Japan calling

[Grey Fox]

You might be right. I said I didn't think it would be that hard. It might be. I haven't tried, I have no intention to do so.

[Valmy]

Well, it may be that it sounds very different from how it's written.

It had been written in Cyrillic for centuries.  Just to give you an idea how weird Romanian is.

[Caliga]

I can read Cyrillic though.

[Baron von Schtinkenbutt]

Holy shit.  Mongers should come down here today.  It is 105F/40.5C and humid as fuck.

Native Texans have no concept of "humid as fuck".

[Caliga]

What if they live in El Paso?

[Baron von Schtinkenbutt]

What if they live in El Paso?

[Tonitrus]

What if they live in El Paso?

In El Paso, that would be Native Mexicans.

[jimmy olsen]

Don't need to apostille my documents to get into Japan, yay!

[Camerus]

I've been teaching myself Mandarin for about 2.5 years.  I now know about 1,600 characters and I can and do have conversations in Mandarin for hours at a time.  It is not impossible by any stretch of the imagination, though it is much harder for me than a European language. 

However, I am not doing this because I think "China will rule the world" or some nonsense, but rather just as a hobby and because I love language study.   

[Monoriu]

I've been teaching myself Mandarin for about 2.5 years.  I now know about 1,600 characters and I can and do have conversations in Mandarin for hours at a time.  It is not impossible by any stretch of the imagination, though it is much harder for me than a European language. 

However, I am not doing this because I think "China will rule the world" or some nonsense, but rather just as a hobby and because I love language study.   

The problem is that the English proficiency of the average mainlander is crap.  Those who are good are really good, but the average Joe just can't converse with a native English speaker effectively.  So I can see the need for you to learn Mandarin if you live there.  I am proud to say that the expats who live in HK do not need to learn Cantonese, though. 

It takes time.  Maybe in a few decades, their English will be good enough so that expats living in China no longer have to learn Mandarin. 

[jimmy olsen]

Just sent out an application to a superposh Christain Girls School. They're offering 4,691,200 ¥ ($58,000) a year, with an extra 130k ¥ ($1600) for Japanese lessons!

Cross your fingers.

[Tamas]

Christain Girls School.

Cross your fingers.

FINGERS CROSSED!

in exchange, will you get me an IT job there?

[jimmy olsen]

Christain Girls School.

Cross your fingers.

FINGERS CROSSED!

in exchange, will you get me an IT job there?

How am I supposed to do that?

[Tamas]

Christain Girls School.

Cross your fingers.

FINGERS CROSSED!

in exchange, will you get me an IT job there?

How am I supposed to do that?

IDK, be creative

[Duque de Bragança]

Mainland portuguese always sounds vaguely german to me. over pronounciation.

As if there was only one Mainland Portuguese  Lisboetês vaguely German ? They have the (incorrect) French r (grasseyé and swallow vowels and consonants cf. p'xina/Piscina.
Nortenho  (Minhoto and/or Transmontano vaguely German as well ? etc.