Can relate

I know that the Jpanaese written language is all kinds of farked up incorporating Chinese Characters, Kanji Characters, another alphabet ) just for foreign words translated into Japanese, and then a recently introduced Romanized Alphabet that's more keyboard friendly. But STILL if you are the Prime Minister? Shouldn't you really have mastered it by now?

can't read?
neither could Bush - hello presidency!

Carotid: can't read?
neither could Bush - hello presidency!

He was elected to lead...not read.

And I actually used to WANT to learn this language?

Jesus farks me.

Japanese is easy. Toshiba, nagasaki, okinawa, NUCLEAR BOMB!

I believe he said, "I can't lead."

This happens just after subby admits he can't spell, right?

Magorn: I know that the Jpanaese written language is all kinds of farked up incorporating Chinese Characters, Kanji Characters, another alphabet ) just for foreign words translated into Japanese, and then a recently introduced Romanized Alphabet that's more keyboard friendly. But STILL if you are the Prime Minister? Shouldn't you really have mastered it by now?

That kanji is a son of a biatch.

Thinks subby was aiming for this

strangeguitar: He was elected to lead...not read.

Duh? It *is* Japan after all

The trouble with reading Japanese out loud is you have to talk, and then move your lips.

strangeguitar: Can relate

One and done

"Is that true?"

"Yes. Everything except the reading part."

I started taking classes for Japanese a bit ago. It was seriously hell, I can totally relate. Sadly I will continue my classes in the fall.

Now I don't feel so bad about having such a hard time learning Japanese. I mean, if the native speakers can't even read it fluently...

A politician that is a disappointment.
What a disappointment

/They are ALL politicians.

//Smell that ....it's the coffee ... wake up sunshine ...

///Party, country, race, or gender do not matter ....they are All politicians. Please make a note of it.

\Nothing to see here, move along.

simpsonfan: The trouble with reading Japanese out loud is you have to talk, and then move your lips.

Don't be ridiculous.

That's only in Cantonese.

Don't make jokes, subby, when you can't write.

"Parliament"

2,000 characters is the mandatory minimum?

Maybe he's just lazy?

Carotid: can't read?
neither could Bush - hello presidency!

Words out of my mouth. At least Aso has an excuse; Japanese characters are like hieroglyphics.

Hell, I can't read today's newspaper either.

What an Aso.

Ask North Korea what to do: the Korean language used to be written the same way with a mix of Chinese characters and Korean phonetic symbols in the 20th century (the first 75 years of it anyway). NK decided to write everything using the Korean alphabet.

IIRC in S Korea mixing Chinese with Korean is getting less popular, and used mainly in legal/academic contexts and in newspapers where things need to be succinct.

This gets the tag by default because it involves Japan

どもありがとう、ミスターロボット

＊ども

I would guess that his vision needs checking.

Or maybe he has some kind of reading condition, like dyslexia but for Japanese people?

Hell, even Anne Frank could read.

I love how they blame it on his love of manga....I wonder if tentacle porn is full of grammatical inaccuracies...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oOQboHV3-PI

"Uh, I told you... I don't know how to read."

Literacy-boosting books are selling briskly. One titled, "Chinese Characters that Look Readable but are Easily Misread," released a year ago, has sold more than 800,000 copies.

Critics are saying "Chinese Characters that Look Readable but are Easily Misread" is this year's paperback thrill-ride extravaganza. I'm hoping for a movie by 2011.

betona:
It says that ozawa's chief aide has been arrested.
Japanese is a dead language anyway, don't waste your time!

PLEASE! PLEASE! GIMME WHAT'S IN THE BAG!

Delay: I believe he said, "I can't lead."

Game over.

BUT, I bet he's good at math!

They seriously need to just freaking adopt Romaji. Seriously.

betona: Hell, I can't read today's newspaper either.

OH THANK G-D! It's an Asian paper. I thought I had a stroke...

Next: on a very special episode of The Japanese Parliment; the Prime minster tearfully confesses "I can't READ"

PARLIAMENT.

MINISTER.

/YOU MORAN.
//PAT POOVE.
///GODANMT SO MCH!

erveek: PLEASE! PLEASE! GIMME WHAT'S IN THE BAG!

Goddamnit! I was looking for a screenshot (^) too!

//IT'S BACON!

I've been studying at a Japanese language school in Tokyo for the last two years so I'm getting a kick out of these yadda yadda yadda. We discuss Aso's reading comprehension issues in class on a regular basis.

