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Columbine's Avatar
Columbine (Offline)
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12-01-2009, 04:37 PM

Quote:
Originally Posted by YuriTokoro View Post
Columbine, thank you for caring.

I think I should have written the answer post in English in order to be read by the parties involved, but I can’t express what I mean in English properly, so I have wrote it in Japanese.
Anyway, I know you read Japanese, and I will send PM to Koir.

Thank you again!
No it's fine; it's better to get you point across clearly. ^^ I'm glad this seems to be resolved now.

Also, I know you were asking Klint but my mum's name is 'Elizabeth' so I can answer your question. It's an old name, and a long one so over time it's been shortened in many different ways; 'Eliza' and 'Lizzy' are just two examples. Queen Elizabeth 1st, for example, was known as Queen 'Bess'.
Here are some other short versions of Elizabeth that I've come across before:
Liz
Liza
Elzabeth
Elsbeth
Beth (more commonly short for 'Bethany')
Libby
Bette
Lizzie
Betty
Izzy (more commonly short for 'Isabel')
Eli
Lil
Ella (more commonly a name by itself)
Lisbeth
Elsie (mostly only in Scotland, also a name by itself)
Lilibet
Bessy

And I'm sure there are more besides. There were a lot of people at my school with the same name, so this kind of name shortening is very useful for distinguishing between people. It also shows a level of familiarity; Queen Elizabeth II is "Elizabeth" to the world, but her family call her 'Liz'.
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Harumaki (Offline)
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12-01-2009, 04:47 PM

"How does a belief in luck change the way a person reacts to good or bad fortune?"

How does the reaction a person makes change when he believes that 'lucky or unlucky' are a real part in life.

So if a person thinks that real 'luck' exists, does he have different reactions on situation than a person who doesnt believe in 'luck' ?


I'm single because my parents-in-law don't have kids
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YuriTokoro (Offline)
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12-02-2009, 10:52 AM

Quote:
Originally Posted by Columbine View Post
Here are some other short versions of Elizabeth that I've come across before:
Liz
Liza
Elzabeth
Elsbeth
Beth (more commonly short for 'Bethany')
Libby
Bette
Lizzie
Betty
Izzy (more commonly short for 'Isabel')
Eli
Lil
Ella (more commonly a name by itself)
Lisbeth
Elsie (mostly only in Scotland, also a name by itself)
Lilibet
Bessy

And I'm sure there are more besides.
Columbine, thank you!
There are too many names for Elizabeth. OK. This is very helpful when I read novels.


Hello, I may not understand English very well and I may lack words but I will try to understand you.

If you have questions about my post or Japanese customs, don't hesitate to ask.

I YamaP
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YuriTokoro (Offline)
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12-06-2009, 06:38 AM

Hi.
Could you correct my English?

“When will you have fun?”

I used to go to an English conversation school. One of the teacher started Karate, and the style was as the same as I used to learn. I knew all coaches he told me about.
He said he would appear in a Karatetournament, but unfortunately, I didn’t manage to go to see the matches. So the next day, I asked him how it was.
His story was that one of his coaches told him to decline the entree because of the numbers of the fighters. I don’t know the details. Anyway, he was not able to fight in the tournament.
What I was surprised was his words; “They should change the system of the tournament. They now choose the opponents by lot, so sometimes beginners have to fight against advanced-levels. If beginners fight between beginners, they will have much fun. They can expect themselves to win”
I was astonished. “They will have much FUN?”
Indeed, in the first-round, most beginners fight against betters and lose.
However, nobody had ever thought as he did. Japanese people think if you want to win, you need to become strong. It would take about three or four years, and it’s not surprising. Try hard! I may add that nobody had ever said they had fun or wanted to have fun in the Karate school. They only want to be strong.
Now I know this seems to be a Japanese way to think, and foreign people wouldn’t agree.
Still, Karate is not a sport. I can’t call Karate fighters “players”. Am I too serious?

Thank you.


Hello, I may not understand English very well and I may lack words but I will try to understand you.

If you have questions about my post or Japanese customs, don't hesitate to ask.

I YamaP
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Koir (Offline)
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12-06-2009, 11:35 AM

Quote:
Originally Posted by YuriTokoro View Post
Hi.
Could you correct my English?

“When will you have fun?”

I used to go to an English conversation school. One of the teachers there had started learning Karate, using the same style I had learned. The coaches that taught me were also teaching him.
He said he would be competing in a Karate tournament, but unfortunately, I didn’t manage to go to see the matches. So the next day, I asked him how he did.
His story was that one of his coaches told him not to enter because there were too many fighters. I don’t know the details. Anyway, he was not able to fight in the tournament.
What surprised me was his words: “They should change the system of the tournament. They now choose the opponents by lot, so sometimes beginners fight advanced students. If beginners fight between beginners, they will have a lot of fun. They can reasonably expect to win.”
I was astonished. “They will have FUN?”
Indeed, in the first-round, most beginners fight against advanced students and lose.
However, nobody had ever thought as he did. Japanese people think that if you want to win, you need to become strong. It would take about three or four years, and it’s not surprising. Try hard! In addition, I say that nobody has ever said they had fun or wanted to have fun in the Karate school. They only wanted to be strong.
Now I know this seems to be a Japanese way of thinking, and foreign people wouldn’t agree.
Still, Karate is not a sport. I can’t call Karate fighters “players”. Am I too serious?

