Tip: NEVER use google translate for Japanese! (Even for travel) It’s so bad!
I definitely had a “what the fuck have I done” mini panic attack moment entering the Tokyo airport. But basic Japanese to keep manners got me by.
There was someone local in a state furry chat who kept talking about his Japan was the best, talked a lot of anime quotes, and no amount of people who know what Japan is actually like could convince him otherwise.
He’s apparently stuck there now and drinks most of the time because he didn’t and still doesn’t realize how goddamn racist his assumptions were and how it got him nowhere.
- he assumed everyone would like him cause he’s American and <insert nebulous reasons>
- he thought most people would speak English
- for some fucking reason he thought most of it was like Tokyo or specifically Akihabara(sp?)
So I’m cackling at this like how fucking appropriate
Maybe it’ll build character in him
I might’ve met him or at least someone similar, he wore a kimono to a bar and was disappointed that not every Japanese person asked him about it. He would try to use it as a conversation starter; eventually he drank himself into a stupor and passed out outside of the bar.
I lived in Japan for 6 years. This is kind of true, but if you can point then you can get what you’re after.
I don’t know, I thought half the fun of Japan was the not knowing what I would stumble on.
Neil Degrasse Tyson said it best on why he hates algorithms, “they don’t let me find anything, they take away the wonder”.
Such a powerful quote. I’ve heard the guy can be a jerk but he sure is inspiring.
Such a powerful quote. I’ve heard the guy can be a jerk but he sure is inspiring.
Google translate/lens was absolutely goated for my japan travels. I really dislike google and try foss alternatives all the time but it was like having real life subtitles, good quality and adequate translations.
Yeah, the translation is better than trying to deal with a shopkeeper who doesn’t want to yukkuri the fuck hanashite kudasai or whatever. I have a vocabulary of maybe 800 words but whatever you’re speaking is way outside it.
What would you recommend instead of Google lens/translate?
Not the most ethical answer but a paid chatgpt subscription.
I visited Japan for the first time recently.
It is not the first time I visited a country that spoke another language, but it was the first time I went somewhere that didn’t use the same alphabet I’m used to.
I must say, suddenly beign functionally analphabet is a very strange feeling!
I’m from Bulgaria, but left as a child, when I came back I couldn’t speak the language, only understand a little bit. The crylic alphabet everywhere was really strange for me too. Ultimately, my step mom would walk the city with me and teach me the letters as we saw them on car licence plates. It was like a whole new world opened up when I could read them.
Fun fact, Japanese doesn’t use any alphabet at all!
Syllabaries ftw
Ah, the non-slop version of this meme. Nice work, thank you for your service.
I visited Japan in 2008, before Google Lens was a thing. My Japanese was rudimentary, like A-level. But I got by. I had a problem with my Suica card and the people in the subway station didn’t speak any English and my Japanese certainly wasn’t enough for the situation, but together we fixed it. And another time I wanted to ask something in a store and the woman had to fetch her coworker who spoke English, so that was fine as well. I would guess that today English is more wide-spread, particularly in Tokyo. So I wouldn’t be worried to visit today, when my Japanese is even worse than it was back then. I must say that trying to communicate with a language barrier, while frustrating, is also what brings us together as humans. Most people around the world are decent people and are willing to help somebody in need. That makes for nice vacation memories.
This is why travel develops character
Unless you are in the US. “speak ‘murican!!”
Depends on where you go. Some places do have subtitles. lol
Ganbate, OP-san
Are you really asking if they use Japanese in Japan?
The joke is more on if foreigners assume that there’s subtitles in real life when they hear spoken Japanese. Basically, the meme is on the language barrier (for those who know zero Japanese).
Google Lens is basically irl subtitles
