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Just curious though, what Japanese shows do you guys watch anyway? I usually watch variety shows like London Hearts, Mecha-Ike, Gaki no Tsukai, and any variety shows with AKB48 in it. 

This is an interesting topic. Taking religion into consideration will only lead to subjective opinion, so I will be more objective and think logically about this matter. Having a universal language that just about everyone can understand will unite people from all over the world. But then again, human beings, by nature, have different ideas and opinions, which makes every individual unique. I doubt everyone would just agree to the idea. There might even be oppositions to this. If anything, this is probably another Great Wall of China or Pyramid of Giza story with an ambitious tyrant using brute force as an excuse to achieve his ambition.

Well, given that I live in my homeland, I use my mother tongue more often.

Immersion is a terrible place to start if you have 0 prior knowledge, for it would take a very long time to grasp common conversation. One should educate himself/herself at least a little bit, get some basics down before going to live in a country of a different language. It would expedite the learning process and save you a lot of time.

I understand your point. But I doubt anyone who intends to live in a foreign country for a long time would be going there without even equipping himself/herself with the most basic of the language (such as numbers, greetings and often used phrases). Tourists are an excuse since they are only visiting a country for short term. But then again, most immigrants actually adapt to their new home (which includes learning the language) much quicker than those who study in language classes, so as most people mentioned, immersion certainly has an edge.

Well it boosts my confidence when conversing in a foreign language (especially if I am in a foreign country) and it makes me feel one with the people of the country, so I guess it does make me feel like a different person.

I probably just have a dirty mind, but the word "come" is actually funny to me due to the dirty word that sound similar to it (I don't need to say it, you should know that by now    ). I actually try to avoid saying it as much as possible as I just can't wipe the stupid grin off my face when I hear the word. Like instead of saying "would you like to come with us?" I would rather say "would you like to join us?". 

I would argue that a lot of idiomatic expressions that are in use today have a pretty long history. This makes "the etymological study" of idioms really interesting. How people come up with those idioms? That's a really difficult question. Still, I would say that most of the idioms make sense in one way or the other (at least at the time when they were invented but then later on, we might not be able to understand the "connection" of those "concepts" anymore)

You have a point there. I guess the same can be said for those internet meme, you know stuff like "rustled my jimmies", "swag" and "cool story bro". A few decades from now the next generation may not know what these terms mean but almost everyone who uses the internet in recent times knows these stuff.

I'm a fast reader and it's quite a bad habit. I have to re-read the same line a few more times just to get the meaning behind it.

^This. Which is why I learned my lesson and my pace changes depending on the importance of the content I am reading. If I am just reading a news article, a novel/book, a Japanese manga or anything with not much importance then I can read fast. But if I am reading an important document such as a contract, waiver or other legal documents then I read slow and carefully. After all, these stuff tend to have a lot of contents and pages, not to mention boring so you don't want to end up re-reading them. 

KeyHole TV is a program which allows you to stream live Japanese TV channels such as TV Asahi, TV Tokyo, NHK, TBS live from anywhere in the world. The resolution is meant for 4:3 aspect ratio or square type screen though so the quality is sub par if you maximize the screen on a 16:9 or widescreen monitor (which I assume everyone use nowadays). It is technically free as it allows you to watch for free for limited time (30-40 minutes I believe) after which the program automatically closes down and you will have to execute the program again to watch your favorite show for another 30 minutes or so for free before it closes again. You can already finish an entire episode of a jdrama without interruption with the allotted free time.  :grin: 

You can always buy the premium key for continuous watching for $5 for 30 days. 

Overall, I just think it's pretty rude.

^This. Not only is it rude but it is a cowardly way to "speak your mind". If you are brave enough and confident that you can back up your argument then man up and speak your mind out in a language that can be understood by the party involved.

