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+--- Thread: Has Learning Japanese Been Worth it to You? (/thread-12936.html)
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Has Learning Japanese Been Worth it to You? - CreepyAF - 2015-08-13
I was recently creeping the I study Nihongo because... thread. It seems like many of us started because we're either manga/anime otaku, in a relationship with a Japanese person, or we did it on a whim and continue because of the sunk cost fallacy.
Assuming your Japanese is at a level where you can put it to use in real world situations (or at least try to), have you found the time and effort to be worth the result?
Presumably you feel the experience has been worth something if you're still on the path to flueny/higher fluency. But if you could go back in time and tell your past self to put their time and energy into anything but learning Japanese, would you?
Has Learning Japanese Been Worth it to You? - sholum - 2015-08-13
I think it's been worth it completely. I can do the things I set out to do and, frankly, I get some enjoyment out of seeing the various reactions when I say I've been self-studying Japanese (even if a lot of them don't think it's possible).
I'm still working on the things I didn't prioritize (speaking and writing), but at this point, it's just a matter of practice. In another five years, I hope to look back at the problems I'm having now and feel the accomplishment.
If I was to give my past self advice, it'd be not to waste money on stupid things and actually graduate high-school (personally, I think a GED is more credit to an individual's hard work, but nobody who's offering to throw money at you thinks the same).
And the only thing I regret not studying in the past is math; sure, I've studied quite a bit of the usual stuff now, but I'd have saved 16 credit hours in my undergraduate if I'd been able to go straight to calculus like many in my age group.
But I'm through all that now, so I don't really care.
Has Learning Japanese Been Worth it to You? - z1bbo - 2015-08-13
yeah it's totally been worth it (and still is). Learning Japanese is one of the things I've been most enthusiastic about and I'm having tons of fun seeing my skill develop. Kanji are like a fetish to me and I get excited like crazy every time I find a new one.
It's also really great to be able to consume more media (or without shitty subs). I've seldom had so much fun reading something as I'm having at the moment reading WhiteAlbum2, and that's a game I would have never set a finger on without Japanese!
Has Learning Japanese Been Worth it to You? - RawrPk - 2015-08-13
Though I am nowhere close to the fluency level of Japanese that I want to be in, I still say the decision to embark on learning Japanese has been worth it. I've made some good friends that I'm sure would have never made otherwise due to Japanese. I don't really consider myself socially outgoing and making friends isn't easy so I find this to be a big deal.
A couple of months back, a local shop selling Japanese imported items posted a "help wanted" sign entirely in Japanese...and I was able to read it! The store clerk seemed surprised when I bought up the ad lol xD This might like a dumb thing to be excited about for most people, but to me, being able to read Japanese in the wild on the spot was a pretty awesome accomplishment. Didn't get the job, but hey small victories here
tl;dr: yes, worth it.
CreepyAF Wrote:But if you could go back in time and tell your past self to put their time and energy into anything but learning Japanese, would you?Take school more seriously. Sometimes I get bummed when I see people my age (mid/late 20s) who have degrees, steady jobs, etc. while I'm still trying to get my undergrad working food service jobs.
Has Learning Japanese Been Worth it to You? - yogert909 - 2015-08-13
Yes and no.
If I look at it from the perspective of the utility of being just barely semi-literate in Japanese, the answer is a resounding NO. I've spent a bit over 1,000 hours studying and plan on spending multiples of that getting better at Japanese. If I were to just look at much better it will make my life to be able to read Japanese books, watch Japanese shows, converse with Japanese people and navigate Japan a few weeks out of the year - I'd say that's just a horrible bargain.
If I look at it from the perspective that it's a challenge I set for myself and I would really like to be the type of person who can do something like learn a completely new language. If I think about how I'm enjoying the process and getting kind of obsessed with progressing. If I think about the fact that I'm doing this in the time I used to be browsing facebook like a zombie. If I add all that to the fact that I will be able to watch Japanese shows, and read books and talk to people and be independent while I'm in Japan, then yes, it's been totally worth it.
