In the dictionary I'm looking at, there are two meanings of "ambitious":
1) having a strong desire and determination to succeed
and
2) intended to satisfy high aspirations and therefore difficult to achieve.

These days, I imagine "ambitious" to have undertones of "you can't do that, can you". But in my book, there's no sane reason why it should be so. Many things are difficult, but millions of people have done them. Look back into the past, and you will see that we are doing what was once impossible millions of times every day.

What's ambitious to one person is trivial to the next, and impossible to another. So don't judge other people's goals. You know your own limits, and what's safe and what's stretching you, and what's overstretching you (at the moment). You also know your own dreams, and if you have the courage to believe in even one little grain of sand out of your dream, then I think you're on the way to something good!

OK, so I just wanted to give you a bit of encouragement there. If you think I'm nuts, I'll meet you in Aisle 7 next to the cashews

The subject of this thread is: post your ambitious goal here. If you have a goal/dream/wish that you want to achieve, but you think it's a bit too much to realistically entertain, post it here. If you want to do something but you're scared of being laughed at, now's the time. If you are an acorn but you like the idea of being an oak, go for it!

It could be anything, Japanese-related or not. But it's in public so you don't have to say too much. You could also use a secret code - I want to XXX XX XXXX or so on (no guessing, folks! ). This may seem a bit strange but I think it would be OK because only you will know what it means, but you'll still be able to look back on your post and be reminded of your wish.

Or you could just say "I have an ambitious goal".

Well, anyway, let's not be too serious. I just thought it would be healthy to stretch ourselves a bit. PS I hope nobody will attack our dreams, hey? This is a fairly peaceful forum after all! (We can go anywhere for discouragement!)

TLDR: you-want-do-big-thing? write-here!

My ambitious Japanese-goal (that I'm scared of admitting in public) is that I'd like to one day pass the Level 1 Kanji Kentei.

I'm not setting a time limit for that. I don't like exams, but I thought that if I could do this, it would sort of be fun. My friend passed it when he was 15 (he is Japanese) so I have a role model!

OK I have admitted it. I don't know if it's possible, impossible, useless, or what, but I'm motivated and interested, and I enjoy this type of thing. If I could do it all day every day, I would (maybe I should make that my ambitious goal).

I want to pass Kanji Kentei one day, maybe when I'm 30 (or older X.X). Right now there's a stack of books I'm wanting to get through.

I'm supporting you!

Looks like it could be an interesting thread, but what's your goal?

Recently I've been toying with the idea of a working holiday in Japan. I should have almost a year of free time between conservatoir auditions and the start of the next year, so it might be possible, but it will still be difficult. I still need to get some A-levels, though I'm happy studying them alone, or long distance, so that shouldn't stop me going. I'll also need to look in to getting a double bass to play there. That seems almost impossible, but maybe I could go for a shorter amount of time without it. On top of this I would need to get much better at Japanese.

I don't even know what their criteria are for granting visas, which is basically why I'm posting this here; It's not just a vague thought anyomore. I'm at least going to seriously investigate what I would need to do.

I slightly less important goal: I need to convince my little brother that apostraphes are not used to denote plurals. Right now he keeps pointing at mistakes and citing them as proof.

Edit: seems I missed alot while I was typing. :/

vinniram Wrote:I want to pass Kanji Kentei one day, maybe when I'm 30 (or older X.X). Right now there's a stack of books I'm wanting to get through.

that's definitely ambitious. You must love kanji. Actually I like kanji, still learning it. Even though I'm past the 2000 common ones.

i know you've probably heard this before, ta12121, but reading some of your posts, your level of dedication and obsession to Japanese is kind of inspiring it makes me want to push myself harder. I do love kanji, but I think for the time being I'm going to focus on getting through KIC, and then I'll think about tackling the 4065 remaining kanjis.

i want to have children with 30 different women and not have to financially support them!!!




...

>_>



<_<

I don't think these ambitions are too much to realistically entertain, but they're certainly not easy to achieve. Anyway, on to my goals:

1. Obtain PhD before or at 25-years-old (I'm 21 now and I'll finish my MA next semester).
2. Find a tenure-track university position in Japan.

On a separate (but hopefully insightful) note, I'm always cautious of goal setting. People often set goals and pursue them without even considering the ultimate purpose of such goals. I'm talking about goals like: "I want a BMW five years after I graduate college" or "I want to be married before I'm 30". It's only later, after achieving these goals, does one realize that the brand new BMW leaves them feeling empty or that they married the wrong person because they rushed things along.

