I have noticed that a lot of the loan words sound a bit familiar. コーヒー especially. It always sounded weird to me. I just assumed the Japanese were mainly influenced by American English. Koffie (same in Dutch and Afrikaans) sounds similar to the Japanese – just replace the “h”in  ヒー with a “f” and you’ve got the right pronunciation.

Suppose it’s was a bit exciting finding some link and makes it easier to learn that’s all.

I’m sorry, for not being clear. Guess I should have used better grammar, but lazy and tired and  just didn’t feel like it for a post. It was more of a “Kinda, anyway…” “Sorta, you know.” I meant to describe what the phrase means in Afrikaans and then realised that it was hard to explain in English. Afrikaans and English are actually so close, but I still couldn’t propperly explain it. Would need load of examples. There are slightly different meanings depending on context and the tone of your voice. That is why I gave up with an “anyway”…

Anyway  ;) Good point on the 2nd part. A friend told me how she got lost in Moscow and had to ask for directions without speaking a word of Russian. She told me she thought she mannaged because South Africans speak with their hands. I don’t know if we do, but maybe that’s what they did. Also don’t you just pick up language by ear, as you do pronunciation? As with kids, so with adults.