Shiki Novel Translations 8.1

[sinnesspiel]

1

On the morning of the fifteenth, Toshio was roused from sleep by a single telephone ringnig. Rubbing at his sleepy eyes, he reluctantly picked up the receive, which let out a dismayed woman's voice. What was being shouted, what it was saying, he couldn't really tell.

"I don't know who this is but, could I get you to calm down for me?" Toshio bit back a yawm. Good grief, he realized. It was finally Bon, a day off, and he thought he'd be freed from early morning examinations. "---Calm down. I'm going to ask you some questions, try to answer them for me. Who are you?"

This is Shimizu, said a voice at its wits end. It was a half crying scream raised out in accusation.

"Shimizu---" Toshio suddenly felt himself waking up quickly. "Shimizu-san's wife? Did something happen with Megumi-chan?"

The woman broke down crying into the phone. From the bitter voice, he could only pick up bits and parts of words. Megumi, breathing, dead, even shaking her.

"I'm coming now, within fifteen minutes. Is that all right?"

He said firmly, hanging up the phone without waiting for an answer. He didn't know the gist of things but what did did know was that Megumi's condition had taken a sudden turn.

Rushing out of the room without a moment's delay, he received a suspicious look from Takae and Kyouko who poked their faces out.

"What is this ruckus?"

"Her condition took a sharp turn. Shimizu-san's place's Megumi-chan."

Dear, said Takae, at a loss for words. Kyouko looked most unamused as she let out a yawn.

"I'm going."

Takae arched a brow as she watched Toshio half-jog down the hall to the bathroom, stripping off his night clothes. Hurried noises came from within the bathroom. Kyouko yawned again, going up the steps. Takae called up after her.

"At least put together something to wear, won't you?"

Kyouko's legs, bare from the camisole down, stopped on the steps. She looked down at Takae from halfway up the staircase.

"You needn't worry."

Feeling something mocking in those words, Takae looked up at Kyouko with sharp eyes. Even if she said that, there had never been a time in her life when she'd went out dressed decently, this girl!

"An emergency case could come blustering in, so if you don't at least make yourself presentable to whoever may come flying in, it will be troubling. It may be hot, but that is---"

Takae's words were cut down flatly.

"It doesn't trouble me at all," she said, putting one hand on her hip, the other on the banister. She made a performance of crossing her shapely, white legs. Takae could feel the blood rushing to her face.

"Now that is simply not funny!"

"Whoever does come flying in will at least know that they're paying a sudden visit while we're asleep in bed, so they'll just have to overlook such things."

"Kyouko-san----"

Toshio nudged past Takae as she had started to speak.

"Mom, move, please."

Kyouko revealed a hint of a smile, at which Takae could feel herself blushing hotly. Without seeming to realize the situation between the two, Toshio hurried up the steps. Kyouko called after him.

"Nee, I'm really sleepy..."

Toshio's tone was unambiguous. "Don't worry about it. Go to bed."

Kyouko looked triumphantly down at Takae, stretching ostentatiously as she climbed the stairs. Takae was for the moment too overwhelmed with emotion to do anything but stand there.



Not even sparing the time to shave, Toshio came rushing to the Shimizu house just over ten minutes after having hung up the phone. He got out of the car with his medical bag and hurried to the entryway, the door opened as it they were inside waiting. Still in her nightwear, Hiroko clung to Toshio was if she were drowning.

"Megumi is---Megumi!"

Nodding and giving a pat to the sobbing Hiroko's shoulder, he let himself in and up to the second story in a hurry. The door with the stuffed animal hanging off of it was left open, Shimizu seen standing there dumbfouded.

"Shimizu-san." Shimizu turned to face Toshio who had called out to him. The color of his face changed quickly. In an instant, realizing the rage openly on his face and ashamed of it, he turned away. When Toshio entered the room Shimizu's own father Tokurou sat in the shadow of the doorway covering his face. Toshio quietly took in a deep breath.

---It's possible that it's the worst possible scenario.

Having stepped into the room and turned his eyes towards the bed, he determined it would be hard to draw any other conclusion. The girl laid out in the bed's facial muscles were slack, her features having visibly changed. It meant she was dead. And furthermore, that it wasn't something that had just happened moments ago.

