Should i start learning Japanese?

[tundrick]

I am currently in high school and am very interested in learning Japanese. I feel like if i don't start now i will regret it later, i fear i will be in my twenties and will think back and hate myself for not picking it up sooner. Is it a good idea to start now while i still have quite a bit of free time on my hands or should i be focusing on my studies (which aren't doing all that great right now) and start learning Japanese a little later on. Will i even be interested in learning the language later :/. Any input would be much appreciated

[Ezeefreak]

If your passion is big enough to learn it you can do it always. It doesn't depend on age or something. But, like I said, you need really the will to do it and move on even if you are annoyed by it. Thats something I couldn't do myself till now .

[melo4496]

I think learning something you like is never a bad idea.

https://forums.fuwanovel.net/index.php?/topic/7675-learning-to-read-japanese/

[tundrick]

It's nice to see people so encouraging on this forum, i told some of my friends that i was thinking of taking up Japanese and they told me that i was at fear of becoming a weeaboo.... real helpful XD

[Bolverk]

If you are motivated and have a reason to learn it. You decide what the best way for you to learn is. Then just get to it and learn jp. You need to start somewhere so don't worry too much about that.

[Zalor]

I am currently in high school and am very interested in learning Japanese. I feel like if i don't start now i will regret it later, i fear i will be in my twenties and will think back and hate myself for not picking it up sooner. Is it a good idea to start now while i still have quite a bit of free time on my hands or should i be focusing on my studies (which aren't doing all that great right now) and start learning Japanese a little later on. Will i even be interested in learning the language later :/. Any input would be much appreciated

 

I'm in the same dilemma right now, academic studies or Japanese. I personally have prioritized my studies because 1) I get a lot of work from my teachers, 2) because my grades now determine what college I go to, 3) the colleges that I am applying to have great Japanese programs. The college I'm most interested in every year has 20 students from Waseda University study abroad in the school, likewise students studying Japanese at the school get the opportunity to study abroad a Waseda University.   

 

For all those reasons I have decided to hold my patience regarding learning Japanese. But if I had more time on my hands, my choice might be different. 

[tundrick]

I'm in the same dilemma right now, academic studies or Japanese. I personally have prioritized my studies because 1) I get a lot of work from my teachers, 2) because my grades now determine what college I go to, 3) the colleges that I am applying to have great Japanese programs. The college I'm most interested in every year has 20 students from Waseda University study abroad in the school, likewise students studying Japanese at the school get the opportunity to study abroad a Waseda University.   

 

For all those reasons I have decided to hold my patience regarding learning Japanese. But if I had more time on my hands, my choice might be different. 

You see i haven't even thought about college, i have no real idea what i even want as a profession but learning Japanese and maybe taking up a job in translation or something sounds more appealing to me then any other thoughts of work, i'm also aware that there is a shortage of Japanese to English translators at the moment so perhaps it is a better idea to focus on getting into a college that will allow me to take up a job like Japanese translation or something involving the Japanese language.

[Zalor]

You see i haven't even thought about college, i have no real idea what i even want as a profession but learning Japanese and maybe taking up a job in translation or something sounds more appealing to me then any other thoughts of work, i'm also aware that there is a shortage of Japanese to English translators at the moment so perhaps it is a better idea to focus on getting into a college that will allow me to take up a job like Japanese translation or something involving the Japanese language.

 

That is almost exactly what I am considering as well. And getting a degree is crucial for the Japanese job market. While I study a bit of Japanese here and there, I am mostly waiting for college because I don't have time now. So if you have time to study for school and Japanese, do that. But if you had to pick one or the other, well you already know my choice.    

[Rose]

Definitely as long as you have the motivation and enjoy learning it. Then again, remember that school is important and you might have to focus more on it eventually, which might hurt your japanese learning. I believe you can do both, just remember that there will be times when you'll have to focus on one or another. 

[tundrick]

A lot of people are saying that i need the motivation or passion to learn the language, i love the language and have heard it spoken for a lot of my life (VN's, anime, music etc) and i have lots of reasons for learning the language both professional(work) and recreational(untranslated vn's, light novels etc) reasons, it is kind of hard to know if i'm making the right decision to dedicate myself so much to something that i really haven't put enough thought into. Perhaps i'm over thinking this a bit too much XD. Anyway i appreciate the extremely helpful responses towards something that may affect my life so greatly .

