Update as of 3 Nov

I've reset the RSVP deadline to 7 pm tomorrow. Those who are still interested should try to RSVP as soon as possible with the required responses.

Update as of 29 Oct

I've decided to increase the RSVP limit to 35, which is final. Those interested should try to RSVP as soon as possible.

It'll be great if people of different nationalities can join us. My guests, Kyoko, Parry and CT are Japanese, Korean and Singaporean respectively. jeff is Taiwanese, while Sasaki and yeyichen are Chinese. Sunan and Daigoro are Japanese.

Update as of 25 Oct

I've changed the title of this meetup to reflect the feedback of some members. The second question has been changed to 2. What is your main learning method?

Update as of 24 Oct

I'm glad to know that there are like-minded people in Japanese Meetup

I'll like to emphasize this again: Any RSVP that doesn't contain all the 3 answers will be deleted. Thus, for those who have not yet indicated their responses in their RSVP, kindly do so before 30 Oct or I'll delete your RSVP.

Introduction

Since joining Japanese Meetup in Sep 2004 (while I was still in Tokyo), I've the privilege of meeting many Japanese people and non-Japanese people who are proficient in English (or other languages) and Japanese respectively. Among the non-Japanese people, I have encountered (nationalities in alphabetical order) Americans, a British guy (who has returned to the UK), a Canadian (whom I met just last week), Chinese (both mainland & Hong Kong), French, Indians, Indonesians, Koreans, Malaysians, a Filipina, a Russian (she has since stopped appearing), fellow Singaporeans (including 2 Malay ladies), Thais, and Vietnamese. I think this is a testimony to the strong attraction of the Japanese language and culture (both traditional and modern).

As a polyglot, I'm extremely interested in how other people learn Japanese and I've frequented a lot of Japanese learning forums and blogs, absorbing a lot of useful information pertaining to learning Japanese as well as languages in general. I've also checked out some Mixi blogs of native Japanese learning English (and other languages).

Last Saturday, I attended the BBQ at Orientus Resort when a regular Japanese member, S. K., said something in Mandarin while barbecuing the food. What surprised me was that although he isn't learning Chinese actively, his sentence is not only grammatically correct but accent-free. I asked him how he managed to learn that sentence and he replied he had listened to similar sentences many times. That prompted me to organise this Meetup or in Japanese, きっかけ.

Purpose

Both Japanese and non-Japanese people interested in learning and mastering languages are warmly welcomed to attend this informal chat meetup, to share what you have learnt along the way to fluency and to learn other ways of learning you might never have tried before. Of course you can meet people who share your interests in languages and you can make new friends or reconnect with old ones.

Depending on the person you are talking to, the conversations can be conducted in Japanese, English or other languages.

I hope that with this meetup, language enthusiasts (both Japanese or non-Japanese) who have attended Japanese Meetup only once or who have never attended can find this Meetup beneficial

Details

This meetup is limited to 30 people regardless of nationality on a first-come-first-served basis.

To ensure that people can really enjoy this meetup, those interested must indicate the following when you RSVP:

1. Your level of Japanese (for non-Japanese)/English (or other languages) (for native Japanese)
2. What learning method that you can share
3. What you hope to achieve from this meetup

Any RSVP that doesn't contain all the above 3 answers will be deleted.

If you have any questions, please feel free to email me or ask in the Talk about this Meetup section.

For first timers, please key in "9A Neil Road" at Streetdirectory.com. Please bring $6 for the tea and register at the counter.

See you there!

Cheers,
KehHan