Japan, few questions

Soldato
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Can anyone hear speak japanese? ive recently become interested in learning the language, wonderd how difficult it is etc, i love the way it sounds and the way its writen even if it does look difficult :)

decided i want to live in japan one day, also tempted to go there for my 21st birthday, granted thats 2 years and a few months away yet but its worth planning :p

any places inparticular that are worth seeing? and if i went there without knowing barely a word of japanese how hard would i find it to get about (do many of them tend to know much english basicly? lol)
 
Soldato
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Japan is pretty cool but the language is real hard, I suppose it depends where you go on how much english is spoken I would have thought teher is quite a bit of engrish in the main cities but not in rural areas cant help that much sadly nevelr been there
 
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my mate, has got engaged to a japanese girl, he basically had a holiday over there on his own about 4 years ago and doesnt know japanese. And met this girl, 4 years on and after about 3 visits back anbd forth per year to see each other on holiday. They are getting married next month!

And he said its not a problem going to japan alone, only knowing english
 
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i came back from 3 week trip in Japan on monday :)

learning some of the language is definately recommended before you go, but there are English maps available and a lot of the sign posts are in English too. But you should learn how to be polite, and not every hotel has English speaking staff.

Also work out how much money you think you will spend and then triple it :p Its very easy to get through a lot of money in Japan, especially in Tokyo :)

Get the Japan rail pass which lets you have unlimited use of the bullet train (amazing) and most other trains in Japan, the 21 day pass is £300, 14 day is £230, definately worth the money if you plan on leaving Tokyo. (note Tokyo subway is not included) Without the rail pass you are looking at expensive bullet train tickets which soon add up, you could take a slower train but that's just wasting your holiday.

Kyoto is definately recommended, Nara, Osaka are really good too. If you want to go out of Tokyo my recommendation is to stay in Osaka or Kyoto and do day trips using the bullet train. Lots of key cities are close to each other and no more than 1 hour or so away.

If you are interested in more details on doing a holiday let me know.
 
Soldato
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cheers for the info, ace modder that sounds like he had the best holiday of his life :D

fragalot more details would be greatly appreciated :) sounds like you had a nice time

the difficulty of the language doesnt really put me off learning it, one thing ill want to know if i ever wanted to live out there later in life though is how hard would i find it to get a job?

piggy if you see either of them could you please point them in this direction :) just incase they miss it
 
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As far as i know if you hope to work in Japan you definately need a degree. Most foreigners do English teaching jobs. I'm going to uni in september to study Japanese, so aiming for something other than a teaching job. :)

What else would you like to know about going there on holiday? For the flights i chose ANA (all nippon airways) unfortunately didnt get one of their planes with Pokemon painted on the side ;). Couldnt fault them. Flight is about 12 hours and you get your first taste of Japanese culture on the flight.

Personally i find the everyday culture of Japan more interesting than the tourist attractions :). Everyday things such as the numerous convenience stores, vending machines and all the quirky things you find.




The bullet train is beautiful :)
 
Soldato
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how much did the flight cost? (if you dont mind me asking) maybe rather than living there i could make regular holidays over there a plan incase i cant find any way of supporting myself out there :) i suppose im only 18 ive got (hopefully) a lot of time to decide these things

do you have any more pictures of your holiday? (again if you dont mind) the bullet train looks ace
 
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The bullet train that Fragalot posted is the JR Nozomi Series 500. Have to agree, an absolute beauty! :) It does 300km/h and does Tokyo-Osaka in 2hr 30min (the flight takes an hour)

PS. You can't go on the fastest bullet trains (Nozomi, including the cool looking one posted above) with a JR Pass - those trains need a separate ticket purchase, which is not cheap.
 
Soldato
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I went to Japanese school every saturday for 6 years when i was younger (my mother is Japanese and she insisted). Speaking Japanese is quite easy to pick up, it is very regular. However the main problem a lot of people have is the fact that the alphabet is obviously completely different. There are 2 basic alphabets with about 40 characters in each, then there are the Chinese characters (several thousand in total), You would expect to know at least 4-500 of them just to get by from day to day.

I have several friends who went over to Japan with almost no Japanese, and they survived fine. English is taught at school so most young Japanese have a basic knowledge of English.
 
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Soldato
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I've been learning Japanese for a while and it's not as difficult to learn as people make out. :)

You have two alphabets with 46(?) simple characters to learn. Word order etc is fairly simple. The most difficult part is learning the thousands of Kanji (Chinese characters), but you can replace these with letters of the two alphabets you learnt previously.

Here is a picture I just made, which explains it better.

Konichiwa.jpg
 
Soldato
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cheers for the pictures fragalot, looks like such a stunning place, i cant wait to go there :)

most helpful explanation of the alphabets etc overtone :D im learning already lol
 

Ev0

Ev0

Soldato
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A friend has been over there near Fukuoka, keep meaning to go over and visit as I think he's only there for another 6 months :(

Just looks so cool.

24.jpg


That's a vending machine.

At the top of mount Fiji.
 
Soldato
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OvertoneBliss said:
I've been learning Japanese for a while and it's not as difficult to learn as people make out. :)

You have two alphabets with 46(?) simple characters to learn. Word order etc is fairly simple. The most difficult part is learning the thousands of Kanji (Chinese characters), but you can replace these with letters of the two alphabets you learnt previously.

Here is a picture I just made, which explains it better.

Konichiwa.jpg

Might want to the check that mate.
Your Hiragana is incorrect.
Should be "Ko-n-ni-chi-wa"
You've got "Ko-n-i-chi-wa"

(can't be bothered to go onto my Japanese PC to type it, hope you see the mistake)
 
Soldato
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oddjob62 said:
Might want to the check that mate.
Your Hiragana is incorrect.
Should be "Ko-n-ni-chi-wa"
You've got "Ko-n-i-chi-wa"

(can't be bothered to go onto my Japanese PC to type it, hope you see the mistake)

Damn, I'm a tool... :o. That's what I get for rushing around!

But the example is still relevant. :D

Phil.
 
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