Language Journal: November 19th 2018
I've been watching the Abroad In Japan YouTube channel lately, specifically, his "cycle across Japan". And there was one with a daily challenge to talk only in Japanese for the day. At the end of it, they were reflecting on why he doesn't speak Japanese on his channel regularly.
There were a few just generally good points like; his viewers by and large don't speak Japanese and so he didn't want to alienate them. Also, his Japanese isn't great because all of his Japanese friends can speak English and like to practice/use their English when they're together.
Side note: Interestingly, this provided a good chance to gauge my listening skills. I was able to understand 100% of what they said. That doesn't mean that, in the same situations I would be able to speak with the same level of fluency. I don't practice speaking. I would like fail hard core. But, I could literally understand 100% of the conversation without the subtitles. This bodes well I would say. I'm nowhere near as far along as I'd like. But, it definitely makes me feel like Tokyo is well within my grasp. I WILL need to practice my speaking and generally forming my own sentences at some point if I want to venture outside of the tourist traps. End Side Note.
Then, there were a bunch of other reasons for them not speak Japanese like an extreme dislike sub-titling.
But, what really resonated with me this month was the feeling that he was a very different person when he spoke Japanese. Much more serious. His jokes didn't translate well into Japanese, and so he didn't make as many.
And the reverse is true. A LOT of Japanese jokes simply cannot be translated directly to English. They need context, often explaining similarities or differences in Kanji or references to some cultural event, icon, etc...
This hit home because one of the books I have on the go right now from Box of Manga is called "日本人の知らない日本語" or "The Japanese that Japanese People Don't Understand" or something to that effect. It is basically a compilation of what look like web comics poking fun at foreigners making mistakes or making silly Japanese sentences. Even when I can read a passage without any help, probably 2/3 of the time I just walk away not knowing why it is supposed to be funny.
日常 was similar. The difference there was there was at least a story line to follow which still made it enjoyable. And a lot of the humor was very crude, slapstick comedy which still translates reasonably well from the pictures. But, I KNEW I was missing a lot of the humor even in that one.
Not simply that I wasn't finding it funny. I simply had no clue why it was supposed to be funny.
And so, this is the first time since I started Box Of Manga that I'm not going to finish before the next box arrives. I finished the two new books. One was a duplicate, so ignored that. And the last one is this one.
I feel a little defeated. Hard to avoid that feeling. But, it is really hard to get motivated about reading a foreign book when a lot of the content isn't even teaching proper grammar, there is no story line and the jokes just go right over your head.
Not disappointed that I got the book. In fact, I look forward to the day when more of it makes sense. But, it does point out something about learning languages. Humor is a hard way to learn languages. Humor translates much more poorly than most things. And can be totally demotivating. Especially because it is supposed to be fun.
I also get the whole thing about personality changing when speaking another language. In English, I'm rarely serious when I speak with others. I wouldn't have the faintest clue how to crack equivalent jokes in Japanese. So, I would probably come off as this meek, polite foreign guy with virtually no sense of humor. This really shows through the times I have tried to make sentences.
There were a few just generally good points like; his viewers by and large don't speak Japanese and so he didn't want to alienate them. Also, his Japanese isn't great because all of his Japanese friends can speak English and like to practice/use their English when they're together.
Side note: Interestingly, this provided a good chance to gauge my listening skills. I was able to understand 100% of what they said. That doesn't mean that, in the same situations I would be able to speak with the same level of fluency. I don't practice speaking. I would like fail hard core. But, I could literally understand 100% of the conversation without the subtitles. This bodes well I would say. I'm nowhere near as far along as I'd like. But, it definitely makes me feel like Tokyo is well within my grasp. I WILL need to practice my speaking and generally forming my own sentences at some point if I want to venture outside of the tourist traps. End Side Note.
Then, there were a bunch of other reasons for them not speak Japanese like an extreme dislike sub-titling.
But, what really resonated with me this month was the feeling that he was a very different person when he spoke Japanese. Much more serious. His jokes didn't translate well into Japanese, and so he didn't make as many.
And the reverse is true. A LOT of Japanese jokes simply cannot be translated directly to English. They need context, often explaining similarities or differences in Kanji or references to some cultural event, icon, etc...
This hit home because one of the books I have on the go right now from Box of Manga is called "日本人の知らない日本語" or "The Japanese that Japanese People Don't Understand" or something to that effect. It is basically a compilation of what look like web comics poking fun at foreigners making mistakes or making silly Japanese sentences. Even when I can read a passage without any help, probably 2/3 of the time I just walk away not knowing why it is supposed to be funny.
日常 was similar. The difference there was there was at least a story line to follow which still made it enjoyable. And a lot of the humor was very crude, slapstick comedy which still translates reasonably well from the pictures. But, I KNEW I was missing a lot of the humor even in that one.
Not simply that I wasn't finding it funny. I simply had no clue why it was supposed to be funny.
And so, this is the first time since I started Box Of Manga that I'm not going to finish before the next box arrives. I finished the two new books. One was a duplicate, so ignored that. And the last one is this one.
I feel a little defeated. Hard to avoid that feeling. But, it is really hard to get motivated about reading a foreign book when a lot of the content isn't even teaching proper grammar, there is no story line and the jokes just go right over your head.
Not disappointed that I got the book. In fact, I look forward to the day when more of it makes sense. But, it does point out something about learning languages. Humor is a hard way to learn languages. Humor translates much more poorly than most things. And can be totally demotivating. Especially because it is supposed to be fun.
I also get the whole thing about personality changing when speaking another language. In English, I'm rarely serious when I speak with others. I wouldn't have the faintest clue how to crack equivalent jokes in Japanese. So, I would probably come off as this meek, polite foreign guy with virtually no sense of humor. This really shows through the times I have tried to make sentences.
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