Japanese at the pub

Learning a language is great.


Yes it is very difficult. Indeed according to the CIA, for English native speakers, Japanese and Russian are the only two languages to have a Level 5 difficulty rating. And with its three alphabets, three levels of politeness, and 1000s of characters, it does seem impossible at times.


But on the other hand, there's so many opportunites to study. I watch trash TV, I'm studying. I read adverts on the train, I'm studying. I try and chat up the girl next to me on the train, or (more likely) get chatted up by a granny ("You have such a lovely small face!"): good and bad, it's all study.


Most pleasing of all however, is that I can study at the pub.


In fact, for learning Hakata-ben it's the best place. Hakata ben is the local dialect, and it is not taught in class, or found in text-books. Of course (typically) it's the way that people actually speak. (Don't ask why, if it is what most people speak, it is not taught in class. I did this once. "But then they would just speak like normal Japanese" was the answer. There was no answer to this.)


So if you want to leave the English-culture-exchange-let's-go-study-together-at-Starbuck's bubble and talk to real people (not just Japanese who want to learn English) then you've got to learn Hakata ben.


Which means going to the pub.


Excellent.


Speaking of which I think I'll just hop off for a bit of er... study.