That's so stupid, but just the kind of humour that makes me laugh.

apart from german (my native language) and english (which I have probably used waaaay more than german ^^;) i understand quite a bit of spoken japanese, but i'm kind of helpless when it comes to kanji >_< i can watch a lot of anime without subs though, and somewhat manage to play in japanese too, which makes me happy XD japanese is such a beautiful language <3

at school i was forced to learn some latin, but i always failed really horrible at that.

I wonder what drives so many people on this board to studying Japanese. Anime? Japanese culture? It seems like a large percentage of the active posters in here. If the name of this board would be partially in French, would it be filled with Francophiles?

Personally I would like to try some Hungarian or Sámi (either Inari or Northern variant). Those are such a beautiful languages to me, but I haven't found any courses and I'm a bad independent learner so it still remains a dream. In general I have become quite interested in the Uralic language group due to my love for my native language, which belongs to the group.

I have participated English and Swedish lessons in school but I cannot say I would have ever seriously studied them. English got to me from music, television and video games. In the past I used to think how great it'd be an English native speaker - no need to put years on studying and wherever you'd go, you'd most likely be able to communicate on your language. I still have a hint of that thinking left. In a way. When you don't have to use time for learning English, you can devote to some other world language instead. By the time someone else knows one big language, you'll know two. With the same effort. It's an advantage.

Yes, I think so. I started learning Japanese because I wanted to be able to read, much more than speak or listen to it. I've always been fascinated by languages that don't use the alphabet as their writing system and Japanese was at the top of my list of languages I wanted to learn. Since I started to learn it there are other aspects of the language that I admire. I like how meaning sometimes derives from context and the assumption that both sides can follow the conversation without meticulously stating every part of it. How subjects and objects can often be entirely omitted which helps to make the language more efficient. I also like that the kanji have both symbolic and symantic meanings. I really appreciate how writers can manipulate both of those things to create subtle nuances in their prose. (Although sometimes it can seem a little forced)

The reason I started learning, however, where I haven't felt the drive to do so with other languages is because I've always held a fascination with the country since being a child. At first I think it was as simple as the images of neon billboards which made the cities seem exotic and then the graceful shape of the pagoda's and the minimal style of their wooden buildings; of course as a young boy I loved the history of Japan too. Samurais and ninjas and its long association with martial arts. Anime too, which I used to enjoy with my father and brother late at night when we were all so tired we could barely focus on the television but would force ourselves to try and stay awake until the end. Video games have had a strong influence on my desire from an early age to learn Japanese as well.

Now I'm interested in Kabuki, especially kaidan although I don't know very much about it yet. I read a few articles which made me want to learn more but I'm easily distracted. Really, I'm dreadfully out of practise and keep reminding myself to get some new material to freshen up my understanding of Japanese before I forget all I learnt but my other interests often compete for my attention.

I feel like the day I stop practicing japanese is the day I die. The daily japanese practice became a routine I can't live without. I would feel empty without it. It wasn't always like this. There were times when I almost stopped practicing and learning because I was distracted or would rather do something requiring no discipline at all, but eventually japanese practice turned into something I can't live without.

I don't watch much anime, I don't play many video games etc but I love my favorite games as well as a new game on rare occassions. I use video games in learning. Japan is aesthetically pleasing, this is another reason.

The most important reason why I decided to learn japanese is that I believe that Japan has a higher representation of individuals of a spiritually higher standing type of human. A type which existst in many places but is more common in Japan though it's still a minority. I feel I belong to this higher race. People who don't understand this would typically label me "true wapanese" or something. Japanese ultranationalist and "fascists" claim japanese people have a different brain structure from other races. I agree, partly. However I believe not all japanese have this brain structure, and not all non-japanese are without it. It's just more common in Japan. I have this type of brain myself. It's more common among both extreme right wing people and hikikomori btw. An intuitive brain which sees things others don't.

