Some slang intro stuff to ball out on

I’m just gonna stomp that out right now. They absolutely understand all of those things. They just have their own brand, and humor is one of the hardest things to convey/understand in a second language.

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Okay maybe I should have written “western style of sarcasm, …”. I have experienced several times that one of the western students here tried to do a joke like that and the japanese students we were talking to (in japanese) where just baffled or seemed actually worried about the person. Point is, that you can’t just “translate” western jokes like that into Japanese and expect to get a laugh out of them.

I guess humor is just very reliant on the delivery to be funny and if you don’t have a good grasp on the language it’s even harder to do.

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This I agree with, but it’s a very different statement than “They don’t get sarcasm” :joy: I just see that thrown around so often and it’s kind of frustrating, so I try to combat it when I can. Glad we’re on the same page :+1:t3:

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And youre supposed to bend over to the japanese guy why exactly?

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Haha no worries! You were absolutely right to correct me on that. While it sometimes seems to me like I’ve been living here for a long time, it’s only been a little more than half a year and my Japanese is still pretty bad, so I definitely shouldn’t be casually spouting such absolutism’s without thinking before typing.

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You don’t want to find out his name is Kenshiro and his catch phrase is “お前はもう死んでいる”. :stuck_out_tongue_winking_eye:

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But what is that was just part of my 計画?

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Well then I guess it’s

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I would want to find out, thank you very much.

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Before or after you pissed him off? :rofl:

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Yes.

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I didnt even consider the honor/respect/formality element that might come along with it…

yeah maybe I will be super formal and polite.

random followup question: is toshiko a male or female? Not sure who I am looking for at the 'ol Panera.

Google and the 子 say female.

I’d say don’t let the formality hold you back if you want to have some fun, but just keep it light-hearted.
If it doesn’t work out, it doesn’t work out.

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大変かたじけないで御座る!

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You could introduce yourself normally, but when it comes to describing what you like you could say, (For the sake of example pretend you love pizza, just trade the word pizza out for what you actually like).

ピザがまじやばいっすよ。

“Pizza is totally epic.” It can be interpreted negatively depending on context, but it’s easy to distinguish just like when people would use, “That’s sick!” to describe things they like in English. It might be abrupt to sound so formal and then throw that down, but the sudden change actually may break the ice and make your teacher laugh. Just be sure to say it with a lot of enthusiasm and a smile.

You could even add context: そして好きなものはね、やっぱりピザですよ。ピザがまじやばい。すげー好き

When my husband walked into his dorm and met his Japanese roommate, the first thing his roommate said was, “Yo yo yo whazzup!” I don’t think I’ve ever heard anyone say “yo yo yo” in my life, but it did break the ice :slight_smile: They are good friends years later :smiley:

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苦しゅうない。緊張せず楽な気持で接してよい。

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Yep. Rule of thumb: names that end with -こ are female. Unless it’s -ひこ, in which case it’s male.

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Why don’t you try to start with some convoluted keigo? This will definitely be unexpected and can not offend the tutor (because it is keigo :stuck_out_tongue_winking_eye:)

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Not so sure.
I don’t know if it’s true in Japanese but in most languages being too formal can either come over as mocking the other person or can alienate them and make them think you want to distance yourself from them.
(And since op wants to kinda break the ice that might risk getting the opposite reaction)

Ah, yes. Taking a page from Youhei Sunohara’s book.

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