Japanese study

[Phoenix]

I've recommitted to Japanese language study this year. I let it languish for an embarrassingly long period of time since coming back from Japan, so I'm still playing catch-up to a degree. However, by the end of the year, I should be going into totally new content. It's frustrating at times and there are days I just want to quit it altogether, but since I became disabled it's scratched that productivity itch I've had. So I have to keep going!

Maybe I'll make a blog post about it--there's a lot of great tools out there now for self-study I wish I'd had back when I was taking college classes, and I'm sure many of them can be applied to learning any language.

Edited September 24, 2017 by Phoenix

[Songmistress]

I've let my Japanese language study really slip.  I still have the app on my phone and keep promising myself I WILL get back to it; so many other things just crowd in and take over.  But, I allow myself to get too easily overwhelmed, as you know. 

[hirondelle]

Oo I didn't know you studied Japanese @Songmistress, @Timberwolf studied it for a little while too.  Interesting language.  Do you guys find that learning a language unlocks sthg that is otherwise closed culturally?  I always feel you think about differently if you start to learn a different language.  I would be interested in that blog post Phoenix, not that I am learning Japanese but I am in the language app business professionally, so I am always interested in details about how people learn.

[Timberwolf]

I loved studying Japanese.  Part of it was, we would talk about Japanese culture and history.  Sadly, my instructor went back to Japan, because she couldn't get another visa, and I stopped studying karate because other things took over in my life. I'd love to know about @Phoenixand @Songmistressexperiences about it.  

[Phoenix]

7 hours ago, hirondelle said:

Oo I didn't know you studied Japanese @Songmistress, @Timberwolf studied it for a little while too.  Interesting language.  Do you guys find that learning a language unlocks sthg that is otherwise closed culturally?  I always feel you think about differently if you start to learn a different language.  I would be interested in that blog post Phoenix, not that I am learning Japanese but I am in the language app business professionally, so I am always interested in details about how people learn.

Oh, that's right, you are in that business aren't you. Well, I guess I have to make a post now.

To answer your question about it unlocking cultural bits, it definitely has with Japanese, far more so than learning ever did with French or Spanish. Granted, I stopped taking those at a pretty young age (like, 12ish) and didn't advance as far as I have into Japanese. Part of the reason for that, though, is how the language is so different--I was just talking with @Kenai recently about how the language has simple, nuanced ways to be sarcastic that just don't translate into English. I also get interested in the etymology because it's a super old language, well over a millenium. Between that and the fact that the culture remained so insulated from the rest of the world for years and years, there's a sort of deep, historical purity to it.

[Songmistress]

Culture definitely comes along with the language. The older the language, the more culture comes with it. My interest in Japanese began, in earnest, when Fairlight developed an interest (read 'obsession') in anime and manga. She started picking up words and phrases, and I wanted to know what she was saying.  So, I downloaded a language app and got stuck in...until life took over.  It's difficult to learn a completely new language as an adult.  I would really need to totally immerse myself in it in order to get to the point where I can really chat with someone, with more than 'Konnichiwa. Choshi wa do?'

[Phoenix]

Japanese in particular takes some brain reprogramming. The sentence structure is backwards in some ways.

I made a blog post on a couple of the tools I'm using.

[SoulDragon]

Japanese is a beautiful language, when watching anime i also picked up some words.

But i've ended up studying Korean after transferring from anime to korean tv, i think as far as culture it's very similar to Japanese, probably the language as well.
It took a while before i really seriously started learning because i couldn't find a teaching method that worked for me. I'm learning on www.talktomeinkorean.com now (maybe there's a same one for japanese), i love the way they teach! It's easy to understand, in short lessons and also the teacher are joking around a bit in between to keep it funny, also whatever you've learned keeps being used in later lessons. It's absolutely perfect for me.

Unfortunately i've found out too late that i have a knack for languages because in school they used a method that wasn't working for me, even my english; i barely passed the class in high school and then i ended up online on forums, and mostly you guys thought me english . When 2 years later i got english classes again the teacher said i was free to come and go to class whenever i wanted because he couldn't teach me more then i already knew (he almost got a heart attack when i signed in Wizards First Rule for writing a book rapport).

Edited September 29, 2017 by SoulDragon

[Phoenix]

Not knowing a word of Korean, it sounds like gibberish Japanese to me. It's like it sounds like something I should be able to understand but I can't make anything out of it. Kinda like Skwerl. I wonder if it's the same in reverse?

I have a number of (probably similar) websites saved on my reddit account that I just haven't had the umph to check out. I really should at some point.

Edited September 29, 2017 by Phoenix

[SoulDragon]

Hmm, i never really had the thought that Japanese sounds similar to Korean...
Although i guess all neighboring country languages sound similar just like several European languages, Chinese would fit into there then as well. Dutch and German are more similar i think, but French, Portugese and Greek are also similar sounding i guess, and Swedish, Norse and Fins as well.

[Phoenix]

That's the thing, Chinese sounds totally foreign to me. A lot of the writing is shared, but the phonemes are totally different.