I have a Korean roommate, I'm helping a Korean with her English through a program at school, and I live about 4 blocks away from Chinatown.

I think I'm studying the wrong language .

Next someone will buy you a Thai bride off eBay.

Don't worry about it, my girlfriend is Korean. Learning Korean when you know Japanese is somewhat simple, so you can learn that too

Tobberoth Wrote:Don't worry about it, my girlfriend is Korean. Learning Korean when you know Japanese is somewhat simple, so you can learn that too

Yeah, my roommate told me the reason she doesn't study Japanese so much is because its so similar to Korean, that it's too easy for her. Which makes no sense to me, because if it was easy to me, I'll be all up on that. But, I guess she's trying to concentrate on English while she's here.

Oh, and a Thai bride? Sure, won't help me study, but feel free to send one. Just check the hands and the neck (for an Adam's apple) first! (Yes, lame Thai "lady-boy" joke.)

strugglebunny Wrote:Oh, and a Thai bride? Sure, won't help me study, but feel free to send one. Just check the hands and the neck (for an Adam's apple) first!

Do you want the adam's apple or not?

danieldesu Wrote:

strugglebunny Wrote:Oh, and a Thai bride? Sure, won't help me study, but feel free to send one. Just check the hands and the neck (for an Adam's apple) first!

Do you want the adam's apple or not?

Without please.

Anyways, anyone ever feel like they've chosen the wrong language to study? Before I moved to Philly, I was surrounded by tons of Spanish speakers (and did lapse into studying Spanish for a bit before I decided one language at a time was enough.)

[ファブリス]

danieldesu Wrote:Do you want the adam's apple or not?

Hahaha.. Pwned!

Before studying Japanese I was studying Korean, which I found a lot easier. However I simply didn't fall in love with it like I did with Japanese. I was forcing myself. So yea I know what it's like to start learning the wrong language, but for me Japanese isn't the wrong language. It's my favourite language! If I could trade in my English for Japanese I would do it in a second^^

Should you stop Japanese and focus on Korean? It depends. If you enjoy Japanese more than Korean, then stick with Japanese until later. If you want to learn Korean more, switch.

The point is not to do something because you think you *have* to. Learning languages like this should be fun, and if it stops being fun and starts being something you do because you feel like you have to keep going, then it's time to stop. This is true for any hobby.

I've never felt I chose the wrong language in absolute terms, because it's the language (and attached to the culture) that I find the most interesting, which makes it the default right choice in my opinion.

From a practicality standpoint though? Definitely. I'm totally surrounded by (Mexican) Spanish speakers, and there's a gigantic Korean community (like, Korean on every building) like one city over from me. And I have a Russian friend who'd be really easy to get help from.
Ah well.

I first started studying Korean at the beginning of this year. It's a beautiful language. And the culture is very unique, IMO.

I had almost got to the point of committing myself to learning sentence by sentence (later I found this was the right way to go) when I realized that learning to hear it and speak it would be a problem. The resources I found on the language were few. Also the dramas were so horrible I couldn't bear to watch. The only dramas I thought were good were the one's Koreans seemed to hate and so the main characters died of cancer. LOL.

So I stopped and a few months later started learning Japanese. Then I banged my head on a wall trying to get a hang of Heisig and quit Japanese for a few months too. I hear there are more resources for going Japanese-> Korean, so guess what I'll be studying once get a good mastery of Japanese.

I guess, you always feel as if you're learning the wrong language. There are so many and you can't seem to get them all at once.

The good news is that each language, supposedly, gets easier.

kazelee Wrote:I first started studying Korean at the beginning of this year. It's a beautiful language. And the culture is very unique, IMO.

I had almost got to the point of committing myself to learning sentence by sentence (later I found this was the right way to go) when I realized that learning to hear it and speak it would be a problem. The resources I found on the language were few. Also the dramas were so horrible I couldn't bear to watch. The only dramas I thought were good were the one's Koreans seemed to hate and so the main characters died of cancer. LOL.

So I stopped and a few months later started learning Japanese. Then I banged my head on a wall trying to get a hang of Heisig and quit Japanese for a few months too. I hear there are more resources for going Japanese-> Korean, so guess what I'll be studying once get a good mastery of Japanese.

I guess, you always feel as if you're learning the wrong language. There are so many and you can't seem to get them all at once.

The good news is that each language, supposedly, gets easier.

Personally I don't have your problems since my girlfriend is Korean so I have and will continue to go there a lot, her family doesn't speak English so I have to use Korean.

Some advice though:
KDramas aren't any worse than JDramas, which is why there are so many KDramas shows in Japan. You must have had bad luck picking em. But more so than their dramas, South Korea makes some of the best movies in the world. There's so many good korean movies, you shouldn't have a problem finding stuff to last you quite a while

Still though, why rush? Like you said, wait until you have mastered Japanese and go for Korean then If you live in Japan for a while, you will get to know tons of Korean people and you will have better resources for learning.

Agreed. I have a little more tolerance for JDramas for whatever reason, but I vastly prefer Korean movies to Japanese ones.

Yeah, I love learning Japanese, so it's not like that. It's just from a practical standpoint (which is what I meant by "learning the wrong language".)

I probably have about 100 times more opportunities to use Spanish, Chinese, or Korean, than Japanese. My university does seem to have a quite a few native Japanese people (because we have a campus in Tokyo, there seems to be a lot of exchange back and forth,) but I haven't approached any because I'm afriad once they find out I study Japanese, they'll just think I want to use them as a tool.

