Advice for ex-pats living in Japan: don't speak perfect Japanese
- Thread starter thomas
- Start date
- 21 May 2003
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I will go to my death bed with the words spoken to me on my trip to Tokyo--"Where did you learn your Japanese from , a retarded fisherman" , LOL
- 12 Oct 2013
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Franciso's advice is unbelievably bad - so bad that it makes me anxious for everyone who is taking investment advice from him.
What diabolically bad advice.
"They won't like you" "They will find you disgusting"
Absolute bollocks, and can only come from the small mind of someone who wants to justify his own poor command of the language, and who feels proud for getting praised for his 20-word vocabulary. He feels he's gaming the system. He knows enough to ask for a receipt at a restaurant, but doesn't know how to write the word "receipt". Then pats himself on the back, saying, "They would hate me I knew how to spell it".
I can't believe how bad this advice is. Not just bad, but at the toxic rationale behind all of it. Dogen makes people cringe because of his cringeworthy takes on things, not because he speaks wicked good Japanese.
As to his comment equating fluency with limiting your income - I don't know where to begin.
What a horribly bad take.
And then he doubles down on it when a reply tweet said his comments were borderline racist.
What diabolically bad advice.
"They won't like you" "They will find you disgusting"
Absolute bollocks, and can only come from the small mind of someone who wants to justify his own poor command of the language, and who feels proud for getting praised for his 20-word vocabulary. He feels he's gaming the system. He knows enough to ask for a receipt at a restaurant, but doesn't know how to write the word "receipt". Then pats himself on the back, saying, "They would hate me I knew how to spell it".
I can't believe how bad this advice is. Not just bad, but at the toxic rationale behind all of it. Dogen makes people cringe because of his cringeworthy takes on things, not because he speaks wicked good Japanese.
As to his comment equating fluency with limiting your income - I don't know where to begin.
What a horribly bad take.
And then he doubles down on it when a reply tweet said his comments were borderline racist.
- 17 Sep 2005
- 6,017
- 1,970
He's not completely wrong. No matter how good your Japanese becomes or even if you change your passport, you will always be an "other", at least to complete strangers, but so what? And from my experience, you will find individuals who can't comprehend that the Japanese language is coming from a gaijin's mouth, but that's pretty rare.
However, the idea that your fluency is somehow limiting your economic success is pure balderdash. To the contrary, the doors it opens and the opportunities that it brings could not be overstated. I agree with @Majestic: the reason people don't like Dogen is not because of his Japanese fluency; it's because he's not an easy person to like.
However, the idea that your fluency is somehow limiting your economic success is pure balderdash. To the contrary, the doors it opens and the opportunities that it brings could not be overstated. I agree with @Majestic: the reason people don't like Dogen is not because of his Japanese fluency; it's because he's not an easy person to like.
- 6 Mar 2003
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Ok then, why don't people like Dave Spector either?
- 17 Sep 2005
- 6,017
- 1,970
Dave Spector! There's a name I haven't heard in a long time! I honestly don't remember enough about him to provide an opinion any more. I vaguely recall seeing him talking on some talk show panels back in the day. Is he very opinionated? If so, that would be my first guess.
- 6 Mar 2003
- 9,319
- 9,449
- 14 Mar 2002
- 21,057
- 18,915
- Thread starter
- #10
He's usually summoned on morning TV to analyse all sorts of "foreign affairs". While his accent isn't as good as Dogen's, he's unquestionably more affable.
