Why did you start learning Japanese?

[Brian]

I didn't choose Japanese, Japanese chose me. and I'll be marrying her in a month.

なんて幸運なんだ、おめでとうございますっ
こちらこそ、日本語は美しいですけども日本人もちょう美しいですね。(...笑)

頑張って

そうですね。特に僕の婚約者です。「もちろん」と思わなければなりませんね（笑）。　

今日本語が好きだけど前は中国を学びたかった。バンクーバーに住んでいますから。バンクーバーは中国人が一杯います。多分人々の中でアジア人が6５％です。すごいですね。

ええ…ものすごいですよ。私は知らなかった。
私も中国語をいつか勉強したい、でも発音が本当に難しいですね。
ちなみに、この日本語の練習のおかげで、ありがとうございました。これからも宜しくお願いします。

[tintinium]

I didn't choose Japanese, Japanese chose me. and I'll be marrying her in a month.

なんて幸運なんだ、おめでとうございますっ
こちらこそ、日本語は美しいですけども日本人もちょう美しいですね。(...笑)

頑張って

そうですね。特に僕の婚約者です。「もちろん」と思わなければなりませんね（笑）。　

今日本語が好きだけど前は中国を学びたかった。バンクーバーに住んでいますから。バンクーバーは中国人が一杯います。多分人々の中でアジア人が6５％です。すごいですね。

ええ…ものすごいですよ。私は知らなかった。
私も中国語をいつか勉強したい、でも発音が本当に難しいですね。
ちなみに、この日本語の練習のおかげで、ありがとうございました。これからも宜しくお願いします。

いいえ、僕も練習が必要です。結婚式で皆さんの日本人の前で日本語で話さなければなりません。ちょっと怖い事です。因って、こちらこそありがとうございます。所で日本に行った事がありますか。

[Brian]

I didn't choose Japanese, Japanese chose me. and I'll be marrying her in a month.

なんて幸運なんだ、おめでとうございますっ
こちらこそ、日本語は美しいですけども日本人もちょう美しいですね。(...笑)

頑張って

そうですね。特に僕の婚約者です。「もちろん」と思わなければなりませんね（笑）。　

今日本語が好きだけど前は中国を学びたかった。バンクーバーに住んでいますから。バンクーバーは中国人が一杯います。多分人々の中でアジア人が6５％です。すごいですね。

ええ…ものすごいですよ。私は知らなかった。
私も中国語をいつか勉強したい、でも発音が本当に難しいですね。
ちなみに、この日本語の練習のおかげで、ありがとうございました。これからも宜しくお願いします。

いいえ、僕も練習が必要です。結婚式で皆さんの日本人の前で日本語で話さなければなりません。ちょっと怖い事です。因って、こちらこそありがとうございます。所で日本に行った事がありますか。

ううん、日本に行った事はありません、でも行きたい。
しかし、先ずは未だもっともっと勉強しろと思います。

[The Frankensteiner]

Agh!
I can't understand anything on the second page..

[tintinium]

ううん、日本に行った事はありません、でも行きたい。
しかし、先ずは未だもっともっと勉強しろと思います。

いいえ、違います。もし日本に行ったら、日本語で話す事を必要じゃない。でも行く時はカタカナを勉強する必要。

[Brian]

ううん、日本に行った事はありません、でも行きたい。
しかし、先ずは未だもっともっと勉強しろと思います。

いいえ、違います。もし日本に行ったら、日本語で話す事を必要じゃない。でも行く時はカタカナを勉強する必要。

Well I may have the opportunity to go to Japan for a year on a university exchange program, but you need to be an intermediate level speaker in order to go. Up until this point I've just been learning the language on my own without being in a classroom environment where I can practice speaking. I'm sure you can probably survive in Japan with almost zero Japanese but for my path there I need to improve my speaking much more. By the way, how long have you been studying the language?

[tintinium]

ううん、日本に行った事はありません、でも行きたい。
しかし、先ずは未だもっともっと勉強しろと思います。

いいえ、違います。もし日本に行ったら、日本語で話す事を必要じゃない。でも行く時はカタカナを勉強する必要。

Well I may have the opportunity to go to Japan for a year on a university exchange program, but you need to be an intermediate level speaker in order to go. Up until this point I've just been learning the language on my own without being in a classroom environment where I can practice speaking. I'm sure you can probably survive in Japan with almost zero Japanese but for my path there I need to improve my speaking much more. By the way, how long have you been studying the language?

Sorry Frankenstein. I'll try not to use too much 日本語。　

Brian, I can see your point about the language. I'd say go for it on the exchange program. I was surprised upon going to Japan, about how useful katakana was. Which, on the first time I went, was quite rusty. I had only 3 months of Japanese under my belt then. Since then, I've been back once. I've been learning for about 16 months. From 0 knowledge to now. Went through the Pimsleur program, used the internet, took a few night courses, once weekly, for a few of those months, and try to ask my fiancee when I have questions. However, she's not a natural translator, and we converse in English with about 10-15% Japanese thrown in there for expressions like がんばって　and other useful expressions.

I LOVE languages, but to tell you the truth, I probably would've chosen Chinese, had I not met my soon to be wife. Much much more useful in general and on the West Coast.

[Satsujin]

I got married in Japan and had to do the chikai kotoba and the sansan kudo. I had actually memorized it (chikai kotoba) and then before the cermony they handed me a sheet to read off of...well if I had known that I wouldn't have spent so much time memorizing it...but at least I didn't have to worry about not knowing the kanji readings.

