Monthly Archives: May 2015

Your Japanese Doesn’t Have To Be 100% Perfect All The Time

Posted on by

Learning Japanese has taught me a lot about the whole concept of language and how it is used to communicate.    Keep in mind that Japanese, just like English, is a living language.  It is constantly evolving.  Which kinda means that you can study all day every day, and you still won’t know everything.  While you are busy studying old Japanese grammar points to death, new, better, faster streamlined speech patterns are forming everyday.  Just like English!

The deeper you get into learning Japanese, you begin to realize that it is perfectly fine to be lazy and leave out particles, leave out certain syllables, smash two syllables together, etc.  Of course, you should still devote a bit of effort to learn formal Japanese, but in my particular case, the only time I will ever really need to use formal Japanese is if I ever find a Japanese girlfriend and I have to meet her parents.  I probably won’t ever work for a Japanese company or have to be super formal being a foreigner, so I spend most my time speaking casually.

My point is — make Japanese your own.  Don’t be afraid to spell or say things weird on purpose.  You probably butcher the English language everyday without even knowing it.  You could possibly be the most redneck, funky-sounding English speaker alive, but yet the people you talk to understand your English just fine.  See what I’m getting at?  Don’t be afraid to speak or write or type weird ass Japanese.  As long as you’re understood, nobody will bat an eye.  In fact, your Japanese may even sound more native the more you “play” with it.  Have fun with it.  Make it your own.  Be a Japanese “redneck”! YEEHAW!

Reasons Why You Shouldn’t SHOULD Learn Japanese

Posted on by

Okay friends I believe I have a good post for today!  I want to talk about reasons why you SHOULD learn Japanese.

(This is in response to all the articles I’ve come across about reasons why you shouldn’t learn it.  There are valid reasons why you shouldn’t learn it, and reasons why you wouldn’t need to learn it, but they weren’t enough to convince me to quit learning.)

First of all, who cares why anyone decides to learn Japanese.  We all have our own reasons why we are drawn to the language.  No need to put others down for not sharing the same reasons.  For me, it’s like I’m a mosquito and Japanese is the headlight of a car speeding down a desert highway at night.  I have no idea why I’m drawn to the language but apparently I have no problem with letting it kill me.  I have this unexplainable underlying desire to master Japanese even though I’m pretty sure I will never get to that point.

During my years of learning Japanese, I’ve come across a few blog posts and YouTube videos from people who list reasons why you SHOULDN’T learn Japanese.  The two big reasons I seem to see/hear everywhere are:

1.) It’s going to take a really long time to reach any kind of fluency… Typically between 3-7 years.  In other words, prepare for the long haul if you really want it that bad, especially for “little to no return” on time invested.

I do agree with the above. It’s gonna take a long time.  And depending on what you expect from all the sweat, blood and tears you put into learning Japanese, you could very well be spending all that time “learning how to play the guitar and get women to have sex with you” as one blog post I read put it.  Look, studying Japanese doesn’t necessarily have to take your whole life away.  You just have to keep it fun so it never feels like you’re studying.  I mean, really, if I wanted to learn how to play guitar I could have very well picked up my electric guitar (that I bought and never use) to learn to play it at the same time I started learning Japanese.  Think of all that time you spend just being a lazy ass.  Well there you go, there’s your “guitar learning” time.

2.) Speaking Japanese will make you “less popular” with native Japanese people.

I also do agree with this second big reason why you might not want to spend so much time learning Japanese, especially if you plan on visiting or living in Japan.  I did sort of experience this while visiting.  When I first got there, I wanted to speak (or practice rather) Japanese all the time.  But by the 4th or 5th day and after a couple big mistakes I made while speaking, I realized its much better to speak English first and only use Japanese when absolutely necessary, or when it’s many times quicker to say something short in Japanese than it would be to say in English.  Just like Japanese sounds exotic to you, English sounds exotic to them.  I started to realize my interactions in Japan went much more pleasantly and smoothly after I developed this sort of English/Japanese hybrid way of speaking.  It was hard to get used to at first since I wanted to speak Japanese all the time, but after I realized “Hey, I can survive in Japan just fine with my current Japanese skills,” I began to let go a bit and not try so hard to speak Japanese.

