So you want to learn Japanese

)v(ajin Koji · Post by **)v(ajin Koji** » Sat Jan 17, 2004 7:45 am

LIES!

Bryal · Post by **Bryal** » Sat Jan 17, 2004 9:38 am

the english language(sp) is the hardest language to learn isnt it?

dokool · Post by **dokool** » Sat Jan 17, 2004 11:26 am

Bryal wrote:

the english language(sp) is the hardest language to learn isnt it?

Perhaps as a secondary language, but not as your first. That's why so many of us grind through languages in high school, while only a few really excel. My friend's a translator (and knows a shitload: spanish, german, some japanese and russian, possibly french as well...), so he could explain it better than I could, but there's a certain part of your brain that turns off after you learn your primary language. For some people, it doesn't turn off, and they can learn multiple languages really easily.

-DOKool

The Hitokiri Battousai · Post by **The Hitokiri Battousai** » Sat Jan 17, 2004 11:33 am

the only japanese word i know is "Hai".....Does that count??

Corran · Post by **Corran** » Sat Jan 17, 2004 11:51 am

Bryal wrote:

the english language(sp) is the hardest language to learn isnt it?

Mandarin is probally...

dokool · Post by **dokool** » Sat Jan 17, 2004 12:02 pm

Corran Productions wrote:
Bryal wrote:

the english language(sp) is the hardest language to learn isnt it?
Mandarin is probally...

I can vouch indirectly for that, they started Chinese at my school last year. There's nothing like watching a table full of kids urgently flipping through flashcards and panicking because they keep mixing up kanji...

Darksyde · Post by **Darksyde** » Sat Jan 17, 2004 12:22 pm

I know two languages sooo............... yay for me.

Darksyde · Post by **Darksyde** » Sat Jan 17, 2004 12:26 pm

How many of you here know more than one language?

HeartbreakerByZep · Post by **HeartbreakerByZep** » Sat Jan 17, 2004 12:29 pm

That's stupid. The only thing that redeems it is the author's note at the end. Japanese can be quite hard and all, but if you're willing to work at it, it's no harder than pretty much any other similar goal. And besides, it's the only way to play the video games you want to

(Plus it's a fun language anyway)

Arigatomina · Post by **Arigatomina** » Sat Jan 17, 2004 12:42 pm

Anime taught me words (which I only *really* learned after confirming them in books), but mostly it taught me pronunciation. I haven't had the pleasure of taking a class on Japanese, but I do know my mimicking ability is dead on. ^_^;; I have an ear for language, so listening to it can really drive home the way it sounds. But I'd need a long time to actually learn it - and no, I can't be self taught. I thought I could, but it's much different from Latin-based languages. The written word is simply too complicated for me.

On the other hand, Spanish was very easy for me to learn, German would have been if I'd taken more than a short half-semester intro, and most other Latin-derived languages are similar enough that I know I could go the 'self-taught' route. But Japansese (and Chinese) is too foreign. It has no base in the languages I've learned or heard most of my life. Watching anime will give me words, a few short key phrases (usually informal so not very useful in real life) - but not enough to do more than learn the spoken language. For reading/writing, I'd have to take courses.

My local college is 2 hrs away, and even if I could learn an entire language in one summer course, it's too much of a strain to commute every day. So I watch anime, read over the text books (my old roommate took Japanese) and pick up a few things as I go along. It's enough to understand an anime without subtitles, but I'd never claim that anime taught me Japanese. I don't think you learn a language until you can read a book written in it witout resorting to a dictionary. I won't learn that from anime unless the book is written entirely in simple romanji.