these guys were in an English-speaking environment all day at teaching institutes that employed mainly foreigners. After work, they would go home to their Japanese wives or meet their Japanese girlfriends, and therefore had little contact with Japanese men.

To be fair he didn't specify white men, foreigners can also include english speaking asian-american men or asian men from other countries.

Besides if you are trying to look for a date in Japan, there's not much diversity available, it's just japanese people.

[CBC guy]

There's always a couple foreigners like that. It's funny as hell. It's understandable though, most Japanese teachers are women. And most of these guys copy everything their Japanese girlfriend says. It's hard habit to break. I know because my nephew used to speak like a girl....

Besides the ONLY way you KNOW you're good at Japanese is if Japanese people stop complimenting you on your Japanese. THE ONLY WAY.
When they say "Nihongo ga joozu desu ne" (Or your Japanese is good) They're really saying: "Silly foreigner, just to hear your Japanese grinds my soul away, but good effort, maybe one day you'll sound as good as a 3 year old"

Isn't that true of any language?

In China the best way to know if your Chinese is actually good is when they stop saying "Ni de Zhongwen shuo de hen hao!" (You speak very good Chinese) and just comunicate with you like any other local. Now THAT's when your Chinese is good.

The Chinese professors still say that to me... but on the streets of China no one says that to me hahaha... maybe cause I look Chinese and they just assume the accent means I'm from "waisheng" (another province within China itself)

[popculturepooka]

Isn't that true of any language?

In China the best way to know if your Chinese is actually good is when they stop saying "Ni de Zhongwen shuo de hen hao!" (You speak very good Chinese) and just comunicate with you like any other local. Now THAT's when your Chinese is good.

The Chinese professors still say that to me... but on the streets of China no one says that to me hahaha... maybe cause I look Chinese and they just assume the accent means I'm from "waisheng" (another province within China itself)

I don't know how it is with Chinese people/Chinese, but Japanese people are notorious for "complimenting" foreigners on anything that's "Japanese" (the language, Japanese customs etc.)

Unfortunatley (or fortunately for me) some people actually take these "compliments" to heart, and start getting big heads. To watch them crash and burn is a thing of beauty.

I mean there's no reason why people who know me constantly remark "Ohasi joozu dane..." (You're good with chopsticks!). No reason. They're NOT THAT hard to use, damn.

One time I told some of them, while they were eating, "Wow, you're good with a fork!"....they didn't get it.

[CBC guy]

Chinese ppl do the same if they know you're a foreigner, whereas if you're of Asian ethnicity and don't know Chinese or something, you're just dumb. :tongue:

Thanks for the fork comment, I loved that LOL

[kimpossible]

Chinese ppl do the same if they know you're a foreigner, whereas if you're of Asian ethnicity and don't know Chinese or something, you're just dumb. :tongue:


Don't forget inferior.

[BeTheReds]

dude, this doesn't just apply to white men. plenty of Asian american dudes in Japan end up speaking like girls because of this...

[SunWuKong]

dude, this doesn't just apply to white men. plenty of Asian american dudes in Japan end up speaking like girls because of this...

is somebody talking about himself...? :biggrin:

[Napoleon Chynamite]

dude, this doesn't just apply to white men. plenty of Asian american dudes in Japan end up speaking like girls because of this...

I always got crap from people about how I speak Korean like a girl also, mainly b/c I was encouraged to learn from Korean girls because women in general usually have better enunciation and pronunciation in daily speaking (I swear). But then again, people have made fun of me for sounding like a girl in English and Chinese, so go figure. Might have something to do with a great deal of personal interaction being with the female variety, including friendships and at work.

I remember one time some of my Korean guy friends were teaching me how to cuss, and when I imitated them, my pronunciation was almost perfect but because of the demure manner in which I said it, they busted out laughing and cracked up.

But I suppose the above posts are encouraging...a lotta times people will speak to me in Korean as if they assume I can understand everything they are firing off at me at top speed, and then I smile sheepishly and tell them to slow down. I'm also one of those weird people that has an easier time speaking a language than understanding it.

[eos]

^i still remember what you said to me in cantonese...=)

[Napoleon Chynamite]

^ ya...super painful

[Banana]

Ching Chongary?

[eos]

^no, he gave me advice about you-know-who. it was very cute.

[AngryABCGirl]

I sound like a guy when I'm speaking Chinese. But a lot of that is because Taiwanese girls are well, very girly. I randomly pick up a Cantonese Mandarin accent if I hang out with my HK friends too much at any given time. So then I just sound like an angry banshee.

[cloudzero]

how can u sound manly speaking mandarin? people are always laughing at cantonese....aiyah....

[CBC guy]

... diu lay loe moe?.... ding lay goe faai...?

This thread is about Cantonese now?

P.S. I was being faectious with the swearing I'm not mad at anyone LOL just in a frisky mood tonight

[BeTheReds]

Once again a topic about Japan turns into a discussion of Chinese...

[SunWuKong]

Once again a topic about Japan turns into a discussion of Chinese...

not my fault this time!

but this thread was doomed from the beginning anyway.

[Napoleon Chynamite]

Once again a topic about Japan turns into a discussion of Chinese...

Well we needed to direct the thread toward something that actually matters, you know.

*runs*

[Dream_Knight]

jeez more IR relationships >_>
You know what? I blame the media, especially video games, I'm talking about none other than mario and zelda, the way mario(an italian guy) is so atheletic and romantic since he always saves his princess, and link(blond guy) walking around in those tights. man who wouldn't want a piece of that! japanese girls play those or watch their boyfriends play them and just go crazy over them...

[Banana]

Your sarcasm needs work.

[deez nuts]

I thought Japan was heaven for black dudes? Jap chicks love the black cock.

[Dream_Knight]

immpossible, there are no black video game characters.

[Dream_Knight]

woops thats impossible*

[cloudzero]

immpossible, there are no black video game characters.

then maybe they should make a video game based on COPS

[popculturepooka]

^lol.