American Speaking Fluent Japanese

This is Joshua (Gooch) at his going away party at AEON. I have no idea what he is saying, but he will be missed!

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People & Blogs

Tags:

• Joshua Batts
• AEON
• Gooch
• Japanese
• Fluent
• Speech
• American
• Gaijin
• foriegner

[tonycat1217]

I have been speaking Japanese for 30 years..I would say because of the limited vowel sounds (like latin languages) & the relative ease of grammar, one w/ a knack for language can become converstionally proficient pretty quickly...to become totally fluent is harder, because of lack of vowel sounds w/ many synonyms pronounced subtly. The written language is difficult (4 different alphabets including Kanji), & the different readings of the same Kanji characters (on-yomi & kun-yomi)

[gingerlita]

I agree...well said. Props to you! Is there anything harder than kanji?? Seriously.

[TokyoStevie]

This is not fluent japanese. It is conversational. A japanese person speaking this level of English would be considered intermediate at best. Not to take anything away - just get annoyed with the word fluent being thrown around. The condescending (sic?) attitude of the Japanese to anyone who speaks a few words of Japanese is one of the reasons I gave up studying after I got 67% for ikkyuu...

[gingerlita]

I think people don't use the word fluent enough. I had dozens of students who didn't feel confident to go work or study abroad because they weren't "fluent", though they could carry a conversation in a clear and even more polite manner than some Americans. The word fluent itself creates anxiety. What you're saying demotes people. Therefore, I'd rather stay positive and let people know they're pretty much fluent, which in my opinion and seeing him interact daily while living abroad, is the truth

[XharajukuXlolitaX]

@gingerlita beign fluent is being able to speak, understand, and write a language completely. at least thts wat my dad says, & hes fluent in 4 languages

[gingerlita]

@XharajukuXlolitaX Good point, but in that case, most Japanese are not fluent until they complete high school. That is when an average person can read and understand the newspaper.

Either way, your dad is fluent in a lot of languages! That is awesome! Sugoi.

[sassyqueen321]

@tonycat1217 Yeah. I like the language a lot because of the fact vowels are mainly pronounced one way, as in o = oh, u = oo, etc... unlike the English language, when everything is just utterly confusing XD

[TheVTBROSEPH]

@TokyoStevie scroll down while the video is playing, making sure you're not able to see the video, disregard that he's caucasian , then try and tell me he doesn't sound fluent.......I'm waiting.

[bagleyy]

Japanese is the easiest language to learn if you're Korean...

Now Chinese...a Korean fluent in Chinese is impressive....Japanese, not so much. So you it everyday.

[iTzKiNG1]

@tonycat1217 is it hard to learn japanese?

[scarface53221]

@gingerlita

i would say arabic just because a letter has 4 diff forms and because arabic spoken in marokko is diff as arabic spoken in egypte and libya

[catwolf14]

@DT123ize

so children from parents who immigrated to a new country cannot be fluent when their parents teach them their native language? not true. my boyfriend took a spanish placement exam in college and tested better than those who grew up in spanish speaking countries and spoke spanish natively.

[DT123ize]

i dont believe in being fluent unless u have grown up in the land of that particular language