Start Learning Japanese in the next 30 Seconds with
a Free Lifetime Account

Or sign up using Facebook

What are the Practical Uses for Japanese?

Moderators: Moderator Team, Admin Team

The_World_Ends_With_You
New in Town
Posts: 2
Joined: May 7th, 2015 11:40 pm

What are the Practical Uses for Japanese?

Postby The_World_Ends_With_You » May 8th, 2015 12:08 am

Hi Everyone! This is my first post, so be kind. I'm going to ask a question that some of you may find offensive, but I feel that it's one worth asking.

What are the practical uses of Japanese? I've bee absolutely fascinated with Japanese culture since I was young. When I got older and began studying the language in my free time, I fell in love with the sound of the words. The way they came of the tongue always felt so good to me! Of course, like many people anime was what attracted me to the culture initially, but even if anime didn't exist, I would still love it. Just thinking about tatami mats, sliding paper doors, green tea, and endless mountains thrills me! I genuinely have fun learning about the culture.

The problem is that I found myself investing a great deal of time in studying Japanese, and when you find yourself spending a lot of time on something, you have to quetion if you're spending it wisely. After I read this article I grew really concerned:

http://www.japantoday.com/category/opinions/view/why-you-shouldnt-learn-japanese

I used to study Spanish but it was absolutely miserable. I couldn't roll my tongue to save my life. I watched several YouTube videos on the topic, and tried my hardest, spraying saliva everywhere in the process. But to be frank, my tongue just doesn't move that way. Most importantly though, I've never felt the connection to the culture that I feel with Japanese.

I just panic at the thought of spending ten years studying Japanese, and only being able to use it to understand the Pokemon anime without subtitles. :/ So, what do you guys do with your Japanese language skills?

lwoodworth0203_506132
New in Town
Posts: 1
Joined: June 1st, 2015 12:53 am

Re: What are the Practical Uses for Japanese?

Postby lwoodworth0203_506132 » October 13th, 2015 5:37 pm

The simple answer is that you use Japanese to converse with native Japanese speakers. Now, you have to take a lot of Ken Seeroi's opinion columns with a grain of salt because he likes to toss attempted humor into his pieces and some of the humor can best be summed-up as 「さむ」. That said, he DOES make a good point that actually applies to almost ANY foreign language: Unless you're expecting to live in the country the language is spoken in, you will spend MANY more hours learning a language than you will actually spend CONVERSING in the language. Only you can make the decision as to whether this is a suitable use of your time.

Personally, I'm 55 and not going to be chosen to be hired by any Japanese company to work over there (nobody wants to have a senior citizen as a new-hire) so there's no chance of my ever living in Japan, yet I've chosen to go down this path of learning a foreign language "that isn't Spanish" simply for selfish reasons... There are English-translated anime based off of light novels, yet the anime hardly ever take the stories to completion. It bugs me when I've started a story but can't finish it. So I want to be able to read the novels in their original form without having to depend on the current popularity to keep the anime funded. :?

Is this a good use of my time? For me the answer is "Yes" but as I said before, only you can answer the question for you. :)

Get 40% OFF
community.japanese
Expert on Something
Posts: 2704
Joined: November 16th, 2012 8:54 am

Re: What are the Practical Uses for Japanese?

Postby community.japanese » October 20th, 2015 12:55 am

The_World_Ends_With_You san, san,
Konnichiwa. :)
Thank you for posting your opinions.
I agree with san.
The_World_Ends_With_You san, aren’t you satisfied with your achievement?
I think if you set a goal and achieve the goal, you don’t need to care about others’ thought about Japanese study…
Yuki 由紀
0Team JapanesePod101.com

nugentgregg_508679
New in Town
Posts: 2
Joined: October 29th, 2015 11:38 am

Re: What are the Practical Uses for Japanese?

Postby nugentgregg_508679 » October 29th, 2015 11:48 am

There are a number of possibility stand for learn Japaneses. It is really make good translator and writer too. If you can write as good then there is a good opportunity in online to make a good blogs and earn or help the students to write it. Also there is a big opportunity with the top essay writing services provider from online. Ref: http://essaysorigin.com

community.japanese
Expert on Something
Posts: 2704
Joined: November 16th, 2012 8:54 am

Re: What are the Practical Uses for Japanese?

Postby community.japanese » November 7th, 2015 2:55 pm

san,
konnichiwa.
Thank you for your post.
Team JapanesePod101.com

Return to “General Japanese Culture”