I was always wondering this. What do you guys want ultimately from learning japanese? For jobs? For interests? For personal reasons? or other various reasons? For me personally, It was just a fascinating language in general aside from, other then the ones I know. I've personally just got so into the language that i just do what i usual do everyday. Review anki's SRS reps,write kanji,immerse myself in Japanese as much as possible. Sometimes i actually forget why i am learning this language anyhow. That's how deep i've gotten into likening Japanese language. Anyhow anyone like to share there thoughts on this? If this was already posted on another topic post, then i''m sorry

The ultimate reason for most people here is "because they started it".

lol. True. Same goes for me. I've started it, and i'm already deep into the language, so i won't stop until i've reached me goals in the language. Once that's done i'll just go onto another language. (Mandarin would be that language)

Squintox Wrote:The ultimate reason for most people here is "because they started it".

LOL Exactly my reason. I've gone this far, if I stop now it will all seem like a big waste of time.

Hmm, a high school friend of mine went to study Japanese after we graduated. Since then it slowly 'spread' over to me. A reason to keep studying it for a long time has been the fact that I enjoyed a lot of the Japanese media, and I wanted to be able to fully understand all of that.
Recently however I also added 'wanting to study in Japan' to that list, and in general I feel that mastering Japanese would contribute to my field (I'm studying Game Design & Development).

To see if I can learn another language like how I learned English.

So far so good!

I don't think I'm really learning for any particular reason anymore, more just because I really like the language and find Japan interesting in general. And also what Squintox said. ^_^

yea i hear you on that. Since i've went so into the language. I just keep doing it daily. It's just become a part of daily life now. There's no longer the need for asking "Why am i doing this exactly?" type questions for language learning. It literally becomes a part of you.

Well, I've been interested in Japan for over 10 years so it was natural for me to want to learn the language. So I went to Tokyo and studied it and that gave me all the more reason to know it, to talk to friends and my girlfriend. Now I consider myself a good enough speaker to do all of that, but you never get satisfied. I want to be able to read any novel without a dictionary, watch any TV program without any issue. My huge goal before was to get a job in Japan but I'm getting more and more undecided about it. All my experience and knowledge tells me that working at a Japanese company is hell on earth, especially in my field. Bad payment, no vacations, working 10 hours a day without extra payment... overall, it just sounds downright horrible.

I won't give up on the language though, I won't be satisfied until I'm just as good at Japanese as English.

Was watching a lot of anime, and I started to understand little bits and pieces here and there. So I figured, why not just learn the language

Plus being able to do stuff like play jrpgs before they get ported would be pretty cool.

Fits in nicely with my other hobby, which is a boardgame popular in japan, Would be able to gain access to a lot of additional books/tools. Play on different servers, etc.

Having pinned hopes on a future in Japan upon graduation, learning the language while in the process of getting an education of higher learning seems logical.

My reasons:

1. Lots of Japanese dialogue-heavy games that were never translated
2. Enjoying Japanese media in general without having to deal with bad translations (such as in anime, games, movies, books, etc.)
3. Being able to work in Japan as a game programmer
4. Being able to translate as a "backup" job in the event that I can't get a job programming

I heard Japanese in utero and was very curious what those sounds were. After getting out of the tiny room, I saw people around me using it to communicate and thought it must be super useful. A few years later I noticed cats spoke a different language. But I had never thought there were humans who didn't understand Japanese other than me. By the time I learned the Japanese word for "foreign language," I was already fluent in Japanese.

My reasons have changed over the years, but in the end it's simple: I want to.

I don't need a better reason than that.

My story is the same as Magamo's--but then gypsies stole me in the night (a rogue terrorist cell, most gypsies aren't like this), and in the ensuing firefight with a crack squad of secret agent special forces sent to rescue me, my brain was injured and I forgot all of my Japanese. Ever since, I have been haunted by my former Japanese knowledge, and vowed to regain it.

Originally? Because it wasn't Spanish/a Romance language. After six years of Latin and three years of Spanish, I wanted something new. So, come college I shopped Chinese and Japanese classes. The Japanese vowels sound much like Spanish vowels, so I chose that.

As to why I am/why I stuck... The literature fascinates me--there's so much more to it than Yoshimoto Banana and Murakami. Mishima, Soseki, Kawabata, Oe, Enichi Fumiko... all wonderful. Kenji Nakagami is also a fun read. But it was actually Okinawan lit that got me hooked. The book, Southern Exposure is worth checking out: http://books.google.com/books?id=6xMuWmE...q=&f=false

Sadly, the preview only covers the introduction, no stories.

