Any Japanese gals or guys around for advice ?

[subarugal22]

Hi there, i am a SG gal. Who is quite interested in picking up additional language in Jap. But as i do not have any strong background on the language, except simple greeting which learn from a private class.

Now i am trying to locate a school in sg which is good enough to be able to teach me converse and writing.
Does anyone know of any good place ?
Is there anything i should look out for ?
Should i chose a sg lecturer or a native jap lecturer ? tks

[Plavt]

As a start try the book 'Colloquial Japanese' by H.D.B. Clarke and Motoko Hamamura and published by Routledge, whether or not you go to a class you will find it a help.

Learn hiragana and katakana first; they function like an alphabet and are easy to learn. Using the kanji will take some time and practice.

Do feel free to PM me should you need to know more (although you will need to have made 5 posts before your PM function will work)

[EADG]

you should start out by never, ever, using the term "Jap" because it is an offensive and derogatory term whether it's used in reference to the people, language, or food

it amazes me how often I hear it used here in Singapore, and see it used casually in places like IS magazine

using this is a blatant display of ignorance

Hi there, i am a SG gal. Who is quite interested in picking up additional language in Jap. But as i do not have any strong background on the language, except simple greeting which learn from a private class.

Now i am trying to locate a school in sg which is good enough to be able to teach me converse and writing.
Does anyone know of any good place ?
Is there anything i should look out for ?
Should i chose a sg lecturer or a native jap lecturer ? tks

[Plavt]

you should start out by never, ever, using the term "Jap" because it is an offensive and derogatory term whether it's used in reference to the people, language, or food

EADG has a point and the term is listed in the Oxford dictionary as racist although I realize most people don't mean any harm it seems we are to willing to use acronyms rather than the full description. Maybe this is the influence of sms (no not the fat bald one )? Take a good look at the airline thread to see what I mean.

[EADG]

actually......in this case it was being used as an abbreviation

the acronym "JAP" also exists where I come from, and oddly enough it is not actually a pejorative nor about anything Japanese

agree with Plavt that it is used innocently/in ignorance, but now that everyone knows they won't say it anymore, right?

you should start out by never, ever, using the term "Jap" because it is an offensive and derogatory term whether it's used in reference to the people, language, or food

EADG has a point and the term is listed in the Oxford dictionary as racist although I realize most people don't mean any harm it seems we are to willing to use acronyms rather than the full description.

[durain]

pikey been made a racist word as well recently