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Post by Mikauzoran on Oct 22, 2014 18:24:15 GMT
Hey there everyone! I'm Mikau or Kara, and I've never done a forum before in my life, so go easy on me, okay? I'm twenty-four, and I've been a DCMK fan for ten years now. I've also been writing fanfiction for about as long, but I've only started posting stuff for Detective Conan and Magic Kaito in the past three years or so. I'm on fanfiction.net if you want to check out my work.
Mainly I write HakuKai and KaiShin (all reversible), but I'm open to pretty much all pairings, and I honestly think Kaito could really end up with anyone. My favorite characters are Kaito and Hakuba, but I've got a soft spot in my heart for Haibara, and Sera too as of late. I'm caught up on all of the movies, and I've got another thirty episodes left to go on the anime. As for the manga...I've lost my place, and I've decided to start over since I recently obtained the first sixty volumes in Japanese. I'd say I'm pretty familiar with the Magic Kaito manga. I translated it into English for my capstone project for my BA in Japanese. (I still have to read those new chapters that were just released, though.) It's kind of neat because I originally started teaching myself Japanese back when I was fourteen in order to read the Magic Kaito chapters back before they were readily available in English. It's cool that I was finally able to actually translate the manga.
Let's see...what else? I have degrees in Japanese, Spanish, and East Asian Studies, and right now I'm back in school again studying law. I've studied abroad in China, Japan, Costa Rica, and Nicaragua. I've taught English for short periods of time in Costa Rica and Japan too. I really loved living, working, and going to university and Japan. I think it helped my language skills a lot. I wouldn't say I'm fluent by a long shot, but I can read manga, play video games, read books, and watch movies, dramas, and anime, so I'm happy where I am in my Japanese abilities.
I look forward to being a part of this community! It's nice to meet you everyone!
-Kara (aka: Mikau)
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Post by Crimson Amarone on Oct 22, 2014 21:40:20 GMT
Welcome, welcome! Good to see you joined up finally. Busy I suppose? Anyway, it's cool that we're the same age and been fans of DCMK just as long--well since Case Closed was on tv? I think I remember someone else mentioning translating MK but maybe it was just you I'm thinking of, haha I don't remember. I've been off and on studying Japanese around schooling and work. I've never taken a class so I'm still a novice. We have a language sub board in the off topic board and might make new ones if enough people are interested. It's always impressive meeting people who know so many languages. I don't know if you'll have the time to participate but I'm sure your expertise would be really helpful. I never did a study abroad. I know, I know, I missed out. Hopefully I can travel in the future. Anyway, I hope you have a good time here.
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Post by Mikauzoran on Oct 23, 2014 2:53:09 GMT
Thank you very much! Yes, I have been quite busy as of late. I adopted twin puppies back at the start of August, quit my job in September, and am focusing on finishing up my last term of school and finding an internship at the moment. Yes, in fact. I first saw Case Closed on Adult swim. My first episode was the Mountain Villa Murder Part Two. I thought it was the best thing ever, so I went back and caught up on the episodes from the beginning, and here we are ten years later.
I'll have to check out the language sub board if I have time. Thanks for letting me know about it. And I hope you are able to travel some day! Thanks again for the invite!
-Kara (aka: Mikau)
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Post by MeridianGrimm on Oct 23, 2014 5:36:33 GMT
Hi, Kara! I'm glad to see you here on the forum ^_^ It's pretty nifty that you translate. Translating manga is a (large) part of the reason I started studying Japanese too.
It sounds like you've been to a lot of cool places, and it would be awesome to hear more about your travels. Out of your various study abroad programs, which one did you like the best? Or did you like them all for different reasons?
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Post by Mikauzoran on Oct 23, 2014 12:56:12 GMT
Hey there, Meri! Good to be here! As far as translating goes, that was kind of a one-time deal for completing my bachelor's program. My sensei was really cool, by the way. I told her I what I wanted to do for my capstone project, and she was like, "You want to translate manga? Go ahead, but I think you're being a bit ambitious trying to translate four volumes in three months on top of the other work you half to do for graduation." She was right. I only got the first three and half of volume four done, but it was a great experience.