Has Learning Japanese Been Worth it to You? - yogert909 - 2015-08-13
sholum Wrote:And the only thing I regret not studying in the past is math; sure, I've studied quite a bit of the usual stuff now, but I'd have saved 16 credit hours in my undergraduate if I'd been able to go straight to calculus like many in my age group.I wish I'd studied math more closely too. It seemed so boing and useless in highschool but I could actually use it for work and a few of my hobbies! I've been learning a little bit as I go, but once I get a little further in Japanese, I've like to go through an online trig class and a few calculus classes.
But I'm through all that now, so I don't really care.
Has Learning Japanese Been Worth it to You? - poblequadrat - 2015-08-13
CreepyAF Wrote:I was recently creeping the I study Nihongo because... thread. It seems like many of us started because we're either manga/anime otaku, in a relationship with a Japanese person, or we did it on a whim and continue because of the sunk cost fallacy.If I could go back in time, I'd tell my past self to stop feeling ashamed about being an otaku and major in ***** Japanese already because it's what you'll end up doing in a few years anyway you ***** moron.
Assuming your Japanese is at a level where you can put it to use in real world situations (or at least try to), have you found the time and effort to be worth the result?
Presumably you feel the experience has been worth something if you're still on the path to flueny/higher fluency. But if you could go back in time and tell your past self to put their time and energy into anything but learning Japanese, would you?
Having put more time and energy into learning Japanese would've saved me time, money, and possibly health.
Has Learning Japanese Been Worth it to You? - yudantaiteki - 2015-08-13
It definitely has. One of the things I wanted to do when I started studying Japanese was be able to play RPGs in Japanese, which I can do.
My career is also based on Japanese, which is nice too.
Has Learning Japanese Been Worth it to You? - CreepyAF - 2015-08-13
Wow, I'm getting a lot of good vibes off this thread (...so far).
sholum Wrote:I get some enjoyment out of seeing the various reactions when I say I've been self-studying Japanese (even if a lot of them don't think it's possible).There definitely is a certain level of satisfaction when getting a reaction out of someone after showing a skill you've gained through lots of hard work.
z1bbo Wrote:Learning Japanese is one of the things I've been most enthusiastic about and I'm having tons of fun seeing my skill develop.I'm someone who has lived a life of mediocracy. Trying to become fluent in another language is the first high-level, above mediocracy project I've embarked on. I too have lots of fun seeing my skill develop.
yogert909 Wrote:If I look at it from the perspective of the utility of being just barely semi-literate in Japanese, the answer is a resounding NO. I've spent a bit over 1,000 hours studying and plan on spending multiples of that getting better at Japanese.While you may not have studied on this time frame, 1,000 hours of studying is the equivalent to going to school 6 hours a day, 5 days a week for 8 months. In the scope of learning in general, becoming semi-literate in a writing system as radically different as Japanese is to English, I'd say that's a pretty solid achievement.
poblequadrat Wrote:If I could go back in time, I'd tell my past self to stop feeling ashamed about being an otaku and major in ******* Japanese already because it's what you'll end up doing in a few years anyway you ******* moron.Interestingly I found learning Japanese helped me not feel ashamed about being an otaku. It made my anime watching habits seem more noble to other people.
"Look at CreepyAF over there, watching those Japanese cartoons, what a loser!"
"Hey man, did you know he's studying Japanese and is actually watching that in Japanese right now?"
"Oh, that's actually pretty cool....hey what's up with all those tentacles in that show?"
poblequadrat Wrote:It definitely has. One of the things I wanted to do when I started studying Japanese was be able to play RPGs in Japanese, which I can do.Making money with/through Japanese sounds like a pretty sweet deal.
My career is also based on Japanese, which is nice too.
Has Learning Japanese Been Worth it to You? - Ash_S - 2015-08-13
It's been infinitely worth it for me. I'll be going to a Japanese uni for post grad study and I'm sure Japanese will be important to any career I have in the future. Knowing Japanese has also given me great experiences in Japan as an exchange student, great friendships, access to Japanese literature and media... so yeah, go Japanese! lol.
Has Learning Japanese Been Worth it to You? - Bokusenou - 2015-08-13
Definitely. Most of my entertainment comes from Japanese-language books and media now, and I've met a lot of great friends I likely wouldn't have met otherwise. There's also the facing your fears aspect of it too. I believe I've become a more fearless person because of Japanese. A lot of the things you need to do to study Japanese involve putting yourself out there & standing out in ways I wouldn't have done before I started learning the language.
