
Thankyou for helping me to understand. Of course, having heard Nobuya Sugawa speak (live and a few metres away from me

Speak for yourself.Ongakuka wrote:
Being able to comprehend Japanese involves translating. Until you reach the stage where you can instinctivley understand everything, you will be translating almost everything you hear.
I don't need a "scenario"; that's my daily life.Or even better, give a detailed scenario in which a foreigner moves to Japan attempting to aquire a job far more suited to Japanese people, and has no need of their ability to use both Japanese and English?
He doesn't need to prove anything. He's a foreigner who has moved to Japan and aquired a job far more suited to Japanese people while not having need of the ability to use both Japanese and English.Ongakuka wrote:
How blunt. Did you not read my latest post? Or perhaps you're trying to prove something.
Well congratulations to him. My point was, I've already apologized for my mistake, and he doesn't seem satisfied.He doesn't need to prove anything. He's a foreigner who has moved to Japan and aquired a job far more suited to Japanese people while not having need of the ability to use both Japanese and English.
I doubt that he had read it, although I suspect that he'd be blunt either way.Ongakuka wrote:
Well congratulations to him. My point was, I've already apologized for my mistake, and he doesn't seem satisfied.
I am in a job where we regularly do English-English translations. (AKA Technical Support). These tend to be very lossy translations, due to lay man's terms not having the fine detail of the technical terms.Infidel wrote:
There is such thing as English-English translations too. They happen every day. Perhaps you've even seen it happen, "Could you explain that in lay man's terms?" Does this sound like a familiar phrase?
This sounds exactly like a conversation between me and my girlfriend. She's Japanese and can speak English very well, but when I need translation or explanation of sometimes even basic Japanese structures, she's at a loss. She didn't learn either language through "translating" though that's how I'm attempting to learn Japanese. It frustrates me to no end, however, because she always has to check a dictionary or ask other friends (usually returnee friends of hers) to answer my questions. Since her English is much better than my Japanese, I'd advise anyone to learn WITHOUT translating. In fact, whenever I talk about learning a language to my friends who are bilingual (Spanish,French,Russian,Chinese,Serbian,etc.) they say they don't translate in their head. They can "switch" their mind between the languages. This must be critical when watching movies, listening to music, or conversing at normal/native pace because I can't do any of this because I'm too busy translating the first sentence in my head when everyone else is on the third sentence.Ongakuka wrote:A: Hey, do you speak Japanese?But that's just not true.
B: Yes that's right.
A: Great! Then you can help me translate this sentence.
B: Uh... no, you see, I can read, write, speak, and understand Japanese and English fluently, but I can't translate anything.
A: ???
The hardness of getting into Tokyo University is legendary. Foreign students may have it a bit easier but I wouldn't bet on it.kuuru_neko_chan wrote:
I wanna go to tokyo U after high school here but i heard tokyo U is really hard to get into is it true to a degree?
I remember one time in school, I was just thinking about that weekend and all of sudden I thought, "このクラスは 心気臭いなんです。"emingygurl wrote:
Does it come naturally, actually thinking and talking in their language? I don't want to sit there, translating it in my head. x_x
I just wanted to point out there is a big difference between being bilingual and learning another language. You should not compare yourself to a bilingual person because that is completely and 100% different than having to learn a language from scratch. I'm also bilingual and can think in either language at any time, mix the languages up, and all that fun stuff, but that's because I grew up in a bilingual family and having two languages is natural. If your friends are naturally bilingual, of course they do not have to translate anything in their head as the words in either language are natural to them. You can't compare that to yourself, who has no first hand knowledge of concepts in the language you are learning.Since her English is much better than my Japanese, I'd advise anyone to learn WITHOUT translating. In fact, whenever I talk about learning a language to my friends who are bilingual (Spanish,French,Russian,Chinese,Serbian,etc.) they say they don't translate in their head. They can "switch" their mind between the languages. This must be critical when watching movies, listening to music, or conversing at normal/native pace because I can't do any of this because I'm too busy translating the first sentence in my head when everyone else is on the third sentence.