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From: edwards@uwmacc.UUCP (mark edwards)
Newsgroups: net.nlang
Subject: Re: latest ish
Message-ID: <1961@uwmacc.UUCP>
Date: Sat, 8-Feb-86 15:51:40 EST
Article-I.D.: uwmacc.1961
Posted: Sat Feb  8 15:51:40 1986
Date-Received: Tue, 11-Feb-86 04:56:46 EST
References: <6333@utzoo.UUCP> <26400001@uiucuxe> <56@druri.UUCP>
Reply-To: edwards@uwmacc.UUCP (mark edwards)
Organization: UWisconsin-Madison Academic Comp Center
Lines: 35

In article <56@druri.UUCP> clive@druri.UUCP (StewardCN) writes:
Speaking about Japanese, and korean ....
>Might give an idea just how much trouble it is, and almost everyone in
>those countries these days has pretty good English indeed.

 Let me clarify "pretty good" in Mr Steward's above statement.
 You can probably get along without knowing any Japanese in 
 one of the big cities like Tokyo, Osaka, Kyoto, Yokohama,
 Yokosuka. From personal experience getting by, is not all that
 fun. Sure you can go to McDonald's, Shakey's, Kentucky Fried, and
 so on. If you are bent on going to McDonald's and you can't
 find one, don't ask a Japanese, unless you know their pronunciation
 of the word (Makudonorodo, or something close). I still have
 trouble saying it, or so my Japanese friends tell me.
  What happens if you venture out of the main stream, into a 
small city. You enter another world. A world with signs, and
symbols which will amaze and bewilder you. There are usually 
no recognizable characters. It isn't like going to France, or
Spain or Germany. At least in one of those countries you can
take out your trusty dictionary and look up a word character by
character, and have a good chance of getting the correct word.
 My experience with the Japanese is that the younger people know
 some english (this is a pen, good morning, oh hello ..). 
 Which they use quite freely. The Japanese are very embarassed
 about their english abilities, and would rather not use them.
 Again this is on the average, you can usually find some one who
 can speak enough english in a big city to help you. In school
 they study reading, and writing of english from teachers who
 themselves are no where near fluent in english.

 But hey, go to Japan at least once. (But then again I think it
 should be required for every one to spend at least two years 
 in the Military.)

 mark