For me it's super hard to describe to people.  It's not because of anything per say.  It's like asking a mother why she loves her children.  She just does. 

It just feels right. 

Btw, before I get good enough where I can figure out how to say this on my own, how would I say my reasoning I just put in Japanese?  Because Japanese people would always ask me this last time I lived in Japan and I feel it will happen again.

Edit: oh and I started studying it when I failed out of college and had to move back in with my parents and start back up again from community college.  I was in a frat at my last university and was out of control with partying.  I needed something else to focus on.  I figured a language would be good, and Japanese was the best funded program out of all the languages at the 4 year university I eventually entered. 

After studying for 2 years I went on a trip to Japan.  That's when I decided I wanted to make Japan my home.  A few years later I got a job in Japan.  That's when I really saw how much I liked Japanese.  I just neglected to study the language when I was there.  Was enjoying wayyyy too much.

Last edited by jacf29 (2009 October 17, 1:00 am)

jcdietz03 wrote:

jacf29, your reason sounds like #10.

It started out as that, but it has evolved into something more.  If it were just self improvement I could stay in America and continue with that.

I've been asked this multiple times, and I had no answer. Which is a problem. Why the hell am I learning Japanese?

If I had to give one reason I am learning Japanese, the reason would be: because I enjoy anime and manga (and Japanese videogames, to a lesser extent). I'm sure the image of a stereotypical American otaku just flashed into many of your minds. Fortunately, that image has very little in common with me; plus, saying that I'm learning Japanese because of anime is a bit of an oversimplification, so let me elaborate.

I don't have to learn Japanese to watch anime, obviously. I've been watching and keeping up with anime for the last 8 years, and I've only just recently started getting serious about learning Japanese. However, understanding Japanese would obviously open up a lot more movies and series to me, which would be nice, but not nice enough to be a real source of motivation.

I believe that the REAL reason I'm learning Japanese is simply because I want to learn another language. Anime, and such Japanese media, have only given me an excuse and a target language. I think that learning an additional language would, in essence, open up a whole new world to explore. That notion excites me, and is the true source of my motivation. I just have Japanese animation to thank for helping me choose which world to work on opening up.
     Although it would be awfully nice to be able to look away from the screen while watching anime and still have a clue what's going on.

Also, a few more reasons that I picked Japanese to learn:

      1: It's rare to find an American with no Japanese lineage that understands the Japanese language. In fact, I don't personally know ANYONE that speaks Japanese (I don't even know anyone of Japanese lineage, unfortunately.)

      2: It's COMPLETELY different from English.

      3: Spoken Japanese sounds beautiful to me.

      4: And borrowing from mattimus above, the "perceived difficulty of Asian languages". Easy will bore me. The sense of accomplishing something difficult is enticing.

In reference to beerninja's post, my reasons would fall under 1 through 5, Japanese media, with a huge dose of 10, personal improvement. A lot of folk around me seem to assume that reason 9 and 11 are reasons; they are certainly not. I'm far too much of a loner for either of those. More women = less time for myself.

Last edited by brandon7s (2009 October 17, 3:21 am)

Using your list of reasons above, I'd say I'm in it for number 1, 2, 4, 5, 6 and a bit too much of 10.

Books would be the main reason, I think, followed closely by manga (which are pretty much the same as other books, except easier and with more pretty pictures – I tend to choose manga when I'm tired and just reading for relaxation). Movies/anime and games have been a contributing factor, as well, but lately I've been neglecting them since I just don't have the time.

Though I find the "experience Japanese culture" a bit vague (and partially covered by the reasons above), I would like to go to Japan again at some point, since I grew quite fond of Tokyo. I suppose my interest in budo (no, not grapes) also fits here.

I do tend to tie my self-worth to my progress with Japanese, especially when other aspects of my life aren't going just according to 計画. Of course, this only makes things worse, as a retention rate below ~92% can pretty much ruin my day when I'm in this mood.

Business opportunities, love and sex... I'm pretty sure I'd stand more of a chance in those areas if I didn't spend all my spare time grinding flashcards. Fortunately, "引き籠り" doesn't sound as bad when you can write it in kanji. Maybe.

I'd like to add one more reason, being that RtK got me hooked on kanji to the point where I just keep learning them for the heck of it, regardless of whether they are actually useful.

Learning a language takes time. That time could have been used/wasted watching tv you don't care about just because it's on. Since starting to learn Japanese, I've basically stopped watching all English tv. After some period of time, I'll have gained decent use of a new language while others will have watched a bunch of seasons of shows that pay no long-term dividends, or sports seasons or whatever. I would argue that following 2-3 full sports seasons each year is much more a waste of time.

In the end, learning Japanese is fun, and that's all anyone needs to know. If asked what's the point, ask what's the point in their doing activity X. No one justifies their hobbies or how they spend their free time and so neither should you.

Last edited by plumage (2009 October 17, 10:47 pm)

I'm learning Korean, mostly because I'm absolutely addicted to KPOP but I love language-learning in general. I want native-level fluency.

beerninja wrote:

I What really frustrates me is that I have seen more than 3 separate native Japanese people (or at least appear native) playing games that were intended for a teenager or young adult and they had trouble reading the dialogue out loud.  I don’t mean like a 5 second long “hmm”…I mean a full on 45 second long had no idea how to read some kanji and had to ask people in the chat room kind of thing.  For all I know that word could have been a crucial part of the sentence.  Maybe it’s just something I’m concentrating way too hard on.

There's a good chance that dialog was filled with unnecessarily complicated words... Which means that there is good chance you are concentrating on this way too hard.