Being an a-hole in Japanese

[SortOf]

Well I notice dthrough all the Japanese books I had, baka and aho was about as deep as insults got... well naturally I figured that I needed to learn the cussing rampage, so I looked around, there are actually decent books on it!

Amazon product ASIN 0804816948 Outrageous Japanese: Slang, Curses & Epithets

Amazon product ASIN 4900737038 Japanese Slang Uncensored

Amazon product ASIN 4770027737Beyond Polite Japanese

Amazon product ASIN 0804833966 Making Out In Japanese

I ordered them all just for the heck of it, figured I would give a heads up to anyone who didn't know this aspect of the language.

 

[KrazyKat]

Because I like helping people, I'm going to ignore what you said on the paedophiles thread and give you some advice.

Its a bit late now, but I don't think any of those books will help you learn Japanese, and definately be of no real use to a beginner. If you still can I recommend you cancel your amazon order, and buy some real books.
Here are some to choose from:

Japanese for busy people
Basic connections; making your japanese flow (not a main text but absolutely essential)
Genki
minna no nihongo
Colloquial Japanese
basic Kanji book
heisig Kanji

 

[SortOf]

I dont need any of that I already have a miniture library of books, kana/kanji dictionaries, work books, books on Japanese culture and audio cd sets. Im completely set in every aspect and have already mastered about half of the kana in the few weeks ive been studying it. I just thought this worth a mention.

What I already have:
Pimsleur Japanese Audio Cds
Eurotalk/World Talk Japanese (Japanese computer games)
Japanese for Dummies (book)
Japanese in 30 Hours (book)
A Guide To Learning Hiragana & Katakana (Kana/Haraga Work book)
A Guide to Reading and Writing Japanese (book)
Japanese for Young People (Kana Work Book)
Japanese for Young People 2 ( Kanji Work Book)
Drive Time Japanese Cds (learn japanese in the car)
The Japanese Fairy Book (if that counts, legends and fairy tales of japan)

Ordered: Those listed above

My goal is no less than JLPT level 4 by the end of this year.

 

[KrazyKat]

Considering the books you have, and you current ability, what I said still stands. The books you just ordered are worthless and I recommend some of the books from my list instead. Especially Genki or JFBP.

 

[SortOf]

Alright ill buy those to then, now im gonna be neck high in books w00t.

 

[KrazyKat]

I'll give an explainiation of why I think you should cancel your orders on those slang books. And why no-one else in your position should buy them. First individually.

First of all Japanese Slang Uncencored jsut looks really bad. Far too hard for a beginner, and badly designed for an intermediate student.

We have beyond polite Japanese in our Library. Its not very good, just a bad dictionary of slang lots of words you should either know anyway or don't need to know. Pick them up normally and use a normal dictionary is my suggestion.

Making out in Japanese actually looks OK. However, it doesn't explain anything in it and its all things you would learn normally anyway. So not worth buying, but if you insist on getting one, get this one.

Now you don't need these books because you are just beginning to learn the language. You need to learn basic sentence structures and vocab. All that those books are is more complicated sentences and vocab with no explainaiton. But the punchline is that these are all just things you would be able to say by the end of the course anyway. Any time you spend 'working' on these books will only hinder your japanese when it could be used more productively with a real textbook.

 

[SortOf]

Well ill just save them until im at an intermediate level then.

 

[Grandpa Frank]

Seems to me...

tha dates on the first 3 books listed were from the 70's & 80's; probably you would be outdated & old fashioned using what's in them.

Frank

 

[KrazyKat]

Yes, but they are worthless at intermediate level too.
If they haven't dipatched you order yet you can just cancel. If not they probably have some kind of refund policy.

 

[Kara_Nari]

Also the fact that most Japanese wont want to hear your 'potty mouth' until you are at a certain level of friendliness with them. If you plan on going to Japan, do so, and wait until you have some good friends, and you will find that you pick it up very easily.
Who are you planning on saying those things to anyway?

I have had Japanese friends for years, know lots of 'those' words, but still dont feel comfortable with putting them into everyday conversation with them. Believe me, what you might take as 'funny ha-ha' they could get offended with.

However if you are just wanting to learn it to have a bit of a giggle to yourself... eat your heart out. I had a book of slang which I thought was really funny. Showed it to my japanese friends and they nearly had a heart attack at some of the stuff that was in there. Even my slightly crazy friends had some warnings about some of the phrases.
You need to immerse yourself in everyday japanese and then you can slowly pick out what is ok to say and what isnt.
Probably you have some friends that can teach you the bad stuff that wont recieve a bad reaction? Ask them, dont waste money on books when you honestly wont need THAT many.

