I am accomplished.

[snarp]

I just spent the whole morning setting up an account at the delivery company’s entirely-Japanese website so I can make them redeliver my packages at times when I’m not at work. I used Moji a lot.

(I could probably technically have done this faster over the phone, but the company’s phone number’s voice-menu was so staticky I couldn’t figure out what it was saying when I called. I’d have to ask for help at work, and didn’t feel like waiting to do that.)

(Originally published at SarahPin.com. You can comment here or there.)

Comments

Totally OT

[rachelmanija.livejournal.com]

Can I ask you a super-random question about word usage in Japan?

Re: Totally OT

[snarp]

Sure! But, uh, be aware that it is possible I will not know the answer?

Re: Totally OT

[rachelmanija.livejournal.com]

Oh, yes, I realize! But just in case... Do you happen to know if the terms "salaryman" and "office lady" are a) outdated, b) offensive, c) neutral and commonly used?

And if c) is wrong, are there current terms that are neutral and commonly used? (Or does the entire concept of "office lady" not exist any more?)

Re: Totally OT

[snarp]

Okay, this is all kind of squishy, but:

I'd say that the concepts still exist, but my feeling is that the words themselves feel a little out-dated. I don't hear "salaryman" much unless someone's being ironic, and I've only heard "OL" used that way, and that very rarely. However, this may be a function of who I spend time around - ie, a lot of people in their twenties who are feeling a little iffy about how Japanese society's being managed, and don't want to use older people's vocab.

"OL" strikes me as being rude, but again, I hear it very, very rarely, and it's probably got to do with who I'm talking to. The only person I know who actually says it with any regularity is a friend of mine who's spent a lot of time in the US. She complains about her friends from school "becoming sort of OLs just to find a husband." But given that we mostly talk in English, and she's sort of an American-style feminist, I think her feelings about the word aren't quite what most Japanese people's are.

I'm not totally sure about "salaryman." I've heard guys use it in sort of a self-deprecating way that makes me think it's not majorly bad, but I think it's derogatory in some circumstances. Maybe in about the same way saying "oh, he's in like middle management somewhere now" or something would be for a college student in the US?

If there are newer equivalent neutral/commonly used terms, I have no idea what they are. If I have a chance today, I'll try and ask either my friend or one of my co-workers.

Re: Totally OT

[rachelmanija.livejournal.com]

Thank you very much! That's exactly the sort of thing I needed to know.

[wintersweet.livejournal.com]

I has a stupid. Is Moji like rikaichan, or not so much?

[snarp]

Sort of, except the dictionary and suchlike show up in a sidebar instead of in tooltips.

(I had to google Rikaichan to figure that out, I think I'm switching to it now. That is so much more convenient...)

[wintersweet.livejournal.com]

Ah, OK, I thought maybe Moji had some other features. Rikaichan occasionally gets annoying because you may have to switch it on and off if you are trying to copy and paste Japanese text and also highlight and use Rikaichan on text on the same page, but other than that, I love it. (I leave it off most of the time and turn it on when I need it.)

Rikaichan also has a name dictionary you can download, which is very useful, but you need to hit "shift" (twice) to toggle through to its display, which isn't at ALL obvious.