Open Thread

Wow! 4 years is a long time, donat, but i guess not really too shocking as i hear japanese is one of the hardest languages to learn. good on you for sticking with it!

that is interesting about your son, BHS. Has he ever complained to you about being a minority at his school?

lol dh! maybe by june everyone will have exorcised their angst towards one another 🙂

Snappy, I attacked learning Japanese like it was the key to the universe. It was the BUBBLE years in Japan and I was determined to do commodity business over there. I did three things: I went to Japan Society for classes, I had a tutor but the best was the tapes that the State Department uses to train diplomats. I listened to those things and repeated things over and over and over and over but I got a natural Japanese that a lot of people had a hard time learning other ways. I did all that for 4 years. Then I went to Japan. And got a rude awakening. But I got an AWESOME teacher, Takahashi-san, who way my teacher. Twice a week at his apartment for an hour and a half a session. He put a 90 minute cassette in the machine and when it was over, we finished the class. He was a retired engineer, 73 years old, and on the board of directors of his big firm but this was his retirement job. Takahashi-san was my teacher, business advisor and a kind of father there, who helped me so much. But I got pretty good, between him and my Japanese friends.