Language Language on the wall~

[Mika]

livewiresaidpostthisherekillhimnotmeifthisiswrong

If you live in a country where English is the primary language, did you take a foreign language in highschool/secondary/upper elementary? What one did you take?

What was your primary reason for taking a language? What sorts of things influenced it? [requirement? interest in the culture? ancestral heritage?] Do you feel it was worth your time to take?

By chance, did you continue your studies in University in said language?

What do you think 'qualifies' a person to claim they have more than just a interest in a language not their own? Do they have to be of similar race to the language they're learning? I.E. Can you be white and study an Asian language?

What do you think is the difference between a 'scholar' of a language and a wannabe? I.E. What is the difference between a person who is legit-ly studying Japanese and a weeaboo? What are some ways to tell between the two?

I'm considered bilingual [English and Japanese tho I really...second guess myself and I don't think I'm as good as the exams say. xD;;] at the moment and I'm studying two other languages tho I'm really no better than a toddler at the moment at either of them. XD; if that

Please, if my phrasing is unclear ask me for clarification, I'm on some meds for some surgery i had last week ( so grammatical errors probably abound but but IDEAS ;.; )

 

[Charizard★]

I'm in high school currently, and English is my main language, so I took Spanish. I took it because I wanted to know what my friends and cousins were saying behind my back (I'm not Hispanic so I didn't really grow up with the language much, except for influences outside of home) so I took the test and got entered in Spanish 3 my Freshman year. I wanted to take Japanese (Go figure) but my school doesn't offer it sadly, they only offer Spanish, French and German. I'm not going to be taking any language in college since I'm going to finish up my 4 years of Spanish in high school. Yea, anyone could study a language as long as they're interested in it and are actively trying to learn it and learn more on the culture, etc.

In my opinion, Weebo: They usually use Google translate to look up words and then they fail at trying to say them. Legit: They can speak it without parting much in the sentence (unless they're just beginning) and they pronounce most or try to pronounce the words right.

Also, I'd have to agree with this/these definition of a Weeabo(s):

Someone not of the oriental race that tries impersonate or emulate the japanese or japanime culture.
"did you see that fat white guy in the inuyasha costume last night?" "yeah i did, that guy is such a weebo!"

A weebo is much like an Otaku. Weebo's-or commonly misspelled, Weaboo- is an over obsessive fan of Japanese culture, and are giving Otakus a bad name. They revolve their whole lives around anime and manga, usually with the main stream material. The common Otaku likes anime, and does occasionally cosplay. Weebos just cosplay and watch anime to be like the Otakus. Weebos are usually friends with Otakus, and want to impress them. (So they watch Naruto, Inuyasha, etc.)

Most weebos speak Waponese, or use google translate to act like they know Japanese.
They misuse the words "Baka," "Kawaii desu,""Moshi-Moshi," "Aishiteru," and so much more.
Most of them use names on chatrooms with the word "Anime," "Kitty," "Maid," and "Manga" beware!
The otakus would like them out of their fanbase, please.
Weebo: Kyaaa! Did u liek, c that new episode of ____~? KAWAAIIIIDESUU~!

Otaku: Yeah. It was okay. But it wasn't a new episode...

Weebo: Really?! I'm so baka! Thanks! Aishiteru~! KYAAAA! DESU!!!

Otaku: .... Whatever. Please go away.

Weebo: But I love you desu!!! Aishiteru! Anime!

Otaku: GO. DIE.

I'm taking some classes at a community college for Japanese, and I hope to go there one day. Plus, my cousins fiancee, whose Japanese, is pushing me to go for it too. I'm thinking it's going to be a bit hard for me since this is going to be the 5th language I'm going to be learning, but hopefully I'll do good. I admit to being a weebo, a couple years back. As for now, I don't view myself as one since I'm learning more about the culture, language, etc.

 

[Alice]

I'm just gonna answer the questions individually, because it's easier. (Great... it won't let me unbold this part of my post... -.-)

If you live in a country where English is the primary language, did you take a foreign language in highschool/secondary/upper elementary? What one did you take?
I took French in high school, and loved it. I thought I would hate it though, and didn't want to take any languages at all, because they didn't have Japanese. (They cut it the year before I went there. Same with the Computer Programming Class. They really hate me.)

What was your primary reason for taking a language? What sorts of things influenced it? [requirement? interest in the culture? ancestral heritage?] Do you feel it was worth your time to take?]
We were required to take at least 1 year by the highschool, and 2 years by any 4 year colleges.

By chance, did you continue your studies in University in said language?
Not in College til next year, but I won't. I'll be studying Japanese instead.

What do you think 'qualifies' a person to claim they have more than just a interest in a language not their own? Do they have to be of similar race to the language they're learning? I.E. Can you be white and study an Asian language?
If you like it, and have an actual use for it, then that's all that really matters.

What do you think is the difference between a 'scholar' of a language and a wannabe? I.E. What is the difference between a person who is legit-ly studying Japanese and a weeaboo? What are some ways to tell between the two?
Well, a Weaboo won't actually learn Japanese to begin with... so someone who pretends like they know the language, or only uses a couple common words from it mixed with their native language would definitely be a "wannabe." I don't think anyone who actually takes the time and effort to completely learn the language should be looked down on though, regardless of their reason for doing it.

