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Originally Posted by Shyantra
I have been teaching myself Japanese for the past 5 years.
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You obviously have a great interest and love of the language if you have stuck at it for 5 years. That takes a lot of dedication and perseverance, especially if you are living in a place where hardly anyone else speaks the language, and you are doing it by yourself. That is something I'm not sure I could do. I think you deserve praise for that and you should be proud of that. It's easy for Drake to pick on you because he lives in Japan where he is in an advantageous position to check your claims. If he studies the language, he appreciates how difficult it is, even in Japan.
I agree with him though, in that you shouldn't say that you are literate in a language when you aren't. You did set yourself up for his comment. It takes the Japanese themselves 12 years of schooling to become literate; ie, learn to read and write all the jouyou kanji, which, as a whole and in itself, only accounts for a fraction of the kanji that are out there. I don't think I will ever be in a position to claim to be literate in Japanese, even though I'd like to say so also.
I have no doubt that you are seriously studying the language, as I am. Though what you wrote (I'll give you the benefit of the doubt) seems, to my western eyes, forced. I don't profess to being an expert. You should have your teacher look at the sentences you wrote and get some help from him/her. I do think however, that forcing your language skills to deal with more complex situations and therefore structures, is a vital part of improving your skills. If you try to do things you aren't ready for, you will
appear foolish. There is nothing wrong with that, that is learning. But, you should avoid saying you "happen to be literate", because then you actually
become a fool and an easy target.
Learning a second language is a life long process, it doesn't stop. Why? Because the language is constantly changing. That's the good and the bad of it. I'm constantly coming across new words and expressions that surprise and intrigue me, in Japanese and even in English. The point is, (and I'm sure you don't need me to tell you this but) don't give up and let the comments get you down, but don't put your foot in your mouth either, because that just encourages people to take the piss.
Oh.... here, have an Oreo.
