Quote:
Originally Posted by BucktheWolf
I could go so far as to accuse Debi of being otaku for writing otaku in katakana. That was honestly my first impression, though I'm not proud to admit it. Then we could fight about it and get nowhere, because, come on, we're posting on Japan Forum. We're in this together, and everyone else thinks we're geeks.
Ooh, I should add that I mean no offense or hard feelings. Hell, my opinion is no more or less valid than Debi's. :3
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It's a good topic to debate on.
And by the way, I'm a dude.
As for my background, I registered yesterday on this forum to answer to a post and I decided to stick a little longer. I'm 25 from Canada and I'm majoring in Economy and East asian studies. I'm also a forex trader. That give you an idea.
For me, Japan is the cornerstone of Asian trade network so learning japanese is simply not only an option but an obligation.
In my beginner japanese class, (A) 1/3 are people like me who need to learn japanese, (B)1/3 are people who just want some credits or are just curious and (C)1/3 are some オタク who take that class mostly so they can understand the anime and manga they watch.
Overall, (A) get much better results than (B) & (C). Not because they are smarter or anything but because their motivations are better. They learn japanese for professional reasons, either politic or economic.
You can recognize the (C) type by their Dragon Ball t-shirt and that they regroup in some obscure local in a lost aisle to watch anime and discuss which is the coolest character or whatever.
In university, those people are not picked on, they are simply ignored.
In high school though, were kids are less mature, they are pointed at and bullied.
It is not that they have a sticker in the forehead saying “bully me”, it is just that they are marginal. They share a passion which is not socially praised, like sports for exemple
People think : “This is cartoons.. come on, grow up.”
That is for the オタク.
Now for those who get picked on for other reasons, it’s all a question of ATTITUDE. The average westerner is ignorant of Japan or even Asia in overall.
One day someone said to me “Hahaha, why are you learning chinese ?”
I replied to him “It is japanese, not chinese, you dumb fuck. Maybe you should go out of your town once in a while so that way you wouldn’t be so ignorant.”
I’m this kind of person who is never picked on, whatever I’m doing. It is called attitude.
When people know what I’m doing, they are all curious.
They say things like : “Oh.. I heard that in Japan they do this or that, is it true?”.
Oh and by the way, I never use Romaji when Kana should be used. You learn faster that way.