Hearing Hiroko call for Megumi as she came up the stairs, Toshio sat his bag down at her bedside. For the time being he took ahold of the hand laying atop the summer towel like blanket. Indeed it was cool, and the softness of the living was clearly lost to it now.

He quietly sought a pulse. He couldn't feel one at all. Even feeling at her neck, there was nothing. Beneath her lightly closed eyelids, her pupils were dilated. He opened his bag and took out his stethoscope, sliding it softly just beneath the neckline of her clothing but, it was completely silent. Her breath and her heart rate were both completely ceased. Letting out a breath, Toshio removed the stethoscope.

"----I knew it, she's dead, isn't she?"

The voice of Shimizu lingering behind him sounded as if it were being murmured through grit teeth.

"She is dead."

No, Hiroko voiced. "I mean, Doctor, didn't you say that Megumi had anemia? Would plain anemia be, would it---"

"Won't you stop it?" Shimizu said in an angry, low voice. "This isn't the Junior Doctor's fault. You take grandpa and look after him."

"But..."

"Go."

Toshio turned around just as Hiroko was putting a hand on Tokurou's arm, sobbing. Tokurou covered his face as he pulled her along out of the room. While being taken out of the room as if being practically carried, Hiroko cast a glare filled with resentment towards Toshio.

Toshio let out a deep breath.

"I don't know what you'll think of me saying this but, my condolences."

"Why did Megumi die?"

"That's something we won't know unless we examine her," Toshio said as he turned his eyes towards Megumi's bed. Her night closed were undisturbed, and her bedding wasn't in disarray. Her limbs were splayed in a calm position, so at least there was no mistake that Megumi hadn't suffered.

"Do people die from simple anemia?"

Shimizu was trying with all his might to suppress the blame in his voice, but he wasn't very successful.

"In cases where the anemia is a symptom of some other deficiency or defect, it is possible."

"Some other deficiency or---"

Remaining seated, Toshio turned and looked up at the bristling Shimizu.

"Anemia is the name of a symptom, not the name of a sickness. There are times when anemia just happens but, there are times when something malfunctions in the body, and anemia occurs because of that. Normally, in those cases, there are signs that that's the case, though."

"Are you saying that's what happened to Megumi?"

"I don't know. At this point I can't say anything without an analysis. At the very least, if we had the results of the blood sample I'd taken the other day, I might know something but unfortunately the results haven't come back yet. It's right over the Bon holiday."

"Bon Holiday...." At Shimizu's groaning voice, Toshio let out a breath.

"I hate mincing words. Moreover because I do know you, Shimizu-san, I don't want to sugar coat it. The other day, when I visited, I'd taken a sample of Megumi-chan's blood. I sent that for analysis. The results haven't come in yet. It's because the lab is closed for Bon. Of course, it wasn't as if there were no ways I could have had it sooner, and it wasn't as if I couldn't have done the most basic level analysis myself. But all the same, I didn't think that there was a need to hurry, at least not at that point."

"Anemia can be caused by something wrong in the body. Even knowing there was that possibility?"

"I'll acknowledge that it's a possibility but in Megumi-chan's case, I couldn't think that was the case. ---I couldn't think of it as anything but ordinary anemia. Because I knew there was a possibility that wasn't the case, I sent the sample out for the lab. But, I didn't think there was a need to hurry the results. It was because Megumi-chan's condition wasn't severe enough that I'd thought to hurry it. If there was a severe enough defect, there would definitely have been symptoms, and I mean ones other than anemia. If there had been other symptoms that resembled a serious illness, I wouldn't have even hurried the test results, I'd have called for an ambulance and had her taken to the National Hospital. But, it wasn't like that. It looked like simple anemia, and even it it wasn't simple anemia, it looked like there was time to look at the test results, to re-examine her, and to find the exact cause."

"Then, why did Megumi die?"

"Even to me her death is a fluke. If I tried to predict the cause of death here and now, I'd have to say it was simple anemia, which I can't say. ---The truth is, I'm the one who's the most shocked."

