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teacheratlarge
Joined: 17 Nov 2011
Posts: 192
Location: Japan
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 Posted: Mon Jun 25, 2012 6:49 am Post subject: |
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I am always wondering why there are so many bald guys here. Mostly British, but a few other nationalities are mixed in there.
Nationality targeted radiation perhaps  ?
Then again, there were a fair amount before March 2011, so perhaps just a case of genetics, the follically challenged?
http://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=FOLLICALLY-CHALLENGED |
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steki47
Joined: 20 Apr 2008
Posts: 1029
Location: BFE Inaka
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| Posted: Mon Jun 25, 2012 7:27 am Post subject: |
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| G Cthulhu wrote: |
| steki47 wrote: |
| A bit harsh IMO, but I see your point. I think social scientists could do some useful and interesting research on expats. In Japan and elsewhere. Demographic data as background and then more qualitative research to look at their personal decisions, goals, feelings and so on. |
Yeah, but possibly only a *bit* too harsh IMO. Since 1991 when I first went to Japan, I've met a good number of people there that were clearly completely unhinged, and I've noticed a strong uptick in the last ten years in the certain backgrounds of people and a corresponding decline in their inherent social skills - and that's been the anime & manga crowd. Gross generalization, sure, but that's my experience. Obviously, purely anecdotal & very much YMMV. I too would be interested in seeing some serious study on the subject. After all, maybe I just attract the loonies?  |
I have also noticed that a bunch of eikaiwa students seem a bit "off" to me. Sure, I'm a foreigner so the Japanese generally are different but I have certainly met a few students that displayed signs of mental illness.
I think both the nutty teachers and students are seeking some escape from whatever internal issues they may be projecting onto their native cultures. |
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ssjup81
Joined: 15 Jun 2009
Posts: 664
Location: Adachi-ku, Tokyo, Japan
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| Posted: Mon Jun 25, 2012 9:43 am Post subject: |
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Gotta love those types of articles that seem to mostly ignore the fact that women come to the country too.  |
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the4th2001
Joined: 04 Oct 2010
Posts: 130
Location: Tokyo
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| Posted: Mon Jun 25, 2012 10:38 am Post subject: |
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| ghostrider wrote: |
| I think there's some truth to this. Japan really limits what foreigners are allowed to do and does not encourage them to integrate and break into other fields |
Statements like that really annoy me. If anything, it comes down to the laziness of the WESTERN foreigner. I taught for a while and easily made my way into a different industry. My friends have had similar experiences. If you have the language ability and something else to offer in terms of skills/experience, then breaking into other fields is not that hard. No one holds you back except yourself.
I really wish people would stop blaming Japan for their own incompetence. |
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ghostrider
Joined: 30 May 2006
Posts: 147
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| Posted: Mon Jun 25, 2012 10:49 am Post subject: |
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| the4th2001 wrote: |
| ghostrider wrote: |
| I think there's some truth to this. Japan really limits what foreigners are allowed to do and does not encourage them to integrate and break into other fields |
Statements like that really annoy me. If anything, it comes down to the laziness of the WESTERN foreigner. I taught for a while and easily made my way into a different industry. My friends have had similar experiences. If you have the language ability and something else to offer in terms of skills/experience, then breaking into other fields is not that hard. No one holds you back except yourself.
I really wish people would stop blaming Japan for their own incompetence. |
Maybe my experience was anecdotal, but I knew quite a few people with other skills who were also fluent in Japanese, including a few who attended university in Japan, who were either teaching or translating or both. I also met others in other fields, but they were fields that were in high demand everywhere, like engineering and programming, or unsteady jobs like modeling. Most of the westerners I met who were working in other fields had those jobs secured before they came to Japan. Anyway, my point is it's likely more of a challenge in Japan than it would be back home unless you're from a place with staggering unemployment and/or few job opportunities. If you're already fluent in Japanese, or have that time to spare in your life to become fluent and retain your skills, you have a major head start. |
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Rooster_2006
Joined: 24 Sep 2007
Posts: 984
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| Posted: Mon Jun 25, 2012 12:24 pm Post subject: |
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| the4th2001 wrote: |
| ghostrider wrote: |
| I think there's some truth to this. Japan really limits what foreigners are allowed to do and does not encourage them to integrate and break into other fields |
Statements like that really annoy me. If anything, it comes down to the laziness of the WESTERN foreigner. I taught for a while and easily made my way into a different industry. My friends have had similar experiences. If you have the language ability and something else to offer in terms of skills/experience, then breaking into other fields is not that hard. No one holds you back except yourself.