Ah well. Back to RTK.

strugglebunny Wrote:I haven't approached any because I'm afriad once they find out I study Japanese, they'll just think I want to use them as a tool.

I've always wondered about that too. I mean, never having any Japanese friends before, then suddenly hanging out with them once you study Japanese seems a little suspicious. I guess as long as they understand you want to learn it, but also that you are not asking anything from them, it would be ok. I've heard about various asian groups that had "the white guy" who hung around, and they were ok with it. :-)

strugglebunny Wrote:but I haven't approached any because I'm afriad once they find out I study Japanese, they'll just think I want to use them as a tool.

Eh, the truths the truth. Everybody wants to get some use out of everyone else.

Tobberoth Wrote:Some advice though:
KDramas aren't any worse than JDramas, which is why there are so many KDramas shows in Japan. You must have had bad luck picking em. But more so than their dramas, South Korea makes some of the best movies in the world. There's so many good korean movies, you shouldn't have a problem finding stuff to last you quite a while

Still though, why rush? Like you said, wait until you have mastered Japanese and go for Korean then If you live in Japan for a while, you will get to know tons of Korean people and you will have better resources for learning.

Ha. True. I tend to stick to comedies and tv shows without drama, now. I know Korea has some good movies. I think I've seen all 3. LOL. Just kidding. I have the few I truly liked tucked away in a safe place. I want to stab the American directors of the remakes.

strugglebunny seems to have what we call the a "buyerz remorse." Just when you fork out a wad of cash for that big screen, another, better, cheaper brand hits the market.

danieldesu Wrote:

strugglebunny Wrote:I haven't approached any because I'm afriad once they find out I study Japanese, they'll just think I want to use them as a tool.

I've always wondered about that too. I mean, never having any Japanese friends before, then suddenly hanging out with them once you study Japanese seems a little suspicious. I guess as long as they understand you want to learn it, but also that you are not asking anything from them, it would be ok. I've heard about various asian groups that had "the white guy" who hung around, and they were ok with it. :-)

This isn't really a big deal. My friends don't seem to mind when I ask them stuff about Japanese, usually they are happy to help. If you had a friend who was good at golf, I'm sure he wouldn't mind you asking him for tips. I wouldn't hide the fact that you study Japanese from them, that would make it suspicious. Just be honest and share your interests with them like you would with anybody you are getting to know.

strugglebunny Wrote:I haven't approached any because I'm afriad once they find out I study Japanese, they'll just think I want to use them as a tool.

Be upfront about it. Think of them at first as a tool for learning Japanese, and offer yourself as a tool for them to improve their English. Develop a connection just as you would with classmates or colleagues, and maybe some of these relationships will turn into real friendships. I've done many language exchanges that way. Sometimes they fizzle out, sometimes they blossom - but they always start with "I'll help your language learning if you help mine."

Sorry for resurrecting this old thread. I often feel like I'm studying the wrong language too. The thing is though, as soon as I study a different language I feel that maybe I should be studying Japanese.

I've tried Chinese, Korean, and japanese. I actually think Japanese is probably the easiest of the three, but it could well be that's because there are better resources available, or simply the classes that I took were more fun. I found Korean extremely difficult, and knew I could never study it long term. I wouldn't mind studying some more chinese at some stage however.

There are almost no speakers of other european languages near where I live. Lots of speakers of Chinese though, and a reasonable number of Korean speakers. I tried some a college class in Spanish once though, and I'd like to study that a bit more too. Those verb conjugations are damn annoying though, given how many verbs are irregular. Thank god japanese verbs are so regular !

At a deeper level I've always wondered perhaps there is some profession, sport, etc that I would be really good at and really enjoy but I haven't yet discovered it. When I was at college I tried out as many things as I could cram in, but never really had a moment where I thought this is the perfect thing for me to study.

MeNoSavvy Wrote:At a deeper level I've always wondered perhaps there is some profession, sport, etc that I would be really good at and really enjoy but I haven't yet discovered it. When I was at college I tried out as many things as I could cram in, but never really had a moment where I thought this is the perfect thing for me to study.

In my opinion, the thing to realize is that there's no such thing as something you "would be really good at" under the condition that you just happened to find it. The only thing the whole 'talent' idea is good for is making excuses as to why you 'can't' do something, when in actuality you just don't want to. The only thing that makes you really good at something is blood, sweat, and tears. To whatever extent talent manifests itself, it accounts for like 1% compared to the 99% of hard work and determination. There's a nice article about this kind of thing here: http://money.cnn.com/magazines/fortune/f.../index.htm

The point is that you decide to pursue and become good at something first, then become so. You don't decide to pursue and become good at something because you already are. There is no perfect thing. Pick something and make it your perfect thing

^I am really naturally good at mathematics.
I barely try and I'm good at it.

not to brag of course. xD

askayscha Wrote:^I am really naturally good at mathematics.
I barely try and I'm good at it.

And off course, by that you mean that you have made significant contributions to the field and published many papers in respected mathematics journals?

Wow, that's really amazing without even really trying.

askayscha Wrote:^I am really naturally good at mathematics.
I barely try and I'm good at it.

not to brag of course. xD

You probably have just had good instruction.

askayscha Wrote:^I am really naturally good at mathematics.
I barely try and I'm good at it.

not to brag of course. xD

Once the basics are learned we are all good at mathematics. Which area of math is your strongest? Differential equations are my current bane, though, I feel it's just a matter of time -especially with what I've learned regarding memory in language in the past few months.