Thank you.
The Japanese concept of challenge and reward seems very intriguing. I can see the wisdom in facing adversity in such a way, even though it is in many ways very different from what I grew up believing.

I can see most of the person's frustration stems from a way of thinking that is somewhat difficult for a new Karate student to accept. As he said, beginners fighting beginners is more enjoyable due to a higher chance of winning matches. In this way, the beginner feels encouraged to continue as he can see results right away.

Though depending on the personality of the beginner, they may not want to advance further. They may have a set of moves that has proven to work, or a mindset that has no reason to change since it succeeds so often. So they stay that way and never truly live up to their potential.

Competing against advanced Karate students can be much more complicated. The chance of losing increases significantly as a beginner's limited skill set meets an advanced student's large set of moves and multiple mindsets based on experience. Losing matches this way certainly gets rid of the type of beginner student talked about earlier, but it can also convince the more motivated students to stop competing.

This kind of student may have the potential to improve greatly beyond status as a beginner, but the competition environment of a more experienced student doesn't allow for much growth. The beginner student may have been simply unlucky in a match, or have a set of moves that could not increase the chance of victory against the advanced student's move set. Whatever the cause, this promising beginner (again, depending on mindset) will see no use in continuing his/her studies and stop practicing karate.

I could go on (if I haven't done so too much already), but that's some of my thoughts on the subject.

As for the revisions, not much had to be done. Some phrase changes to increase clarity of reading, and references to those studying karate as "students" based on previous discussions in this thread.

Hope that helps, Yuri!


Fortunately, there is one woman in this world who can control me.

Unfortunately for you, she is not here.

"Ride for ruin, and the world ended!"

Last edited by Koir : 12-06-2009 at 11:40 AM.
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YuriTokoro (Offline)
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12-08-2009, 01:17 PM

Quote:
Originally Posted by Koir View Post
The Japanese concept of challenge and reward seems very intriguing. I can see the wisdom in facing adversity in such a way, even though it is in many ways very different from what I grew up believing.
I sometimes feel that some Japanese people seem to like Puritan in some ways.
I myself didn’t smile or laugh in the karate school.
Smiling was not proper there.

Quote:
I can see most of the person's frustration stems from a way of thinking that is somewhat difficult for a new Karate student to accept. As he said, beginners fighting beginners is more enjoyable due to a higher chance of winning matches. In this way, the beginner feels encouraged to continue as he can see results right away.
I forgot to write this: the English teacher was from England. He was not Japanese.
Japanese students hadn’t thought the system was frustrating them.
We don’t mind when we don’t see results right away in karate. We just accept it.
In other areas, I want to see results right away of course, and when I can choose, I prefer an enjoyable way. (While, some Japanese people love endurance and patience in all areas.)


Quote:
Though depending on the personality of the beginner, they may not want to advance further. They may have a set of moves that has proven to work, or a mindset that has no reason to change since it succeeds so often. So they stay that way and never truly live up to their potential.
The system says, “Beat the better students! You can’t be beaten by your junior fellows!”
Actually, they really want to advance further.
They try hard, and try to be a champion no matter how long it takes.
I used to try to beat the better students. Unfortunately, they didn’t have women’s tournaments then.

Quote:
Competing against advanced Karate students can be much more complicated. The chance of losing increases significantly as a beginner's limited skill set meets an advanced student's large set of moves and multiple mindsets based on experience. Losing matches this way certainly gets rid of the type of beginner student talked about earlier, but it can also convince the more motivated students to stop competing.
It was only natural that I competed against advanced students.
One day, when I was a beginner, I broke an advanced student’s lib, and she didn’t come to the school after that. The school’s name was Kyokushin.
Now, I’m sure that the karate students are too independent, and believe he can be a champion.

Quote:
This kind of student may have the potential to improve greatly beyond status as a beginner, but the competition environment of a more experienced student doesn't allow for much growth. The beginner student may have been simply unlucky in a match, or have a set of moves that could not increase the chance of victory against the advanced student's move set. Whatever the cause, this promising beginner (again, depending on mindset) will see no use in continuing his/her studies and stop practicing karate.
When they lose, I’m sure, they say to themselves, “I will practice harder, and win next year!”

Quote:
I could go on (if I haven't done so too much already), but that's some of my thoughts on the subject.

As for the revisions, not much had to be done. Some phrase changes to increase clarity of reading, and references to those studying karate as "students" based on previous discussions in this thread.
Koir, thanks for the revisions and your thoughts.
いつも、ありがとう!


Hello, I may not understand English very well and I may lack words but I will try to understand you.

If you have questions about my post or Japanese customs, don't hesitate to ask.