Even though my current job doesn't have to do with the language, I have JLPT N1 listed on my resume, and a ton of people have commented on it. They think people who know Japanese must be very intelligent. While I didn't think about this happening when I started out with the language, it's a nice bonus.
Has Learning Japanese Been Worth it to You? - yogert909 - 2015-08-13
CreepyAF Wrote:For sure I think it's a solid achievement.yogert909 Wrote:If I look at it from the perspective of the utility of being just barely semi-literate in Japanese, the answer is a resounding NO. I've spent a bit over 1,000 hours studying and plan on spending multiples of that getting better at Japanese.While you may not have studied on this time frame, 1,000 hours of studying is the equivalent to going to school 6 hours a day, 5 days a week for 8 months. In the scope of learning in general, becoming semi-literate in a writing system as radically different as Japanese is to English, I'd say that's a pretty solid achievement.
However what I was trying to say is that the joy i get from being able to use the skills I've learned thus far is really not enough for me. It's the process, the challenge and the growth as a person that make up the difference. I didn't realize that going into this project.
Has Learning Japanese Been Worth it to You? - dtcamero - 2015-08-14
work, friends, girlfriends, fun, travel experiences, i could go on for a long while but in short it really enriched my life in a way that is difficult to express fully.
it's been 1000% percent worth it, which is why i'm studying chinese now. if i get 50% of the same benefit from chinese as I have from japanese it will be a huge success.
on a side note, listening to some of the voices here, i think that successful outcomes are relative to how quickly one proceedes... if you let it drag on and on for 6+ years then you progress slower per hour spent, and don't get nearly as much reward. so it's really helpful to bust your ass and get to fluency within 3 or 4 years, otherwise you risk depressive burnout like yogurt909 is talking about feeling.
Has Learning Japanese Been Worth it to You? - buonaparte - 2015-08-14
I definitely belong to a different generation. Not better, not worse - different.
Never had a TV set, never played a computer game, never read manga. Watched only one or two doramas, just a couple of anime - wasn't too much impressed, to put it mildly.
It doesn't really matter what language I'm learning, as long as I have good movies to watch, good audiobooks to listen to, and good books to read.
I watched some two thousand movies in Japanese, some five hundred or so were good or very good, so it wasn't a waste of time at all. On the contrary, one of the best experieces I've ever had.
As to Japanese audiobooks - almost a complete disaster. Had I known they had practically no audiobooks, I'd have chosen Mandarin instead. A funny side effect: I've become an expert on Jehovah's Witnesses as I used THEIR audiobooks to learn Japanese. Simply because everything was there: good audio, etexts (no need to proofread them), English (or French) etexts. Making parallel texts extremely easy, just a couple of clicks. Used their materials to learn other languages too.
Books - plenty of very good ones. The only trouble was getting etexts.
Japanese began my journey through the East: Korea, China, India, Pakistan. Would never have done it, if I hadn't begun learning Japanese.
All in all, it was probably worth it.
Has Learning Japanese Been Worth it to You? - Raschaverak - 2015-08-14
It is, has, and will be definitely worth it. I have a lot to thank the Japanese anime industry, I get / got a lot of motivation to proceed with my own life just from watching certain anime series.
Motivation is very hard for me, since I have a serious mental disorder, but these anime helped me more in my life than all the meds / therapy I got altogether.
That aside, I just love the language, and all the related stuff so far. I have very good memories spending entire Sundays during the weekends, learning just Japanese, peacefully, calmly, and enjoying every minute of it. So much fun!
And, if you learn this language, to a considerable level (like N2-N1) all on your own, you will also develop yourself, not in the language, but your discipline / work ethic. And believe me, if you want to achieve anything in life you have to work HARD for it. Learning Japanese and mastering it, besides your usual daily activities (jobs, housework, ect), will give you a work ethic you can apply in any aspect of life, and you will be able to make the rest of your life, the best of your life. Keep it up!
Has Learning Japanese Been Worth it to You? - Flamerokz - 2015-08-14
Anki has ruined my life, but I can't resist the vixen's charm.