So we’ve quickly just reviewed the two most common reasons “why you shouldn’t learn Japanese” that I’ve come across.  They aren’t necessarily meant to be discouraging, but they are definitely worth pondering and giving some thought.

Now for the meat of this post.  Here are five reasons (in no particular order) that I’ve come up with as to why you SHOULD learn Japanese:

#1 – Do it for yourself

Despite the fact that speaking Japanese will make you “less sensational” with native Japanese speakers, being able to enjoy your favorite Japanese media (TV, music, movies, anime, manga, video games) is well worth the time invested in my humble opinion.  I get a sense of accomplishment being able to “step into a different, completely foreign realm” so to speak and get the gist of what’s going on around me.  I realize I will never use my Japanese language skills to rule the world.  And I’m OK with that.

#2 – It’s like coming into contact with something exotic and beautiful, that gets even more beautiful the more you try to understand it

This reason might be a little subjective for some people.  What might be interesting to me about the Japanese culture might not be so interesting to you.  And also because there will be ups and downs during the whole process of trying to understand and learn Japanese and the culture.  But how can you enjoy the ups when there are no downs?  As I go along turning over each little stone that is Japanese, as I continue taking each little baby step to understanding just a little more, there have been countless times where I was thankful that I decided to study that day when I was so close to saying “Ahh, forget it I’ll do it tomorrow.”

#3 – It becomes a part of you

I really started to feel this way after I developed my English/Japanese hybrid speaking while in Japan.  Even though my Japanese skills are beginner-intermediate at best, being able to have fun conversations with random people at izakayas was one of the best feelings in the world.  Getting the gist of whats being said is all it takes to keep the conversation going, and trying to understand each other is part of the fun!  Lots of smiles and laughs to be had.  Being able to keep the conversation going at a Japanese pub gave me the sense that I was “half way up the hill” to ultimate mastery.  I started to see the payoff from all the time spent studying and it was a beautiful thing — and still continues to be so!  Eventually you’ll become so good that you won’t even notice you understand so much Japanese until you take a step back and realize you’re a freakin’ ninja with this shit.  The more you expose yourself to the language the more it becomes a part of you.  You’ll probably never be able to pinpoint the exact moment when you finally become “fluent” because it will just sort of happen.  But let’s save the whole notion of fluency for a future post.

#4 – Those “LEVEL UP” moments

You know what I’m talking about.  You can just be going about your day, mulling around life like a zombie.  And suddenly you decide to put on Pandora and listen to your favorite J-pop station.  And without even realizing it, one of your favorite songs comes on, and BAM.  You just totally, clearly understood something you never did before even though you’ve heard the song hundreds of times.  Yes!  You just leveled up my friend!  You literally feel yourself on a higher platform.  These level up moments come in different forms and seem to happen when you least expect them, every single time.  But you know it just happened right after it does happen.  Just go ahead and give yourself a pat on the back when it does.  You deserve it.

#5 – Studying the Japanese language and the culture will also teach you more about your own self

This might be another subjective reason for some, but for me, studying Japanese and the culture has taught me to be a little more considerate, courteous and patient.  Especially after visiting Japan.  Being able to witness first hand how Japanese are considerate, especially amongst themselves, almost left me feeling like the most arrogant American alive.  Even though I honestly feel like a pretty decent person!

So there you have it.  Five reasons why you SHOULD learn Japanese.  There are many other reasons why you should learn but they will vary from person to person.  All I can do from here is encourage you to discover those reasons for yourself.  They may even be reasons you can’t put into words.  You just feel them and they will feel right. ;)