Hey guys! I’m a university student who’s been studying Japanese off and on (mostly off) since summer of last year. I was just outside the student union on my way to a class when I distinctly heard an Asian student say ” 久しぶり” to a passing friend. I was happy to understand it given my status as a novice (I know it’s a common phrase, but it’s still more than I could have done a year ago!). More than anything, though, I was surprised given that I live in Arkansas, which is just about the last place anyone would ever expect to hear Japanese lol. I never expected learning it would prove useful – I see it as more of a hobby – so getting to use it in the real world was really exciting. And now I know that apparently my university has at least two Japanese students! This rambling story brings me to the main point of my post: What is a time when you heard Japanese when you really weren’t expecting to?
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Coming from a mexican restaurant kitchen, (Sorry can’t remember the name it was years ago) in Columbia, SC.
I was 400% sure I was hearing things at first but was sat close to kitchen for a long time to confirm. Never sure why or what they were talking about though.
(the “place” itself may not be weird, but the circumstances…)
the company i work at, despite its relatively small size, has quite a number of foreigners so it could be that a
Chinese, Russian, Spaniard, Vietnamese, Myanmar and Bangladeshi
are all having a conversation in Japanese at the same time
Not more than a few hours ago I was walking out of a Buffalo Wilds Wings and heard the table of 5 next to mine that had just arrived speaking Japanese. Thought it was pretty neat. Couldn’t understand a lot because it was pretty loud (and I’m still very much so a novice), but it seemed like they were trying to decide how many wings to get. First time I’d ever heard anyone speaking Japanese in public.
At the DMV in the middle of bumfuck, Nebraska. It was fun eavesdropping on that couples conversation x)
In Bowling Green, KY randomly in Target a Japanese girl and a white guy behind me started speaking it. I almost thought I was dreaming but then again I guess it isn’t too surprising especially since I was in the Nintendo section.