2020 NHK Trophy: Free Dance

[Skatesocs]

Here is the winner's interview: https://www3.nhk.or.jp/sports/speci..._ZwQcmoTpucpk3z.html?ev_id=4&at_id=402&sg_id=

Haha thanks! I think he sounds a bit too much like a child (I mean hesitant and nervous), and the American accent slips in at the end I think (not sure how much of those things is him being nervous at publicly speaking Japanese lol)? It's not bad, I say with my bare grasp on Japanese. Maybe not going to pass the standards of natives, though!

 

[Flying Feijoa]

I have always been of the belief that people should be proud of their family heritage. And that is why I do not understand why a lot of people (particularly in North America) try to do everything they can to distance themselves from their heritage, or try to hide it. Even accusing you of being racist if you refer to them by their background.

Well, I'm sorry, but if I was living / born in a country where I was considered an ethnic minority, I would be referring to myself primarily by my family background. Becaue that is what made you who you are. And denying it is being disrespectful to your family.

Incidentally, that is why I also don't like it when women take their husband's surname when they get married. Because it is disrespectful to their own family.

And now I am going to run away, because I know that a particular member is always itching to have an argument with me. And I don't want to.

CaroLiza_fan

I think it depends on a lot of stuff, like your perceived need to assimilate, pronunciation difficulties, and your/your family's viewpoints. I was born in NZ and have only a Chinese (Mandarin) name, because my parents have the same opinion as you (although they wouldn't have minded if I wanted to take an English name for convenience). Growing up, everyone would butcher my name even though it's phonetically straightforward - no X, Z or Q and certainly more intuitive than Gaelic-Kiwi names like Sean or Niamh. One primary school classmate tried to call me 'Rachel' (no resemblance to my actual name) because I 'looked like a Rachel', to which I told her to stuff off. None of the Rachels I knew looked like each other besides being female. It also just didn't seem fair that my Maori/Pasifika/Pakistani friends didn't also get asked 'and what's your English name?' However, I understand why other East Asian diaspora have English names (including my maternal cousins), because from experience my name engenders lazy assumptions about my language ability, political stance or immigration status.

In addition to those contrarian motivations, I like my name because it's quite unique even in Chinese, pairs well with my brother's name and is unisex. It always felt like other kids' parents were trying too hard to be different with infinite homophones of common names (Kaitlyn, Caitlin), a limited repertoire of unisex names (I've met many Sams and Charlies of both genders), and kids with weird names (Tiger Lily, North West... although maybe that's just because celebrities are weird).

Anyway, sorry for the off-topic rant! It's pretty neat that Oliver can use a Japanese transliteration of his little-used Chinese name (Eichu Cho rather than Oriberu Zan), takes up less space in writing and sounds cool. For Tim (being married to Misato), his new Japanese name is probably more about a conscious choice for cultural identification.

And congrats to Muramoto/Takahashi on their ice dance debut! Not perfect but a good start

 

[treblemakerem]

So, the second set of the twizzles is one of the major challenges for Dai. Can anybody here tell why they do CW on their left feet instead of their right feet which seems easier?

Inside twizzles are way easier than outside twizzles, so they probably would rather do inside ones in the bad direction.
I’m a lefty skater so those are the only ones I can actually do

 

[mikeko666]

Inside twizzles are way easier than outside twizzles, so they probably would rather do inside ones in the bad direction.
I’m a lefty skater so those are the only ones I can actually do

Thanks for your answer. Which would be easier for you, CCW on right inside edge or on left outside edge?

 

[treblemakerem]

Thanks for your answer. Which would be easier for you, CCW on right inside edge or on left outside edge?

Tbh I can’t really do either. I can do left inside pretty well and sort of right outside. I have kind of a block against right inside 3s so I would avoid that twizzle. Im just your humble adult skater though. I feel like any elite skater would be able to do inside twizzles pretty well either direction. The outside ones are kind of funky. Of course the good directions always easier and then ice dance has timing and distance from your partner etc to worry about so that makes it much harder.

 

[zanadude]

Hi. I just got back from the venue and I am very tired.
But I want to say one thing, when Tim, who's got new Japanese name "Takeru(尊)”, spoke Japanese, we understand what he said. His Japanese is not fluent but good. He sounds like someone who studied Japanese seriously.
What he said is almost same as what he tweeted,

Here is the full transcript of what Takeru said (after the part where he says "Sorry, I didn't hear you", though I wonder if he actually didn't understand the question):

Sou desu ne. Eto, kono arena ha eto tottemo ii keiken datta arena da to omoimasu no de, saisho no, eto, zennippon yush soshita tokoro to, eto, mazu koko mo nanka eto nisengonende jibuntachi no, eto, sensei ga eto Marie-France Dubreuil to Patrice Lauzon eto saisho no NHK yushta tokoro datta no de ma koko ha kore mo dekiteiru no ha tottemo tanoshikatta desu. Motto ganbaritai to omotteiteimasu.