No matter what people say, I am absolutely convinced. Call it bullshit. Call me insane, delusional, pathetic etc. I believe that evolution went further or took a twist somehow in Japan, and that only people like myself and Hitler can understand this fully. I decided to learn japanese to find equals to myself.

This is interesting. I still wonder why some people consider the Japanese a godly race. I only see them as people, just as dumb or smart as anyone else anywhere else. They don't even care about recycling. Perhaps the world should be cleansed of "spiritually lower" people, and "the higher" Japanese ones should inhabit the entire planet. It'd eliminate itself.

Ultranationalists always claim all kinds of stuff though. I don't think they'd be happy about you no matter how much you'd agree with them. That is always good to remember.

You don't seem to understand what I was saying. I never said all japanese are a godly race and I never said anything about myself in relation to japanese ultranationalists in particular. With equals I mean people with the same brain structure. I call it a hyperperceptive brain.

I first started out a loooong time ago during PSX times. I was annoyed because I had to wait forever for bad translations of the JRPGs that meant everything to me at the time, so I decided I'd give it a try. When I started watching anime(subbed) I got a lot more familiar with the language easily which may be one of the reasons I started to watch&like it so much. Or maybe I've started to like it so much since I associate so many things I like with it(Anime/Games/Some parts of the culture/Jrock), so hearing stuff spoken/sung in japanese easily makes me somewhat happy (provided it's not in an overly annoying 'kyaaaaaa' ~ moe moe loli voice) since I find the language beautiful(and sexy ). I used to spend quite some time learning, there was also a time when I knew some Kanji, but I kind of lost them again due to being busy and/or lazy . It's always been a childhood dream to go there for a few years or longer someday and work on some awesome JRPG, but with the particularly low game artist wages, fewer really interestig projects, kanji, lots of overcrowded places and lots of complicated stuff it's probably not going to happen in the end(though If I got the chance I'd probably want to give it a try still).

Back in school I also used what kana and kanji I knew to make cheat sheets which I didn't even have to hide

My brother's classmate from high school was hired permanently as music composer by Konami in Japan, so nothing is impossible. He said in an article that in Japan you learn things on the job, unlike Sweden where you're expected to know everything from the start. In some ways it seems easier for highly educated foreigners, even non educated if they speak the language and have some artistic/acting ability or something, to get jobs in Japan because they don't have to go through the japanese school system which only exists to make everyone conform. So, by no means should you give up your dream zephy.

Hehe, I did the same, too. I could remember lots of keywords that way.

Also for the reason why I'm studying Japanese - of course my interests for manga and the Japanese culture influenced me to study the language. I would like to visit Japan one day just for vacation and if I hadn't social anxiety I would maybe consider working there for some time. It's also interesting to learn such a complicated writing system - I'm always happy if I managed to recognize a difficult kanji.

Hehe, thanks. I wouldn't say I've given up on it in the sense of thinking it's not possible, it's just that currently I aim for something different that would be a more perfect solution for me, hopefully including long-term-happyness to a certain degree ^^. But it would be awesome to get the chance to work there and it's still one of my "plan B"s to try applying there, but for now I would rather keep trying on my own projects. If that fails I can still try... But the Japan dream is second to that due to many things; crowdedness/big cities(and that's where the big companies happen to be located after all), lots of things(namely kanji X_x) to learn and being avoided for being a gaijin and all that... As awesome as japan may be, it does come with it's fair share of minus points in my book too...(Yet i'd still go XD)
Yeah you simply can't beat getting leave your cheat sheets all in the open XD

This is probably kind of hard to understand.
When I watch anime with the captions on I understand a lot of the words. When I turn the captions off it's a lot less.
So the question is am I fooling myself into thinking I understand more than I do or are the "training wheels" just helping me out a bit?

Oh that's awesome!

I can speak German, English, a bit French.
I tried Italian but I stopped after my trip to Italy, maybe I start learning it again when I go to Italy again.
Now I am learning Finnish, I am getting a visitor from Finland and I will go there for a month next year.
And I am trying Japanese again, Kanji are really hard to learn...

