By "communication" I mean HOW TO USE THE WORDS. I do not mean WHAT THE WORDS ARE IN THE FIRST PLACE. (That you gotta' learn on your own.) But if you want to sound Japanese even while speaking English, start with a simple example:
What you want to communicate: That smells horrible/rank/disgusting/worse than gym socks mixed with camembert left outside on a Fuji City summer day.
What you say: That kind of doesn't really smell too good.
This kind of indirectness is one of the most fascinating things about Japanese culture...just because it's so different from my own. In America, it takes guts to be direct, guts that are usually admired. In Japan, it's just rude and tasteless. I thought writing was the only art form with words, but it turns out speaking is an art as well. I'm trying to improve my skills.
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LOL!!! You would love it in Charleston! At first I just thought people didn't mean what they said... now I've learned that they are just as expressive of distate, just in a very unobvious way for a foreigner. As you can imagine, I'm terrible at it. I'm always considered rude and obnoxious. Damn.
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