I followed the other comment chain. I agree with @boxcarblue that this might work better as a community. You could call it "Nihongo benkyou" or something similar. Leo Threads might be another interesting option. I am thinking about how to use that for my community, Blockchain Poets.
I have a funny story about 日. When I first came to Japan I didn't know any of the language so I dove in to studying. As many new learners, I was full of myself. I went on a trip to Kyoto and went to a Starbucks. I saw on the menu 本日のコーヒ. Full of confidence, I announced to the cashier 「にほん の コーヒ お願いします」. The cashier looked at me with some confusion, then looked at the menu, then laughed to himself and explained to me in perfect English what my mistake was. Embarassed, I decided to have my coffee to go.
(For those reading along, I had accidentally flipped the kanji in my head. 本日 is honjitsu or today while 日本 nihon is Japan. I turned "Coffee of the day" into "Japanese coffee")
Edit: I just saw that you did that. I subscribed.
I make that mistake almost every time I see that kanji, which is a lot. 🤣
I always have to take a second and think wait, is that nihon or honjitsu.
My first experience trying to order coffee in Japan was at a Tully’s. I can’t remember what I said, but I tried to repeat the sentence my co-workers had told me (I think it was ko-hi- wo hitotsu kudasai.). Somehow, in whatever exchange happened after that, I left the shop without a coffee and under the impression that they told me they didn’t sell coffee.
It was the most confusing thing.
Another funny experience, was ordering a coffee at the restaurant on the ground floor of the mansion that I lived in. They didn’t have any paper cups, so I couldn’t get a coffee to go, which as an American baffled me, so they told me to bring a mug down from my apartment and they brewed the coffee into that and let me take it to go (the owner spoke English well).
Glad I'm not the only one who gets these two confused sometimes. I always take a few extra seconds to make sure I have it right before reading it outloud.
haha I can relate to both of your experiences. It's so easy to get confused once you become lost in a conversation. I still have that problem at times. It makes for some funny stories (albeit embarrassing at the time)
I had this thought the other day: if we could experience our lives as 4th dimensional beings (able to experience all of time at once), we might not ever get angry or sad or frustrated or embarrassed in these situations because while they are happening, we’ll also be able to see the future and know how funny they will be to us some day.
This thought was inspired by a Valentine’s Day fight with the Mrs. 😉
A little like the Tralfamadorians in Slaughterhouse 5, eh?
Exactly. I finally read that book for the first time a year or two ago. I really enjoyed it.
Every time I reread it, I fall in love with it a little more. It is on the way to becoming my favorite book. Biting satire, yet hopeful, oddly beautiful at times (the "watching the war backwards" part), funny, and philosophical. Such a great book.
I don’t know how I never read it as a kid. I can remember seeing the cover of it here and there, and hearing the name of course, but I always just wondered, what is that book.
Honestly, I think it’s probably better that I didn’t read before becoming an adult. It seems like one of those books that will make more sense the older one gets.
Wait, you live in a mansion??😂
When I first came to Japan, yes.
I was filthy rich then. 😁
Lol, been there, done it. Maybe a tough one for dyslexic folks.