When he had examined her the other day, indeed he hadn't really seen any particular symptoms beyond anemia. Nor did she have any particular medical history of such. Megumi was the type of girl who would make a fuss over the most trivial symptoms, and furthermore had a tendency to fake sick. She'd say this or that was hurting but no matter how many times she came for examination, no actual cause was found. ---Or, did that become a forgone conclusion?

Toshio had been wondering to himself when analyzing Megumi's body. Was there the possibility that he already decided for himself, and because of that, overlooked signs of something more serious?

(I can't say there's not...)

Reluctant as he was, he couldn't not acknowledge that. In truth, when Toshio had come to do the examination, he was surprised to see that Megumi even had anemia. After the fuss over her disappearance, when he'd heard that Megumi didn't seem well, Toshio's first thought was that she was faking sick. When thinking about what an incident it had become, Megumi, who had caused the fuss, it was indeed true that he'd thought she was faking feeling bad out of fear of being scolded by the Shimizus.

Looking at Megumi from the outside, there weren't any injuries or anything out of place. Her body temperature had dropped, and rigor mortis was setting in. There was some light postmortem lividity, and her corneas were beginning to go opaque. But, there was no doubt that she was dead, and furthermore that a few hours had passed since she had died.

"Late at night---or, more precise, this morning, I think. From one to three in the morning." Toshio murmured, turning back to Shimizu. "What should we do?"

"What---do you mean?"

"I don't know the precise cause of death. And it's been over twenty four hours since I'd last examined her. If I may, I'd like to recommend a medical autopsy. At the least, I'd like to take a blood sample and perform a bone marrow marrow aspiration, but I need Shimizu-san's permission."

"That's not funny!" Shimizu's face went crimson as he shouted, and then, surprised by the anger in his own voice, he lowered his face. "---No, I'm sorry."

"You want to hit me, I understand that, Shimizu-san."

"No.... I don't have any excuse. That isn't what I meant. But, an autopsy is no good. She's just a little girl. Even if we knew the cause of death, Megumi won't come back. ...Please, just spare her."

The way he's able to control himself is amazing, Toshio thought. He probably wanted to wring Toshio's neck and shout at him. Knowing Shimizu's personality, if it could explain what happened, he might have agreed to letting him take what he needed. But, he was hesitant to stimulate any emotion which might elicit further shameful behavior from Shimizu.

(Or maybe it's that I want a way out of this.)

Simple anemia, he'd said. To be sure, that was a mistake. And there was the possibility that it wasn't an inevitable mistake, but one based on his preconceived assumptions. Megumi's corpse was irrevocable evidence of that.

"Then, shall we say the time of death is 2:00 AM, and that the cause of death is acute heart failure?"

To Toshio's question, Shimizu nodded.

Comments

[sinnesspiel]

Back in the 80s and 90s, fansubs always had cultural notes; they either came on a splash page before/after the episode, or, more commonly, during the closing theme. A lot of times puns would be explained on-screen too, if it wasn't one that took too long to read or explain. I learned -kun, -chan, -san, etc. from a fansub splashpage. This was back when distribution was fans copying each other's VHS tapes and shipping them all over; in the new digital media age where length isn't much of an issue and distributing a text file with your video file or torrent isn't unheard of, sparing some time for some translation notes is easier than ever. Yet, it's less popular than ever. People feel like one has failed as a translator if it needs explaining, lately. Funimation is the main subber right now, and they're anti-translation notes, even with series like Gintama; I've seen their subs for that, and to my disappointment, they just write in a new joke or pun. The current translation flavor of choice depresses me and I don't have the time to sub every series I want subbed right, so for my blood pressure's sake, about the only time I see subs is either when watching it with someone else or when I can't find the raws (usually the case if you want to watch something that's been out a month or more). So I'm not really able to direct you to what I consider a "good" sub group in general.

I would rather dubs went un-made. Even kids would do well to get used to shows and things in other languages, even if it's beyond their ability to fully follow until they're literate. Disney movies are made to be kid friendly but enjoyed by all, and the subtle nuances of character is what sets Disney classics apart as really amazing cartoons. It's a real shame to lose that. They're cultural archives.

