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A wild 窶恠窶ーJ appeared!

29 Jun 2014
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Hello, guys! :D

I'm a recently-turned 16-year-old who has started self-learning 日本語 for a little over a year. Ever since I was young, anime and various other forms of Japanese culture has had quite an influence in my life, and I've always kinda been intrigued by everything. I've heard many things about Japan, and currently my life goal is to start up a tech company there and live permanently in the Land of the Rising Sun.

I honestly was quite excited in thinking about posting my introduction thread here this morning, but now it's night-time and I'm kinda typing randomly.

I found this place using Google ("Japanese forums"), you see; I've always considered finally joining a learning forum instead of going alone for such a long time. This time I've decided I would actually do it, and what do you know, I found this forum that looks active and nice indeed. You will probably see me posting a random question once in a while, because learning materials are slightly scattered and I always prefer just learning by media and the dictionary, with the grammar question once in a while; I don't really abide by textbooks.

私の日本語と中国語の見る事があまりよい、でも私が日本語に話しませんでした、だから話す事がとても悪いだ。すみませんよ、ハッハ。私のインターネットの名前が冬雨です。どうぞよろしくお願いします、そして友達になってください!

*EDIT* I am Malaysian, and my family immigrated here to Canada for studying purposes. I personally and unfortunately do not like this country in any way, so I'm essentially learning Japanese in hopes that I may perhaps either return to Malaysia or head to Japan once I'm done with university.
 
A wild 冬雨 appeared!

Welcome to the forum.

If you are truly serious about your plan and will have a genuine NEED for Japanese proficiency at a level to conduct business in Japan then you need to get yourself a textbook....whether you like them or not....and develop a serious study plan; your current approach is not serving you well.
 
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Yeah, I already realized that, ハッハ。I was thinking that perhaps joining this forum will help me get a slightly better approach to learning, and eventually I could perhaps figure out some organized study plan with some material. The only thing is that I have no money, so I cannot actually afford to buy anything, and I need to start investing more time with Japanese again so that getting some material would actually be feasible, instead of another victim of my procrastination.
 
A wild 冬雨 appeared!

When I was your age and had no job or money and wanted something badly enough, I would save my school lunch money instead of eating lunch.

You can't scrape together twelve bucks?

tese5a5a-1.jpg
 
Yeah, the thing is, I'm not really allowed to skip lunch, and I usually eat at home instead of outside...and my mum would question me if I tried to save up and rob money from my own wallet. I'm not really allowed to save my own money for reasons other than some university plan or gigantic multi-thousand-dollar bank for the future.

*EDIT* To answer your question, yes, strangely enough, I am not capable of scraping together $13. Go figure, a few other people have asked me the same thing too.
 
So you can afford a used text and workbook from Amazon. That's wonderful!
 
何? I said I wasn't capable of. Unless I missing the joke here.

At any case, even if I did get the capability, it'd be nice to get some advise on what study materials to get that are good, haha.
Any suggestions, Mike? Perhaps I can convince my mum that her little investment will be quite worthwhile. :D
 
I missed the "not" before "capable". Wishful thinking, I suppose.

You're university-bound in your future, you'll have to take a foreign language, your parents want you to do well....how could they resist spending the price of a pizza to help you get a head start towards a good grade?

The text and workbook in my screenshot are used by universities and independent learners and enjoys a good reputation. As you can see, they can be had used at very reasonable prices.
 
I don't think they force one to take a foreign language...but if there was a Japanese course, I'd probably take it, yeah. And I could try to convince them, but most of the things I consider a priority, they don't. At least, my mum doesn't, and my dad is all the way on the other side of the world, and he's the kind of person that would help me in my kind of work.

It's actually used in institutes? It must be pretty good, then. However, I'm kinda fussy on textbooks that insist on Romaji; I like to accustomed fast to normal Japanese text, and so far I can read Japanese pretty well already in terms of a beginner level, although I have missed out and forgot quite a bit. However, I just did a quick lookup, and it seems Genki books are in Kanji and Kana. I guess I'll see what I can do to grab a copy. I HAVE seen it before in some sites, so it's probably quite renowned to an extent.
 
I don't think you will find many colleges or universities that don't require at least one year of some foreign language.

You could try putting them on an Amazon wish list and posting a link to it hoping some kind soul would hook you up. But I really think your mother would be supportive if you catch her in a good mood and make your case in a reasonable way.
 
冬雨 is a Chinese word. Not a Japanese word.

Japan only have raining seasons in spring or autumn, but not in summer nor winter. That is why they have 春雨 and 秋雨, but no 冬雨 or 夏雨 in their vocabulary.

But of course, you can have any kanji in your name.
 
Haha, yeah, I kinda made that name when I just started learning Japanese. It wasn't meant to mean anything or be a proper name; it's just a random merge if two of my favourite things.

*EDIT* Japan does not have rain in the summer? That's strange...
 
precipitation =/= rain.

Rain is a form of precipitation. So is snow and hail.

You're not so goddamned stupid that you can't figure out the precipitation in the summer months in Tokyo is almost entirely RAIN.

Sometimes I swear you remind me of what my mother used to say about my grandfather...."He talks just to hear himself talk".
 
You could always call yourself 霙 or 初時雨 instead ;) (Yes, I cheated by looking up a list of 季語).

You might want to check out this website, which is really aimed at your age group. You can change the settings to make it only display kana, or kanji + kana.

