Crowley, Mazus...tidbit

Borus · Posted: Fri Sep 17, 2004 12:48 am Post subject:

See, that's why I like this board! The owner actually takes the time to come off the pedestal and speek to the common merchants. I'm realizing that this Suikoden thing is becoming a {possibly very} unhealthy obsession, but still, I learn something new every day.

At the risk of pestering the owner, what can you recommend for PS2 in the way of playing import games? Is there a system that you know of that plays both without compromising the warranty. An Official Sony PS2 designed to play import and american games?

Also, if I were wanting to add greater fluency in my Japanese and Chinese language studies, where would I go? I've got several easter european languages under my belt, (Greek, Serbian/Bosnian/Croatian, Bulgarian, Czech, Russian, etc) and a handful of Vietnamese, Laosian, very basic French, Italian and dialects, German and dialects, some Hebrew, and a minor study of a few (4) dead languages. Give me a chance, and I'll vacuum up as much as I can.

Vextor · Posted: Fri Sep 17, 2004 1:10 am Post subject:

Kobold · Posted: Fri Sep 17, 2004 12:20 pm Post subject:

But you know, i wouldn't recommend you going to China to learn chinese because trust me. It's impossible. Their level of chinese is sort of too complex to understand lol... For basics, learn elsewhere. No point going all the way to China to learn chinese.

And well, chinese isn't fun... I hate it... But if you have an interest for it, it MIGHT just be fun for you... Oh well, learn the spoken language first anyway...
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Kobolds are great!

Borus · Posted: Fri Sep 17, 2004 4:32 pm Post subject:

Thanks Kobold!
If I had the time these days, I'd probably take a few courses. The trouble is that none of the dialects are taught anywhere near me. I'd have to commute two hours every day in order to even be close to a school teaching Mandarin. (My First Choice) I'm with you on avoiding China. I'm very iffy about travelling to countries famed for murdering their own citizen. Probably a risque opinion to share on a message board, so please understand that I have nothing against the Chinese people, but that their government scares the hell out of me. The culture, on the other had, fascinates me to no end. Its rich in history and fantastic stories (as I'm sure you're more than well aware) and I'll probably end up going when I'm much older. For now, though, I think I'm a little too outspoken to be in a country like China.

Are you a native, or are you learning? Just based on what precious little I do know, it seems like a very challenging set of languages.

Kobold · Posted: Sat Sep 18, 2004 9:00 am Post subject:

I'm from Singapore, if all you people even know where that is, and well, my race is chinese, meaning i learn chinese as my mother tongue or second language.

So yeah, i've been speaking it since i could talk, along with English... That sort of thing. But personally, i hate chinese.
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Kobolds are great!

TheAngelicSin · Posted: Sat Sep 18, 2004 8:17 pm Post subject:

I'm going to have to agree with SARS, to an extent, on learning pronunciation through songs in foreign languages. But I wouldn't use it as the only way to learn how to pronounce things. For example, I'm semi-bilingual (meaning I don't have much faith in my second language) and when I listen to songs in Polish I notice the pronunciation can be a little off - just as is common in English songs. However, I DID learn pretty good pronunciation in German through rock music and it's been helping me pronounce things in my German 101 class here at UB. :)

If you can find something called "Pimsleur" at a public library in either Japanese or Chinese I'd suggest picking it up. I'd tell you to purchase it except I think the pricetag is a little more than ridiculous (although I admit to having bought German I through amazon when it was $100 off its regular price). I don't know how well the program is for Japanese or Chinese - although I do own the first 8 lessons in Japanese since that language interests me and I don't want to be stuck with only European languages. :) I checked out the first lesson for Polish and can attest to that being a very good start for that language so I trust the programs to be pretty good. Also, after having taken the first few lessons in German I can easily recall what I've been taught. It won't teach you a vast array of vocabulary - but you won't forget how to say what you've been taught. ;) Vocabulary you can find elsewhere. Written Japanese/Chin I wouldn't know about - I'm not starting with Japanese until my Junior year - when I am done with the German they offer (or just have more options x_x; I think I'm allowed to take up to 22 credits here per semester). Good luck. :p
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Borus · Posted: Sat Sep 18, 2004 8:42 pm Post subject: Kobold, Sin

First things first. Reading and writing will never do justice to anyones way of thinking, which is why I state this before I apologize to Kobold, in case I inadvertently offended you. I may have mis-read the post, but it seemed like you were a little testy about my last post ('If you people even know wehre that is'). If I offended, I genuinely apologize. In this ridiculously overzealous world of nationalisms and warring governments, self righteous churches and all the rest, its easy to be misunderstood, even to the letter. So, Kobold, if my commentary about Chinese Gove't was over the top, you have the deepest apologies I can muster over a message board, without offering them to you personally. This does not mean that I'll kiss your feet, but that I do owe enough respect to you as a human being, regardless of any other factors.

That said, I'm going to heed your advice, Sin. Most of my background is Eastern European, and you're right, the dialectualisms in music are as diverse in other languages. An acquaintance of mine used to scoff at my American accent when I'd slaughter the vietnamese tounge by trying to change my all to gutteral accent. I felt like an idiot every time I'd try to say anything, because his whole family thought it was hilarious that I couldn't even say simple words without an accent. I thought I did pretty good, myself :oops: I guess I never perfected my accent, and its pretty rusty as it is. I'll bet theres a slew of courses in that series. Time to hit the Amazon.com homepage!

Thanks!
Povis

Kobold · Posted: Tue Sep 21, 2004 11:23 am Post subject:

No i'm not angry in anyway. It's just that most people are clueless about where Singapore is, and have the tendency to relate it to China like what you just did...

I have nothing to do with China, nor do i ever hope to be. Singapore is in southeast asia. Far away from China.

And yeah, chinese is a difficult language. Like i said, i hate it.

And well, i usually am skeptical about people knowing where my country is, especially Americans. Lol... Thus my addition of the phrase "if you people even know where that is"

There is actually no need to apologise at all...
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Kobolds are great!

Borus · Posted: Sat Sep 25, 2004 9:19 pm Post subject:

Hmmmm...The consonant and vowel combinations don't seem to make anything too implausible. I couldn't say for sure, though. Anyone know whether or not it was Foster Case's wife's name?
Oh yeah, why is the Geddoe thing locked?

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