Anybody speak Japanese?

[Felonious Monk/Fignozzle]

I have an interesting opportunity in front of me... (as in, the old curse: "may you live in interesting times")

A friend in management with my old (.gov contractor) employer contacted me recently, and it seems they need someone to support a client as a one-man dedicated help desk, and they thought of me.

They knew that I had picked up Spanish fluency and conversational French in like, a few weeks.

Only problem? They need the support to be done in Japanese, and they're asking whether I could pick it up, and if so, how quickly.  
They must think really highly of my language skills.
I told them I could be ready in eight weeks.

So I've gotten started with Rosetta Stone language software, which is top-notch.  Problem is, in this little burg, there is nobody who I can speak with beyond the dialogue repetition in the software.

Anybody speak passable Japanese that's willing to provide me a little help, say, a 10 minute phone call per day?
I'm also open to suggestions on turbocharged language learning.

Note: Reading/writing is VERY secondary-- I just need to be fluent from a conversational/spoken standpoint.

Thanks,
Fig

[K Frame]

Wow.

Good luck.

Japanese, if I recall correctly, is an inflected language. You don't really have pronouns like I, you, they. It's all done inflection, which requires a GREAT ear.

Good luck!

[Felonious Monk/Fignozzle]

Mike,
Interesting yours is the first response.
I ...think...the former employer I'm speaking of is *also* your former employer...
Science, Artificial Intelligence, Corp etc. etc.?

Interesting....

[280plus]

All I know is when you answer the phone you're supposed to say something like "mooshi mooshi"

Hope that helps

[Telperion]

I'd say your chances are nil.

If you want to hear, to an approximation, what colloquial Japanese sounds like at full speed, surf on over to http://www.downloadanime.org/index.php and pick something, anything, and enjoy.

[K Frame]

Fig,

Yep, SAIC, which stands for Stuffed Assbackwards Into Cubicles.

[RocketMan]

Fig,

Japanese has a Subject, Object, Verb structure, unlike English, which is Subject, Verb, Object.  Keep that in mind, and if you do have a gift for language then you'll do fine.
I had a two week crash course in Japanese about ten years ago when I started work with a Japanese company.  While I was not fluent by any means, I learned enough to get deeper in trouble while negotiating purchases at the local grocery store.  
Seriously, it made getting around town a lot easier.

RocketMan