Age: 25
Years as a student: 7-8
Learning Center:
- I started at an intensive specialized language training center for 3 months
- Then I continued self-study while living in Japan
- After returning to America, I began taking university classes
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Why do you study Japanese?
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Initially, I studied because I was traveling there to work as a volunteer missionary for several years. I continued studying after that to retain what I had learned, but also because I had developed a deep interest in the language and culture. The more I study, the more intense that interest becomes which is what fuels my continued involvement.
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Do you think it is a difficult language to learn?
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For native English speakers, yes. For anyone who's native language is structured as a subject-verb-object language, yes. For native Korean speakers, probably not so much.
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What are the main difficulties you face when learning Japanese? Why?
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Initially it was listening comprehension. The sounds come at you so fast, it takes some getting used to in order to be able to pick out what you studied in a book. Once I was comfortable with conversation, kanji became the bane of my existence. And still is.
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What is the easiest thing to learn? What did you learn first?
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The sentence pattern: <Noun> ha <Noun> desu. I survived on that for much longer than I should have.
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How long does it take to get used to the Japanese alphabet?
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Hiragana and Katakana can be mastered in a year without too much difficulty. Quicker if you are dedicated. Kanji... you can learn enough to get on the right trains and buy things in the store with another year of study. Again, quicker if you are dedicated. Learning to read a newspaper... a long time.
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What was the first thing you were taught?
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Jikou Shoukai ;-)
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What are the most common mistakes?
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Pronunciation. (That cursed long 'u' sound versus the short one.) Also, particle errors. Particularly confusion with 'wa' and 'ga'
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What will your knowledge of the language be useful for in the future?
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Work, possibly living in Japan for a time, interaction with friends that I still have in Japan.
Great thread. This was fun!