I've heard some Russian dubs; I saw part of the Russian dub of Baccano!, which kept the Japanese voices in the background with some voices talking in Russian over them, usually very flatly and quickly. I thought that was better than a full replacement dub, as it still left the original intact to some degree. I got the impression it'd be the best a deaf Russian could do to experience Baccano! since subs aren't an option for them. I didn't see more than a few seconds, but if it really is just one or two voices quickly speaking over the lines, rather than trying to replace the original cast, I'd consider that still a more accurate alternative than a full standard dub. Problems galore, naturally, least of all the problem of culture notes, but the original cast and inflections are important, so if those can still be heard, even muffled under a translator, it's better than being removed entirely.

Speed talking when nervous is pretty normal, I think. That's the funny thing about scripted or professional speech; it doesn't sound unnatural even though it takes tons of work for people to talk so smoothly. Still, that's part of why we can almost always tell if we're listening to a movie/show excerpt or a live conversational excerpt: natural as it may sound (at least when well acted--indeed, things can sound unnaturally rehearsed or scripted, if not well acted.), in fact it's more expressive than much off the cuff talk, that's not how most of our daily conversations go. Come to think of it, most speeches in speech class sound 'rehearsed' but then, it's a speech class, not an acting class, so sounding rehearsed isn't a problem, as it's much better than sounding unprepared. But if you have a prodigy in your class, you might hear one who manages, like a stand up comedian, to actually sound conversational, as if you could interrupt them and they could fluidly change course with no problem, like they hadn't rehearsed and they just somehow speak this smoothly all the time. Acting is generally practicing until it doesn't sound practiced--that's why I think poor actors suffer so much on 'normal' scenes even if they're not overacting. I don't think bad voice actors practice, I think they go in and it's just a line they say off a script, maybe they've memorized it, but they haven't put in the time it takes to sound natural, especially for the character rather than the actor themselves. I'm an absolutely terrible actor and elocutor, so I sympathize. Fortunately nobody is paying me to act, or speak publicly. And I'm not just picking on English dubs even though I think this is a consistent problem across the board with them--there have been Japanese voice actors I've thought were just phoning it in like that sometimes---even voice actors I greatly enjoy have given performances I've been unimpressed with. "You can't just use the character's voice and say the line and call it a day, you bastards!"


I recommend classes if they're available. They just aren't in my area. Once you get the basics, I think you can structure your own lesson plans, and identify things you don't understand but see a lot to analyze. You obviously can't immerse yourself like you can with a teacher or classroom, which is the method of language teaching I see most often, a well researched method based on trying to recreate the critical period. But I'm way past that brain age, so rather than "get the habits, make sense of them later" (which is how we learn our native languages--we don't know what a subject or an object is, but we know reflexively when to use I/he/she vs. me/him/her), I'm happier with "make sense of it, then make it a habit" myself. I'm not naturally intelligent so analytic learning, which is just applying familiar basic logical systems to a problem until it's broken down into something coherent and small and familiar, works better for me than rehearsal or other unfamiliar things smarter folk acclimate more quickly towards. It's kind of like how translation is much easier than speaking the language in question.

[airlynx]

I wish that the translating habits of the 90's had stayed, then. Maybe they'll start making a comeback. If some start doing cultural notes on a strategically selected anime, like say if Bleach resumes (and I hope it does) and it suddenly gets awesome cultural notes, I think the trend would spread because a lot of people would watch it and then subsequently comment and blog about it. Whereas some translators could be doing awesome cultural notes but the anime they're doing it for is really underground and it - as well as the notes - would never reach a larger audience and the internet mainstream.

I think the acceptablility of dubs would depend on age. When I was little, I used to watch Naruto all the time, subbed, and that actually helped me learn English and become a fast reader (I was a pretentious little kid), so that is an example of how subs can encourage growth in a child. But if the kid is so young that the only thing they watch the movie for is the pictures and bright colors, and they really to improve their speaking English, then dubs wouldn't be so bad because any cultural nuances that a sub would preserve would be lost on them, and it would improve their speech too. First priority is learning how to speak, next it's time to get serious with subs. I realize it's easy for me to say that dubs can't be all that bad sometimes since I don't have the chance to understand what they're saying just by hearing it; I would definitely be angry too, if I heard one thing and saw it being translated as something else. It would turn me off of dubs forever.

