I love languages: I speak English and Spanish fluently and have studied a few others for fun over the years. I began learning Japanese in 2002 - 2003. My goal at the time: to become a translator. I thought I could do it, sounded cool, and I just began to study. At the time, I did not have the resources to make it and the 6 months I spent were exciting but I got burned after thinking it was too hard to accomplish. Worse yet, I saw and though of kanji as a foreign I did not want to meet so I don't recall learning a single one during that time—I just stayed closed to my friend hiragana. In the upcoming years things faded away but my love for Japan and its language, which began when I fell in love with Nintendo and its games' soundtracks, never did. I was not ready, that was all.
A few years ago I began studying French, I learned a lot and got really excited. But again, the lack of resources even though I was more prepared (i.e. Duolingo, iPhone apps), made my studying stagnant to a point I was not learning much yet I could not stay away from it neither.
Last year something happened to me: I got fed up and stopped. For the first time I said: "fudge languages, I cannot continue loving them but hating the way I am (not) learning." For the next three months I tried to forget and just waited until the time was right to go back to it.
And boy did this time pay off.
I can't remember the time but during October-November of last year I had a feeling I needed to revise learning methods and that's when I did an extensive research online from people who claimed they knew how to learn languages, fast, efficiently, and more importantly HAVING FUN AT IT: I was amazed! This fired up my interest and I kept on researching.
Today I can say that after 2 - 3 months of studying with a new system, mentality, and resources I have learned more Japanese than I could ever imagine and have rapidly moved into becoming fluent in French.
I could go on an on, I am that excited, but one thing that keeps me coming back daily to study is that my goal is not to become an instructor: I am a business man and my goal is to conduct business in Japan and France/Europe. I have not read anyone say this before as a goal, it seems everyone wants to either live in Japan or become a translator (nothing wrong with that), but that is not me.
If you are like me I hope this post helps you realize that there is more than just traveling to Japan or becoming a translator. I wish I had someone pointing me in the right direction so I wouldn't have stopped learning when I started the first time in 2002 - 2003. This does not mean I do not want to live in Japan, that would be awesome! But I am sure I do not want to become a translator when I am good at business and we are talking about the 3rd largest economy in the world: there is a lot of business to be made there.
A few years ago I began studying French, I learned a lot and got really excited. But again, the lack of resources even though I was more prepared (i.e. Duolingo, iPhone apps), made my studying stagnant to a point I was not learning much yet I could not stay away from it neither.
Last year something happened to me: I got fed up and stopped. For the first time I said: "fudge languages, I cannot continue loving them but hating the way I am (not) learning." For the next three months I tried to forget and just waited until the time was right to go back to it.
And boy did this time pay off.
I can't remember the time but during October-November of last year I had a feeling I needed to revise learning methods and that's when I did an extensive research online from people who claimed they knew how to learn languages, fast, efficiently, and more importantly HAVING FUN AT IT: I was amazed! This fired up my interest and I kept on researching.
Today I can say that after 2 - 3 months of studying with a new system, mentality, and resources I have learned more Japanese than I could ever imagine and have rapidly moved into becoming fluent in French.
I could go on an on, I am that excited, but one thing that keeps me coming back daily to study is that my goal is not to become an instructor: I am a business man and my goal is to conduct business in Japan and France/Europe. I have not read anyone say this before as a goal, it seems everyone wants to either live in Japan or become a translator (nothing wrong with that), but that is not me.
If you are like me I hope this post helps you realize that there is more than just traveling to Japan or becoming a translator. I wish I had someone pointing me in the right direction so I wouldn't have stopped learning when I started the first time in 2002 - 2003. This does not mean I do not want to live in Japan, that would be awesome! But I am sure I do not want to become a translator when I am good at business and we are talking about the 3rd largest economy in the world: there is a lot of business to be made there.
Edited: 2015-02-14, 2:59 pm
