Man, I’m afraid to tell people I’m learning Japanese because of the stereotypes…

8 comments

1. Damn, is that still a thing? Most people here are pretty impressed if youre putting in the time and effort to learn jap, it is a difficult lang after all

2. Yep, it’s nobody’s business but yours. I’m two years in and I haven’t told a soul.

3. I can’t speak for your part of the world, but I am a novice and tell plenty of people I know and don’t know well that I’m learning Japanese and get a “…well that’s pretty neat” reaction from virtually all of them in the southeastern US. Some of them know I watch anime and some of them don’t.

   If they’ve given me a negative stereotype, they sure haven’t bothered to tell me about it.

4. I was the same way in the beginning, but one day I accidentally left my computer open on this sub and one of my coworkers was like “omg you’re learning japanese?? That’s so cool!”.

   You don’t have to broadcast it, but I wouldn’t hide it. Don’t worry about other people’s response. If they’re a cool person, they’ll have a cool response. If they’re a dipshit, they’ll have a dipshit response. If they’re your friends, they’ll probably make a joke, and that’s okay too lol.

5. Don’t worry about it. Other people don’t care about you as much as you think they do.

6. It depends a lot on who you’re telling. Some people aren’t even aware of the stereotypes, other people harp on them. You’d probably get more teasing from high schoolers than from office workers or whatever.

   Fwiw, almost all the reactions I’ve gotten from coworkers/acquaintances have been positive. I got my first “oh, so that you can marry a Japanese person?” the other day, but that’s it. Most people are just impressed that I’m learning a language, and that’s all that registers with them.

7. That’s easy.

   There will come a point in your life when you stop caring about the opinion of others on that kind of thing. Afterward, this will instantly stop being an issue because it’s not an issue. There’s nothing wrong with ‘learning’, especially learning another language.

   I do get it though. I have no fear or revulsion of being called a weeb. In fact, I would be insulted because I am no mere weeb. **I am a staunch weeb-lord. He who stands above lesser weebs & weeblets. I am ‘He’ that they wish they could be. ORE WA… BATTOMANU DESU.** If you found this off-putting in any way, and I would be shocked if you didn’t, that effectively proves my point. Do your thing man but you’d do a lot better if you stopped being afraid of what others think, etc.

   …..

   **EDIT:** I mean about this or things like this. Don’t commit any crimes or harm others, obviously. Have to clarify because these days people are just looking for an excuse to twist words and be offended.

8. I’m taking Japanese 1 at the local community college now. The first assignment was to introduce ourselves in English and say why we wanted to learn Japanese. Many of my classmates mentioned liking Japanese manga/anime/music/games. One of them said something like, “I’m not one of those anime-loving types. I’m a serious student.” I don’t remember his exact words anymore, but it was actually more insulting than my recap. I hope next semester he signs up for Reading the Room 101.