[Janarealiti]

Amen to both Kent and Ben. I could not have put it better about people who speak english well here. It is true that some people speak beautifully, but they are rare finds indeed. People who speak a foreign language well in Japan are usually individuals whose parents either lived abroad, or spoke good english themselves.

About old man kendou japanese... i live in an area that is known for its retention of old, country japanese. my ojiisan sensei is sometimes completely incomprehensible, but after about 8 months, I:m starting to get the gist of what he says. he:s a man of few words anyway.

hagakure, about names... my kendou sensei still calls me 'sensei', because he can:t figure out how to say my name. one of the kanji on my tare uses an obscure reading for the character, so it usually gets mispronounced, turning my name into a spanish MAN's name. the kids find it hilarious. unfortunately, it confuses the poor old man even further, so he's dropped all attempts to use any of my proper names.

c

ps ~ excuse the erratic punctuation, this was typed on a japanese computer / keyboard (truly a monstruous thing... too many keys)