Russian dubs are usually inaccurate, so even if you can still hear the intonations of the original behind the dubbing, the meaning is still often wrong. Still sticking with the Cars 2 example, one time Lightning McQueen said something like "I think you're great" to his Porsche girlfriend and then a split second later, in fast Russian: "Stay with me". C'mon, dubbers! They obviously didn't even try. The problem with voiceover dubs is usually the inaccuracy most of all. Chances are, if they didn't take the time to remove the original voices, they probably won't take a lot of time to make an accurate translation either. So then you get inflections, but not accuracy...why can't us viewers have good things? Still, it's better than nothing, and one thing I am sure about is everyone should get a chance to experience Baccano!.

Practice is a big part of being a voice actor in my opinion, and something that is mandatory. I mean, it's a way to get your job done, and done well. Voice acting is a career, so one would be expected to take it seriously and make their performance as good as possible, and practice can't harm anything. You can't even avoid the necessity of it by reading directly off of a script; when people read off of something, especially for the first or second time, it sounds different from regular speech; someone fluent in that language could easily tell they're reading. Even if something is read, practice is still necessary to put expression and variety into the voice, which are also essential in daily conversation. Some people are better at vocal variety and reading fluency than others, but people who aren't just have to make do with practicing a lot, which will often make them even better than talented people, who may slack off thinking that they'll sound good just winging it. If you can't do anything else, at least practice right? On all of my past speeches, the feedback was 'I could tell you practiced!' which I do in front of the mirror and it's really awkward. But voice actors have it really tough; it's hard to find a balance between over-acting and sounding monotonous. Some could try to sound really natural, but they deaden their vocal expression so much that it doesn't give life to the character at all--others overcompensate too far into the other direction. I think the latter is the lesser of two evils because at least you can tell they're trying.

I was going to take Japanese classes outside of school but not enough people signed up and they were canceled! I was so disappointed because I'm a audio/visual learner, so it's a lot easier for me to pick up new material if it's taught to me (unless the teacher really sucks). My learning style is a lot like yours; I prefer structure and just plain memorization when necessary over hectic immersion you can sometimes get. You're right, I guess I could try organizing a schedule for myself and making some lesson plans based off of the textbook I have; it's a really good, coherent textbook but the thing is that I just have to sit down and force myself to plow through. Once I get going, I go all the way...but I have to get going first. Also cumulative reviews sometimes so I don't forget previous material.

[sinnesspiel]

My intuition is that as anime became less of a 'nerd' hobby and more mainstream, the habits of the nerdy fandom that appealed to nerds (obscure--to a western audience--information known in minute enough detail to feel special or unique for your knowledge of it) were soon relegated to a 'nerd' fraction of the no-longer-nerd-exclusive hobby. "Haha, that loser reads subs/cares about cultural/linguistic context in what's supposed to be fun time." is the new "Haha, that loser watches cartoons and reads comic books for fun," since now watching cartoons and comics is mainstream. So I think anime will have to fall back into obscurity for accuracy to come back into fashion; its western boom certainly seems to be over, but it's still very mainstream. Fansubbers/scanslators, those who presumably know enough Japanese/invest enough effort to translate, translate for approval the same way nerds tend to hunt obscure information for approval; I may translate Shiki as much to make sure I really understand it well enough to "explain" it, but the reason I translate even simple chapters or things I *know* I understand, or work hard to clarify things so others can understand when I already get it is because I want to interact with and see a fandom to this work; it is definitely a social endeavor, whether it's purely approval seeking or not (and the fact that I ask what readers prefer proves approval seeking is an aspect).

There will be more approval in mainstream, non-noted translations, so even the nerd-core level fans who can and do translate will, to feed their own egos, keep subs mainstream. In fact, there's a bonus in that it is generally easier to go with 'feel' over accuracy, and also the ego bonus of having people applaud choices that are more like your creative work than they are a translation. "That's not accurate but it's hilarious/cool, so I love it and will call it a good translation because it moves me!" validates a loose translator both because it's generally preferred and because it's their creative writing work, rather than some else's work they're translating, being praised. As good as it feels to have someone like something you like, having them like something you do is going to feel better.

