Best way to learn without college

[YoshimiTheEthereal]

I live in Kentucky and I cannot find a college or university that offers both Game Design and Japanese. I really wanted to have a formal education in Japanese, but I don't think it's possible. Is there a way that is as good as that to learn the language? And a way that businesses or whatever will acknowledge that you actually are fluent after learning and not just think you know a few words? Thanks very much.

[MMM]

Originally Posted by YoshimiTheEthereal

I live in Kentucky and I cannot find a college or university that offers both Game Design and Japanese. I really wanted to have a formal education in Japanese, but I don't think it's possible. Is there a way that is as good as that to learn the language? And a way that businesses or whatever will acknowledge that you actually are fluent after learning and not just think you know a few words? Thanks very much.

Passing the JLPT at level 1 shows your fluency.

Japanese Language Proficiency Test - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

[KyleGoetz]

Originally Posted by YoshimiTheEthereal

I live in Kentucky and I cannot find a college or university that offers both Game Design and Japanese.

The University of Texas.

[YoshimiTheEthereal]

How do I get fluent enough to passs that test without university? And thanks for the suggestion.

And I can't afford to go to a college out of Kentucky. I get money called KEES money that will only pay for my schooling instate.

[MMM]

Originally Posted by YoshimiTheEthereal

How do I get fluent enough to passs that test without university? And thanks for the suggestion.

And I can't afford to go to a college out of Kentucky. I get money called KEES money that will only pay for my schooling instate.

Realistically? Move to Japan and study there. Outside of formal university study the chances are very low.

[KyleGoetz]

Originally Posted by MMM

Realistically? Move to Japan and study there. Outside of formal university study the chances are very low.

Unfortunately, this is the correct response.

As someone who has a very broad base of education (degrees in math, Japanese, law) and currently a practicing professional in a field where there is no 3-step path to reaching the goal, I think I have a general suggestion for you.

You want to be a game designer and learn Japanese, right? You do realize you don't have to major in either of these to get a job doing them, right? Presumably you are gunning for a job as a game designer with a Japanese company.

Unfortunately, this is very likely not going to happen. Nintendo Japan/SquareEnix/etc. just don't hire foreigners to work at their shops in Japan. It's definitely not going to happen right after college unless you create some awesomely innovative and popular game as an undergrad. You're going to have to work your way up to it.

My suggestion is for you to go somewhere with a study abroad program in Japan. I checked the University of Kentucky, and there are like ten study abroad programs in Japan with them. The university also offers at least four Japanese language courses.

This is my suggestion: go to UK, study Japanese all four semesters of your first two years. Work your tail off to be a very decent speaker by the time you go to Japan. Study in Japan your third year, and while there, start networking and trying to get an internship while you're there with a web design or small tech company. One of my American friends did this while he was studying abroad, and at the end of his year, his Japanese employer told him they'd sponsor a worker visa for him to return after he graduated. He did this, they did this, and he moved to Japan and now works for a Japanese tech company. He's also married to a Japanese citizen, so he's there on a spousal visa now IIRC.

Major in something like math, CS, or an engineering or physics field. Try to do some internship after your freshman or sophomore year with a game company doing whatever you can get a gig doing, even brewing coffee and buying Bawls/Red Bull for the coders.

This will help you build your resume. Maybe you get some contacts while in Japan and spend a year or two working for a game/code shop in the US. Then use your contacts in Japan to put feelers out for gigs in Japan. Once will eventually turn up provided you have worked your tail off and passed JLPT1. You can help your Japanese by doing the JET program after you graduate from college. One to three years teaching English: spend all your free time roaming Japan and speaking only Japanese. Keep working on some little games of your own design (flash or something) in the meantime. Do some indie or open source work on games to put on your resume/CV. This way you get Japanese fluency and a bangarang resume at the same time.

Long-term, I know. Our generation thinks everything should be easy. But a dream job like "game designer in Japan" is not really something you stumble into every day. It's something you work for years or decades to get. My friend was over 30 when he got that gig—he had already been a programmer for years with real world coding on his resume before graduating from college or even studying in Japan.

There are already plenty of qualified Japanese citizens out there, so why would a company in Japan take a risk and sponsor some foreigner for a visa without knowing he has what it takes through previous work and other persons vouching for his trustworthiness and skill???

Look, you're probably 16 or 17 right now, right? The fact is: the world is hard, life is hard, and you rarely get what you actually want. Truth be told, you rarely want what you think you want. Japan isn't exactly some magic animoo land of mango and sexy girls. It's a regular country just like the US (except it's even more expensive to live there, and you'll very likely always be thought of as a foreigner, even if you get Japanese citizenship). If you're looking to be a game designer in Japan because it's so much better than the US, you're going to be sorely disappointed after being there about a year and you realize it's just another place to hang your hat.

That being said, I love Japan, and I consider it my home away from home. Sashimister, YuriTokoro, allhailhata: you have a wonderful country; just sometimes kids need some straight talk about their fantasies—Japan isn't all ice cream and ponies.

OP, if I have mischaracterized you as an otaku wanting zomgjapanjapanjapan, I'm sorry.

Edit OK this ceased to be a general suggestion and instead became a specific suggestion. Hahaha.

[YoshimiTheEthereal]

Oh, I'm not sure I want to live or work in Japan. I want to be sure to visit for a long time first. But to do that I want to be fluent. I also figured that knowing a foreign language like that would look good in getting a job, especially something like game design, since it is so big and a lot of company roots are over there. Plus, I really love the culture and I keep running into things to read or watch that I don't understand. It's not just for a career, it's also for personal reasons.

[RickOShay]

Originally Posted by YoshimiTheEthereal

Oh, I'm not sure I want to live or work in Japan. I want to be sure to visit for a long time first. But to do that I want to be fluent. I also figured that knowing a foreign language like that would look good in getting a job, especially something like game design, since it is so big and a lot of company roots are over there. Plus, I really love the culture and I keep running into things to read or watch that I don't understand. It's not just for a career, it's also for personal reasons.

I do not think you should take the attitude that you must first master the language before you visit the country.. mostly because that is really hard to do. I rarely have met a Japanese person with great English skills that has not spent at least some time living in an English speaking country. There is sooooo much you can learn by living here. As suggested before, I think a study abroad (for the language) for a year would be exactly what you need.

[KyleGoetz]

Yeah, there's no way you'll be fluent the first time you go. Literally no matter what you do, you will never be fluent unless you (study for 3–4 years first + live there a year) or (live there 2+ years).

[PockyMePink]

As a person who lives in Kentucky with friends interested in game design, I know that there aren't many schools here that offer that program, much less one that offers Japanese as well.

KEES money can be used in certain out of state colleges, and even then, KEES isn't much money (unless you have straight A's all throughout high school, then you might get a few extra bucks). You'd be better off applying for financial aid and scholoships than you would be using KEES money, either in state or out of state.