Why did you choose to learn Japanese?

[tulosai]

I am not a speaker, but I am curious because I have a lot of friends in Japan.  What motivated those of you on this forum who speak Japanese to start learning the language? Was it hard at first? Why do you keep studying it?

[Czarownica]

I went to college to get a degree in a certain subject and I had six languages to choose from. After evaluating all of them, I decided that I like Japanese most.

I'm still not sure if it was a good choice. Many (possibly too many) people are learning Japanese right now and I hope to be able to get a language-related job after I graduate... Maybe I really should've chosen another language.

It's not hard. I mean, it's not easy either, but I don't think Japanese is more difficult that some other languages. Or maybe it's not hard because I enjoy learning (even though I am fed up sometimes).

As for why do I keep studying it... Well, I don't want to drop out of college, do I?

[pcgamer]

Let me tell you that I am not learning Japanese right now, nor I plan to do it for at least 2 years as I am trying to get the hang off French language first and then learn a little bit of Spanish. But if I wee to choose a fifth language I would like to learn, it would be either Japanese or Italian. So yeah, it's on my radar. I want to learn it, but have not embarked upon it yet.

[SpiralArchitect]

Not really started working on it but Japanese is on my agenda for the future.

There is really no other reason for me other than my love for anime and manga. I am just used to watching it in Japanese with English subs and thus, understand quite a few Japanese words. Not yet knowledgeable enough to actually string together a sentence in the language though.

I just want to be good enough to lose the subtitles. 

[zZJoennZz]

Firstly to watch anime without subtitle. Because some of the fan subs are making some mistakes. Also structure of the words are very interesting and I like to learn it.

[xlzqwerty1]

Ever since I was small, I've watched anime and read manga in Chinese and now in English. I've taken a liking to Japanese as a result, and so I've started to try and learn it. Right now I only know my Hiragana and some Katakana (still in training ), but hopefully in the future I can read raw manga and watch anime without subtitles. That way, I can also translate them to English and Chinese for my friends.

[caparica007]

I have started learning Japanese because I was working for a publishing house that wanted to publish a book in Japan and its contents were sensible, so I tried to grasp the basics of the language to be able to review the book. I was able to do it with the help of a professional translator here in Portugal.

[leahcim132]

My aunt is Japanese and I was amazed when she talked in Japanese. It seemed so cool...so I decided to learn Japanese! Love it and is somewhat fluent in Japanese. I am better at understanding what people are saying in Japanese than talking and writing.

[BWL]

I started learning Japanese because I applied for a job with a Japanese company. I was fascinated by the language and how complex it can be. It allowed me to communicated with Japanese people who have settled in my homeland, Malaysia (a common destination for retired Japanese) and as a linguist I found it typologically interesting.

The grammatical structure with its various speech levels, vast array of sentence-final suffixes and unique usage of onomatopoeia all made me even more interested to improve my fluency in it. That and its challenging writing system!

[Miya]

I'm studying Japanese because I'm interested in Japanese culture. I love listening to Jpop, watching Jdramas, learning about Japanese traditions, and much more.

Also, I think Japanese is a beautiful language. It just sounds really good to me

[pcgamer]

I have not chosen to learn it yet. Not because I don't want to, but I am learning some other language right now.

[mccanono]

I am currently studying Japanese (Nihongo) mainly because I love Japanese culture. From their traditions to their music, love 'em. Another reason is because I teach Japanese students English so somehow I get to interact with a lot of Japanese people.

[Meera]

I haven't started Japanese yet but I really would like to learn it one day or attempt to learn it. Actually I'm confused between Japanese, Chinese and Korean because I like all three of them. But I really do like Japanese culture and would love to visit Japan one day. I like Japanese music and JDramas also

[mackie]

While I haven't started to learn the language as yet it is something that is way up on my list of priorities. I would love to learn it as I'm fascinated by the language and it's intricate writing styles, also I want to be able to know the basics when I visit, I plan on doing that one day.

[mccanono]

While I haven't started to learn the language as yet it is something that is way up on my list of priorities. I would love to learn it as I'm fascinated by the language and it's intricate writing styles, also I want to be able to know the basics when I visit, I plan on doing that one day.

Why not try doing that now? Try learning Japanese and you'll enjoy writing those bad-a$$ Hiraganas and Katakanas. And who knows, you'll learn how to read and write Kanjis too!

[seville009]

I have always been intrigued by the Japanese culture, not only the language but the entire culture. And when I found out that the language has differences for when your being more respectful or casual instead of feminine and masculine, I got more excited. English was my first language and I grew up speaking Spanish with my grandparents so it seemed easier. Also, the pronunciations of the letters are the same as in Spanish for the most part. For instance, "KA" could be pronounced as "kay", "kuh", or "kaa" in English. But in Japanese and Spanish, "KA" is pronounced "kaa" and that's it. This makes things so much easier.

Okay, so I mentioned how much easier it would be for me, and I mentioned that I have always been intrigued by the culture. But the number one reason I wanted to learn Japanese is because I have a goal to take my daughter there to experience the culture and how fun life can be. Her middle name is even Sayuri (god I hope that wasn't a mistake  :speechless:). And now I just realized that I haven't installed a Japanese keyboard on this computer yet! Off to do that now!

[pandandesign]

I learned Japanese when I was in high school. The reason I chose Japanese because I thought it was similar to Chinese, which I thought Japanese was harder for me to learn. I ended up dropping out the class 3 months later, which I didn't regret a bit.

[rodserd]

I find Asian women very attractive, particularly Japanese women.

[Trellum]

I'm not trying to learn japanese either, but I totally love the anime they make (I could spend hours watching anime online if I only had the time to do so!) and is thanks to that I've learnt so many japanese words and phrases. But I'd not say I've an interest in learning it... being able to understand some phrases or words with no subtitles is nice tho

However, I do know someone who is trying to learn Japanese really bad, mostly because he's a big fan of anime, he loves the japanese culture in general and is actually planning to move to Japan!  I don't think you can find a better reason than that one for learning japanese!

[terryse]

When i was sent on scholarship to take my graduate study on Information Science, i chose Nihongo as one of my cognates. That was more than five years ago but i can still remember how i memorized the vowels and consonants, the Katakana and Hiragana of the Japanese language. It's like starting from grade 1 again where you start to learn a new language but i did not regret a bit of my choice as i enjoyed learning my two semester course of Japanese language with my lady Japanese teacher.

[j_evemstar]

I find Asian women very attractive, particularly Japanese women.

Haha this is very convincing and I hear this from other of my friends as well!

Kidding aside, I just feel good whenever I can read characters. I chose this over Korean, Chinese, etc because also of my passion with Japanese food.

[Poynt]

Well, I learned it so, I would understand anime a little bit more rather than having to read subs.  :nerd:

[Hedonologist]

Well in the phase where I did want to learn it, it was because I wanted to understand anime in its native language, although I was never really that much into manga which is probably why I quit learning Japanese. I learned a few Kanji that helped me in Chinese though.

[BlackCaXIII]

I'm a fan of the culture, both mostly because I wanted to be able to read manga/light novels/visual novels, and watch anime without having to wait for a translation.

Theirs tons of Visual Novels that are really interesting I would love to read, but can't because either it's still in the works of being translated, or no translation team is looking to pick it up.

[broknkyboard]

Mainly because it's so different from the languages that I do know. English and Arabic are (in their own respect) are similar to a lot of the languages out there, and Japanese really seemed like the a really removed language from both of them so it would definitely provide a welcome challenge.