Add to that that mainstream subs are thus more available, and you have many fans who have those as their only recourse, no matter how nerdcore their inclinations may be; the idea that what they're trying to obsess deeply into isn't the real thing hurts. Thus even the more nerd-habit inclined fans who would otherwise seek accuracy can be swept up into it. "I'm this into this series, I love it this much, I obsess over minor details, but the version I know, likely the only version available to me or most easily available to me first, is inaccurate or essentially fanon? No. No, I'm going to get defensive of this version now, to protect my time and emotional investments. I will continue to find other misapprehensions about the canon, characters, etc. incorrect and frustrating. Screw consistent logic, I enjoyed *this* set of inaccuracies and I'm going to fall back on the 'opinions, man' view that since I enjoyed these inaccuracies, they're acceptable as canon."

So since on a fan level I don't see a reason for it to trend back to accuracy, I don't anticipate it on a professional level, either.


As for dubs for kids, if it's important for kids to learn to speak a language, I feel the same way I do about people who just want their entertainment in their own language: why not plop them down in front of something that's originally writ for and in that language? There's probably an endless supply of interesting things for any age group in just about any living language.

Saying they can tell you practiced is definitely praise for a speech! It really doesn't come naturally, to remove the fillers and conversational particles from speech. Speech is much more frequently about something social than it is to actually convey information; removing those 'social' markers in order to honestly hone in on the message is tough! But, fictional dialogue exists purely to convey information; in fictional context it may be social--and in fact to sound like realistic dialogue, it must be written that way. That puts fictional dialogue, both its writers and actors, in a very interesting spot: they have to hone it to make it more effective at conveying pure information, which is unnatural for a conversation. Some of that information is about the characters more than what they're saying--the difference between how Seishin talks with Toshio (that is to say, pretty much exactly like Toshio) and how he talks with the Yano mother-daughter pair (much, much more formal---I hope that carried in translation) is as much 'information that must be conveyed to the audience' as is any of the stuff he talks about with either Toshio or the Yanos. But the writing/performance is not a conversation with the audience; the audience has no response and the writer/actor is working to convey that message the same way you are to a mirror when practicing. It's awkward, and doing it really well means adding in an artificial version of what you've removed--those social particles of uhm, you know, etc.

It reminds me of the Ne Sa Yo movement; in Japan, there was a push in the 1960s in Japan to keep children from using the ne, sa and yo particles which serve many of the same interactional purposes of those English uh, uhm, you know, like, etc. fillers. Interestingly, kids started holding out the end of "proper" sentences in the tone of those lost, now unspoken particles (and of course, they also continued to use them in more free environments). Those fillers we work so hard to avoid aren't purely the effects of a tongue faster than the mind, they serve complicated social/interactional purposes. Even we don't fully understand them in our own native languages, but I assure you, if they served no purpose, we'd have developed past them, the same way I think most of us can type off long, correct sentences we could never dream of speaking so fluidly off the tongue with the same ease. It's a context in which our brain is less focused on interaction; written communication is less interactive, even with near-immediate feedback like IMs and texts; you're not interacting *while* writing the new message.

Giving a speech on such a topic would be incredibly meta. I almost wish I could afford to be in Toastmasters or were still in school for speech classes...

I think I've recommended Anki flash cards before, right? It forces cumulative reviews by pulling up old stuff; if you still got it, it won't pull it up again for a long time. Miss it, it'll throw it back into your new randomizer until you get it again as naturally as when you had just learned it. It's really very helpful.

[airlynx]

I agree that watching anime is more widespread, but I still wouldn't call it mainstream! In my experience, people talk about it like something all the weird kids do, so I don't normally let on that I watch it. When I do though, people are surprised, "I never would have thought YOU as an anime fan!" which is kind of surprising for me too because I'm so dorky I don't know why people wouldn't think I was. It's sad that revealing that you do drugs, for instance, is more socially acceptable than revealing that you're a fan. Still, I think that a successful fansub with cultural notes that is seen by a lot of people would have the potential to jump start accuracy; then people would go to other fansub groups and be like "Did you see what did? With the cultural notes? That was awesome. Do that too!" or other fansub groups would see it and say "That's a good idea, why don't we do that?" But like you said, the audience would need to be people who are in it for the accuracy, so some current fans who are there just for fanservice or something wouldn't cut it. Approval-seeking isn't necessarily bad though! In real life, seeking approval can also be a good trait especially if you're collaborating at work or something and you want to make sure that something you've done works with everyone else in the team. Nobody likes the "screw everyone, we're doing it my way" guy. Same with translators. I think it's important to ask the readers' input because there's a good chance they'd have good ones. Also, ya know, it'll keep the readers happy. Be glad that you don't have very nitpicky readers!

