Worstgen

Thank you. I'd say your vocabulary is great. Reading classic works definitely improves one's vocabulary and helps with writing as well. Thanks again. I tend to ignore what society thinks is good or not, I prefer choosing by myself. I vehemently agree. Subjects shouldn't be viewed by how much money you can earn working in that field.

Den_Den_Mushi

I couldn't even tell that you're not a native English speaker at first tbh. Being bilingual gives you such a huge advantage in life, the ability to switch between modes of thinking and language manipulation. It's hard majoring in humanities due to the lack of money/social prestige but people forget that the philosophers (Socrates etc) studied both philosophy AND maths.

Den_Den_Mushi

A lot of the time, you need a combination of left/right brain mastery to be successful anyway. There's no point in being a math genius if you can't communicate your ideas or convey the importance of your findings.

Light D Lamperouge

That's quite a compliment, I must say. Thanks again. Most certainly. I actually speak about 9 languages, 3 fluently, or near fluently, 2 around B2 level, and 4 more, but they are around A2 level, so I don't usually count them lol. I agree with that. Oddly enough, I love both maths and literature, when I was younger I probably enjoyed maths and physics, or natural sciences in general, more than literature.

Den_Den_Mushi

That's really incredible :o I wish we had a multilingual education here but we don't, and what little we learn is badly taught. It's very arrogant imo to expect everyone to speak your language but I find that attitude is very common in the US and Australia. There's little respect for the value of other cultures or cultural studies in general.

Den_Den_Mushi

I also loved science as a kid, even now I find myself geeking out over new technologies and developments. That's why Japan appeals so much to me with its high-tech cities with pockets of tradition and heritage. Imagine what we could do by actually leveraging the science we currently have.

Light D Lamperouge

Thank you yet again. In Serbia, we start studying English as an obligatory subject since the first grade of elementary school, and then in the fifth grade of elementary school we get an additional foreign language, like French, German, Italian and so on. I understand that. On the other hand, English became like a universal language so I can understand people's confusion when someone can't speak it.

Light D Lamperouge

Japan is like a mecca for people like us lol. It contains everything we like. I often catch myself thinking about future innovations and our capability to utilize the said innovations and what we have now as well. Sometimes all of it seems like a dream to me. We truly have advanced.

Den_Den_Mushi

Yeah I think we should do that here too, start teaching a different language to kids when they're young. We do that in Singapore but not Australia, most people speak only English and still fail at that, not knowing the difference between 'your' and 'you're'. Learning another language helps you learn your mother tongue better imo.

Den_Den_Mushi

The public transport system in particular is a great example of planning and infrastructure. Their population density is much higher than ours but they find a way to make their city more liveable than ours. Imo it's just a matter of laziness, a lot of people and places can't be bothered to evolve as fast as Japan, even if it would make life heaps easier.

Light D Lamperouge

That actually annoys me lol. 'Your' and 'you're' 'there' 'their' and 'they're' bugs me a lot lol. Yes, it helps a lot imo.

Yeah, their public transport is amazing. I once read an article in which the train company issued an apology to the commuters because the train was 20 seconds late. I mean, in here buses/trains can be late for 10/20/30 minutes, sometimes even longer, and no one says anything about it.

Light D Lamperouge

It really paints a picture.

Den_Den_Mushi

If you ever go to Japan, take a ride on their bullet trains, those are amazing too. I wish we had high speed rail here too. The bullet train lets you go to all these other towns and cities without the hassle of flying, check in etc. It's great and there's a food trolley on board, just like the Hogwarts Express.

Den_Den_Mushi

Maybe one day you can add Japanese to your list of languages :p But it's very different to European languages so a lot of Australians have trouble learning it.

Light D Lamperouge

I've heard a lot about the shinkansen. I'd probably enjoy it.
Adding Japanese to the fluent list is my goal lol. I already did some studying regarding it, but there's too many kanji/katakana/hirogana. I'd probably take it up again when I have more free time.

Den_Den_Mushi

Hiragana is the best place to start, followed by grammar. You can always dictionary the kanji but without hiragana it's hard to do anything at all. I've never tried studying a European language, maybe I'll try French someday.

Light D Lamperouge

Thank you for the advice.

French is very melodic. Really pleasant to the ear. I've been studying it for 10 years now. It's good. Difficult at times, but still very appealing.

Den_Den_Mushi

Languages are challenging but I guess the fun comes in seeing your own progress and being able to talk about more and more subjects with native speakers. :D I've had interesting conversations in onsen and with hotel staff in Japan, they always ask me about stuff like crocodiles and kangaroos and are horrified to hear that we eat them.

Light D Lamperouge

I agree. Communicating with native speakers really helps and let's you know how far you have advanced.
I actually had a course this year entitled 'Australian Studies'. It was interesting. If you remember, I asked you once about the movie 'Walkabout'. I didn't really like the movie, however I liked the term and what it stood for.

Den_Den_Mushi

I have to admit I'm not a fan of Australian culture/cinema. A lot of it is excessively Eurocentric and what little Indigenous culture we do have is hard to connect with for me, as a migrant from Asia. I didn't even know there was such a subject as Australian studies! I didn't think we were important enough for that tbh