Brian, good luck on the marriage. Is your ceremony going to be in the shinto or buddist or the "christian" style? I am sure you have already know what to expect but if you want to ask someone who has been through it already feel free to ask.

nihongo mo ok desu ga itsudemo shigoto chu kono forum wo miru kara shokuba no pasokon wo tsukatteimasu. Sore de nihongo wo yomeru kedo utsu koto ga dekimasen.

[Brian]

Well I may have the opportunity to go to Japan for a year on a university exchange program, but you need to be an intermediate level speaker in order to go. Up until this point I've just been learning the language on my own without being in a classroom environment where I can practice speaking. I'm sure you can probably survive in Japan with almost zero Japanese but for my path there I need to improve my speaking much more. By the way, how long have you been studying the language?

Sorry Frankenstein. I'll try not to use too much 日本語。　

Brian, I can see your point about the language. I'd say go for it on the exchange program. I was surprised upon going to Japan, about how useful katakana was. Which, on the first time I went, was quite rusty. I had only 3 months of Japanese under my belt then. Since then, I've been back once. I've been learning for about 16 months. From 0 knowledge to now. Went through the Pimsleur program, used the internet, took a few night courses, once weekly, for a few of those months, and try to ask my fiancee when I have questions. However, she's not a natural translator, and we converse in English with about 10-15% Japanese thrown in there for expressions like がんばって　and other useful expressions.

I LOVE languages, but to tell you the truth, I probably would've chosen Chinese, had I not met my soon to be wife. Much much more useful in general and on the West Coast.

That's great that you can throw some Japanese phrases in there that don't have English equivalents. A pleasant side effect of learning Japanese has been the discovery of just how much language influences the way we think.

Par exemplum: すみません
‘Thank you for going to the trouble on my account, forgive me for being a burden on you.’
It’s a blurry line between I’m sorry/Excuse me/Thank you.

or imagine trying to say something like お疲れ様 in english. 'Mr. tired?'

The Japanese quest to be polite and homogenous has lead to the language being ambiguous and unassuming. In English we strive to be precise and direct while maintaing our individuality and creativite thinking. Perhaps the former is good for interpersonal relations and disciplined collective effort while the latter is suited for creative scientific or artistic achievement.

I started out on the Pimsleur program for the first 2 months till I realized just using Pimsleur for one hour a day may be a good introduction, but it doesn't get you very far in the grand scheme of things. At that point I took a couple weeks to learn the kana and subsequently immersed myself in the language wherever I could find it.

So it's been about 5 months since I got out of a near Pimsleur death trap. Now I've realized the only way to learn a language on your own is to take it up as a hobby (more like an obsession). I think I'm hooked on languages now; I had to restrain myself last month from the tempting idea of taking up Mandarin simultaneously with Japanese.

Before all of this I had flirted with learning Arabic but I realized there just aren't enough resources out there on the net as yet, combined with the fact that attempting proper pronounciation recalls the horrors of hearing the French language butchered in my junior high French class.

Hopefully Japanese will be a good gateway to further language study in the future (at least I don't think I'll ever run into a more complicated writing system).

[Charles]

I started learning Japanese basically because I can't stand not being able to understand it. Sure I'm attracted to the culture, art, and literature, but I feel a need to occupy myself with something that appears labrynthian. :)

ティンティニウムさん、お目出度う。私も日本語で勉強に成りました。

[tintinium]

I started learning Japanese basically because I can't stand not being able to understand it. Sure I'm attracted to the culture, art, and literature, but I feel a need to occupy myself with something that appears labrynthian.

ティンティニウムさん、お目出度う。私も日本語で勉強に成りました。

ありがとう！もう少し結婚する。

I can relate to loving the language, and not standing being able to understand it. I LONG for 100% fluency and I'm able to keep my motivation going because of that. aCtually, jpod101 really helps in keeping my mind from becoming 鈍い。

Satsujin, i think your question was for me... right? Both my fiancée and I are Jehovah's Witnesses, so we're getting married in the Christian style. It would be the same were we to marry in Japan. We wouldn't incorporate any of the Shinto or Buddist customs. Actually, we won't use many of the "Christian" customs most people think of either, as their origins aren't really christian at all, or more accurately, not biblically based. Hope that makes sense. Thanks for the offer though!

It's interesting, actually, because even we both study the same things and learn the same things each week... which means there are a lot less issues with idealogical conflicts, there are still some very interesting differences due to language and being able to read expressions. But I guess marriage is all about compromise, isn't it?

Satsujin, are you Japan now?

[ali17]

I got into Kenpo and then I started to watch anime and then my husband came into my life and he had taken it in High School and so he taught me a little. Manga and Anime are very popular in Seattle.

Mizu o kudasai? Was the only thing I could say for like a year.

I had my daughter and I really wanted to expose her to other languages early since american schools are not that good at it so I figured that I would have to learn it myself to teach it to her. I was really happy to find this pocast after I got my ipod in Jan. It has already helped me learn so much more than just listening to anime where I learn a new word every now and then.

My daughter and I listen together and I think that she already understands more than I do. She is only 3.

[m0u5y]

Well, because knowing European languages I wanted to try something different and challanging. Although from here I will most likely do mandarin though, Japanese was kind of a hobby that will most likely aid me if I get accepted for an internship as a linguist.

[tarokun]

One reason: FF XII

[refebure]

I actually wanted to learn Chinese. When I was in second grade I was given a book about China and fell in love with hanzi. But it's really difficult to learn any language other than english in this country so I gave up.

In highschool, with access to the internet I could finally learn any language I wanted. I met someone who spoke Mandarin and Japanese and she advised me to learn Japanese instead as it was easier.

Every day I thank her for introducing me to this amazing language