I see you're in Toronto. The Japan Foundation in Toronto has a public access library which will have loads of learning material, if that helps (I know in a big city it's not necessarily conveniently placed). Also, the University of Toronto uses Genki for its Japanese courses (just checked their syllabus), if that helps convince your mum.
 
You could always call yourself 霙 or 初時雨 instead ;) (Yes, I cheated by looking up a list of 季語).

You might want to check out this website, which is really aimed at your age group. You can change the settings to make it only display kana, or kanji + kana.

I see you're in Toronto. The Japan Foundation in Toronto has a public access library which will have loads of learning material, if that helps (I know in a big city it's not necessarily conveniently placed). Also, the University of Toronto uses Genki for its Japanese courses (just checked their syllabus), if that helps convince your mum.
Interesting...and yes, my brother did actually take me to the Japan Foundation, but I heard that you need to pay to get in there, so, yeah.
[MENTION=21878]FinancialWar[/MENTION] & MikeCash Hey, guys, I'm a bit new, but I haven't really seen a forum where people are actively hostile towards each other. Chill, lol.

*EDIT* I just checked out the website you gave me, and although it did seem kinda kiddish at the start, it did catch my interest. I watched the first video there and kinda liked it. You see, I never really watched any beginner videos like that ever since I started, and since I never speak or listen, I always wonder about how well I would do in that. I guess I got another thing to just listen to and practice listening to 日本語 being spoken.
 
There is no hostility. That's the way we talk. Anyway, neither you nor Mike got my "joke" lol. Obviously there are rain in summer and winter in Japan. But I don't know why they don't have any nouns for it like they do for spring and autumn.
 
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When your brother took you, did you have to pay to get in? Are you sure that is the place you went to? I've never heard of the Japan Foundation charging for the use of its lending library. A quick email or phone call from you would quickly get the answer.

You know, if you're going to learn Japanese well enough to do what you say you want to do, and if you're actually going to start a business someday, you need to develop the trait of being the kind of person who when confronted with difficulties makes things happen, not the kind who makes excuses for why he can't make things happen.

Are you serious about what you say? Or are you just the umpteen millionth anime fan who pointlessly wastes time pretending to learn Japanese until the next object of fleeting teen fascination comes along and replaces it?

I'd like to see you succeed at what you say your dream is. But with each new excuse presented to each new suggestion, I steadily lose hope.
 
There is no hostility. That's the way we talk. Anyway, neither you nor Mike get my "joke" lol. Obviously there is rain in summer and winter in Japan. But I don't know they don't have verbs for it like they do for spring and autumn.

Nouns.

While googling, I found that apparently some Japanese wonder about the same thing.
 
There is no hostility. That's the way we talk. Anyway, neither you nor Mike get my "joke" lol. Obviously there is rain in summer and winter in Japan. But I don't know they don't have verbs for it like they do for spring and autumn.
Ahahahaha~ Oh boy, I didn't see that joke earlier...I just took a look at it, and now I got what you mean xD

Are you serious about what you say? Or are you just the umpteen millionth anime fan who pointlessly wastes time pretending to learn Japanese until the next object of fleeting teen fascination comes along and replaces it?

I'd like to see you succeed at what you say your dream is. But with each new excuse presented to each new suggestion, I steadily lose hope.
What the hell, man? I just requested a calm down of hostilities, but it seems you really want to throw a new member out here.

Yes, I'm serious; I'm not some weaboo from the U.S. or a random otaku that only watches anime all day. In fact, I rarely watch anime and manga, as I'm tired of all the usual stuff. I'm in the game for the Japanese culture, not the random shows.

I'll calm down a bit, since I'm typing this in 7:42AM and am quite hungry, but sorry, please don't respond to me that way. I do question myself on whether or not I'm giving lame excuses or giving legitimate excuses when I'm telling them to others, but so far the way my life is laid out, that is how I've always seemed to have been with my family, not really being able to get what I want without feeling that I'm severely inconviniencing them, or that I can actually get what I need without a great amount of effort. I'm also a Minecraft player who's gonna leave the community soon, and there has been times where I have noted that I have no money to get any equipment, and they always say a bunch of random jobs I cannot even do.

Chill, man. Don't worry, I'm not some random dude who will quit halfway. I have procrastinated a lot in my efforts, but that's because of my usual habits and because of other things I need to concentrate on. I do not lose hope.

And also, I am not in a rush. I still have plenty of years; if I don't get super fluent and super standard by the end of university, then I'll study beyond that. I'm sure some people can go to Japan after graduating without any knowledge of 日本語, and eventually learn things. It'll be harder, but it's not some super deathmatch where you absolutely must have a standard university degree in the language to be able to live there. I highly doubt that is even remotely possible for any country.

*EDIT* Also, I'd usually notice when I'm constantly dodging something, but I've only gave one excuse in this entire thread so far; not being able to buy the book. Even so, I'm quite interested and I will see if perhaps I can get a copy and the such, but it's not a showstopper priority that I must overcome to continue. Otherwise I've been also listening to other suggestions and posts, without really saying that I can't do anything.
 
A wild 冬雨 appeared!

Beat of luck to you.

(How many "outs" for procrastination did you give yourself in your last post?)
 
Thanks. If you mean how many breaks I took to write that post, 0. I dish out hyperlong posts in other forums I visit quite often, so, yeah, I got practice. xD

Sorry for my snapping, BTW. At any case, I'll have to wait until my brother comes back this evening, then I'll probably ask.
 
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