Learn a second language through PSO?

[Gandalf]

Thanx to the XBL communicator, when PSO comes out for Xbox(Feb. 26 = longshot), if you are playing with a JapANESE player, would it not be believable to pick up Japenese if you are playing with them so often? Especially if you find some Japanese players that are bilingual-with both Japanese and English. THis really applies to any language that people speak on PSO.



<font size=-1>[ This Message was edited by: Gandalf on 2002-12-27 18:49 ]</font>

[neko-chan]

On 2002-12-27 09:33, Gandalf wrote:
Thanx to the XBL communicator, when PSO comes out for Xbox(Feb. 26 = longshot), if you are playing with a Jap player

The will not talk to you if you call them "Jap".

Before thinking to learn a new language, it is better to think to learn some manners.


<font size=-1>[ This Message was edited by: neko-chan on 2002-12-27 09:46 ]</font>

[SaitoH]

Well, thanks to a wonderful friend, I learned how to type in Japanese, on the Dreamcast.

*hugs little sis*

^w^/

[VulpesMundi]

I picked up quite a bit of Japanese, Chinese (Cantonese), and some German and French while playing on the Dreamcast. I can tell you I didn't know any Japanese beyond Ohaiyou, Arigatou, and a few Street Fighter words before I began playing PSO nearly two years ago. Now I know both sets of the phonetic alphabet, know numerals in phonetics and kanji, and even picked up some other interesting kanji along the way, just to name a few. Who says video games aren't educational?

[Rich_T]

I supose it could be possible, but im not too sure on how much you could actauly pick up from an online game, as the conversation would most likely be limeted to PSO topics.

And as for the term "Jap" this only seems to cause offence in/on US boards, in other countries it is not offensive at all ( and is used without complaint ), and it is no more than an abreveiation, such as you would find Brit, Aussie, Sweede, etc.
Before you complain about the word Jap being used, stop, and think.

[Lord_Data]

ok i watch japanese anime almost 24 hours a day and i have read through this http://www.sf.airnet.ne.jp/~ts/japanese/index.html website... the hardest part is the writing(i know this from experience in my chinese class)so theoretically with a little effort on your part i am sure you could learn japanese even before pso for xbox...but yeah pso for xbox might help too

[Tavia]

On 2002-12-27 12:05, Rich_T wrote:
Before you complain about the word Jap being used, stop, and think.

Stopping to think about it for a moment, I'd like to bring up that "Jap" is a historically offensive word, due to the fact that it was used during the respective World War to slur the Japanese. To give a similar example, I'm sure you know what the most common derogatory word for a negro is. Some people tend to joke about it now, but there are countless people who are still offended. "Jap" is an offensive term, no matter how you look at it, even if some individuals do not interpret it as such.

EDIT: Forgot how to spell.


<font size=-1>[ This Message was edited by: Tavia on 2002-12-27 18:20 ]</font>

[Gandalf]

"Jap" was not used as a slur, but an abreviation. That is all. How u interpret it is up to you. But during WW, "Japs" was commonly associated with the enemy and bad stuff, which is why WE consider it a slur. Considering Jap is in the word Japanese, i hardly see it as a slur.

-Btw, I meant no offence if I am indeed wrong about the usage, and I shall edit it just in case.

[DirewolfX]

I sincerely doubt that you could learn Japanese beyond a number of set phrases and perhaps some basic grammar from just an online game like PSO. All sorts of people think you could learn Japanese from playing Japanese video games or watching lots of anime. Unless you're a prodigal linguistic, it won't happen.

I've been playing video games since I was a wee little boy, I started watching anime several years before I went to college and I even spent some time studying Japanese on my own via books and the like. In the year and a half at college I've spent actually studying the language (with native speakers), I've learned much, much, much more than I ever learned from anime and video games.

It might be possible to learn a little bit of a romance language or a germanic language, from playing PSO, as the grammar and even vocabulary is in many cases similar to English (English is based on romance and germanic languages, amongst others). However, Japanese grammar is vastly different from English grammar. It takes roughly four times as long to learn Japanese as a romance language.

That being said, I have heard from many sources that 'Jap' is a derogatory term for Japanese people. However, I've never heard it from a Japanese person myself. That being said, I personally would avoid using the term myself, just to be on the safe side.

[rena-ko]

hm, sounds interesting...
i wonder:
-how much japanese will be online in xbox-pso
-how much of them wont stick to JP only-games
-how much have an understandable spelling, since this is not really forced in english courses, afaik.

btw...
i for myself think of 'jap' as very offending, despite the therm 'kraut' (for germans) is only amusing me, since it shows lots of cultural ignorance (what every offending therm does, btw, i know...). despite of that its really rarely used...

about the useage of that 'jap'-therm in non-english forums etc i can only speak for the german ones:
its still the same offending meaning, even when germans use that word. but i dont think that most of them really know what its second meaning is.