I think it’s definitely to defeat…in order to explore? I moved to Japan in August and I didn’t speak a lick of Japanese, doing this in partnership with other Japanese learning materials… I think I see Japanese learning-WaniKani in particular as tool I can use to defeat the monsters in my way to the big boss (language acquisition!) Knowing the language will be the tool to help me understand things easier, the more I unlock and learn, the more I understand my surroundings!
2 Likes
Yes! I see it like some big endless code to try to crack. I think that’s part of why I get so much enjoyment out of playing visual novel-type games in Japanese, especially for mystery stories. It adds another layer to figure out like some sort of giant meta puzzle.
Being in Japan has also made me wish my conversation skills were better. There’s so many things I’d like to ask people about but the words fail me. I’m noticing myself getting better with time though and hopefully you will too! What area are you in, if you don’t mind me asking?
This is how I view writing kanji. It’s something that calms me down, focusing on the strokes, the order, the balance, the new vocab meanings. Sometimes I write out long lists of names to clear my head.
Part of the allure of it in the beginning was that this was something I had full permission to fail at. Nobody had any expectation for me to learn Japanese nor would there be any consequences if I failed. Likewise, if I succeeded, it was only for my own benefit. It’s powerful to have a thing where you feel like “this is just for me.” No deadlines or standards or expectations.
4 Likes
Thanks! I’ve been here a little over a year and I’m definitely starting to feel the difference between now and when I got here. Now the hard part is learning to read between the lines of Japanese societal norms 
Yes exactly! Unfortunately my skills were a little slow to develop and my most common exposure to Japanese is in class, so I never really had the chance to learn how to reply in conversations while my ability to listen and make semi thought-out sentences got better 
I’m in the mountainsides of Fukushima! How about yourself?
2 Likes
I’m only here for a short time, currently going through Shikoku. I went to the Touhoku region last time though and absolutely loved it. Fukushima mountainside sounds lovely. I really love the Japanese countryside, although I’ve never experienced actually living there. Touhoku dialect takes some getting used to too Are you helping run a class or enrolled in one yourself?
2 Likes
It’s one of my hobbies, so I guess somewhere between play and explore? As a couple of other people said, I often enjoy it from a kind of nerdy perspective. I partly chose Japanese to study because it’s so divorced from any of the European languages I am familiar with, which makes it endlessly fascinating to me. I just like learning, honestly.
There is no ‘need’ for me to learn Japanese, and I can’t imagine I’ll get particularly good at it any time soon, if ever. I guess I’d like to get good enough to read relatively comfortably, so that I can at least continue doing that, if not actively studying. I don’t want to forget everything.
That said, my itch to pick up French is growing stronger by the day, and I feel like I need to reach some level of proficiency in Japanese before I can shift my focus. I can’t work out what that level would be though in order to aim to defeat it
7 Likes
I wonder if it will feel harder or easier than Japanese 
Well, I actually studied French at school, from age 11 - 16, so I’m certainly hoping that initially it will feel way easier, because I’ll constantly be like “OH I REMEMBER THIS!” I hope
I think after that initial honeymoon period it will feel way harder because I’m terrible at pronouncing French (the subtle differences in vowel sounds kill me) and you have genders and loads of irregular verbs and other mean things like that 
It’s just absurd to me that I can’t produce more than a sentence or two in a language I studied for five years so I am back to conquer it! Or at least mildly brush up on it.
3 Likes
I started on a whim and now it’s become a habit I guess… If i had to pick I’d say exploration for now, and play if I ever good enough
1 Like
When I studied the language, I saw it as something to conquer. Certain grammar to express certain things, certain vocab to expand my ability to talk about certain topics. I built on that, and when I eventually moved here, I immersed myself in the language.
I was at a solid intermediate level when I came, after 3 years of self-study. These days, I’m working on making the kanji my own… the last province my troops didn’t fully invade yet 
3 Likes
Ahhh very nice! I’d love to make it down that way while I’m living here. So much to see, so little time 
I’ve got experience living in a big city back home before this, and I’ve gotta say this is definitely way more my speed. Gorgeous all year round, the sense of community is so much stronger, and everyone is so easy going. Yea Tohoku-ben was a pretty big hurdle in the beginning. My area actually has an even more localized dialect called Aizu-ben, and I live pretty deep in the corners of Aizu the hardest thing was getting used to all the た/かs etc. turning into だ/がs. That and everything being shortened all the time.
Oh sorry, I should clarify, I meant during English class at the school I work at, not during Japanese class if only there were classes in my tiny town I could even go to. Self study with the Crabigator will just have to do I guess!
3 Likes
You’re back!
2 Likes
I stopped learning French for 10 years and when I picked it up again, the first 2 days were very difficult but after that it was like I just encountered an old friend. Lots of things are buried in your brain that need just a bit of coaxing to re-surface.
4 Likes
Je n’ai pas de gants ?… La belle affaire !
Il m’en restait un seul… d’une très vieille paire !
– Lequel m’était d’ailleurs encor fort importun :
Je l’ai laissé dans la figure de quelqu’un. D:<
Well that’s somewhat reassuring, thank you! I had a terrible vocabulary even at the time, but we’ll see how it goes…
I don’t have [something]? The beautiful / great affair!
[Something] remains?? with me??.. of one very something pair!
[Some words that I recognise but don’t understand] AGAIN strongly? unfortunate?
I [past tensed] it in the… um… figure of something or someone?
NAILED IT
3 Likes
hey naph 
yeah, i had a lot going on irl, which burnt all my energy, so i put wk on ice - might just have been a convenient time to get rid of the program, because i felt kinda stuck.
i’m never far away tho, hehe… and i tend to get further each time
2 Likes
for me it’s a little bit of exploration and play.
I want to learn Japanese to connect with people. The world is a big place, with many different people, cultures, and point of views. I want to learn it all (I know I never will, but the language is a decent place to start). It’s also a way of connecting with my late grandmother, who lived in japan for a time and fell in love with the culture, teaching me about it when I was younger.
I like many people here, also love anime and manga, and want to be able to watch/read more of it in the natural way it was produced and meant to be consumed.
2 Likes
This topic was automatically closed 365 days after the last reply. New replies are no longer allowed.