The mistake in most of these cases lies in the belief that happiness is something hiding in the future that must be toiled over in order to achieve. On the contrary, happiness is something that is readily waiting to be found at every moment. Approaching goals with this in mind, I think, creates goals that we enjoy pursuing rather than goals that we dread.

I wanna be president of the world!

...But seriously, my goals are pretty tangible these days.
> Help others.
> Influence society.
> Have the freedom to pursue whatever interest I like.
> Fluent at Japanese and a few other languages.
> Settle down with a nice lady.

There, my life's ambitions laid out before you.

I'd like to be able to function on a near-native level Japanese someday.

And I'd like to find a career niche that I enjoy, and where I can succeed and excel in.

The goal driving me now is to pass JLPT Level 1. It's probably not that ambitious of a goal for most people here, but it's still a long way off for me

Thinking very long term/ambitious, I want to negotiate high level business in japanese, and unrelatedly read the original works of Miyamoto Musashi and other fuedal and contemporary master martial artists, and be able to attend and comprehend fully classes without an interpreter (far more difficult than it sounds as my teacher often speaks in riddles, uses old japanese, and makes prolific references to japanese buddhism).

mafried Wrote:(far more difficult than it sounds as my teacher often speaks in riddles, uses old japanese, and makes prolific references to japanese buddhism).

I gotta see this dude in action.

This

mafried Wrote:The goal driving me now is to pass JLPT Level 1.

+
This

wemaydance Wrote:I'd like to be able to function on a near-native level Japanese someday.

And I'd like to find a career niche that I enjoy, and where I can succeed and excel in.

vinniram Wrote:i know you've probably heard this before, ta12121, but reading some of your posts, your level of dedication and obsession to Japanese is kind of inspiring it makes me want to push myself harder. I do love kanji, but I think for the time being I'm going to focus on getting through KIC, and then I'll think about tackling the 4065 remaining kanjis.

I wouldn't call it an obsession.Obsession would be me going up to everyone I know and say learn japanese through anki,reading,immersing. Check this and this out,etc,etc.
I basically just put it in with my life at the moment.

I thing I'm still not sure is, what motivates me, I can't come up with an answer. (Seriously)

mafried Wrote:The goal driving me now is to pass JLPT Level 1. It's probably not that ambitious of a goal for most people here, but it's still a long way off for me

Thinking very long term/ambitious, I want to negotiate high level business in japanese, and unrelatedly read the original works of Miyamoto Musashi and other fuedal and contemporary master martial artists, and be able to attend and comprehend fully classes without an interpreter (far more difficult than it sounds as my teacher often speaks in riddles, uses old japanese, and makes prolific references to japanese buddhism).

Definitely same here, especially the readings

What does this guy teach?

Have people not be able to tell I'm a gaijin on the phone. So, native-level, accentless Japanese.

fakewookie Wrote:Have people not be able to tell I'm a gaijin on the phone. So, native-level, accentless Japanese.

You gotta listen a lot to get that accent-less jp

vinniram Wrote:What does this guy teach?

Ninjutsu. Of course most of his lessons are "punch here, move here." Occationally we sit down and talk philosophy, implications, etc. That's the most interesting and when the esoteric speech comes out.

mafried Wrote:

vinniram Wrote:What does this guy teach?

Ninjutsu. Of course most of his lessons are "punch here, move here." Occationally we sit down and talk philosophy, implications, etc. That's the most interesting and when the esoteric speech comes out.

I'd love to be able to go to 日本 and dedicate myself to something like that, or 碁, or 将棋, or anything really.

Goal:
Retire at 50 to a beach house in my home country and travel my life away one country at a time. I need something in excess of US$1.5 million. I am on target for maybe getting there at 75. I need more money!!!

Goal:

acquire currency and travel to Japan, korea, italy, and france all in one trip purely for luxury and learning, before I turn 30.

I'm the type of guy that thinks if you're not enjoying yourself, you're not doing it right. call my MR. Instant Gratification

oh and some in between goals:

-get into a decent college
-get a degree in something enjoyable
-get some kind of job that I like

Currently:
* Become fluent in Japanese
* Get into a good uni, do philosophy
* Go on the JET program
* Do a masters in Japanese/Advanced Japanese
* Eventually become a teacher of Japanese

and there we have it.

Pass Kanken 1
Reach a level in classical Japanese where I won't need to look up stuff every two minutes
Learn Korean, Mandarin and maybe Hokkien and/or Cantonese to fluency
Become a respected polyglot
Grow a beard