Maciamo said:
I'm quite sure that the Japanese /u/ doesn't exist in Finnish as well as the /r/. I had to pay serious attention to the Japanese /r/ because it's so different - we roll our r's much more
Maciamo said:Yes, among Westerners it's mostly native-speakers of Germanic languages, and especially English, that have problems with the Japanese pronuciation. All Latin languages, Finnish, Greek, etc speakers have all the Japanese sounds in their language (except the "h" for Latins, but that they can replace by a soft "f").
miu said:I'm quite sure that the Japanese /u/ doesn't exist in Finnish as well as the /r/. I had to pay serious attention to the Japanese /r/ because it's so different - we roll our r's much moreAnd the pronunciation of /u/ in Japanese is much closer to the Swedish /u/, so I don't think it exists in Finnish... But I could be wrong, though!
Just something random to add:
Tonight someone asked me if we have toothpicks in America.
Harvey said:I've been asked the same thing heh.
After reading this thread. Well... you know... island nation. Homogeneous population... What can you expect?
Which is bollocks...kirei_na_me said:That's my husband's excuse for everything. Every answer starts, "When you live on island country..."
FirstHousePooka said:Which is bollocks...
Ask him why New Zealanders don' have the same mindset?
FirstHousePooka said:Which is bollocks...
Ask him why New Zealanders don' have the same mindset?
Heh I used NZ for its closer geographical size.Maciamo said:Why, Austalians are not islanders ? Well Australia doesn't have any land boundaries with other countries.
We could also add Britain, Malta, Cyprus, etc. None of these countries have the same "island mentality" as Japan (just a bot for Britain whe it comes to joining the euro, riding on the right, or stuff like that).
I'm sorry I'm not sure what you really meant. But I know that everyone judges things based on his/her experience and we are searching for happiness. So I won't deny there are racists or people who feel superiority in Japan nor your/Maciamo-sans experience. But Every country has those type of people. And I also think it's too easy to generalize a whole nation by ones experience or reading books. And it may narrow one's scope. That is my concern.Suleiman58 said:we all confident that the life of every one of us is going to an end , is not it ??
We must search for eternal life with happiness.
This is a reality..... with real proof ... gloriuos evidence .........
corocoro said:1)foreigners are forbidden signs...
We actually do this among Japanese. People who have tattoo are forbidden at public bathhouse, and there are stickers which says "Salespeople are forbidden." or " Hucksters are forbidden." I think this is the way we avoid troubles beforehand, In this case, it's not foreign people but the troubles that we may have(launguage/manner).
2)Residential issue...
Well, I think it would be the same reason as I mentioned above. I've heard some same stories that Japanese landlords treated foreign people the same way they did to Japanese first, but there were many troubles occurred between them so they become reluctant to lend rooms to foreigners.
I know it's not acceptable to generalize all the foreign people like this, but knowing these reasons may also be helpful when non-Japanese people deal with us Japanese.
Is this my English? or Are you just trying to ignore my point? I think You totally don't understand what I mean... You don't even try to understand which makes me feel a little sorry.Maciamo said:People with tatooes in Japan are usually yakuza. Forbidding foreigners is equal to saying that foreigners are as bad/dangerous as yakuza. I understand perfectly what you mean.
That's terrible situation you had to face with. I'm so sorry to hear these things actually happen to many foreign people in my country. I sincerely hope things like this will improve better way and non-Japanese people would be able to spend more pleasant time here.I am sure most landlords don't have more problems with (Japanese-speaking) Westerners than with Japanese. I went to some big real etate agencies with my wife, and they said frankly that most landlords didn't want to rent apartments to foreigners, even Westerners with a stable job and married to a Japanese, and even with as several Japanese guarantors. However, most Japanese landlords have never rent anything to foreigners (or at least Westerners). In English, this s called prejudice (=unjust behaviour formed on a preconceived opinion not based on actual facts or experience).
If you were Maciamo-san's stalker-san, Corocoro-san, I'd be his devil-san !corocoro said:Gee, I am acting like Maciamo-san's stalker here!
corocoro said:Is this my English? or Are you just trying to ignore my point? I think You totally don't understand what I mean... You don't even try to understand which makes me feel a little sorry.
misa.j said:This report was on the radio last night. It's been said many times on this forum, and I hate to be redundant, but I thought it will clear your views a little more. I really hope they make new laws, and some drastic changes will be done against how foreigners are treated in Japan, or I don't want to go back there again.
The World
Click on the title:It's not easy being foreign in Japan.
I may not have been the first to say it, but I do believe that Chinese & English share many interesting features. Please see this thread Write English in Kanji, post #13.Ma Cherie said:"Chinese and English are similar" that's the strangest thing I've ever heard.
Maciamo said:I am sure most landlords don't have more problems with (Japanese-speaking) Westerners than with Japanese. I went to some big real etate agencies with my wife, and they said frankly that most landlords didn't want to rent apartments to foreigners, even Westerners with a stable job and married to a Japanese, and even with as several Japanese guarantors. However, most Japanese landlords have never rent anything to foreigners (or at least Westerners). In English, this s called prejudice (=unjust behaviour formed on a preconceived opinion not based on actual facts or experience).