Hello!
My Japanese learning tends to come in two forms - I tend to think of them as 'formal' and 'informal' lessons. The textbook approach is great but doesn't give you any idea of actual everyday usage. I therefore find blogs and online lessons really useful, in particular these.
In my regular studies I've been learning I (watashi/boku), you (anata), he (kare) and she (kanojo) and placing them in sentences as we would in English. Today I learned that's wrong. Well, not wrong wrong but not really the done thing either. It seems that the word "you" can be considered impolite and impersonal, while "he/she" are actually taken to mean "boyfriend/girlfriend" in Japanese.
So what this has left me wondering is: are there any other such quirks out there, waiting to trip me up? Part of me hopes so - it's the quirky nature of English that keeps me fascinated with my mothertongue even after 28 years, and why would a foriegn language be any more straightforward?
My Japanese learning tends to come in two forms - I tend to think of them as 'formal' and 'informal' lessons. The textbook approach is great but doesn't give you any idea of actual everyday usage. I therefore find blogs and online lessons really useful, in particular these.
In my regular studies I've been learning I (watashi/boku), you (anata), he (kare) and she (kanojo) and placing them in sentences as we would in English. Today I learned that's wrong. Well, not wrong wrong but not really the done thing either. It seems that the word "you" can be considered impolite and impersonal, while "he/she" are actually taken to mean "boyfriend/girlfriend" in Japanese.
So what this has left me wondering is: are there any other such quirks out there, waiting to trip me up? Part of me hopes so - it's the quirky nature of English that keeps me fascinated with my mothertongue even after 28 years, and why would a foriegn language be any more straightforward?
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