Any of you JW super linguists learn to speak Japanese? If so, how’d it go? ;)

by Diogenesister 3 Replies latest jw experiences

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  Diogenesister

  Hi I’ve been learning to draw portraits, and one style I had a go at when drawing young children was a sort of Kawaii or cute Japanese style. I wanted to make gifts of these drawings so looked into writing in Japanese script to add to the aesthetic.

  But oh wow!! Three types of script?!! Did anyone here learn to speak Japanese when they were a JW in order to preach? I’ve read Amber Scorah’s book and am blown away that she managed to master Chinese to the point of running a pod cast!! Its incredible the lengths dubs will go to, I mean you have to admit many of them have the real missionary spirit.

  Anyway did any of you attempt to master Japanese and if so I’d love to hear your tips and experiences.
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  Anony Mous

  I've been to the language classes for Russian. The JW's don't teach you to speak any language, they teach you the words to say to place the rags and lead a study.
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  LoveUniHateExams

  I'm an amateur linguist and I've looked into Japanese.

  You're right, it has three scripts - one is Chinese characters (used for writing words), one is Katagana (used for writing foreign words and grammatical particles Chinese doesn't have) and the other is Kirigana (used for emphasis, a bit like our use of Italics).

  The Japanese writing system would be very hard to learn - Chinese characters are pictograms, i.e. there's no way of telling how they're pronounced.

  However, Japanese pronunciation is relatively easy, from what I remember.
  
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  Tameria2001

  The closest I ever got to the Japanese language is my son, he minored in Japanese in college. Even though he has finished taking all the courses the school offered, he and his girlfriend are still practicing it by reading books together. That was how they met. His reason for wanting to learn the language was video games and books. Now he doesn't have to wait for the English version of a game to play it.