[NTREEG]

Age: 30
Years as a student: 10 months
Kind of learning center (university, language school, etc.) : 5 months in the USA with a private instructor meeting for 1.5 hours each week. 5 months currently at a Japanese intensive language school in Tokyo studying 20 hours a week.

Why do you study Japanese?
So that my fiancée and I can live and work in her home country.

Do you think it is a difficult language to learn?
It's certainly not easy, but you get out what you put in. If you take the language on like it's your full time job and study seriously, you'll start making some progress soon enough.

What are the main difficulties you face when learning Japanese? Why?
The variations in people's every day speech is endless. My listening comprehension is dramatically lowered when talking to someone who is using regular casual Japanese because I'm used to hearing and practicing polite (neutral) Japanese in class.

What is the easiest thing to learn? What did you learn first?
I learned some basic verbs and vocabulary at the start of my private lessons. Before I left the U.S.A. to study in Japan, my private teacher made sure I'd learned 50 verbs (using their short dictionary forms). I think having even that small amount of verbs under my belt helped a lot when I first began intensive study.

How long does it take to get used to the Japanese alphabet?
Students in my beginner class learned both hiragana and katakana within the first 3 weeks of class. I'd already learned hiragana and most katakana before I started intensive classes but my reading ability is still very slow compared to others. I recommend any one who's beginning to study Japanese to start learning hiragana and katakana right away. Don't put it off for another moment!

What was the first thing you were taught?
A couple verbs and the Subject-Object-Verb sentence order.

What are the most common mistakes?
Delaying your Kanji study is I think a pretty common mistake. So is leaning on romaji as a crutch.

What will your knowledge of the language be useful for in the future?
Getting a job, being able to read and order off of menus, and basically being able to accomplish all the necessary tasks you need to get done on a daily basis living in Japan.