Hydra

I wouldn't bother with the alphabet, either. You don't often have to spell out anything verbally in life, I think, so I don't consider it high priority unless the alphabet is completely different from the alphabet you're accustomed to. I would say learning the personal pronouns and basic verb conjugation would be good. Maybe take a while learning how to use prepositions, too?

Video games and manga would be the two main reasons. There are a ton of great video games made in Japan that are never translated, and I really wanted to be able to play ad understand them.

I think that most Japanese who move to the US by choice, whereas many other Asians would find it more of a necessity. If you choose to go there you'll be more likely to integrate yourself into the culture, speak with the locals etc., because you want to be there and experience that country. On the other hand, if you think of the US as just somewhere you have to be, you'd probably be more likely to stick mostly to speaking with others from your country. You might feel that they understand your situation more.

I made an effort to stop using Romaji pretty quickly. Hiragana and katakana readings become natural to you very swiftly if you stay away from the English characters. You should be able to think about words and kanji in terms of those, not in terms of an alphabet in another language.

If I'm trying to seriously learn while watching some anime, I'll watch it without subtitles. If I watch with subs I'll just get immersed in the show and look at them without paying attention to what the characters are actually saying! It's a bad habit of mine. Apart from that, the only issue I have with anime in particular is that it can be so, so informal, and you end up learning language that comes off as really rude without realising. Because of this, I usually prefer Japanese dramas over (subbed) anime when it comes to pure learning. The language is much more realistic, and you get more of a look at culture and daily Japanese life as a bonus.

I would say that a real life teacher is best, if only because you can ask questions. I'm okay studying on my own until there's something I want to ask about, but when I search the internet and can't find any answers, it makes me wish I had an actual teacher. Finding the resources you need without a teacher can be quite troublesome as well, though I think the prospects of self-study are much better now that we have the internet. However, if money is no obstacle, I think anyone serious about learning a language should move to somewhere where that language is spoken. I really don't think there's a more efficient way to do it!

This depends on your location. I'd say for people in the US, Spanish would certainly be the most valuable. Over here in Ireland and in the UK, people favour French as the foreign language to be taught in schools. I'm not sure why - I know that it's common for people who do Law and Business degrees in college to keep and maintain their French, so perhaps it's something to do with that?

I agree with those above; in terms of meaning, there's really no difference between 'perhaps' and 'maybe'. 'Perhaps' is just much more formal. I would use the it if I was writing a college study or something like that, but with friends I would mostly use 'maybe'. Aside from formality, there really isn't much to think about. Maybe the teacher just had misconceptions about the words, since they weren't a native speaker?

I learned Irish from the age of 4 to 18, just like everyone in Ireland, but can hardly remember a bit of it. Since the exams are so focussed on things such as poetry and prose essays, by the time you leave you know very little practical Irish that you can put to use in daily life. So my situation isn't uncommon here!

Back in secondary school, when the time came to choose our optional subjects, I had to pick three foreign languages (French, Spanish and German) in order to avoid all the stuff I hated, such as History! This, combined with Irish, was a real handful. But anyways, as for why, out of those four, the one I'm coming back to now in college is German: The way languages are taught in Ireland is woeful. I think the fact that we have to begin with Irish at age 4, French not long after that, and yet hardly anyone can speak them says enough. For Irish and French especially, all our time was spent learning off essays on the media, global warming etc. so we could spew it all out in exams. The German, I remember, was structured more practically. You went through how to order things, speaking to the doctor, things like that. Nothing mind-blowing, but stuff that someone speaking actual German might actually use. I think our tiny class connected with it a bit more because of that. Plus, speaking German made us feel less like eejits and more like badasses, because no matter how bad your accent is, it's still German so it's going to come out sounding somewhat cool. Plus, Rammstein. Rammstein, man.