I want to read these and others in the original. That's why I study. =)

I think Fuko is the best reason for learning Japanese....haha... :-)


http://www.savefreedom.info/fuko.jpg


http://www.savefreedom.info/fuko2.jpg


http://www.savefreedom.info/fuko3.jpg

On a more serious note, I study Japanese simply because its fun.

I don't know why, but I can study Japanese endlessly and never get
tired of it. I never expected to like Japanese so much, but it just grew on me
after a couple of semesters in college.

I can't really say the same thing about anything else.

Also, I like how Japanese is just completely different from the romance
languages that many people learn in school in the Western world. Mentally, you
have to program your brain to think differently.

The real breakthrough for me was Heisig. It made kanji so fun. Collecting
kanji kind of feels like collecting Pokemon ("gotta catch 'em all").

Also, it's always funny when people see me reading Japanese while riding public transportation. That have this "WTF?" look on their face.

I met a shopkeeper yesterday at a Japanese cafe that I always eat at. For the first time, I ordered everything in Japanese. She was shocked and said "Wait! You SPEAK Japanese!". Then she started to ring up my order in Japanese and talked to me like I was a normal Japanese person. The other Japanese employee next to her turned around and said "Why are you talking to him in Japanese?!!!" and she replied "But he can speak Japanese!" and then insisted on completing my order in Japanese. So when it was all done I said "Arigatou gozaimasu" to her and left. That felt so awesome.. :-)

Reasons for learning Japanese?
It seems like a harmless enough question. Though, at least two threads with almost identical titles have been closed in the last year

I studied Latin through high school and college (planning on a science career) but always wanted to buck the American monolingual trend and learn a modern, spoken language. Then I went to Japan several years ago for business, took a side trip to Kyoto, and have been going back ever since, so Japanese became my obvious choice for a second language. My ultimate goal is communication and understanding on various levels - conversation, business, signage, media. Also, I've always liked having something to study, and Japanese has proven to be inexhaustible in that regard.

For professional reasons. Want a career in international business and the exoticness of Japanese interested me more than other languages.

It's funny, I told one of my friends that i'm learning japanese. And then after like 7 months into the language, i get really good so far. And for some reason he's like "you're being assimilated" I'm like you're too into sci-fi..... lol .Personally i've gotten so into it that i won't stop until i get fluent.

vgambit Wrote:1. Lots of Japanese dialogue-heavy games that were never translated
2. Enjoying Japanese media in general without having to deal with bad translations (such as in anime, games, movies, books, etc.)
3. Being able to work in Japan as a game programmer
4. Being able to translate as a "backup" job in the event that I can't get a job programming

Strangely, these is pretty much identical to my reasons. Except also:

5. I was terrible at languages at school, and want to prove to myself that I can study a second language to fluency.

Those ridiculously oversized tits, again? I see 20+ girls on the subway every day more attractive than her. They might not have 巨乳, but they aren't fat either

Don't get your hopes up about #3. Your chances of getting in as a foreigner are slim to none, and even if you do the pay is roughly minimum wage with a LOT of unpaid overtime.

Also don't get your hopes up about #4. Translation isn't something one just does on the side with no experience. Being able to speak two languages doesn't mean you can translate any more than having having arms and legs means you can be a pro basketball player.

..unless you just want to issue more crap translations like you hated on in #2 The reason that so many translations are crap is because many companies just get "Takeshi in accounting" to translate stuff because he lived in Los Angeles for one year, instead of contracting to a professional translator.

Being a translator means knowing two languages, having very good writing skill in your native language (which you translate into), knowing translation theory, and knowing a technical subject which you'd translate documents relating to. There is some, but not much demand for general translation work. It also pays MUCH less than specialist translation (legal, technology, business, medical, etc).

Jarvik,

Quit frightening the children with reality.

On a serious note, walls and warnings are sometimes there to keep those that don't really want something from getting it. Sometimes they are there to keep those that don't know better from getting hurt. Have the wisdom to distinguish the two.

I remember going to a culture-day back in infants school and from then on I was obsessed with Japanese culture, eventually deciding to learn the language. It's true that part of the reason I carry on now is just 'cause I started and it'd be a waste ;P