I never watch gag subs or anything, but if I did I wouldn't use them as replacements for the real thing or accept anything there as canon. I guess there are people who do that, aren't there? Well, eh, there's dumb people everywhere. I would rather have inaccurate mainstream subs than nothing at all though, as bad as that might sound. It's not a good feeling knowing that all the shows I'm enjoying, through I'm enjoying them with, aren't the real thing, and my outlook on it can be totally false. That's another good reason for me to start up my Japanese again (I should stop procrastinating already D:) But even if I get to the point where I can somewhat understand the words spoken, I won't know the cultural connotations or hidden meanings so I don't know if my experience will be more accurate than with subs. It'll get better in time though of course but I'm not the most patient person.

I actually have a speech coming up! For my final exam for that class all I have to do is present a speech...and then I'm done forever, thank gawd! But I think that taking some sort of course in speech is a good idea for everybody. I mean, sometime in everyone's life they'll have to do something that involves speaking to an audience, and some basic skill are better than nothing at all--even better is practice. We can imagine verbal speech as a scale; on one end there's day to day speech that you'd use with your buddies and on the other end it's the super formal stuff used for speeches and such. Ideally, the complexity of speech patterns would increase as you go to the speech end of the scale, but the natural factor will remain the same. Like during job interviews it's kind of confusing because on one hand you want to be professional but on the other hand you need to seem open and friendly: somebody others can work with. Or at least that's the impression I got when I did mine, but I work in retail and a lot of it is working as a team so they would need someone who's a good teammate. It probably varies from job to job, but a lot of workplaces in America prefer to hire people not only based on creds, but also their amiability. They want someone who would be nice to their coworkers and, if it's a job that involves working with the public, someone who's nice to the customers too. After all, America is a pretty polite nation. Maybe not as polite as Japan, but it is when compared to Eastern Europe where nice employees are hard to come by. I think it's just a cultural thing; that's always how it was there.

The Ne Sa Yo movement is an interesting venture. I can totally relate to it too! When I'm giving any speeches, when I feel a 'like' or 'uhh' coming on, I usually just pause to let my brain catch up, or drag out the word that comes before it. So like the Japanese kids, I'm also replacing the extra particles instead of removing them altogether. I agree, the little particles go hand in hand with nonverbal communication, and also add extra meaning to the sentence apart from what is literally said. That's why face to face communication can't be truly replaced by texting and IMing and stuff, and also it creates that effect when a public speaker seems really distant. You have to hold yourself kind of stiff, and that really cuts down on nonverbal communication. I think that's why we wouldn't really want to talk in speeches in day to day life anyway--there'd be less personal connection and we'd just sound really aloof. Like for example when a person is talking, they always look for visual cues and responses from their companion to indicate how they should continue. A rehearsed speaker would just plow through, and that would put a lot of people off.

Unfortunately in my class we can't give speeches on a custom topic so you probably wouldn't want to be in it! Well, you could always record yourself and if you really want to get the message out, post it on YouTube. I would Favorite it and maybe even, if I was feeling extremely generous, give it a thumbs up.

I didn't let the Anki suggestion go in one ear and out another; I installed it! I also made several decks for reviewing vocabulary from the textbook that I have. It's still kind of confusing to use, but it's a nice idea. As I will hopefully keep plowing through my Japanese, it'll probably come in more handy. Besides, there's a user guide and everything; there's no reason for me to lose to technology. It kind of reminds me of this app I used to learn hiragana and katakana; it was the same thing, where it kept showing me cards I had missed before until I mastered them. I learned pretty fast, I wish one could learn kanji as easy as that..