Reading and Speaking Japanese Is A Bitch

From the mind of Peter Able and his Living and Teaching in Japan blog, comes a story I had to share with you all.

Peter's a great guy, from what I can tell - but who knows, though? He could be as crazed an individual as me - a seething volcano of sex and violence... sorry, I meant sax and violins.

Regardless... in a recent blog of his, he wrote about just how bloody insane it is to learn Japanese. He means speaking it, reading it, and while not in the title, he could easily have added "writing it".

I agree 100 bloody per cent with Peter. Obviously you get out what you put into it... but really... after three years there, while still a blathering idiot, I still had a difficult time being understood or understanding what was being said to me. And reading or writing? Forget it!

Hell, as a baby and then a toddler of three - I was near brilliant. Proof of which can be found in the fact that I was in Grade 1 while 4 going on 5 years of age in November. And I was successful. I could read, write and certainly speak when I was three.

Yes it was English, but that's kind of the point. Japanese is a difficult language.

Perhaps because while I was in Japan, I was constantly chasing women - much like Peter admits he wants to do.

Mayhaps the answer to it all lies in THIS blog entry written by my friend Mister Manfred Mann (I swear it's not me!) on How To Survive Women. It's slightly adult with some raw language that I do not allow on this site, though I do allow some pretty raunchy situations. Still MMM needs a plug too. 

Plug for MMM aside, please check out Peter's blog. It's a very fast read - and even if you don't get all of the words, the meaning is 100 per cent understandable. I admit I had no idea what Japanese words or phrases he was spouting at me on couple of occasions, but then again... Japanese is a freaking hard language.
     
JAPANESE TOUGH

Cheers
Andrew Joseph
Why the photo above? Read Peter's blog for the real answer, and note the following - my purely lucky answer: As I wrote the last word in the title wondering if I should swear or not, I glanced briefly at the photo and went Ohhhh. Damn I'm good (and lucky). It's not a swear word now!