Shiritori is a nice word chain game to test your Japanese vocabulary and knowledge in spelling. It is a word game in which players take turns to say words, each of which begins with the final letter/character of the previous player's word. The first letter/character of the word must be the same as the last letter/character of the previous player's word. Of course, there is a time limit for every turn so a participant must think quickly. The game ends if one player fouls by choosing a word ending in the character "n" (ん) as no Japanese word begins with that character or if a player cannot think of another word.

The game is actually going global as it is no longer limited to Japanese, though there are some variation to the rules as other languages have their own versions of fouls (a word ending with a letter that no words begins with).

I believe doki doki describes the sound of a rapid heartbeat, it's like how your heart is pounding when you see your crush during high school days. 

No love for cats in here? How could you guys forget about Nyan Nyan (ニャンニャン)?!  :bored:

Each language has its own proverbs. Don't you think it would be interesting to know different proverbs from around the world? Let me share some that I know.

In Japan, there is a famous saying that goes something like "the nail that sticks out gets hammered down", which means if you stand out, you will be put down. Basically it is similar to "crab mentality", which refers to pulling down someone who is excelling at something to become ordinary more like everybody else.

Another one is an old saying in the Philippines that says "weed/wild grass does not die easily" which means bad influential/powerful people are difficult to get rid of. It's like saying corrupt government officials who embezzle public funds tend to live longer for they can afford stem cell treatments or mafia/triad members can turn the tides of criminal case filed against them to their favor due to bribery.

The very first color idiom I have heard is "paint the town red" which I believe means to party to your heart's content.

Another one I know is "gray area" which means something that does not conform to an existing set of rules.

"Raise/Waive the white flag" is probably one of the color idiom that is not limited to the English language as almost every language/culture knows what it symbolizes. In fact I don't even have to explain it, should be that easy to figure out. 

I think this is more prevalent with brand names. I remember one time when I was in a restaurant with my girlfriend and there is a group of young ladies seated next to our table, and their voices are kinda loud so I overheard they were talking about bags and other fashion stuff, and one lady pronounced "Hermes" literally when the first letter should be silent letter. I also often hear people say "Porsche" as "Prosh" when it should be pronounced as "Porsha". But these can be excused as these brand names have foreign origins, which is why I am not one to throw a stone at the guilty ones as I admit that I have my flaws too. I often pronounce "February" as "Febyuary", and this is not even a brand name so it makes it all the more embarrassing. 

Ha, right. Usernames are so hard to come by now and thinking a new one is pain without having them taken. This chart is definitely a great source for new usernames.

Tell me about it. This username was made out of frustration when I was creating a character for a certain online game. I am usually one of the early birds (open beta tester) in most online games so username is not a problem for me as I am the first one to use the nick that I usually use. But there is a certain online game that has been released way way back before I got into MMO games, so I was kinda late to the party and the username I always use is already taken, and almost all alphanumeric combinations of the nick I have tried has already been taken too. So out of frustration, I just typed in "l" till I reach the maximum allowed number of characters in a username and was finally able to create a character. Since then, I have been using this nick everywhere, be it games, forums, payment merchant accounts, etc.

Sorry, kinda went off-topic there.  :beaten:

Finally there's ロリコン or "rorikon" meaning "Lolita complex".

Man, you beat me to it.    This is probably the most overused loanword especially to otakus due to the freaking "moe" phenomenon.

But it's true, aside from actual English words being pronounced in Japanese, there are several words derived from English that originated in Japan. Here are some examples: 

Salaryman (サラリーマン) - an educated worker who performs semi-professional office work, usually referring to entry-level office positions. Definitely an English word but a term you won't encounter in native English-speaking countries.

Rabu Rabu (ラブラブ) - lovey dovey. Often used in films and dramas when referring to sweethearts getting, well, lovey dovey. XD

Gyaru (ギャル) - gal or fashionable girl.

Konbini (コンビニ) - convenience store. Yeah, the word store is basically taken out of the equation lol.