Quite frankly it doesn't surprise me at all and given that my biggest struggles are with kanji I kinda feel for the guy, but I still get annoyed when my friends complain that even Japanese people have trouble with kanji. When you tout your language as being so uniquely cultural that no foreigner can truly understand it, that's gonna come and bite you in the ass sooner or later.

LegacyDL: 2,000 characters is the mandatory minimum?

There's a list of 常用漢字 (Jouyou kanji, "everyday use" characters) that they established in 1981. It consists of 1945 characters and it's generally believed that every Japanese person knows how to read and write (well, at least read) all of them.

In 2010 or 2011 they're adding about 200 characters to the list; stuff that's commonly used but was never added for some reason for another, like 弁 (the first character in bento) and a bunch of other similar ones. I'm sure all the kids currently studying the easy stuff in elementary school are looking forward to that.

so what?
of those who 'read' ( vocalize ), how many understand, anyway?
of those who understand, how many comprehend (relate to their previous knowledge)?
of those who comprehend, how many think?
of those who think, how many speak?
of those who speak, how many act?

/my "drake's equation". let me show you it.
//intelligent life? bahahaha neither is defined anyway.

私は漢字を読むことはできません
したがって私は、これらの返信を読んで楽しんでいる

For those of us taking Japanese, here is a list of some of his mistakes (Taken from Japanese wikipedia):
Kanji: His:
踏襲 「ふしゅう」
詰めて 「つめめて」
怪我 「かいが」
参画 「さんか」

The list used to be longer:
Kanji: His:
踏襲 「ふしゅう」
頻繁 「はんざつ」
破綻 「はじょう」
順風満帆 「じゅんぷうまんぽ」
低迷 「ていまい」
詳細 「ようさい」
未曽有 「みぞうゆう」
実体経済 「じつぶつけいざい」
焦眉 「しゅうび」
物見遊山 「ものみゆうざん」
有無 「ゆうむ」
思惑 「しわく」
措置 「しょち」
前場 「まえば」
詰めて 「つめめて」
怪我 「かいが」
完遂 「かんつい」
遂行 「ついこう」
廿（にじゅう） 「廿十（にじゅうじゅう）」
窮状 「しゅうじょう」

CurvedGirdle: Ask North Korea what to do: the Korean language used to be written the same way with a mix of Chinese characters and Korean phonetic symbols in the 20th century (the first 75 years of it anyway). NK decided to write everything using the Korean alphabet.

IIRC in S Korea mixing Chinese with Korean is getting less popular, and used mainly in legal/academic contexts and in newspapers where things need to be succinct.

You could certainly do the same with Japanese, and many earlier computer applications presented everything phonetically in kana for ease of presentation... however, kanji have the added benefit of providing clues to the meaning of a word even if you're not familiar with it, and providing for coining new words (although that's usually done with katakana/English cognates lately). Also, modern Japanese has a very limited number of possible syllables (the 50 kana and ya-yu-yo diphthongs), whereas Korean has more complex syllables to help differentiate words.

/not to mention, it's like hazing - if you spent 18 years of your life slaving away at memorization just so you could read a newspaper, why would you want to make it any easier for future generations?

mr_crash_davis: This happens just after subby admits he can't spell, right?

Now hold on there, minster! Can I bum a Parliment?

CurvedGirdle: Ask North Korea what to do: the Korean language used to be written the same way with a mix of Chinese characters and Korean phonetic symbols in the 20th century (the first 75 years of it anyway). NK decided to write everything using the Korean alphabet.

IIRC in S Korea mixing Chinese with Korean is getting less popular, and used mainly in legal/academic contexts and in newspapers where things need to be succinct.

It goes even farther than that. Korean used to be written in characters like in China and Japan, and like Japan, derived from Chinese. They decided "Fark it, i'll be a stripper." No, wait, they said, much like Turkey ditching Arabic script, "let's just do something phonetic that fits our language". And they invented their own alphabet and made it LOOK superficially like characters by putting syllables into blocks. This was about 800 years ago. And the alphabet is so logical and rational and easy to read that any literate person can learn it in about an hour.

Crazy country of hotheads, but they got a good alphabet.

But yes, over the last century they have gradually ditched the vestiges of the Empire's writing.

In Korean at least, even if you aren't writing the actual characters, somewhere in the neighborhood of 70% of the words are derived from the Chinese, so knowing the characters is almost mandatory to be able to figure out what words mean.

Thank God there's very rarely second pronunciations for characters tho, made learning them much easier.

simpsonfan: The trouble with reading Japanese out loud is you have to talk, and then move your lips.

It's making the English translation appear in mid-air that's tricky.

Now with illegible cyrillic characters.

dokool: It consists of 1945 characters

Coincidence?