 

[Kara_Nari]

Making out in Japanese was the book I had when I was younger... I think they have two now. Thats the one that got mixed reviews amongst my friends, and perhaps if you aren't willing to take everyones advice, just get that one and send the rest back. It has everything in it. However unpractical it is.

 

[SortOf]

tha dates on the first 3 books listed were from the 70's & 80's; probably you would be outdated & old fashioned using what's in them.
Frank

Its ok to be groovy!

Making out in Japanese was the book I had when I was younger... I think they have two now. Thats the one that got mixed reviews amongst my friends, and perhaps if you aren't willing to take everyones advice, just get that one and send the rest back. It has everything in it. However unpractical it is.

Im a rude person in general, so ill need all those books.

 

[Nicky]

I own the first book. My 2 cents, It's not really useful.

 

[nice gaijin]

I bought making out in japanese for a friend as a birthday gift. The content is more hilarious than it is useful, I recommend it only for a laugh.

 

[Glenn]

I have Japanese Street Slang, and it's interesting, but it comes with a caveat that using some of the words in it could cause a riot. A lot of the content of the book was collected by people who spent a lot of time with yakuza, bousouzoku, and in redlight districts, so even if I were to learn all of the phrases and words in the book, I wouldn't really know when to use them properly. It's good for entertainment value, though.

 

[Erik]

I should sell all of my japanese books... they collect more dust than anything...

 

[Kinsao]

I agree with Kara Nari.
My instinctive reaction when someone is learning a new language and wants to learn slang, is "don't go there!" Why? Firstly because, as KrazyKat pointed out, if you carry on studying the language you will learn that stuff anyway (similarly - and especially - if you go to live there). Also because, you run a big risk of using slang totally inappropriately, in a way that is offensive, loses you friends, starts a fight, makes you appear rude and ignorant (and hence is counter-productive in getting what you want)... any or all of those things. As a relative beginner to a language it is very difficult to know when it is appropriate to use slang words/phrases, and you will get it wrong no matter how hard you "study" it. (I'm not directing that at you personally, it holds for anyone learning a new language.) Your level needs to be pretty high before you get an instinctive "feel" for that.

Wanting to know a few swear words is only natural, but ask a Japanese friend; they will tell you what is usually said and also where it's not acceptable.

 

[SortOf]

I should sell all of my japanese books... they collect more dust than anything...

Just set aside several hours for studying every night, its what I do.

 

[WHEATTHlNS]

This guy is taking the piss. . .right? - Cant be a real topic. . .if it is - god help the JAPANESE

>>My goal is no less than JLPT level 4 by the end of this year.<<

In one year huh. . .are you going to do nothing BUT study Japanese? I cant say its impossible - but from whats in this thread, you might have some pretty unrealistic expectations on learning japanese - especially if your 'structure' is based solely on what you want to learn and moving from there. Im sure phrase books are great and all - but what do they teach exactly? Get a textbook if you must use those phrase books and at the very least follow the textbook with at least two weeks for each chapter (if you use GENKI which I recommend).

 

[SortOf]

You obviously didn't read the above statements I have a ton of books and there not freakin phrase books. Im not learning "what I want to learn" im going by the standard system. These books are mainly a novelity thing but NO ONE SEEMS TO UNDERSTAND I DIDNT POST THIS AS A THREAD ASKING FOR HELP I JUST POSTED IT BECAUSE I FOUND IT INTERESTING.

ahem... me = genius anyway ill have it down pat in a few years, im NOT worried about that :smoke:

 

[WHEATTHlNS]

No offense - but JAPANESE FOR DUMMIES - DRIVE TIME JAPANESE. . .cmon. . .those are books for casual Jap learners - folks who want to dip their toes into the language. . .

Those books arent going to prepare you for the JLPT 4. . .I can send you a copy of one of the most recent test, and you can compare whats being asked in there to whats in your books. . .Im gonna go out on a limb and say JAPANESE IN 30 HOURS wont quite cut it. . .

Noones being a dick here mate - just folks using their collective "This Is What I Did When I Started Japanese" experiences to steer you clear of the prat/pitfalls of the LEARNING. . .

 

[SortOf]

Well the writing book I consiter the most essential part of the learning, that and the work books. I started out with the simpler books because I came into it with a casual, somewhat weak knowledge of the language and needed to get more associtaed with the basics.

 

[Mike Cash]

Have any of you ever had the experience of hearing people who speak English poorly attempting to spice up their language with the various English vulgarities? Ever noticed how comical it sounds?

Why would anyone aspire to do the same themselves?

 

[Glenn]

Not just vulgarities, but slang as well. It's always strange to hear a foreigner use slang inappropriately.

 

[Mike Cash]

Not just vulgarities, but slang as well. It's always strange to hear a foreigner use slang inappropriately.

All slang are vulgarities, but not all vulgarities are slang.