Re: [tlug] [tlug-digest] OT (sorta) A Langauge Question

["Lyle (Hiroshi) Saxon" <ronfaxon@example.com>]

BURLING, KENNETH M. RPSN (CV63 RELMIN) wrote:

>I am studying Japanese, or at least trying.  Does anyone have any
>suggestions as to software, or books to check out?  Even a venue where
>people use both languages would be nice as well, as it would provide
>exposure.
>  
>

(Possibly off-topic a little.)  Once you have a foundation of enough 
understanding to catch which direction the wind is blowing when 
listening to Japanese, television "dramas" can be quite educational as 
to the give-and-take and overall flow of conversation.  Since most of 
them are quite visually oriented, you can practically understand them 
even with the sound turned off, so they're entertaining to watch even 
with a low-level foundation of Japanese understanding.  Some of them 
even have an extra audio track that explains actions (for 
visually-impaired people), so you get "Knock-knock" - ["Midori gets up 
to answer the door..."], etc., which is pretty cool when you're just 
getting used to the language....  And... there's always the "so bad it's 
good" factor with any soap - two flashbacks:

In the US, I once turned on the TV in the middle of a soap and saw this:

A couple happily in bed... an open window... a photographer suddenly 
leaps through the open window and starts taking pictures... the woman 
screams... Lyle starts rolling around the floor in wild laughter.

In Japan, I similarly once turned on one of the local dramas and saw this:

A view from the ground at night looking up at an apartment building 
high-rise.... a view from the top of the building of a woman struggling 
with someone... a view of her falling through the air, head first... and 
then... [seriously, I'm not making this up]... she lands in a flower bed 
with a THUMP and only her legs are sticking out of the ground.... the 
next day, some people are happily playing a volleyball game... the ball 
lands in the flower garden... a woman bends to pick up the ball and sees 
the legs sticking out of the dirt... look of horror on her face... 
screaming.... and then it switches into the standard 
in-the-police-station mode with the detectives talking....

Oops... I didn't mean to go one and on about that.  No, I was never a 
soap watcher in the US - in fact I didn't even own a TV for the last 
three years I lived there.

Anyway.....

Lyle