[KyleGoetz]

alanX has pretty much hit the nail on the head, but I'd like to clarify. He said the key to Japanese is memorization. I think this should read "the key to any language is memorization. I've learned more than my share of languages over the years. It's always this way. To me, grammar comes easy and vocabulary comes hard because I don't like rote memorization; it's the necessary thing, though!

As for shad0w, my beef with him has shown up before on the board. I try to remain civil, but I'd like to point out that if shad0w didn't care about his rep or ego on the board, he wouldn't quote people in his sig in an attempt to poke fun at them. It's not just me he's done it to. He's done it to people who ask n00b questions (apparently forgetting he was once as unskilled as they).

Everyone, of course, cares what others think of them. We are all entities with egos.