On language timidity

Talked to a girl on the bus today. Her name was Junko. "Is that Japanese?" I asked.

"Yes, how did you know?"

"It ends in -ko."

Five second pause, as I carefully constructed my next sentence and checked it carefully for grammar errors.

"Nihonjin desu ka?" (Are you Japanese?)

"Aa, sô desu! Nihongo dekimasu ka?" (I am; so you speak Japanese?")

"Chotto sukoshi dekimasu..." (Un pequeño poquito.)

"Doko ni benkyô shita n desu ka?"" (Where did you study [Japanese]?)

I thought she meant "When" instead of "Where" and started racking my brain trying to remember how to express years and such.... then she helped me out by repeating in English.

Now, had I understood properly, I might have responded "Terebi de," indicating I'd learned it off television, and kept the conversation going, and made both myself and television courses look pretty good.

I was on my way actually to pamper myself with a sushi dinner at Ra, so I would have another opportunity to demonstrate to the world that I'm really insecure about my foreign language skills.

The host wasn't there to seat us, since it was only 6:00, so I sat at the sushi bar and a waitress gave me a sushi menu and a pen. I filled out my order and wondered if I had to wait for the waitress or I could just give it to the guy behind the bar. I could ask in Japanese, I thought. I built the sentence "Kore de agemasu ka?" See, I even used the correct humble verb form for "I give." No, wait... "here", not "this"... "Koko de agemasu ka?" OK, that sounds right, but I wouldn't let myself say it aloud. I had to check it, recheck it, and check again. And long before I was done, the guy noticed I was holding out my menu and asked, in English with a Japanese accent, if he could take it. And as he completed my order, I thanked him in English, because saying "Arigatô gozaimasu" would make it look like that's all I could say.

I realized that all my independent study hasn't completely shaken loose the anal-retentive habits taught to me in high school Spanish. In high school, if you make grammar mistakes, it counts against your grade, and I always got an A in that class. Better to take five minutes to write out a perfectly-formed sentence than to instantly blurt out a sloppy one. Even better to take a half-hour and belt out something with a cute pluperfect subjunctive clause to really impress the teacher.

Fuckit. I'm going to start going to that French club again. "Toutes vos base sont appartient a nous!"

(no subject)

Slashdot recently linked to this Washington Post article on audiophiles.

My experience with audio is thus:

The best stereo experience I ever had was riding in the front seat of my bset friend's Ford Galaxie 500, as Black Sabbath's "Iron Man" played. It was more real then than when I saw Black Sabbath live at Bank One Ballpark.

I do not own a stereo TV. My current set of computer speakers cost $30, and I think I accidentally kicked in the grille of the woofer. My previous pair cost $11. My stereo cost $70 and you can't control the tape deck with the remote control.

At large-venue concerts, if I don't wear earplugs, the music and the crowd always seems distorted, as if my ears are being overdriven.

And the living room where my parents keep their TV has no wall between it and the kitchen, meaning anything happening in the kitchen is always louder than anything coming out of the TV. If you turn up the TV loud enough to hear comfortably, my mother comments that we must be deaf. My father has become accustomed to watching television without sound.

And, I hardly ever listen to music anymore. But when I do, I resolve to try to listen to it more often.

One thing I'd like to do is get my wireless headphones fixed; I rather liked them.