17 Nov Thursday
Nov. 17th, 2005 10:07 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
ickaimpVocabulary Words:
Naught - Zero (as in 'from Naught to 60')
How to speak Kiwi: Speak from the back of your mouth. Put in a bunch of polished round pebbles. Now talk. Make sure to mumble -clearly- and turn all of your 'R' sounds to 'Aah' sounds.
That's right. It's not 'car'. It's 'Ka-ah.' Like it's the Car's evil twin. Aaarr.
'NZ' is pronounced 'N. Zed', not 'N.Zee', by the way.
Sometimes, it's just really weird, like 'Are we speaking the same language? It's English, right?' Only everyone else speaking the Queen's English and I'm speaking some f-ed up So. Cal variant. Yes. Hi. I'm an Alien from Outer Space. Pleased to meet you.
*laughs* Okay, it's really not that bad. And I'm getting used to the weird looks. Last week I tried really hard to get the accent right and usually ended up sounding somewhat Scottish for some reason. But it was kinda tripping my brain up. ls this the right word? How do you pronounce this? Am I blending in?
This week something in my brain gave up and we're just speaking regularly. And suddenly we can write. Although I'm noticing my language is changing, we're dropping 'the' fairly frequently and the vocabulary is changing. Hence the Vocab Words. (there will be a quiz later! Muwahahahaaa!! Okay, so maybe not.)
In many ways, it's kind of easier in Japan. People are gonna expect you not to understand, so there's this kinda buffer that transcends the language barrier. So it's not this bad shock to people when you open your mouth and the accent isn't right. I've had a couple of people think they got the wrong number when I've answered the phone the past few days. ~_~
Walking on the street is kind of odd too. When I walk, I look around and greet people when I pass them. Part of it is self-defense, you're more unlikely to get mugged if you've acknowledged someone on the street, because it's more likely you're gonna recognise then later if you do get jumped. Part of it is, well, I like making people smile. And if you smile at someone, they're likely to smile back and keep smiling.
But people don't say 'Hi' back here. If I nod or bow, there's no acknowledgement back. Eyes slide away, and it's almost like they're trying to cast a 'You Can't See Me' spell. But they'll stare at you if you act like you can't see them. It's really, well, disconcerting. *scratches head* David says it's cause NZ is more conservative than liberal, but still...
And dammit, nobody seems to hug! One of the first things I learned with Re-enactment groups that seemed universal - you hug when you greet. Hug when you leave. Hug if you feel like it. Or someone's extremely huggable. Not here. Neither the Scadians or the Anime group seemed big on hugging. As in none. And since those are really the only two social groups I've observed... *shrugs*
Hug, dammit.
Oh, yeah. Plumbing is fixed. Evidently the U-joint is too close to a large beam, which puts a lot of pressure on it, hence the fact it keeps breaking down and leaking.
Naught - Zero (as in 'from Naught to 60')
How to speak Kiwi: Speak from the back of your mouth. Put in a bunch of polished round pebbles. Now talk. Make sure to mumble -clearly- and turn all of your 'R' sounds to 'Aah' sounds.
That's right. It's not 'car'. It's 'Ka-ah.' Like it's the Car's evil twin. Aaarr.
'NZ' is pronounced 'N. Zed', not 'N.Zee', by the way.
Sometimes, it's just really weird, like 'Are we speaking the same language? It's English, right?' Only everyone else speaking the Queen's English and I'm speaking some f-ed up So. Cal variant. Yes. Hi. I'm an Alien from Outer Space. Pleased to meet you.
*laughs* Okay, it's really not that bad. And I'm getting used to the weird looks. Last week I tried really hard to get the accent right and usually ended up sounding somewhat Scottish for some reason. But it was kinda tripping my brain up. ls this the right word? How do you pronounce this? Am I blending in?
This week something in my brain gave up and we're just speaking regularly. And suddenly we can write. Although I'm noticing my language is changing, we're dropping 'the' fairly frequently and the vocabulary is changing. Hence the Vocab Words. (there will be a quiz later! Muwahahahaaa!! Okay, so maybe not.)
In many ways, it's kind of easier in Japan. People are gonna expect you not to understand, so there's this kinda buffer that transcends the language barrier. So it's not this bad shock to people when you open your mouth and the accent isn't right. I've had a couple of people think they got the wrong number when I've answered the phone the past few days. ~_~
Walking on the street is kind of odd too. When I walk, I look around and greet people when I pass them. Part of it is self-defense, you're more unlikely to get mugged if you've acknowledged someone on the street, because it's more likely you're gonna recognise then later if you do get jumped. Part of it is, well, I like making people smile. And if you smile at someone, they're likely to smile back and keep smiling.
But people don't say 'Hi' back here. If I nod or bow, there's no acknowledgement back. Eyes slide away, and it's almost like they're trying to cast a 'You Can't See Me' spell. But they'll stare at you if you act like you can't see them. It's really, well, disconcerting. *scratches head* David says it's cause NZ is more conservative than liberal, but still...
And dammit, nobody seems to hug! One of the first things I learned with Re-enactment groups that seemed universal - you hug when you greet. Hug when you leave. Hug if you feel like it. Or someone's extremely huggable. Not here. Neither the Scadians or the Anime group seemed big on hugging. As in none. And since those are really the only two social groups I've observed... *shrugs*
Hug, dammit.
Oh, yeah. Plumbing is fixed. Evidently the U-joint is too close to a large beam, which puts a lot of pressure on it, hence the fact it keeps breaking down and leaking.
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no subject
Date: 2005-11-21 09:46 pm (UTC)I'm slowly growing out of "not hugging", but for some reason it felt 'unnatural' to me for quite a while (except for mom, who's very huggable~.)
Having (mostly) grown up in France where they all kiss each others cheeks 2 to 4 times in a row, I have been known to be the one that goes "Hi~!" by rising her hand because of this. :c/
It's kind of strange when I think about it, but interesting at any rate...
Oh well, never mind, & yeah for cuddlies! -_^