I'm currently studying Japanese and Korean. As for the reasons, I'm studying Japanese because I wish to one day work in Japan after graduating from University. I'm learning Korean because I think it will help me stand out when I'm applying for a job if I'm trilingual and a person that speaks both Korean and English fluently would be a great asset to a Japanese company.

Getting Rosetta stone and other media to help me learn Japanese and Spanish and possibly Dutch. Tibetan and Mongolian maybe?
If I dont self destruct may want to live in Japan or the Netherlands one day. Or in Tibet.

What's it like studying more than one language? Don't you get mixed up?
I studied Spanish in high school. I still have a decent understanding of it but when I try to think of Spanish words all that comes to mind is Japanese.
I guess age and natural ability have a lot to do with it. I don't think I can really become fluent in another language but I mostly just want to watch tv and read.

For me, when I try to go back to Spanish now, I'm always nasalizing vowels and leaving the ends off words. I also screw up words that are identical - so like, 'y' means 'and' in Spanish but 'there' in French, and it fucks me up. It takes maybe an hour or so to stop doing it. Once your mind starts to get into the "zone" of the other language, you stop mixing things up as much.

But I don't know how people who study 2 languages at once from the beginning do it, though. It seems much more conducive to get to an intermediate level with one language before you start the second. That way it takes less effort to maintain them both, and there's less chance of cross contamination.

My main goal is basically TV and reading, too. I've never gotten to a level in any language where I feel confident communicating, but I'm still able to enjoy TV and games.

I use a method called "The Laddering Method" where I only use Korean learning materials made for Japanese people. It prevents me from getting mixed up just like I don't get Japanese and English mixed up.

i speak English and Japanese, the latter being my weak point. i may be going to a school that offers Japanese as a class, so while I'll already basically know most of the things being taught, it would help me not sound like such a douche when i'm conversing. unlike most here, i don't think i've ever finished watching an episode of anime. that's probably good, because you guys don't understand that they usually use kiddy language, and words that will rarely ever be used outside of anime. i would suggest dramas and movies tbh.
i currently am in a Spanish class, and i'm a ~brilliant student~ according to my teacher.
i want to learn French, German, Chinese. i doubt i ever will.

Ah, I've heard of that. How's it going? What level is your Japanese at?

Someday I'd like to attempt learning another language through French, especially because there are way more Assimil programs in French. I just started Japanese, but the grammatical weirdness and fact that it's completely different from my native language made me shy away from it. I don't want to be confused more trying to learn it in French.


This argument only works if we assume that one's sole exposure to Japanese is through anime, and one particular genre of anime at that. It's perfectly easy to deduce what's not spoken in the real world and what is, but if, by some miracle, you wind up in Japan and start speaking like an anime character, you'll get the point soon enough. Plus, there's nothing wrong with hearing language that isn't common, is childish, or made up - all of it is still Japanese, and adds to your overall understanding of the language.

In my experience, the most important thing in language learning is constant exposure to it. You might as well watch what you like, rather than what's good for you, because you've got to spend hours and hours and hours doing it to get anywhere.

i know a lot of people who merely watch the kawaiiest desuuu anime they can find. it's even worse when people try to talk like an anime character (oh my fucking god ; A;), because really, that's not how a fluent/native speaker would speak. i'm not saying anime Japanese doesn't count, but i know that the people who say 'i know japanese because of anime' wouldn't be able to hold a steady conversation with me. i agree that exposure is super important, but it shouldn't all be from anime.

It's going fairly well. I'm learning Hangul (I don't think I'll ever learn Hanja) at the moment and I'm working on my listening skills. My Japanese is at a lower intermediate level so I have trouble understanding some things but I'm getting better.

That's interesting.

I am now planning to study Mandarin after I get to about an upper intermediate level in Korean, and when I'm upper intermediate in Mandarin I will begin studying Cantonese.