Hi, I’m Japanese who is thinking of establishing business for Japanese learners so I’m curious about the situation. I’m glad if you answer the questions.
・Why are you studying Japanese?/ What for?
・How do you studying Japanese?
・What is difficulties of learning Japanese?
Of course you don’t have to answer all of the questions btw I often see Japanese learners use quotes from anime. I guess many of them are learning anime.
P/S weak yen sucks
3 comments
Quick answer: to play ドラクエ even when it doesn’t get released in the west
Serious answer: i love learning languages and I’m good at it, so I’m always trying a new one when I can. I can speak three languages now, and i was looking for another one to study, and I found japanese was the most suitable for me because I have a strong emotional connection with Japanese culture, and that’s very helpful. I’m actively interested in learning more about the country, and learning the language allows me to explore material that I already liked to consume, but that might not have been fully accessible for me without japanese knowledge. It’s very compelling to learn something new and have that “ooooh so that’s what that was” because you already had a lot of contact with the language before.
Professionally, it’s always good to know another language, and japanese might sound useless at first but because it’s so specific, it might be what makes you stand out from other professionals in some occasions. I’m currently applying for a one month scholarship to study Kaizen/5S for free in Japan as part of my business background, and even though the course is in English, my interest in learning Japanese will help me stand out from other applicants.
Some thoughts… Hope you don’t mind me correcting some of your English – which is very good on the whole.
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* *Why are you studying Japanese?*
Mainly due to anime. I started watching some anime during the 2020 lock-down (in the UK), mainly because I was bored and a bit stressed. I was amused by the funny Japanese sounds the characters were making and wondered if the subtitles really reflected what was being said – so I decided to learn Japanese to find out. I mean, how hard could it be? <sigh>.
* *How do you studying Japanese*?
[Correction: “*How* ***are*** *you studying Japanese?*”, or “*How do you* ***study*** *Japanese?*”]
Through self-study. Mostly free resources from the Internet. See [this link](https://www.reddit.com/r/LearnJapanese/comments/s5mtva/comment/ht1lo0x/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=web2x&context=3) for my initial strategy and resources.
* *What is difficulties of learning Japanese?*
[Correction: “*What* ***are*** *the difficulties of learning Japanese?*”, or better “*What difficulties do you encounter while studying Japanese?*”]
There is a lot of material to read and listen to on the Internet, so input isn’t too much of a problem. The biggest problem is outputting (speaking/writing). There are far less reliable means available for practicing output.
P.S. It’s **P.S.** not **P/S** – and the weak UK pound is annoying too 🙂
1) Because it is interesting, pretty, because it has a lot of cool culture associated with it, and because I wanted a hobby to devote my free time to.
2) Anki 2k deck at 10 new words a day and usually around 30-80 revisions. This is a minimum which I complete every day. If I have time, I immerse by watching anime or listening to Japanese music. I use Jisho as a dictionary and the ‘A dictionary of [basic/int/adv] Japanese grammar’ books as grammar references. I also like writing and use a water brush and paper from which water quickly evaporates to practice writing stuff out.
3) Sometimes kanji can be very similar and hence difficult to remember. Some examples: 洗, 法, 流. The less unique a kanji is, the more difficult it is to remember, so interestingly more complicated kanji are easier to memorise.