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Shocking revelation!

- At egscomics 

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But she's fine at cooking, the ultimate "look, a flaw" option.

I don't feel like I have to defend Nanase being really good at a lot of stuff, but that doesn't mean I'm not going to have a bit of fun with it.

Writer of Two

I've recently decided Nanase is much better at speaking and understanding Japanese than writing it due to most of her exposure to the language being verbal, and it not being a part of her regular education.

There is a serious commitment to learning enough written Japanese to effectively know "enough". The common standard seems to be "enough to read a Japanese newspaper" (it's an example I've heard again and again), which is over 2,000 written characters, most of which have multiple readings, and that's before using those characters with actual words.

The public schools Nanase went to would not have covered any of that, and it would have been difficult to keep up with her regular studies and do that.

Not impossible, mind you, and probably easier than ever now with modern learning options (though still difficult).

I just think with Nanase specifically, it makes sense that she didn't. It's not unheard of to be able to speak and understand a language (or even JUST understand it) without being able to write it.

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Comments

Rvernon321

Another good one has no ryheme.

Changer

Doesn't Nanase being bad at acting contradict Greg's teachings?

Kyle Adams

good thing tabletop rpgs don't technically require acting! ... I mean it's fun to act, but as long as the GM knows what you're doing and how, the acting isn't really a factor.

David Fenger

Posing dramatically and using showy martial arts moves isn't quite the same thing.

Jared Fattmann

I mean, arguably Japanese is a matter of speaking one language and writing three in and of itself

jubs

"Can do a backflip" kinda loses some of its sheen when you start with "can fly".

Some Ed

@Haunted Hermit: I doubt Dan would've mentioned it if it wasn't going to be important later. I mean, the whole thing with mentioning George wasn't working today seemed utterly innocuous, and yet... I'm actually still not sure why it wouldn't have worked for him to be just about to come off of his shift. Or for them to pause for a few hours for him to be available. But me not understanding stuff is par for the course.

Dan Curtis

She can only be genuine.

Platus

What's the third language then? I think it would be cool if she could speak and write in Chinuk Wawa for no reason

John Trauger

If you consider Nanase's history her languages should be obvious: English, Japanese and French. Given that she's ethnic Japanese and lives in the US, she probably writes fluently in English and Japanese.

Platus

The author's note says explicitly that she hasn't studied enough kanji to read Japanese

Foradain

I'm fairly sure French fluency is cannon. And I can't see anyone who speaks English as a first language learning French without learning enough written French to get by; compared to the written versions of Japanese, French and English practically use the same alphabet.

ijuinkun

Stage acting involves following a preset script and pretending to be feeling the character's emotions. A lot of people can't look sincere when they're trying to fake their emotional state.

ijuinkun

Yeah, even students in Japan don't learn all 1,945 "general use" kanji until they reach high school, and barely know half of them when they finish primary school (6th grade). I would wager that Nanase knows some basic beginner ones (days of the week, seasons, numbers, etc.) and a few that are of special interest to her (e.g. the ones used to write the names of her family members), but maybe only one or two hundred total.

Michael Chui

As an Asian-American myself, I would note that I can read/write English fine, and I can read/write Spanish–a language I learned in high school–pretty okay, but I can't actually write Chinese, though I can speak it. Because I didn't put in the effort to learn to read/write it, at any point. I'm betting Nanase is the same.