I really wish people would stop blaming Japan for their own incompetence. |
Just out of curiosity, which field are you in?
And how much Japanese did you have to know to break into that field?
Since moving here, my reading/writing (including kanji) have reached a fairly respectable level. Less than 11 months here, and I passed the KanKen Level 5 (1,006 kanji). My speaking is also coming along well. Of course, what I say doesn't always sound natural, and I have an accent that will probably never go away, but that's okay. With a bit more effort, I think my speaking, reading, and writing will all reach a level acceptable for most fields.
HOWEVER...listening.
No matter what I try, my listening hardly improves at all. I can read kanji like a junior high school student, but my listening is probably worse than most preschool children. I have tried everything. CD after CD, dictations, hours per day of TV/radio listening, etc... My listening has reached a plateau (unfortunately a very low plateau) and nothing I do seems to be able to remedy that. I can have a conversation, but I often need to ask the other person to repeat what they said over and over again or slow down.
The problem isn't lack of vocabulary, but missing or mishearing words that I already know. Obviously I know the word "こんにちは." But someone will say "こんにちは" and to me, it will sound like "これは" or "こちらは." This happens constantly, with many, many very basic words that I have known for years.
It also happened when I learned Korean. Listening was the barrier. It got to the point where just learning new vocabulary words wasn't helping. I already knew enough vocabulary. I just couldn't recognize them when I heard them.
In both Japanese and Korean, I'll hear someone speaking a few sentences. It will just sound like a wall of noise. Completely unintelligible. Then I see the transcript of what was said (or the Japanese captions), and I'll be like "Oh my God! I know ALL of those words! Why couldn't I hear a single one?"
So...I'm not being lazy here. I study for ~3 hours per day after spending eight hours a day on the job. And all my Japanese skills are increasing rapidly, except listening. Which, it seems, is what will hold me back from anything except EFL.
Do you have any tips, tricks, or secrets for listening? Do you have trouble with listening, too? Did it hinder you from entering your chosen field? |
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G Cthulhu
Joined: 07 Feb 2003
Posts: 1373
Location: Way, way off course.
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| Posted: Mon Jun 25, 2012 12:54 pm Post subject: |
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| ssjup81 wrote: |
| Gotta love those types of articles that seem to mostly ignore the fact that women come to the country too. |
Maybe he was saving it up so he could "re-write" it by simply changing the gender and then publish a second time? What a cunning plan!  |
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Cool Teacher
Joined: 18 May 2009
Posts: 930
Location: Here, There and Everywhere! :D
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| Posted: Tue Jun 26, 2012 11:30 am Post subject: |
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| steki47 wrote: |
| G Cthulhu wrote: |
| steki47 wrote: |
| A bit harsh IMO, but I see your point. I think social scientists could do some useful and interesting research on expats. In Japan and elsewhere. Demographic data as background and then more qualitative research to look at their personal decisions, goals, feelings and so on. |
Yeah, but possibly only a *bit* too harsh IMO. Since 1991 when I first went to Japan, I've met a good number of people there that were clearly completely unhinged, and I've noticed a strong uptick in the last ten years in the certain backgrounds of people and a corresponding decline in their inherent social skills - and that's been the anime & manga crowd. Gross generalization, sure, but that's my experience. Obviously, purely anecdotal & very much YMMV. I too would be interested in seeing some serious study on the subject. After all, maybe I just attract the loonies? |
I have also noticed that a bunch of eikaiwa students seem a bit "off" to me. Sure, I'm a foreigner so the Japanese generally are different but I have certainly met a few students that displayed signs of mental illness.
I think both the nutty teachers and students are seeking some escape from whatever internal issues they may be projecting onto their native cultures. |
There are some real weirdoes in Japan I think. SOme of them I don't know hoe they fucntion.  |
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Mr_Monkey
Joined: 11 Mar 2009
Posts: 661
Location: Kyuuuuuushuuuuuuu
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| Posted: Tue Jun 26, 2012 3:04 pm Post subject: |
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| Rooster_2006 wrote: |
| Do you have any tips, tricks, or secrets for listening? Do you have trouble with listening, too? Did it hinder you from entering your chosen field? |
How much do you mix with Japanese speakers outside of school/work/study?
