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fencer_xさようなら、私の恋人... (泣)
Fear not, I'll get to the reason for the heading and LJ cut text soon enough *sigh* But first,![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
reppu--he said that he was surprised at the diversity (which is understandable, since in Japan EVERYONE'S Japanese and ZOMG LOOK THERE'S A GAIJIN LET'S MOLEST THEM), and I guess that would hold true for most any Japanese person coming to America. Maa, THERE. I asked >_>
Anyways, I got to the MSC a few minutes early and checked my P.O. box to see many lovely junk mail flyers staring back at me. Ugh. Threw tem away and headed over to meet Takashi and ran into him halfway there since he was finishing up with the girl he talks to before me. Apparently they'd had a fascinating conversation that bled over into our discussion as well, and it went a little something like this:
In Japanese, if you want to express a month of the year you're already in, you'd say "今年の＿月" (kotoshi no ___gatsu, 'this year's ____'), and if you want to express a month in the year coming up, it's similar, "来年の＿月" (rainen no ___gatsu, 'next year's ____'). However, in English, we've got little nuances that change the meanings of these times. Like, if I said, "Last January, I went to Japan," a Japanese person who learned English would probably think, at first, that I meant January 2004, since that was last (year's) January. Apparently Takashi had been laboring under that illusion as well, and was surprised to hear that he might have been telling people the wrong month for a long time. I explained it like this: LAST January = January 2005, LAST YEAR'S January = January 2004, NEXT January = January 2006. Then he asked what THIS January would be. I thought for a moment, and didn't really have a good answer, other than that I know I would only say "THIS _____" if it was in the same year, but not past yet. Like if it was March, and I was doing something in May, I'd say, "This May, I'm going to blahblahblah." To me, there's no real meaning to, 'This January'--rather, I wouldn't use anything to refer to January 2006, I'd just say, "In January," but I digress. So yeah, we talked about that first.
Another thing they'd discussed was the different ways Japanese use "Gomen nasai" and Americans, "I'm sorry, excuse me." In Japan, apparently, if two people meet and bump into each other, say, on a street, and need to go around one another, they would say, "Gomen nasai," and apparently they use it TOO much, in his opinion. They use it for EVERYTHING, even things you wouldn't think really needed an apology. Like, if that happened in America, what would you say? Some people might say, "Sorry," but I think most would just say, "Excuse me," that way no one takes responsibility, because it's just not an American thing to do in that case--but in Japan it's a VERY Japanese thing to take responsibility, thus the over-usage of, "Gomen nasai." [/lesson]
Following that fun we chatted for a bit about next semester and what classes I'm taking XD I posted them before, so if you're interested go back a couple of posts, so I won't go over them again (BUT OMG REGISTERED FOR THE UPPER LEVEL JAPANESE EEEEE). He wondered why I wasn't taking any science classes, though, and said I seemed more like a future linguist than a scientist of some sort XD O RLY?
I mentioned that I'd be auditing Japanese again--202 at the time, cause I just registered for MODL 489 a few minutes ago--and this kinda brought a change in his demeanor, and he got all serious, actually kinda worried me for a minute, and said he had something he had to tell me (oh god, was so cute in hindsite, how morose and serious he got). The thing is, he's a PhD student (or going for a PhD at least) in our Economics area, and the area he wants to specialize in, 'neural economics' (WTF is that?) doesn't have a lot of classes here (go figure, I still dunno what it is). However, apparently Washington State University has a good program for it, so...
Yes, that's right.
He's transferring ;_____;
I WEEP, PEOPLE! TUTILY!
And it IS sad, cause...cause I was getting to know him, and it's getting really fun to see his quirks and all, so I just hope I can continue to havean affairfun with the next convo partner. *bawls*
He did, however, tell me to feel free to send him an email at any time, because he wants to be able to help me in any way he can, and he would send me emails with questions about things in English that he didn't understand as well. OMG OUR LOVE SHALL FLOURISH YET!
Maa, that's really it, it took him a good fifteen minutes to just explain that he was leaving and he was very sorry for it XD He cracks me up with his Japanese-ness sometimes, I love it ♥
One more meeting, people, the Friday after Thanksgiving. WHAT SHOULD WE TALK ABOUT? SHOULD I CONFESS? YES? NO? OTHER?
