Sunday, August 20, 2006

moblogging: hipster without a choice

so, my internet connection is on the fritz.

much like any difficulty with everyday life, the problem is heavily magnified by total inability to communicate anyone who can help me with the problem.

these situations (eg i need help) used to include riding the train and ordering lunch, but now they're limited to less common situations.

like saying "ethernet cable" in japanese. admittedly, i could probably say "RJ-45" to english and japanese people with about the same success rate.

*if you have boobies, or saw them in high school, "RJ45" is that cable that you get email, news and porn through. you know.. with the plastic dohickey that plugs into the dodad.

i'm bilingual, you see.


anyway, i try to use these experiences to help motivate myself to learn more japanese... but frankly its just easier to ask for help.

so i had quite the lost in translation adventure: i explained the technical problem in simple english to my manager, who explained the problem in simple japanese. the tech then answered in complicated japanese and complicated computerglish (see above). my mg understood the japanese, but had to check the computerglish with me. i explianed the computerglish, and then she explained the entire thing in simple english.

after just short of fifteen minutes, we arrived at....

"it's a problem for the entire building, so it should be fixed in a day or two. "

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