 

[Oryx]

We're required to take two years of a language in high school, I was planning on taking Italian but then I transferred schools and picked French instead. Took 4 years of that and loved it. I just adore speaking in another language, I can't really explain why. Unfortunately, language classes in college assume you're a major, and with engineering classes I can't afford that much work in addition. :/ So I've dropped French in college.

 

[twocows]

I took some French in high school and studied some Japanese on my own. Learned about the same amount of either (e.g., not much). I'd love to take more but I'm trying to get a four-year degree and that doesn't leave me time to learn new languages. I'll probably go back to uni once I'm a few hundred thousand dollars richer.

 

[Palkia]

Seeing as I'm still in secondary school, I can't talk much about foreign languages in my education. :/

My first steps into it was in my middle school, where I did a half-hour lesson of French a week. After moving schools, I skipped a year of it until my secondary school. Now, I have two languages I learn in school, French and Spanish. When I get my options I'll probably choose Spanish as it makes it easier to move on to learning Japanese. I might start learning Japanese in the near future as well.

 

[Esper]

I'm white, American, and from California. When I was in grade school I had something like an hour each week of Spanish classes since that makes the most sense for California. Didn't really take anything away from those. Fast forward to high school and I took French because I didn't want to take Spanish. Had two and a half years of that, but the teacher wasn't very good so I didn't learn a whole lot and since I haven't had much chance to use it I've forgotten a lot. Then in college I had 3 years of Japanese including living in Japan for a year.

I feel like I'm a more serious language student than the average weeaboo since I have put a lot of time and a lot of money into learning Japanese, have actually had the chance to use it, study it whenever I have time, and so on. I feel like the sheer amount of effort I've put into it is how I can say I'm different.

And I don't think I need to be Japanese or Asian to be taken seriously although it does become hard to explain to people. Most people learn another language because it's either something some of their family knows or because they're going to be living somewhere where that language is spoken. A lot of the biggest languages, like English, Spanish, and French, are spoken all over the place by people of all backgrounds so there's no problem explaining even if you just say it's because it would be helpful for a job. When someone asks me I tell them I'm studying because I want to be able to stand on my own feet in another place and among another culture and that it helps me broaden my experience. I say that learning Japanese even though I'm not even Asian, isn't about anime or anything like that, but because it's just what I happened to choose once for some silly reason (which was probably some weeaboo reason, but I don't really remember), but has since grown and I now have dozens of very good and easily explainable reasons such as keeping in touch with people I met. I was just tired of giving up with the other languages I tried and wanted to keep at it and now I'm at where I'm at which isn't fluency by a long shot, but good enough to learn on my own.

 

[Dawn]

If you live in a country where English is the primary language, did you take a foreign language in highschool/secondary/upper elementary? What one did you take?

I took both Spanish and later Japanese, and then more Spanish.

What was your primary reason for taking a language? What sorts of things influenced it? [requirement? interest in the culture? ancestral heritage?] Do you feel it was worth your time to take?

I took spanish due to it being mandatory. I then took Japanese because I had cultural interest at the time.

I stopped taking Spanish for Japanese in High School and then stopped taking Japanese because the Japanese course was extremely incompetent at it's job and was, to my infuriation, about as helpful as going and looking up how to speak Japanese online, only with an obnoxious security guard posing as a teacher telling you not to get on the internet. That and I learned about Japan's sub culture and stopped being interested altogether.

What do you think 'qualifies' a person to claim they have more than just a interest in a language not their own? Do they have to be of similar race to the language they're learning? I.E. Can you be white and study an Asian language?

I don't really care if they have "more than an interest". I'm not even sure what that entails. Why does it /matter/? All I care about is an interest and an ability to speak a language.

What do you think is the difference between a 'scholar' of a language and a wannabe? I.E. What is the difference between a person who is legit-ly studying Japanese and a weeaboo? What are some ways to tell between the two?

The difference is whether they can actually speak the language and whether they need to speak the language. If they can't actually speak it, one point towards wannabe. If they don't need to speak it either way, a second point.

And yes, two points is all you need. |D

 

[groteske]

If you live in a country where English is the primary language, did you take a foreign language in highschool/secondary/upper elementary? What one did you take?
French in elementary, Spanish in middle, Spanish & German in high school. I learned Norwegian in my own time and am most familiar with that, though not fluent. Started Russian and Icelandic a few years ago but haven't kept with it.

What was your primary reason for taking a language? What sorts of things influenced it? [requirement? interest in the culture? ancestral heritage?] Do you feel it was worth your time to take?
I've always been interested in foreign languages so made those courses my priority.. however, not one damn thing remains of my French education except the word for cat. And that's from a kitchen handtowel.

What do you think 'qualifies' a person to claim they have more than just a interest in a language not their own? Do they have to be of similar race to the language they're learning? I.E. Can you be white and study an Asian language?
Don't care in the least. If you want to learn something, do it of your own prerogative.

What do you think is the difference between a 'scholar' of a language and a wannabe? I.E. What is the difference between a person who is legit-ly studying Japanese and a weeaboo? What are some ways to tell between the two?
DGAF