The tutor is not solely for the pronunciation of that one area. I’m looking forward to some casual conversational skills instead of sounding like a phrasebook robot like a lot of video tutorials and podcasts want us to sound. I’m the kind of person who wants to build from the ground up and understand what makes up a sentence so that I can create my own. This is the key to fluency: the ability to be creative and be grammatically correct at the same time. :)

Ah! That makes sense, as it was a friend from Hong Kong who mentioned about getting the tones right. I guess she thought it would be a similar thing in Japan with regards to tones.

Regarding Space Cat… I’ve been asked to write for a website and was going to do it anonymously under the ‘Space Cat’ handle. (Inspired by the furry toy that’s a constant companion next to my pillow, and looks like a cross between an infant’s vision of a cat or a fox, so I’ve always just thought of it as a space cat because I don’t know what it is!)

:)

Thanks for the link. It’ll come in handy when I can read syllabaries, as I’ve only just started on the TextFugu course. Any idea on the romaji for what you have written above?

Space Cat is something I need for a blog.

If you watch it, Joel, try to get the Japanese cut of Vol.1. It’s got some nice extra scenes and the OTT violence in the House of Blue Leaves is not censored in black and white like the Western cut was (which happens to be the best boss fight, IMHO). You also get to find out just how mutilated poor Sofie gets. :(

The only issue is that you’ll have to manually turn on English subtitles whenever anyone speaks the dialogue in Japanese. But if you watch the Western cut beforehand, you will pretty much know what they are saying in those parts anyway. :)

I recommend watching both cuts of Vol.1.

Hey. I used to work nights but I’m just nocturnal by default regardless! LOL. (I think it’s the gaming genes in me, which I can’t seem to get out of my system.)
I’m still learning and researching the spiritualism but I’m really loving the way that Buddhism complements Shintoism. I was always a fan of Greek mythology with Egyptian mythology being a close second as it is similar, and I’d assumed that Eastern beliefs would be too complicated for me to understand, but they’re actually quite enlightening and it’s nice to see them still very much embedded within a modern culture. Can’t wait to pay my respects at a shrine. :)