After three times of intently listening to that, I've finally figured out what he was trying to say. If you got it all on one listen in real-time with the mispronunciations and such, I am truly impressed. My wife was pretty good at filling in the gaps of my knowledge in the early days of our relationship when nobody else could understand what I was saying, but that's something that usually only comes with knowledge of the person over time.

I don't mean to knock the guy. He's obviously putting in a lot of effort...but he still has a ways to go. Hope he gets there.

 

[lady_bee]

Here is the full transcript of what Takeru said (after the part where he says "Sorry, I didn't hear you", though I wonder if he actually didn't understand the question):

Sou desu ne. Eto, kono arena ha eto tottemo ii keiken datta arena da to omoimasu no de, saisho no, eto, zennippon yush soshita tokoro to, eto, mazu koko mo nanka eto nisengonende jibuntachi no, eto, sensei ga eto Marie-France Dubreuil to Patrice Lauzon eto saisho no NHK yushta tokoro datta no de ma koko ha kore mo dekiteiru no ha tottemo tanoshikatta desu. Motto ganbaritai to omotteiteimasu.

After three times of intently listening to that, I've finally figured out what he was trying to say. If you got it all on one listen in real-time with the mispronunciations and such, I am truly impressed. My wife was pretty good at filling in the gaps of my knowledge in the early days of our relationship when nobody else could understand what I was saying, but that's something that usually only comes with knowledge of the person over time.

I don't mean to knock the guy. He's obviously putting in a lot of effort...but he still has a ways to go. Hope he gets there.

Well, I didn't think it was so difficult to understand what he said, but maybe I am good
I am working for university office and have to communicate with students from various countries, who speaks not so good Japanese (and very good English) with heavy accent.

Anyway, I am waiting my fright to go back home, Sendai, after watching Gala. I would like to say that all performances by team Koko, RD, FD & GALA, were breathtaking.

 

[zanadude]

At least what he says sounds like Japanese. I have no trouble listening to him speak.

God bless Chris Reed, greatest legend of all Japanese ice dancers, but I literally cringed when I heard him speaking Japanese. It was like nails on a blackboard to me.

 

[Skatesocs]

After three times of intently listening to that, I've finally figured out what he was trying to say. If you got it all on one listen in real-time with the mispronunciations and such, I am truly impressed. My wife was pretty good at filling in the gaps of my knowledge in the early days of our relationship when nobody else could understand what I was saying, but that's something that usually only comes with knowledge of the person over time.

I'm confused. Do you mean you were having trouble understanding him despite not being a native-level speaker yourself initially? Because that would be interesting if you cannot understand him despite having similar starting points!

 

[zanadude]

I'm confused. Do you mean you were having trouble understanding him despite not being a native-level speaker yourself initially? Because that would be interesting if you cannot understand him despite having similar starting points!

I'm confused by what you mean here. Having a bad understanding of Japanese does not give one a good understanding of bad Japanese. Everyone gets tripped up in different places, so there's not a common set of beginner Japanese mistakes that we all can conversely understand like it's some special language of its own.

I got what he was going for eventually, but between his mispronunciations ("yush" for "yusho", "sou-shita" for "sei-shita", etc.), unusual grammar, and liberal use of "eto" stall (which plagues some native speakers as well...looking at you, Wakaba), it was hard for me to piece together.

 

[Skatesocs]

I'm confused by what you mean here.

I meant for this:

Having a bad understanding of Japanese does not give one a good understanding of bad Japanese.

Yes. But at the same time when I learned a new language, I was able to think about what mistakes I would be making and therefore recognize the mistakes other (beginner) learners would make.

Of course, it depends on an individual. Maybe it's not the case for you. I'd actually assume someone with a native understanding would have a hard time with a beginner, but then, their mastery of the language would be such that they might be able to piece together what is being said/written. Or if it's someone's job, like @lady_bee. Or a teacher, of course.

Everyone gets tripped up in different places, so there's not a common set of beginner Japanese mistakes that we all can conversely understand like it's some special language of its own.

Hahaha, would be cool though, no one else would understand, and eventually it would break into a fringe, underground language.

 

[treblemakerem]

I meant for this:

Yes. But at the same time when I learned a new language, I was able to think about what mistakes I would be making and therefore recognize the mistakes other (beginner) learners would make.

Of course, it depends on an individual. Maybe it's not the case for you. I'd actually assume someone with a native understanding would have a hard time with a beginner, but then, their mastery of the language would be such that they might be able to piece together what is being said/written. Or if it's someone's job, like @lady_bee. Or a teacher, of course.


Hahaha, would be cool though, no one else would understand, and eventually it would break into a fringe, underground language.

I think this depends though. I find Japanese a lot easier to understand from a native speaker, but I really struggle to understand Spanish from native speakers. I can understand English-speaking people speaking horrible awful Spanish better. I think it may just be that language learners tend to speak super slow so I’m able to understand even if it’s pronounced wrong while with native speakers it’s just a blur that I can’t process. I think the Japanese intonation really helps me understand and you can pick out blocks of grammar.