[Kyoroto]

I am currently in high school and am very interested in learning Japanese. I feel like if i don't start now i will regret it later, i fear i will be in my twenties and will think back and hate myself for not picking it up sooner. Is it a good idea to start now while i still have quite a bit of free time on my hands or should i be focusing on my studies (which aren't doing all that great right now) and start learning Japanese a little later on. Will i even be interested in learning the language later :/. Any input would be much appreciated

[tundrick]

I was in the same situation as you, so I asked the people on this forum as well. Even though learning Japanese can be a challenge, all you need is motivation and interest.

I have been learning Japanese for only 2 weeks now, but have I successfully learned both hiragana and katakana in a rather short amount of time since my love for this language is so great.

Being fluent at Japanese can take a very long time, but that wont matter if you enjoy learning this new language.

If you really do feel like you have the motivation and passion, than I can only recommend you to learn Japanese !!!

It's good to see that there are so many others in a similar position to me, thanks for letting me know you're progress. Seeing as i enjoy the Japanese language so much i will probably begin to study the language at a somewhat amateur level for awhile and then try to turn it into my main allocated study in college like i discussed with Zalor. Thanks for the help! 

[Kyoroto]

It's good to see that there are so many others in a similar position to me, thanks for letting me know you're progress. Seeing as i enjoy the Japanese language so much i will probably begin to study the language at a somewhat amateur level for awhile and then try to turn it into my main allocated study in college like i discussed with Zalor. Thanks for the help! 

Good Luck in the future and remember that you shouldn't give up so easily when learning a new language!

[Snowtsuku]

It depends. There's motivation and there's priorities. If you really want to learn, having a few hours a day is nice.

[RinXD]

I will say as I was told in high school  "Forget everything you know about the English language and forget everything you think you may know about the language you're trying to learn or you're only gonna run into problems."  That was when I was learning Japanese. The language it's self is fairly easy to speak o.o its the writing and reading part that are hard with Kanji,Hiragana,and Katakana that all have different characters and knowing when and where to use them.

[Kyoroto]

I will say as I was told in high school  "Forget everything you know about the English language and forget everything you think you may know about the language you're trying to learn or you're only gonna run into problems."  That was when I was learning Japanese. The language it's self is fairly easy to speak o.o its the writing and reading part that are hard with Kanji,Hiragana,and Katakana that all have different characters and knowing when and where to use them.

[RinXD]

the reading writing is where most people struggle though

[Kyoroto]

the reading writing is where most people struggle though

I think for beginners reading and speaking are top priority, while writing imo is less important, since writing is less common in use.

That's why I basically just learn how to read and speak for now, since learning how to write will just make my life a lot harder.

[RinXD]

Actually learning how to write helps with reading and speaking so

[rainsismyfav]

You're the only one who can stop you from pursuing your passion! If you're "very interested in learning" the language, it should follow up with an action, not a question. If you already have the motivation, there aren't much good excuses out there to not learn Japanese. If you have any questions, feel free to pm me.

[Deep Blue]

Japanese is a really difficult language to learn for us because of the writing like Rin said, the language itself is like any other one but for use the writing is so different and complex that the learning is rather difficult almost impossible at times, I'm having huge problems with the writing system myself, specially with kanji.

 

In fact I already understand like 30% of the conversations in the vns I've read so far and I started learning japanese 3-4 month ago but when I have to read something I can understand maybe 1 or 2 words with luck

 

Japanese is easier than english at least (I'm spanish speaking person) but like i said before the writing system is the hardest thing of this language and pretty much all asian languages.

 

If you really like it do it even if you dont have the time just keep doing it at a very slow pace eventually you will learn it like any other thing, if for example you want to play the piano but you practice 1 hour a week you will learn in a very slow rate but you will learn it after a while, the key is to not give in and be persistent

[RinXD]

1 hour a week on the piano would really get you no where that's something that requires constant dedication to learn to bad analogy

[Deep Blue]

1 hour a week on the piano would really get you no where that's something that requires constant dedication to learn to bad analogy

[Mephisto]

Just start and see where it takes you. If it's not something for you, you'll end up dropping it. 

[tundrick]

I will say as I was told in high school  "Forget everything you know about the English language and forget everything you think you may know about the language you're trying to learn or you're only gonna run into problems."  That was when I was learning Japanese. The language it's self is fairly easy to speak o.o its the writing and reading part that are hard with Kanji,Hiragana,and Katakana that all have different characters and knowing when and where to use them.