Tokyo is very much the “standard Japanese” dialect, and if you were in fashion I imagine it would be doubly strict on the rules (entirely assuming the climate is anything like western fashion, probably a foolish assumption) so that doesn’t surprise me. But Japanese dialects are super crazy different in some places. I barely understood a word anyone said when I first moved here despite studying for a year or two, but now I think it’s be the opposite if I go to Tokyo 
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He may not have meant it as an insult, but denigrating a language by using a word that was originally designed and used as an insult is a bit shifty.
Keep trying though, you may win him over yet 
learning Japanese really opens doors to the culture. Tell him to use Duo if he’s too lazy humans are definitely capable of learning 2 languages at once. I do German as well. I considered learning Chinese now that I know a handful of Kanji, but actively decided against it because it would be like learning another reading to a word I know
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Tell him not to learn Japanese, but learn kana (or maybe just hiragana), so you can play authentically. It’s much easier when you think about learning just a small number of characters, instead of “the whole language”, which looks pretty much unattainable at first! He might find it interesting enough to continue learning afterwards.
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Omg yes! It’s the same in America (or at least in California). I had to try really hard not to use that kind of humor around my coworkers. 
Also, saying “I love you” to my friends. I’m so use to throwing that phrase around that I had to try really hard not to say that to my Japanese work friends (people I was really close to and would hang out with on the weekends sometimes). The girls I hung out with were okay with it and would also respond with “私も！”, but I also say it to my guy friends back home.
One time at a drinking party (where alcohol was definitely involved), I was teasing a male Japanese friend. I don’t really remember how the conversation went, but at some point he said “you hate me?!?!?” in English (but in a joking manner). And of course, since this how my friends in America tease me, I blurted out “What?!? Of course not! I love you!”
…and then immediately realized what I had said. I still remember how shocked he looked. I fumbled, trying to explain that in America we say that to our friends too (at least my friends and I do). He seemed to understand, considering he said, “oh! Then, I love you too!”
But I was still so embarrassed. I will never forget the look on his face 
Edit: Sorry, the point of that story is that I often tell other Western friends I want to die every time I think about that moment, but I can’t really say that to my Japanese friends when they bring it up.
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You could say it was embarrassing. Just try not to sound like an anime…
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How did I sound like an anime?
Literally wasn’t even trying to. Just wrote about an embarrassing story I had…
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One time I was talking to my Japanese friend who spoke English very well. While we were hanging out she asked me if she could call her mother and I sarcastically said no. The look of confusion/terror I will never forgot. I quickly apologized and explained the meaning behind it. I thought she would understand because her English level was extremely high, I guess not.
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I think they meant to suggest you could say “It was embarrassing” instead of “I want to die”, but I still don’e get the anime caution.
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OMG! I’ve done that too. When I first moved to Japan, I didn’t realize that sarcasm isn’t used the same way as in America. One of the Japanese English teachers I worked with asked me to make another game for class. We had already done bingo, so he said a different game. I nodded and said, “Okay! Bingo every week!” He gave me a look like, “Please no.” I had to tell him it was an American joke and of course I don’t want to do bingo every week.
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Japanese has the expression 死ぬほど, and you could use it like 死ぬほどはずかしかった! (I was embarrassed to death), so it’s not like Japanese people couldn’t understand such a thing.
I don’t know exactly how people who talked about death actually phrased it, perhaps they didn’t use 死ぬほど, but just used 死ぬ somehow, I’m not sure.
EDIT: And you could formulate something that isn’t a fixed expression that would still be understood as exaggerated emotions, like 死にたいと思うぐらいはずかしかった. くらい or ぐらい is functioning like ほど there, where it’s just emphasizing the extent of embarrassment, not that you truly thought about wanting to die.
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Oh, I see. Thanks for trying to clear that up. But that’s just how I talk to my friends? Like, “it was so embarrassing I wanted to die.” Where i’m from, that just means I was really embarrassed. I don’t actually want to die.
I was replying to Daru’s comment about how some humor doesn’t translate well/ isn’t as understood in Japan like joking about death. And how certain phrases have different nuances to them. Like saying I love you to friends is not common in Japan like in America.
I’m also confused about the anime comment. I thought they were suggesting accidentally saying I love you to someone only happens in anime or something haha 
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I did not know that! I’ve only been cautioned to not use that kind of humor around Japanese people, especially to coworkers. Things like, “it’s so hot I want to die” or whatever.
Although, it’s probably not something people should say in a professional setting anyway.
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No I understand, I talk the exact same way lol I think he was responding to this part
and attempting to offer advice on what you could say instead, whether you actually need any advice in that area or not At least that’s my interpretation of it. Still a weird comment to make with no context or follow-up.
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Right? I wasn’t sure if the “you could say it was embarrassing” was doubting my story or telling me how I should talk to my friends. 
(Sorry if you thought I was explaining what I meant to you. I was also sort of replying to the other comment trying to clear things up.)
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Here’s a hinative question from a Japanese speaker about how to say 死ぬほど暑い in English
Eh, I think that will vary a lot based on the individuals. In my workplace, people are super laid back, and I’m sure no one would care. I think people just have to decide what the mood of a work environment is.
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No worries! Though I’m in the same boat as @Leebo in that I use sarcasm at work all the time because everybody is really relaxed. One of my Elementary co-workers absolutely loves sarcasm and any time if he asks me if I’m ready for class I just look at him while collecting my things and say “No, I’m not going…” and he does similar things. I think it heavily depends on the people, it’s too bad that you didn’t have much success, I don’t know what I’d do without sarcasm in my day-to-day speech
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I thought くらい was more extreme than ほど and should maybe be avoided with these death analogies.
Here’s what I’d read before:
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Glad to know they have somewhat Japanese translations to this. Although, “this heat is killing me” and “it’s so hot I want to die” sound different to me…
I’m not sure if my coworkers would understand what I meant if I say it in English…
What about “I’d rather die that do this (like a presentation or whatever)”?
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Well, I would say I didn’t just swap in くらい for ほど. It’s attaching to 思う in my sentence, so I’m not sure it applies as a 1 to 1 there.
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Well… it’s usually a bad idea to take any English sentence and think “how can I replace each part to make a Japanese sentence.” The idea is just that in a situation where an English speaker would say “It’s so hot I want to die” a Japanese speaker might say "死ぬほど暑い”.
I’m sure you’re aware of this, so I’m not trying to sound like I’m lecturing you.
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