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Just standard video game system hacking/modify, she wants to learn how to modify the PSP and 3DS, then move on to other systems. She's been studying Japanese for several years, but isn't very good with conversation. So she's been eyeballing the PSP because it's portable and due to the large number of Japanese games.

Well, learning to "hack" the PSP is pretty much a ridiculously simple thing compared to the 3DS, mainly because you literally click on the app, run it and you have CFW... How good is she at Japanese? May need someone to practice with sometime when I get back into the language since I haven't used it in 6 years so forgot most stuff...

Gotta start somewhere, might as well start with the most basic and well documented one first. She's good enough to hold formal conversations with people, but still working on her informal.

I was at M2 level (equivalent of what Advanced is for English basically), but haven't used it in so long that now I can hardly read 1/3rd of Hiragana/Katakana, about 50 Kanji, so can't write to save my life, can speak a little but only basic stuff because I forgot about grammar, but I can still understand 90% of most things spoken, so I perfectly understand movies/anime/songs...

I can identify some things, but I literally just started for her. I am still practicing saying "る"

Ru? What's so hard about pronouncing that?:/ It's pronounced the same as in the English "Ruby" and only changes if you switch from standard accent to local...

I have no idea why I fail so hard at it. It could be the fact that pronounce "ruby" differently due to my accent.

lol, I understand what you mean. Japanese may be BY FAR the easiest language to learn, but that's only if you are a non-English native speaker Because you people have mutilated pronounciations, you can't pronounce simple things right and Japanese requires the most straight forward pronounciation possible...

And I have a rather fucked up accent. I have a neutral accent coupled with a New England accent, and an adopted Southern accent. I needed to adopt a Southern accent because people thought I was uppity and it was making life hard without it where I live now.

I don't even know what accent I have for English, I just pronounce it all properly (which is basically accent-less), resulting in most people having difficulty understanding me and saying I have a kinda British accent. However, girls somehow LOVE it, so I won't complain\/ Also, my ex kinda said I sounded like French Batman, so yeah... lol

Maybe a Greek accent? Most people who've been through New England pick up that I am from the New England area pretty quickly. I drop a lot letters out of words that is ubiquitous with people from the New England area.

I see... I just pronounce things as textbook-like and properly as possible, never really understood the whole "accents" thing honestly:/

@Lilith Valentine Terrace House is a great show for conversational Japanese. They have it on Netflix. But to get access to all episodes, one's with the member from AKB48, you have to use a VPN to trick Netflix to think your in Japan.

Actual Spoken Japanese isn't direct. So there is a lot of figuring out what they actually mean compared to what they actually say. Terrace House is good for actual spoken Jap. It's an unscripted reality show.

る sounds like a single tap Spanish R. It's made by hitting your Alveolar Ridge with the tip of your Tongue. It's in between your top row teeth and hard pallet. It's the hump you feel.

Different from the English R which you bunch up and retract your tongue.

Generally speaking, the Japanese R is exactly in between the English R and L, reason Japanese people have difficulty pronouncing them in English. Also, what's with the sudden posts here now?

PS: Best way to learn proper spoken Japanese is actually to just watch TV normally (TV Tokyo is free to stream from their website for example), no need to go for specific shows.

I was just reading through your comments.

The problem is that shows are scripted. Terrace House isn't. So there is a lot of Umm's and pauses like how people normally talk. Anime and Video games you have to be careful since sometimes it isn't how actual Japanese is spoken.

@Lilith Valentine If you want videos to help with pronunciation I recommend this guy https://www.patreon.com/dogen

His videos are excellent and he teaches proper Japanese Phonetics. Its only 10 dollars a month to access his Patreon. He teaches proper intonation and how to use pitch to sound like a Native Japanese.

His videos are well researched and he lists scientific articles about the vocal qualities of a Japanese sounding voice. Its a really excellent investment.

I know what you are talking about, but I'm talking about regular shows and variety shows too, as they are MOST OFTEN not really scripted. Or just go with late night game shows (that whacky shit you find in WTF Japan videos), those are the least scripted of all, plus really fun!