Language to avoid in Japanese?


Tayo
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A note on baka... from my understanding, it depends on where in Japan you are as to how insulting it is. For example, it is more of an insult to say baka in the Kansai region versus the Tokyo (or Kantou) region. If you're in Tokyo, it's more of an insult to say "aho" than "baka".

But just like you would in English, it's best not to call people you are not familiar with stupid. Thankfully, guns are illegal there. You could get shot calling the wrong person stupid here. XD

There is a book called "Making Out In Japanese". It goes over really well on the various degrees on slang and when, where, and who to use what or not to use with bad language. I personally like to know what the bad stuff is, so that I can understand if anyone starts to insult me or whatnot. And also so I can better understand the culture. I found it helpful when I studied German as well, because I understood when I was being insulted (which, when I went on my exchange there 10 years ago, I was called a pig... which is a major insult in German, more than it is here -- we're most likely to use sexual innuendos to insult people than by calling them animal names).

... :) Good luck! Maybe we can talk together sometime. I've only been studying Japanese for the past few years, but off and on. :) It's fun to find others who enjoy studying it.

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Yeah, the main reason I want to know is mainly so I don't come off as offensive to Japanese speakers. One of the main reasons we don't use profanity is because it's just offensive and rude. It really just shows who you are if you can't control what comes out of your mouth. Oh, and same thing for me. I've been kind of studying it off and on for the last 4 or so years. My grandmothers is from Japan., but I don't get the chance to speak to her very often. I just love studying foreign languages though. ^_^

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I knew a missionary that was named Elder Barker. He called himself Baka Choro(Elder) and even made up a name tag that had Baka in Kanji rather than Katakana.

He really was a fool though...that's coming from one of the Lords representatives (at the time) to another..so it's all good. :sparklygrin:

As far as the Book of Mormon, it's not something I would read now to learn Japanese as it's all old school language. If you spoke Book of Mormonese to someone in Japan they would think you were either praying to them or mimicking some old Samurai Movie.

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That's hillarious! XD Haha. :)

And I can understand the whole book of mormon thing. I tried reading it in German, and felt the same way... that if you tried speaking it to a German, they wouldn't really understand. But it's kind of the same way with the English book of mormon. Mormonese is hard to understand in any language if you're not familiar with the church.

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This really doesnt have much to do with the topic but I am reminded of my neighbor who was born and raised in Japan. When she gets up to talk at church she reads directly from her scriptures which are in japanese but says them to us in englsh. I have always been rather impressed that she does it so well. She has grown children now, born here but it is clear she still thinks scriptures in japanese.

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