Random other thing: WHAT. Damn, there goes my Evanescence easy listening.
Fear not, I'll get to the reason for the heading and LJ cut text soon enough *sigh* But first,
reppu--he said that he was surprised at the diversity (which is understandable, since in Japan EVERYONE'S Japanese and ZOMG LOOK THERE'S A GAIJIN LET'S MOLEST THEM), and I guess that would hold true for most any Japanese person coming to America. Maa, THERE. I asked >_>Anyways, I got to the MSC a few minutes early and checked my P.O. box to see many lovely junk mail flyers staring back at me. Ugh. Threw tem away and headed over to meet Takashi and ran into him halfway there since he was finishing up with the girl he talks to before me. Apparently they'd had a fascinating conversation that bled over into our discussion as well, and it went a little something like this:
In Japanese, if you want to express a month of the year you're already in, you'd say "今年の＿月" (kotoshi no ___gatsu, 'this year's ____'), and if you want to express a month in the year coming up, it's similar, "来年の＿月" (rainen no ___gatsu, 'next year's ____'). However, in English, we've got little nuances that change the meanings of these times. Like, if I said, "Last January, I went to Japan," a Japanese person who learned English would probably think, at first, that I meant January 2004, since that was last (year's) January. Apparently Takashi had been laboring under that illusion as well, and was surprised to hear that he might have been telling people the wrong month for a long time. I explained it like this: LAST January = January 2005, LAST YEAR'S January = January 2004, NEXT January = January 2006. Then he asked what THIS January would be. I thought for a moment, and didn't really have a good answer, other than that I know I would only say "THIS _____" if it was in the same year, but not past yet. Like if it was March, and I was doing something in May, I'd say, "This May, I'm going to blahblahblah." To me, there's no real meaning to, 'This January'--rather, I wouldn't use anything to refer to January 2006, I'd just say, "In January," but I digress. So yeah, we talked about that first.
Another thing they'd discussed was the different ways Japanese use "Gomen nasai" and Americans, "I'm sorry, excuse me." In Japan, apparently, if two people meet and bump into each other, say, on a street, and need to go around one another, they would say, "Gomen nasai," and apparently they use it TOO much, in his opinion. They use it for EVERYTHING, even things you wouldn't think really needed an apology. Like, if that happened in America, what would you say? Some people might say, "Sorry," but I think most would just say, "Excuse me," that way no one takes responsibility, because it's just not an American thing to do in that case--but in Japan it's a VERY Japanese thing to take responsibility, thus the over-usage of, "Gomen nasai." [/lesson]
Following that fun we chatted for a bit about next semester and what classes I'm taking XD I posted them before, so if you're interested go back a couple of posts, so I won't go over them again (BUT OMG REGISTERED FOR THE UPPER LEVEL JAPANESE EEEEE). He wondered why I wasn't taking any science classes, though, and said I seemed more like a future linguist than a scientist of some sort XD O RLY?
I mentioned that I'd be auditing Japanese again--202 at the time, cause I just registered for MODL 489 a few minutes ago--and this kinda brought a change in his demeanor, and he got all serious, actually kinda worried me for a minute, and said he had something he had to tell me (oh god, was so cute in hindsite, how morose and serious he got). The thing is, he's a PhD student (or going for a PhD at least) in our Economics area, and the area he wants to specialize in, 'neural economics' (WTF is that?) doesn't have a lot of classes here (go figure, I still dunno what it is). However, apparently Washington State University has a good program for it, so...
Yes, that's right.
He's transferring ;_____;
I WEEP, PEOPLE! TUTILY!
And it IS sad, cause...cause I was getting to know him, and it's getting really fun to see his quirks and all, so I just hope I can continue to have
He did, however, tell me to feel free to send him an email at any time, because he wants to be able to help me in any way he can, and he would send me emails with questions about things in English that he didn't understand as well. OMG OUR LOVE SHALL FLOURISH YET!
Maa, that's really it, it took him a good fifteen minutes to just explain that he was leaving and he was very sorry for it XD He cracks me up with his Japanese-ness sometimes, I love it ♥
One more meeting, people, the Friday after Thanksgiving. WHAT SHOULD WE TALK ABOUT? SHOULD I CONFESS? YES? NO? OTHER?
Random other thing: WHAT. Damn, there goes my Evanescence easy listening.
