What were you all inspired by to learn the language?

25 comments

1. [deleted]

2. Japanese is my first attempt at self learning a language and I do say specific media/culture based reasons why I chose it because I get asked that a fair amount, but the real reason is just because I thought it would be a cool fun challenge. Didn’t quite anticipate the level of the challenge, but I enjoy it nonetheless.

3. My parents dragged me to Japan as a kid, because my father was stationed in Yokohama.

   I hated it at first and wanted to leave so bad. After a while I had to learn as everyone seemed to be bilingual.

   Here I am 5 decades later still here. Lol

4. Japanese was a compulsory subject at my school for half the year in year 7 (don’t know the US equivalent, it’s the first of 6 years of high school in Australia – 12/13 year olds).

   The teacher was brilliant and it spurred a life long passion for the language and love of the country.

5. I was from the middle east, and there is no game studios there, I wanted to work at a game studio in Japan (my other option was the US, but this was not what I needed in my life as a single woman), but needed a high level of proficiency, so I just went and did it.

   I like some aspects of the culture, but the drive to learn was primarily work based.

6. anime and j idols. not in that order.

7. Growing up in the 90s w basic cable. After school I got DBZ, Sailor Moon….when I was older I had YuYu Hakusho and Conan ( & way more I’m forgetting). Then late night Adult Swim changed my world! I grew up watching anime and it made me want to immerse myself more in the culture.

8. Why do you all have such fun stories i watched a japanese drama, i think it was the first show i’d seen in another language and i was young at the time and wanted to watch the show without subtitles so i started learning japanese and i was abkut 12 at the time and thought it would be so easy to learn and i’d learn in a week 😂. But i didn’t then i took a break and got back into it a few months later, learnt a lot more and yeah.

9. I wanted to truly understand the nuances lost in translation when watching anime or reading manga, I think reading and understanding first hand a language truly opens up a whole new culture

10. I fell in love with Japanese music when I was a teenager in the 90’s. I took French in High school and we signed up for penpals, by snail mail. I got a French pen pal which didn’t last long and one from Japan. The Japanese pen pal and I wrote for all of high school and we would send mixed tapes of music, what was popular at the time. We would also cut out magazine stuff, usually fashion stuff. I loved the music even though I couldn’t understand it. I don’t listen to it very often now, every once in while. I started taking Japanese classes in college and then after I went and taught English in Japan for a few years. So yes Japanese music totally inspired me to learn Japanese, however I am not fluent. I was pretty good the last year I was there but I don’t use it and have lost a lot of it.
    I think you could still study but just do a little at a time. Concentrate on school but study Japanese for fun in a fun way.

11. I was 12 years old and had just heard my first Hatsune Miku song lmao. Been studying off and on ever since!

12. so I feel busy, it works well

13. The song shin takarajima (新宝島) by sakanaction heavily inspired me, i’ve always watched anime since i was little as well and i really admire the culture from japan overall.

14. Heaps of interesting stuff related to retro and vintage computing happened in Japan, and only a tiny fraction of it has been made visible to English speakers, so I want to be able to say least type search parameters in Japanese.

15. BoA Kwon.

    Seeing her switch between languages so effortlessly inspired me so much.

16. Yeah, primarily music! And anime without subs would be nice. Plus there are places in Japan I’d like to visit, and the culture is super interesting especially ancient Japan

17. My mother was always very much into east Asian culture, mostly Chinese though. My favorite TV show as a child was Sailor Moon and I wasn‘t as much fascinated by all the glitter and stars as I was by simple things like school uniforms and bentō. I had my ups and downs with the interest but I eventually took Japanese classes st uni and went to Japan for a year. I totally fell in love with the country, music, food and so on. I still watch a few anime (without subtitles) but it‘s not the reason why I hope to return to Japan in the future

18. Honestly, always been drawn to Kanji, and when i found out Japanese was easier than traditional chinese(with the tones that change meaning) I settled on Japanese.
    The more I learn about the culture and how different Thea gue structure is vs English the more I fell in love.

19. Similar to you, my heritage is as white as you can get. I was never exposed to much outside of Southern based American culture which in my opinion, I just don’t fit in with. The only thing I really knew about and grew up with was of course, Anime. Lately though, I don’t really watch it as much as focus more on reality TV or dramas as that helps with my learning way more as it’s way more realistic to the Japaneses way of speaking. I started learning back in 6th grade aka around the age off 11 but didn’t start taking it serious till I was 13 and still now, I’m at the basic levels. As for my exact reason for learning, I’m just not sure. I just enjoy the sound of the language itself, and which I have plans to continue on with other languages once I get through Japanese but most likely, it’ll be my main focus for a longgggg time outside of french, but im forced to learn that one which in a way, takes the fun out of it.

20. Man I’ve lived in Japan for most of my adult life and I’m very happy here. Japanese has made my life here infinitely better too. My son only speaks Japanese, I’m a single and regularly date girls who only speak Japanese, I speak Japanese with my coworkers. I go to the racetrack (Suzuka) and ride my motorcycle out there and make friends, chat with people, I’m in motorcycle groups that go touring all over the country, I make friends in the gym, I compete in bodybuilding here, I do instagram in Japanese only and have about 3000 followers with constant interaction in Japanese.

    Basically I’ve used it A LOT! If I didn’t know Japanese my life would be totally different and waaay worse I’m sure. I’m also white, from bumfuck Kentucky and worked really hard to learn Japanese.

    I definitely recommend learning as much as you can if you want to live here.

    If you’re seriously interested in studying DM me if you want to know what resources I used. Good luck!

21. Absolutely nothing, I was very critical of Japan for the longest time. One afternoon I was bored out of my mind and opened up Duolingo. Thought I’d give it a shot. “how hard could it be?” Very. Very hard.
    Anyway I’m still very much critical of Japan, but I have come to appreciate its culture, as I’m learning about it in university.

22. I didn’t really have a push factor for me to pick up Japanese, but one day at the young age of 15 I decided I want to pick up a 3rd language and I went for Japanese for some unknown reason. 10 years later and I’m still learning / attending classes on and off despite having attained N1. Something about the language and the culture just pulls me in, and makes me excited!

23. My father is black and Japanese. I knew a little bit about the culture just cuz of growing up with it, (tiny tiny bits, like taking off shoes in the house and eating a lot of rice dishes,) but learning the language has really helped me feel more connected to my heritage 🙂

24. Learning is ongoing for me one and off for years
    I practiced different martial arts and I liked history so understanding the words and meaning helps to put things into perspective.

    Some Buddhist friends always invited me to events at their “temple/cultural center”
    There was a somewhat relevant Japanese community were I lived.

    Had family living in Japan also.

    And english dubbed anime is horrible, especially anything shown in the US. It is censored, cut and butchered when edited.
    I rather watch it in Latam Spanish or Portuguese.

    I’ve also tried learning some other languages but only fluent in 2.

25. I wanted to play a game, but it didn’t have English. I tried learning Chinese before but stopped. I like the characters so chose Japanese.