One's perception of progress is relative to what he believes is possible. I had thought, however, that there must be some sort of lower limit to it. Apparently not, and ... I can't stop laughing:
Several months ago, for example, I visited the local Japanese conversation group. The Japanese woman who runs the group decided to test my greeting skills: instead of "Konnichi-wa" she asked, "Joe-san, o-genki desu-ka?" (Roughly: "Are you healthy/well?") My mind clicked away for a second while I pulled up one of the early Pimsleur lessons, then instead of saying "huh?" or giving the more frequent response, "Hai, genki desu" ("Yes, I am well") I was able to reply, "Hai, okagesama de" ("Yes, thanks") in my best Japanese enunciation. She wasn't expecting to hear that response, and the look on her face was priceless. I'm no Japanese expert, but I was one that evening.
...
I got to sit with the advanced group and practice saying, "Sumimasen, wakarimasen" ("Sorry, I don't understand") for the rest of the evening. [Source]
In other news, last night I dreamed that I finally made my escape from the hell-hole of English Banditry to greener pastures (Japan?). When I got there, EVERYONE IN THE ENTIRE ISLAND NATION HAD BEEN TRANSFORMED INTO AN ENGLISH BANDIT. I ran around frantically crying out in search of a speaker of Japanese. When I finally saw that all was hopeless, I broke down and wept. Yes, I didn't cry, I wept -- profound tears of sorrow.
For anyone not familiar with Ken Tanaka, let me introduce to you one of the most original and genuinely pleasant discoveries I have made on Youtube in quite some time:
How to speak fluent Japanese without saying a word PART 2
KEN TANAKA MEETS JONATHAN SMITH PT 1 外に出て両親をさがす田中
The rest of his wicked cool stuff.
