When I started Japanese I was expecting a really difficult time with its pronunciation since Japanese is one of the few Category 4 languages which is the hardest level of difficulty in the Foreign Service Institute language difficulty ranks. Oh before I forget for context, here’s a link explaining the language category difficulty.
I am currently learning Vietnamese and had learned Italian, Indonesian, Russian, Farsi, French, and German months ago. The hardest part of the lessons were pronunciation esp for the non-European Farsi and the Slavic Russian. Took me so many times to get a passing grade on Instant Immersion for those two languages and the three other languages I had a bit more difficulty in practising speech than almost any other aspects. Don’t get me started on Vietnamese where it took me over 2 weeks to get the first lesson with a passing score and my throat’s been hurting two weeks prior form practising Vietnamese for the first time. To the point I’m skipping speech lessons and am just focusing on the writing, reading, and grammar exercise of Vietnamese in the software.
I was expecting Japanese to be 5X harderhan Vietnamese………
Except I passed the fist 3 units’ pronunciation tests! In fact I decided to skip on reading and writing lessons because Kanji is so hard and I’m still laddled with Vietnamese and just focus on Japanese………. Because the pronunciation was not just easier than I expected but I’m passing tests on a first try each time so far! Tot he point I’d say Japanese is not only easier than German in pronunciation but is about the same level as Italian and French pronunciation if not even easier!
I’m so darn surprised because as one of the few Category 4 languages I really was expecting more frustration in Japanese than I’m already having with Vietnamese, at least increased by threefold. But instead I’m passing lessons with relatively much more ease than one would expect for a language being touted as one of the top 5 hardest in the world in passing speech lessons in a computer software and practising phonology!
I ask is this unusual or is it actual normal for learning Japanese? Admittedly since I already learned several languages I have a big advantage over most people, so to be particular I ask how it’d go for a typical English-only speaker who never learned any other language as far as learning Japanese pronunciation and other elements of phonology goes?
by CascalaVasca