Hello, everyone

[Chigaimasu]

I am a Japanese language student from Atlanta, GA. I have been listening to JapanesePod101 for a few weeks now, and I've got to say I really love it. I started at the beginning of the podcasts, and I'm only in the middle of last February, but they are really great. I just wanted to say "Hello." :)

[Airth]

Hi Chigaimasu, you chose an interesting name! Hello to you over there in Atlanta, I'm up in the mountains in the middle of Nagano Prefecture.
So, how is your Japanese coming along? Have you been studying for very long?

[Chigaimasu]

My Japanese is coming along fairly well. I can converse with my friends who are also studying it, but I don't know many kanji, so I have trouble reading it. I have been studying Japanese since 2003, but I haven't really had anyone to practice speaking with until this year. Ever since I started learning Japanese, this has been my screen name. I feel it fits well. :)

[Airth]

It's too bad that you had to wait so long before you found someone to practice with. I've been lucky and have always had people to speak Japanese with since I started in 1999. Also living in Japan I use Japanese more than English, though it often feels like I'm never improving. At least you have the internet to get some exposure to the language.

The whole kanji thing can be frustrating, can't it? I decided in my second year of study to never say learning them was difficult, simply that they are time-consuming to absorb. Certainly, they have been a barrier to accessing new material, but I think I am almost there now.