皆さん、始めまして
Hello everyone!

Even though we’re all from different backgrounds, ages, countries and personalities – we all have a common interest, and it’s nice to be a part of such a community! Thanks!

I started studying Japanese with a short Japanese-introduction-course in high school, which only taught me the basics such as hiragana, katakana, a few kanji and some of the basic grammar lessons that you can find here on Textfugu. Nothing too deep since it was just meant to be an introduction to the beginners’ course to make Japanese easier to get into. It was a great start, but I couldn’t go on with following courses due to work and lack of continuing courses, which is why I’ve kept on learning by myself instead.

So I have been trying out a lot of different books, programs, sites etc. But my lack of discipline has been holding me back for too long now, so I thought it’s time for an updated approach that is more structured like a school course, which is why I’m now a part of the Textfugu community. :)

Starting with a new approach almost means starting over from the beginning, so since I’ve been through many different books and programs etc I haven’t gotten very far yet, but I’d rather find something that suits my way of learning rather than sticking with something boring and ineffective for several years. Why from the beginning, you say? Well, because different sources might have different foundations on which you have to stand on to understand the rest of what they are going through. So if you skip things in the beginning of something new it’ll be harder to understand what they mean with the rest.
Just like Textfugu has radicals to help you learn kanji, which many others don’t. Luv radicals! Luv kanji!

Speaking of kanji – the more you learn, the easier, better and more fun it gets. In the beginning I didn’t like kanji nor understand what good they do, but now I think they are awesome. Sure, they are a bit tedious to write and it’s a looot to learn, but it’s totally worth it. It’s fun when you see how things like fireworks are made up of the kanji for flower and fire (花火) which makes it logical.

One day I hope to visit Japan to climb MtFuji, eat the food, see the views, meet the people and actually be able to have conversations with them in Japanese. That’s why I study Japanese as a hobby :)

じゃ～、またね!
がんばります～