Nihonggo Fiasco

So it happened. I was in class (SLT). Normally, in between gaps, everyone will discuss this and that. In my class, it is very multicultural. We practically have the whole world in the classroom. We have people from China, the US, the UK, Vietnam, Thailand, Russia, Korea, Japan, New Zealand, Malaysia (woot woot), Indonesia, Saudi Arabia, Oman and not to mention the Aussies. Sithanya for example. She is from Thailand and she is a very kind lady. Then we have Kirsty who recently got married to a Bangladeshi. Mikyoung is from Korea and she has decided to change her name to Rora so that it will be easier for the people to call her. Hang is from Vietnam (a very smart and disciplined lady). Cut Monalisa, Risa and Alamin are from Indonesia. Aaron, Jimmy, Dorris, Reny, Rachel, Echo and Summer are from China. Maria is from Russia. Sophie is from the UK. Ling is a New Zealander. Jamaan is from Saudi Arabia. Khalsa is from Oman. David, another Jimmy and Tom are from the States. Chiko, Karina, Yuriko and Hiro are from Japan.

Okay. Let's get back to the story. During the gap, I was so fascinated with some of my classmates who can speak Japanese (Roxy, David and the Japanese of course). They are all proficient and they really sound nice as they talk to each other. I envy them. It makes me want to learn Nihonggo and go to Japan! It is a nice language...awww..music to the ears, eyh?!

I wanted to join the discussion. I do not know how to speak Japanese but I sort of picked up few expressions, thanks to the Japanese series and movies I watched long time ago. I confidently looked at Hiro (a guy, very cute though) and said:

"Tottemo daisuki..." and "Kawaii-desu"

What???? I know, I know... I picked that up from watching Doraemon (Every Saturday, 7.30pm, NTV7). Roxy looked at me in a very surprised motion and said:

"You just said 'I love you' and 'You're cute' to him (Hiro)". "It sounds so gay..."

OMG! Seriously, I had no idea the meaning of what I said. I thought I was being friendly and nice to butt in their conversation. Nevertheless, Hiro was just nodding, smiling and not saying anything in return. Hmm. I wonder... Ahaa..

It was embarrassing. Seriously. I should not have said that. In their culture, it is very impolite to say such thing to random people. Oh my. 

Perhaps, I should learn more USEFUL expressions so I can talk to them APPROPRIATELY. Dear Hiro, sorry for saying those, I was clueless dude!

:)