Keihan
Teacher Of The Year
- Joined
- Mar 6, 2019
- Messages
- 2,365
- Reaction score
- 4,599
I'm quite surprised at how many people went straight to suggesting I get off my high horse based on such little information.
I realize that the stupid gaijin who overestimates himself is a thing but jumping straight to assuming that I'm him after reading just one short blurb reflects poorly on some of you guys. If anything, I downplayed my Japanese ability when introducing myself and was quite humble to begin with. I'm certainly unfamiliar with punting and new to this community but that isn't a free pass to assume I'm some ignorant gaijin who learned textbook Japanese in a bubble that would pop as soon as he steps out into the real world.
I could cite the hundreds of Japanese expats I've met in my locale who default to asking how many years I lived in Japan, whether I'm a hāfu or whether I work in a Japanese company (none of which are true) or a million other reasons but that's not going to convince anybody. I've been called a genius more times than I can count and I keep coming up with new nonsensical answers as to why my Japanese is so good (such as claiming I was Japanese in a past life or just claiming to be Japanese straight up despite appearances) because I'm so sick and tired of having the same conversation over and over again whenever I meet a new expat. I put a lot of work into being this good and I deserve to be proud of it but given all that I've said I think its sufficient to say that I never intended to flaunt to begin with.
I also dated a Japanese girl for 4 years with the intent to marry so I've been thoroughly culturally potty-trained. I merely brought up my language skills because it's relevant to the kind of advice I'm trying to receive here!
I don't intend to @ anybody because I'm here to make friends and hopefully have a fun time and I think we should look to being generous with each other unless given reason to act otherwise.
Please forgive me if this reply seems a little heated but I took some statements quite seriously given that I also dislike blowhards! Really not trying to step on anybody's toes here!
P.s. to address some questions about the accent, I'm also a native speaker of a language in the same language family as Japanese (shared grammar & pronunciation) which helped correct for a lot of the errors that English-only Japanese learners imprint into their speech and helped me speed along when I was building a foundation and learning vocabulary and kanji! I was going through a nasty breakup when I started learning Japanese and channeling my energy into studying/working out really helped me stay consistent which is most important imho.
I was on the fence and willing to give a wary benefit of the doubt, and then this. I feel so sorry for the patrons and young girls at whatever bar you descend upon to unleash this brand of unbridled douche-baggery.
And BTW, you aren't from Japan, you weren't raised speaking Japanese, you haven't spent even a miniscule amount of time in-country and N-1 doesn't mean shit. You DO have an accent, regardless of what the sympathetic Japanese you intrude and impose upon back home tell you just to get you to shut the fuck up and go away.
Enjoy your two weeks and don't forget to leave. And please don't go to the actual good bars that old-timer expats frequent, because you're seriously a prime candidate to get glassed. And, unfortunately, it would probably be hilarious.