Cosplay (コスプレ) - We can't talk about loanwords without mentioning this term. Probably the most famous Portmanteau that originated from Japan.

To add a little insight about this matter, I think it's got to do with how you want to express your ideas but just can't seem to come up with a good composition. You may already have an idea in mind, but you are trying to grasp for the right or appropriate words to express it. It's like you have a good story to tell but don't know where to start. 

Haha that's cool!  :grin:

I remember there is something similar to this one circulating in the net back in 2010, I think it was Your Ninja Name or something where every alphabet has a corresponding sound, just like that one. I don't remember what my name was but it sound terrible.  :sick:

As pointed out by some posters, human beings have the natural ability to learn a language. I don't believe learning a language is a talent. All it takes is to have the right motivation and passion for the language in order for you to learn it, not necessarily in a quick manner, but still eventually learn it and reach the conversational level.

Ok so earlier our boss, a foreigner, arrived to visit the office here to check the operations of the company in the country. He is not a native-English speaker (a Korean), though he is fluent in the language given his high educational attainment. And we were teasing him to treat us to dinner and, probably due to force of habit, a colleague mentioned "Blowout". He has the puzzled looked in his face and I can tell he is trying to decipher what it means, and I realized it is one of those "Philippine English" that other English speakers wouldn't understand, so I explained what it means and he laughed. Because he was interested to know if there are other English terms that originated (or has a different meaning) in the Philippines, he treated us to dinner (haha the slip of the tongue was a blessing in disguise I guess  ) and centered most of our discussion about the topic.

As the talk went on, I just realized that we actually have so many of these "Philippine English" and most are actually interpreted wrong. A good example would be the word "Salvage". If you read tabloids or listen to AM radio stations, the term is often used for murder or summary execution, but in standard English the actual meaning of the word is the complete opposite, which is to rescue or save someone. Our boss is quite amused and joked, "Oh so you guys have your own version of the English language, huh? I guess people haven't realized this by now but there should be 3 English versions: American English, British English and Philippine English!".

But on a more serious note, do you think we should continue practicing "Philippine English"? Considering that most Filipinos are planning, or considering, to work abroad or even work in call centers, do you think using these words or phrases could affect how they communicate in English? Because personally I do think it has somewhat a negative effect on how we talk to other English speakers and might result in misunderstandings.

I am annoyed at people using this method of texting. I mean why go through all the trouble of replacing letters with numbers and even adding unnecessary letters (like "ph0w" instead of "po") when the purpose of texting is to actually send a message in a shorter manner, hence the term SMS or short message service. This is why most people replace the word "you" with the letter "u" when texting to save time and effort, while Jejemons go out of their way and type the word this way: "yuHh", adding unnecessary stuff instead of shortening the word, making it difficult for the one on the receiving end to understand the text message. Not only that, it is also a waste of time and effort to practice such methods as I'm sure it takes them an awful lot of time to text a simple sentence when they can send it in a minute using the usual (or normal) method.

I love to read manga, but after having read so many series all these years you tend to become picky later on and look for something with a unique story, which is why nowadays I only follow few titles among the new series, those that doesn't have any similarity to any series. A good example would be Silver Spoon. I think it is the only manga that centers about life in the countryside and how a boy who grew up in the city adapts to this different lifestyle. Another good title is Genshiken (though this is an old title that was only continued recently). The story gives us a more in-depth look about the otakus and their perspective about life.

It is OK to go with this method especially for starters to study a lesson in the Japanese writing along with its Romaji version. It does help for people studying the language that they know how to say/pronounce them with the use of Latin letters while seeing how it is written in Japanese characters.

Cool! Man, I feel such a noob for not even knowing this after all these years I have been using Windows 7.  :shy:  But I guess it can be a blessing in disguise as I would have proably been lazy to learn how to write the characters by handwriting have I known how to type them from the beginning.  :grin:  Ok now let's give it a try.

ありがとうございます!

(Well guess what, it worked!)