[KyleGoetz]

Self-aggrandizement my bum. The guy comes here asking for a translation for something moderately complex when he doesn't even speak the language.

He didn't ask for help translating something he's using. I mean, since he doesn't seem to know any Japanese at all, he's just asking for something to be translated "because Japanese is like so cool looking man."

That kind of attitude I cannot tolerate.

And he clearly didn't come here for the basics! 11 posts, and not a single one asking for any help except for this one. I don't sense sincerity. No questions about grammar, vocabulary, or anything. Just "hey, translate this please. Not because I want to understand grammar or vocab better, but just because I want to use it for something." (Probably to be cool and put in his sig on some anime forum, to get a tattoo, to put as a wallpaper so his friends will ask him what it means and comment on how cool he is, or something like that. I've had friends ask me to check something in Japanese for them, and when I correct them, they blow me off and say my corrections don't look cool enough, so they just go with what they originally had—disrespectful to the language!)

When I started learning, I downloaded kanji PDFs (well, I don't know if PDFs even existed back then, maybe JPGs), bought books (with my birthday money because I was too young for a job and didn't get an allowance), and studied in a small town without a single Japanese person to speak with all through high school. If my family made a three hour road trip to a city big enough to have a shop with Japanese goods, I'd use my birthday money to buy a few $5 manga and then I'd spend all my free time trying to translate them with a free copy of EDICT I downloaded back in the DOS/Win 3.1 days.

It's not self-aggrandizement so much as it is us balking at a lack of sincerity in the desire to learn the langauge. It's obvious Nagoyankee has worked hard to attain his knowledge of English (I've witnessed the weak English education in Japan (read this passage aloud in class, please) and it's amazing how well he and YuriTokoro speak the language—I'd never guess he's not a native and I think it would take me a long while to pick up on YuriTokoro not being a native). I know I've worked hard, too.

When we see insincerity, it's like Yoda watching Luke run away to Bespin instead of remaining on Dagobah to work hard. (Minus the heroism of trying to save his friends.)

Now, mysteryman, this post really wasn't targeted at you even though it seems to. But methinks girigiri is a bit too quick to read malice into the actions of others.

tl;dr Mysteryman has demonstrated no desire to learn. The only thing regarding Japanese he's talked about is "can you translate this for me?" That's it. It's nothing like the bus driver scenario.

But, to be fair, at least he's not posting misinformation. (I'm ashamed to bring back up that I've done that once here.)