I think about joining scanlation groups from time to time, but the truth is I'm too busy to be truly useful. That, and I'm lazy. Maybe back when I was still learning Japanese when I had to translate everything into English in my head before I could comprehend it, but now...now I just read it in Japanese and it goes straight to comprehension (ninety percent of the time when I'm reading something to do with murder, anyway) without having to be translated into English first. In other words, I read it and I understand it without having to go through and think about what everything means in English. I think it would be time consuming to go back and assign everything an English meaning like translators have to do. I really admire their work because it's obvious what a grasp they have of the language. They could just read the raws like I do, but they go through the trouble of translating it for everyone else's benefit.
Anyway, man, I'm long-winded. As for which place I liked best, definitely Japan, but everywhere else was splendid in its own way for various reasons. In Costa Rica I loved the food and the beach. It was so cool to be in an open-air classroom overlooking the ocean and the jungle every day, and there was all of this fresh fruit! Nicaragua was also really pretty. I enjoyed the volcanoes a lot, and the food was delicious and cheap. China was just absolutely fabulous in every way. I saw a lot of poverty, and the streets weren't always clean, but the people were so amazing, and everything's beautiful there. The history and the culture are really awe-inpiring. And the food is good and cheap. I had so much fun being a student in each of those countries. I really enjoyed learning the languages and learning about the histories and cultures. Let me know if you have any questions! I am not an expert by any means, but I love talking about my trips, and I'd be happy to share my experiences and impressions.
-Kara (aka: Mikau)
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Nechangi
New Member
On page 8 of 11 in the RP
Posts: 47
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Post by Nechangi on Oct 24, 2014 6:02:40 GMT
Wow! You’ve done a lot, and been around a lot! Yea, it’s hard to find once you lose it. Holy crap? In Japanese, that’s awesome! And you translate! That’s my goal some day in the future. (I’ve just gotten started with learning) I like what you did with the numbers. 4649 to you too! On a not so related note: It seems like everyone is around my age! I’ve been so worried that I’m a creep *phew* … Or maybe we all are creeps? …. Meeh… Welcome to the forum!
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Post by Mikauzoran on Oct 24, 2014 13:01:10 GMT
Hey there, Nechangi! Thanks so much!
Yeah, I was fortunate to go to a small university that just so happened to have study abroad options in about fifty different countries. I paid my regular room and board fees to the school, and then the only difference in tuition was a $3,000 program fee and airfare. And I guess money for shopping and sightseeing, but, yeah. It was an awesome program that allowed me to travel. Plus, I had the right majors, so that allowed me to do a lot with language and culture studies.
Good luck with your own Japanese studies! I wouldn't say I translate so much as just comprehend Japanese. It's difficult to describe the process, but like I was saying before, I use to have to go through and turn everything into English before I could understand, whereas now I just read the Japanese and understand it as is for the most part. Most of the time I have to look up words here and there, but I understand grammar and sentence structure and have a good vocabulary. A weird vocabulary, anyway, since I mostly read mystery manga/novels. Example: I can't remember the word for sink for the life of me because I never use that word, but I know the vocab for at least twelve different ways to kill somebody. Needless to say that my Japanese friends/teachers thought I was extremely amusing.
Anyway, it seems that a lot of us are around that age. For those in the US I think it has to do with that was around the time when people are age started watching Adult Swim on Cartoon Network and that was when Case Closed started up in the US. I don't know, but whenever I meet other DCMK fans my age, that seems to be the story.
Thanks again for the welcome!
-Kara (aka: Mikau)
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Nechangi
New Member
On page 8 of 11 in the RP
Posts: 47
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Post by Nechangi on Oct 24, 2014 14:08:23 GMT
Hahahah, that's what I'm afraid will happen to me! Know the word for decomposing body but unable to remember the word for carpet, or pencil.
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Post by Mikauzoran on Oct 24, 2014 14:50:15 GMT
Usually people just chuckle and write you off as a cute, eccentric foreigner. ^.^; My students always got a kick out of me.
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Post by assasin8 on Oct 25, 2014 13:07:02 GMT
Hey! It's great to see you've finally made your account! I'd figured out that you were a traveler and multilingual, but DANG, you have been places! (...that right there, that sounded kind of creepy, didn't it...?) it's really cool that you got to do all of that in college, and it's awesome that you've been such a loyal DC fan for so long! Welcome to the forum, and I hope you have a great time!
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Post by Mikauzoran on Oct 25, 2014 14:03:29 GMT
Hi there, Assasin8! Thanks a bunch for the welcome! Yeah, I was really blessed to be able to study at so many cool universities in various countries. I'm making myself quite at home here on the forum, so thank you very much!
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