TomTomTomTomTomTomTomTom
18 September 2006 11:21 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
fencer_xDear Mom and Dad:
Itthrills mepains me to inform you that you will, I'm sorry, never be getting a white son-in-law. There will be an Asian in the familly of the Japanese persuasion so help me God. If I get this dokidoki over a five minute conversation with one now, in America, I shudder to think how it'll be over there, but rest assured I'll defend my own honor as best I can til they sign the pre-nup at least.
Hugs and Kisses,
Your Daughter
SO. I talked to "Tom" today. As in had a normal conversation askfuyhsgfbksjfhsdfs Ok, so here's how it went down. I got to class early *gasp* and sat in my usual seat in the front corner of the class and WHO should sit beside me but Mr. "I just got to America 4 years ago listen to my awesome English ♥" Tom. I suppress my girlish giggle of glee and instead get my crap out. Apparently we're studying honorific verbs in class (you know, the super polite ones--irassharu, nasaru, that kinda thing) and sensei asks us to do this workbook activity in pairs (!!!) that involves reading a story and changing the appropriate verbs to keigo. Simple enough, right?
Execpt the best thing happened: Tom said he never used keigo before ♥
Yes, that's right ladies and gentlemen learning the language. A born and raised Japanese 23 year old man (I learned that today too :3) had never found opportunity to use the bane that is keigo. Breathe a sigh of relief ♥
So that meant the whole activity was like the blind leading the blind in some cases. Most of it was obvious, but then there were places where the book obviously wanted one thing and Tom's sitting there scratching his head going, "........umm, I don't think that's what I'd use..." *pats him* poor thing...
After class, I'll admit I did the stalker thing and walked out as soon as he did, knowing there was a long hall to walk through that would make it difficult of him not to notice me. And of course he struck up a conversation, asking where I was going--the computing center, where I am now--and then asked what I was studying--Biomedical Science, he's an Electrical Engineer, it's love ♥
He then asked my name, and I told him Courtney, and he nodded like he finally understood, and said that when sensei would call on me in class (which would be "Courtney-san") he thought sensei was saying "Koizumi-san" and was struggling to determine if I was Japanese or not XDDDDDDD
So, I broke down and asked him what I'd been curious about for so long: Was "Tom" REALLY his real name?
.......of course not XD It was Shouhei. But, he explained, Tom is just so much easier to say and remember.
..............................BULL. YOU ARE SHOUHEI FROM NOW ON YOU LOVEABLE IDIOT ♥♥♥
It
Hugs and Kisses,
Your Daughter
SO. I talked to "Tom" today. As in had a normal conversation askfuyhsgfbksjfhsdfs Ok, so here's how it went down. I got to class early *gasp* and sat in my usual seat in the front corner of the class and WHO should sit beside me but Mr. "I just got to America 4 years ago listen to my awesome English ♥" Tom. I suppress my girlish giggle of glee and instead get my crap out. Apparently we're studying honorific verbs in class (you know, the super polite ones--irassharu, nasaru, that kinda thing) and sensei asks us to do this workbook activity in pairs (!!!) that involves reading a story and changing the appropriate verbs to keigo. Simple enough, right?
Execpt the best thing happened: Tom said he never used keigo before ♥
Yes, that's right ladies and gentlemen learning the language. A born and raised Japanese 23 year old man (I learned that today too :3) had never found opportunity to use the bane that is keigo. Breathe a sigh of relief ♥
So that meant the whole activity was like the blind leading the blind in some cases. Most of it was obvious, but then there were places where the book obviously wanted one thing and Tom's sitting there scratching his head going, "........umm, I don't think that's what I'd use..." *pats him* poor thing...
After class, I'll admit I did the stalker thing and walked out as soon as he did, knowing there was a long hall to walk through that would make it difficult of him not to notice me. And of course he struck up a conversation, asking where I was going--the computing center, where I am now--and then asked what I was studying--Biomedical Science, he's an Electrical Engineer, it's love ♥
He then asked my name, and I told him Courtney, and he nodded like he finally understood, and said that when sensei would call on me in class (which would be "Courtney-san") he thought sensei was saying "Koizumi-san" and was struggling to determine if I was Japanese or not XDDDDDDD
So, I broke down and asked him what I'd been curious about for so long: Was "Tom" REALLY his real name?
.......of course not XD It was Shouhei. But, he explained, Tom is just so much easier to say and remember.
..............................BULL. YOU ARE SHOUHEI FROM NOW ON YOU LOVEABLE IDIOT ♥♥♥
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no subject
Date: 2006-09-18 09:29 pm (UTC)Also, I've never heard of "keigo" nor why it's such a bane; if you have a moment, could you enlighten me? If not, I'll go look it up somewhere. XD
no subject
Date: 2006-09-18 09:45 pm (UTC)Keigo is a special set of verbs to replace a few of the most commonly used verbs when you're addressing someone higher than yourself using declarative sentences about them. You'd usually find it in a company or a university (student to teacher thing)
For example:
Normal: "先生、どこで食べましょうか？" (Sensei, where shall we eat?)
Keigo (and more proper here, since the speaker is lower in status than the sensei): "先生、どこで召し上がりましょうか？" (*same*)
Or how about:
Normal: "これを見てください" (Please look at this)
Keigo: "これをご覧ください" (*same*)
What makes it so annoying is remembering when to use it XD For example, there are three forms of suru to remember:
します - normal, everyday conversation
なさいます - polite, what someone else of higher rank does (this is also where you get the "なさい" in "gomen nasai"--it's politely asking someone to forgive you)
いたします - humble, what you yourself do when talking to/about someone of higher rank (as in the sometimes seen お願いいたします)
But, like Shouhei said, he pretty much NEVER used it, to the point that he wasn't quite familiar with what to change to what and when XDDDD