Has Learning Japanese Been Worth it to You? - gaiaslastlaugh - 2015-08-14
Definitely worth it. I'm engaged to a wonderful Japanese woman, and that the relationship wouldn't have been possible if I hadn't been able to speak the language. It wasn't my original reason for learning (I've been a filthy otaku since middle school), but it's additional motivation now. I've made wonderful friends through knowing the language. I've had countless hours of great, funny conversations (and my share of hard, painful ones to boot) with some great Japanese teachers. Being able to read a book by a Japanese author in their native language, or watch a drama or anime in Japanese without any intermediary, is still a thrill.
I've also started to use my Japanese at work. I've gone to the Tokyo branch of our division and worked with my colleagues over there. Additionally, a Japanese-born member of our team recently quit, so it's fallen to me to represent the US side of my organization and interview new Japan trainer candidates in a mix of English and Japanese. I'm continuing to work on my conversation skills so that in several years, after my kids have all gone off to college, my wife and I can move back to Tokyo.
So, yes, very much worth it. It's involved a lot of effort, but I'm a geek at heart who loves to learn new things. My only wish is that I had started SOONER. I've wanted to learn Japanese since I was 12, but put it off until I was 39. To think of where I'd be now if I'd started earlier. Sigh.
Has Learning Japanese Been Worth it to You? - juniperpansy - 2015-08-14
If I could go back I would have spent more time maintaining a harem so I could make money off of it just like khatz!
Has Learning Japanese Been Worth it to You? - Raulsen - 2015-08-14
Flamerokz Wrote:Anki has ruined my life, but I can't resist the vixen's charm.Heh! Vixen, huh? XD Glad to see I'm not alone! It's not quite the same, but I've got a running-gag with some of my old roommates that I'm in an intimate relationship with one "Madam Kanji," considering how much time we spend together.
As far as the topic goes, yes, yes, and yes again. Japanese has improved my life so much, and I love that it's served as a sort of conduit for me to explore my all interests through a new lens (games, books, writing). I'm aiming to take the N1 next year, and when I think about how far I've come, I'm glad to know my hard work's paid off. Part of the satisfaction comes from knowing just how hard and mystical Japanese seemed when I was a kid begging Nintendo to localize the games I wanted, but somewhere along the way, I genuinely fell in love with the language, and now it's a part of my life that I wouldn't want to be without.
Plus, I'm from rural NC and I have a fairly strong accent when I speak in English, so when I tell people who don't know me all that well that I'm studying Japanese, I usually get some interesting looks. It's kind of fun melding the hillbilly stereotype that everyone expects with the whole language-nerd deal, so it can make for some interesting encounters. To top it all off, I've even been able to try and explain some of the features of my dialect to some of my Japanese friends (ain't, yens (pronounced "yuhnz"), reckon, and so forth), and I've come to respect my own brand of English even more deeply as a result.
Has Learning Japanese Been Worth it to You? - ariariari - 2015-08-14
CreepyAF Wrote:I was recently creeping the I study Nihongo because... thread. It seems like many of us started because we're either manga/anime otaku, in a relationship with a Japanese person, or we did it on a whim and continue because of the sunk cost fallacy.Well, you're going to get a lot of survivor bias in this poll - presumably the people who felt it wasn't worth it won't be reading this.
Assuming your Japanese is at a level where you can put it to use in real world situations (or at least try to), have you found the time and effort to be worth the result?
Presumably you feel the experience has been worth something if you're still on the path to flueny/higher fluency. But if you could go back in time and tell your past self to put their time and energy into anything but learning Japanese, would you?
To be honest, I'd say yes and no. I did JET because I wanted to have the experience of living abroad after college, and JET was by far the best program I had access to. I spoke intermediate Spanish at the time, but most of the spanish-speaking opportunities I saw were volunteer, and I really wanted a job.
Learning Japanese while on JET was ... interesting. Certainly most JETs I saw didn't learn anything beyond rudimentary Japanese. And they might have had a better time both on JET and in Japan because of it. I experienced incredible resistance to me speaking Japanese with Japanese people both when I lived in Japan, and even now in America. People would regularly speak to me in broken English even when it was clear the conversation would go smoother in Japanese, and I specifically asked them to speak in Japanese. Many people flat out refused to speak to me in Japanese, ever. This still happens to me, and I still don't like it. In that sense, if my "live abroad after college" experience had been in another country, learning another language, I might have greater overall satisfaction with this part of my life.