I YamaP
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jorge10 (Offline)
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12-09-2009, 03:17 AM

My opinion is that i believe that you should have both. A person should have fun and work hard as well. I believe that if you are not having fun, then there is no point in doing it. A person should do what they like. If a person does what they like, naturally that person will start to explore things about what they are doing(karate) and will start working hard because they want to work hard. So that person will naturally become stronger, better, etc. If you are forcing yourself to improve, you are only improving because you feel you have to,not because you want to. If a beginner took on an advanced player, a person can get really discouraged or use that loss as motivation to try to get better. I can't blame anyone for getting discouraged. Losses get to some people really bad. I think that a beginner should play an advanced player only in moderation. A beginner learns from an advanced player while fighting, but a beginner can also learn from a different beginner how to fight.


I play Street Fighter 4. I will use as example. When I started playing, i was a beginner myself (over here in U.S.). I played amongst my friends who were also beginners and we improved by playing each other. Street Fighter 4 was fun! I had a lot of fun so i wanted to see others play to learn I also learned by watching advanced players play. Then when I gained confidence, I went to tournaments and I played against advanced players. I lost at my first tournament, but I learned from my mistakes. i have continued to play, and am improving little by little.

So, in summary, I feel that a beginner should play other beginners and occasionally play against an advanced player.

I hope you can understand what I have said, I feel that I have confused you. xD
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YuriTokoro (Offline)
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12-10-2009, 12:59 PM

Quote:
Originally Posted by jorge10 View Post
My opinion is that i believe that you should have both. A person should have fun and work hard as well. I believe that if you are not having fun, then there is no point in doing it. A person should do what they like. If a person does what they like, naturally that person will start to explore things about what they are doing(karate) and will start working hard because they want to work hard. So that person will naturally become stronger, better, etc. If you are forcing yourself to improve, you are only improving because you feel you have to,not because you want to.
Hi.
You say you should have fun and work hard as well when you learn something, right?
My definition of the word “fun” might be too narrow, but I think I was interested in karate and worked hard. I think it was not fun.

The gist of my post is that the Japanese students had never said they wanted to fight against the betters, and no one had gotten discouraged. Only the English man said he wanted to fight between beginners, and his words were surprising to me. These are just the facts.

Quote:
If a beginner took on an advanced player, a person can get really discouraged or use that loss as motivation to try to get better. I can't blame anyone for getting discouraged. Losses get to some people really bad. I think that a beginner should play an advanced player only in moderation. A beginner learns from an advanced player while fighting, but a beginner can also learn from a different beginner how to fight.
Sorry, but I don’t understand what you mean.
I haven’t blamed anyone.
I just wanted to say that Japanese culture seems to be very different from English’s.


Hello, I may not understand English very well and I may lack words but I will try to understand you.

If you have questions about my post or Japanese customs, don't hesitate to ask.

I YamaP
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duo797 (Offline)
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12-10-2009, 08:32 PM

Quote:
Originally Posted by YuriTokoro View Post
Hi.
You say you should have fun and work hard as well when you learn something, right?
My definition of the word “fun” might be too narrow, but I think I was interested in karate and worked hard. I think it was not fun.
I think that you can be interested in something but not think it is fun, too. For example, I find Calculus to be very interesting, but I do not think it is fun.

Quote:
Originally Posted by YuriTokoro View Post
Sorry, but I don’t understand what you mean.
I haven’t blamed anyone.
I just wanted to say that Japanese culture seems to be very different from English’s.
When he says 'I wouldn't blame anyone', he means 'I would understand'. "That class sounds hard! I wouldn't blame you if you want quit!" could also be understood as "That class sounds hard! I would understand if you want to quit". You might also say it if you agree with how someone acted. I think that might be a bit confusing, so I'll make an example conversation:

Duo:Hey, why didn't you go to class this morning?
Friend: I've only gotten 4 hours of sleep over the last three days. I decided to skip class and sleep in.
Duo: Oh, I don't blame you (for sleeping in). I probably would've done the same.

Hope that helps
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jorge10 (Offline)
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12-10-2009, 10:18 PM

Quote:
Originally Posted by duo797 View Post
When he says 'I wouldn't blame anyone', he means 'I would understand'. "That class sounds hard! I wouldn't blame you if you want quit!" could also be understood as "That class sounds hard! I would understand if you want to quit". You might also say it if you agree with how someone acted. I think that might be a bit confusing, so I'll make an example conversation:

Duo:Hey, why didn't you go to class this morning?
Friend: I've only gotten 4 hours of sleep over the last three days. I decided to skip class and sleep in.
Duo: Oh, I don't blame you (for sleeping in). I probably would've done the same.

Hope that helps
Thanks for clarifying for me. ^_^

"The gist of my post is that the Japanese students had never said they wanted to fight against the betters, and no one had gotten discouraged. Only the English man said he wanted to fight between beginners, and his words were surprising to me. These are just the facts"

I (now) realize that I did go off topic and I misread your post. What I was trying to convey in my post was to give my opinion on the karate system and where Fun/passion should tie with hard work. As for the English man's opinion, I think it's good to get to see things from a different person's view-point.
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