In my experience, the hyoujungo is really (as in most 'standard' languages) a fantasy that bears only a passing resemblance to the vernacular. The pronunciation of high-frequency Japanese in particular seems to be subject to lots of elision, and even transformation of phonemes.
It's not your listening, rather that the Japanese used in standard textbooks is in many ways not like the Japanese that people actually use. |
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stumptowny
Joined: 29 May 2011
Posts: 310
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| Posted: Tue Jun 26, 2012 3:31 pm Post subject: |
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"mental health care of people in large cities" might be more a suitable title...
take the symptoms from the article and presto: they are the same as self reporting mental health patients in most big cities of any profession.
good to know they are still present(?) it appears as though captain obvious badges are due to the authors..
depression and dysthymia, anxiety disorders, personality disorders, and couples�conflicts being most common. Bipolar spectrum disorders,
ADD, drug and alcohol abuse are also seen...
pretty common stuff folks.. common in mental health for any big city population. the significance of this article is moot. it is too broad and all encompassing of many common mental health symptoms.. |
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Pitarou
Joined: 16 Nov 2009
Posts: 1116
Location: Narita, Japan
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| Posted: Tue Jun 26, 2012 11:10 pm Post subject: |
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| stumptowny wrote: |
| take the symptoms from the article and presto: they are the same as self reporting mental health patients in most big cities of any profession. |
One thing that did surprise me: he said that schizophrenia is rare. I had always been under the impression that schizophrenia was more common among people living away from their native culture. |
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stumptowny
Joined: 29 May 2011
Posts: 310
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| Posted: Wed Jun 27, 2012 12:41 am Post subject: |
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| Pitarou wrote: |
| stumptowny wrote: |
| take the symptoms from the article and presto: they are the same as self reporting mental health patients in most big cities of any profession. |
One thing that did surprise me: he said that schizophrenia is rare. I had always been under the impression that schizophrenia was more common among people living away from their native culture. |
it is rare in any random sample. the article does little but point out symptoms of people in a large population. no statistical directional significance relating to a profession is given. saying that schizophrenia is rare is more 'captain obvious' award territory for the authors... |
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stumptowny
Joined: 29 May 2011
Posts: 310
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| Posted: Wed Jun 27, 2012 12:55 am Post subject: |
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| Rooster_2006 wrote: |
| Inflames wrote: |
| There are a lot of grammar mistakes for a published article. In addition, there are also a lot of "facts" that aren't cited at all (only 6 references, all of which were written by one of the authors!). Any editor with half a clue should have simply just shredded the thing. |
Hahaha, gotta love the author's invented words like "comradery." And yeah, "thru" definitely belongs in an academic journal...
Apparently, I should quit my eikaiwa job, return home immediately, marry a proper American woman from a distinguished and well-bred family, stop trifling over childish things like video games and learning those heathen symbols -- what do you call them? "Congee?" ...and be more concerned about my career and starting a family! Perhaps I can even start wearing a top hat and growing a meticulously-groomed handlebar mustache (with mustache wax, of course) while I'm at it...
Oh, if only I would stop it at once with this eikaiwa poppycock and allow myself to be medicated for all the conditions I childishly deny having, like ADD and bipolar disorder! Then I could lead a proper life as a gentleman in America, starting my day every day at precisely 7:30 with the morning paper, before going to work as a dignified professional at the bank!
...oh, wouldn't it be lovely! |
oh my holy gosh... I love your snarky snark sarcasm, please, keep posting actively in this forum.. good stuff.. now curve that mustache, good sir, and I will see you in church, after the PTA parent meeting, amped up on pills and therapy stemming from all my past indiscretions... |
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Glenski
Joined: 15 Jan 2003
Posts: 12844
Location: Hokkaido, JAPAN
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| Posted: Wed Jun 27, 2012 4:10 am Post subject: |
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Rare or not.
Urban or not.
The fact is, this article is a sham. There are virtually no facts or figures at all, and all of the "references" were written by one of the co-authors.
No reason to even try having an intelligent discussion about the article itself, IMO. |
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stumptowny
Joined: 29 May 2011
Posts: 310
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| Posted: Wed Jun 27, 2012 4:14 am Post subject: |
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| Glenski wrote: |
Rare or not.
Urban or not.
The fact is, this article is a sham. There are virtually no facts or figures at all, and all of the "references" were written by one of the co-authors.
No reason to even try having an intelligent discussion about the article itself, IMO. |
yup.. anecdotal is not empirical.. not even qualitatively |
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