I genuinely enjoy speaking a foreign language, and the moments when I do something new with the language - a particularly long or interesting conversation, for example - I genuinely treasure. I'm nowhere near fluent. But every time that I get closer to my goals of talking about aspects of the Japanese experience I find interesting (e.g. traditional culture, foreign affairs, issues of race and ethnicity), I experience genuine happiness. So that's nice.
A major downside is that there aren't many Japanese people in my demographic where I live in the US (30s, professional). Most of the people I get to meet here are students studying abroad or au pairs. I hear that there are visa issues which make it hard for Japanese to move here for other reasons. Presumably if I moved to Japan I could solve that problem. But I think that my life overall is much better living here in the US.
The "experiment" I'm currently running is whether I can use my Japanese language ability professionally somehow, on my own terms. Last year I gave a talk on one of my projects, in Japanese, at a conference in Tokyo. It was well received, which was nice. I think that it would be fun to do something similar again.
Has Learning Japanese Been Worth it to You? - kapalama - 2015-08-14
buonaparte Wrote:As to Japanese audiobooks - almost a complete disaster. Had I known they had practically no audiobooks, I'd have chosen Mandarin instead. A funny side effect: I've become an expert on Jehovah's Witnesses as I used THEIR audiobooks to learn Japanese. Simply because everything was there: good audio, etexts (no need to proofread them), English (or French) etexts. Making parallel texts extremely easy, just a couple of clicks. Used their materials to learn other languages too..The Mormons also have first class educational material probably for the same reasons: people have to be able to go to a foreign country and bang on stranger's doors in that local language.
I have met a bunch of Mormons who have not interest in living in Japan, and frankly no interest in the language or culture, who are there with their families because true fluency in the private sector (well beyond testing limits) is in critically short supply, and they simply cannot afford not to be there
Has Learning Japanese Been Worth it to You? - Zgarbas - 2015-08-14
The moment when I decided to quit whining and actually learn Japanese was definitely a defining moment in my life. To be fair, it didn't have to be Japanese; it just sort of happened. A lot about my progress just sort of did. It has definitely been a rollercoaster of events and mental and emotional growth, all of it linked to the language. I am rather blase about Japanese now, but I'm really grateful that I spent 2 years dedicating my life to it. To date it is the thing that I have worked the hardest for, and one of the few things I worked for that actually turned out to be an investment (unlike my 500 hours pdracticing guitar which has led me nowhere). Ok, technically I could be where I am without having learned Japanese, but I doubt it.
Though if the japanese girlfriends that everyone's bragging about would start throwing themselves at me, that would be great :p
If i could go back in time I would tell my 7 year old self to do their homework and keep studying regardless of what anyone says. Maybe I'd tell my mom to confront abusive teachers instead of 'proving your strength by putting up with it'
Has Learning Japanese Been Worth it to You? - yogert909 - 2015-08-14
dtcamero Wrote:otherwise you risk depressive burnout like yogurt909 is talking about feeling.I don't think it's depressive burnout..that was last year
It's just a realization that it's likely I will end up spending as much time learning the language as actually using it since I don't plan on moving to Japan.
Has Learning Japanese Been Worth it to You? - CreepyAF - 2015-08-14
ariariari Wrote:Well, you're going to get a lot of survivor bias in this poll - presumably the people who felt it wasn't worth it won't be reading this.Extremely good point. I was kind of surprised by the positive response the question was getting. Now it makes sense.
Has Learning Japanese Been Worth it to You? - Jawful - 2015-08-15
I've made my life here in Japan so yes, I'm very happy to be able to understand and speak the language. I still enjoy learning new words so studying is still fun. I have many friends who don't bother to learn or try to speak, and yet they've been here for 5, 10, or more years, so I'm happy to not be in that camp.
For those of you not living in Japan, I seriously commend your efforts. I don't think I would have studied to any point of usefulness had I not come here 9 years ago.