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Hi everyone! :)
I’ve been wanting to learn Japanese since I was a teenager (when I look at those notes-to-self from my earlier years, there’s always something about Japan and Japanese in there). I’ve given it a go many times in the past, and do still have some knowledge of it (it’s become rather basic though).
The first time I tried was in high school. I couldn’t even learn hiragana, it all seemed to hard. The second time, I found a native teacher. That motivated me so much, that I learned hiragana within two weeks. Unfortunately the course ended after a year an a half because there weren’t enough students, so I stopped for like a year. Then I went to Turkey and learned a lot for one semester from a strict but great native teacher. Back at my “home” university, there still weren’t any courses, so I had another year without Japanese. Then I went to Japan for 3 months and it was awesome, but also a surprise ’cause nobody uses formal language on the streets :P (and I spent the first month in Okinawa, so it was a totally different Japanese there). After that I stopped for like a year and a half, and now I’m back at it, hoping this time I will see it through. There are many new Japanese companies around the place I live in now, so there is a good chance I might get a job in one (pray for me!), which I hope will help me keep the eyes on the prize. It is truly an awful thing how fast we forget languages if we don’t use them (even my native language noticeably deteriorated after years of almost no usage).
There are many reasons why I want to learn Japanese (some silly ones, like becoming a Japanese TV Star haha), but one of them is that I want to live and work in Japan for at least 2 years (another one I am sure many of you also have, is to be able to read manga, Japanese books/watch anime/play Japanese games in Japanese :P).
So, I am looking forward to sharing this wonderful journey with you all! よろしくお願いします!
Welcome! Sadly, actual natural usage is one thing that textbooks often don’t teach. =P
What were you doing in Japan for three months? Where’d you go besides Okinawa? =)
Thanks Joel! :)
Yeah :( that’s right, but to me it actually makes more sense to learn the neutral/dictionary form first, before learning formal (desu). I wonder who decided it was better to teach formal desu first :P (probably because Japanese culture has such an emphasis on politeness…)
Well I did some Wwoofing the first month (in Ishigaki actually. In a cafe and a flower farm). I spent the last week of the first month “chilling” in Naha. The second month I used the Japan rail pass to travel from Tokyo downwards (Kamakura, Shizuoka, Osaka, Kyoto, Nara, Kobe, Hiroshima, Miyajima <my favorite>, Fukuoka and Kagoshima). I spent the last month in Tokyo (couchsurfing with an awesome British guy that made the best scrambled eggs ever!), Ibaraki and Yokohama (staying with friends). It was an amazing trip in many ways, and even though my Japanese was not super good, I had a lot of interaction opportunities, made new friends and had very interesting interpersonal experiences.
Where in Japan have you been? :P
It makes sense to learn the desu/masu form first because (a) it’s simpler, since everything conjugates the same way, and (b) it’s everything a casual tourist could reasonably be expected to need. Honestly, there’s perfectly valid arguments either way.
On my trip (only two weeks) I went Tokyo -> Osaka -> Hiroshima/Miyajima -> Kyoto -> Tokyo, with side trips to Mount Fuji, Matsumoto, Koya-san, Nara, and Himeji. And yeah, I absolutely loved Miyajima too. I’ve got a huge list of places I want to visit if I ever get another opportunity…
you’re right, there are arguments for either way. It was a bit of a shock for me when I started learning “te” form and other conjugations, because I had not learn any neutral form of the verbs before haha.
Wow, you went to a lot of places! Himeji looks interesting, how was it?
Which places would you like to visit next time? I am curious about the whole Shikoku area (and Hokkaido too, although I hate cold weather).
We went to Himeji to visit the castle – largest original castle remaining in Japan. Sadly, when we arrived, they’d just commenced a major restoration of the main keep, and so we couldn’t enter it. We did get a guided tour of the grounds and peripheral buildings, and they were certainly impressive enough, but we weren’t able to see the main keep. It’s open again now, so on my next trip, I’ll certainly be visiting it.
I’ve got a huge list of things I want to do if I ever get the chance to visit Japan again. Shikoku is interesting to me as well – the 88 Temple Pilgrimage is tentatively on my list, but since walking the whole thing takes a month or two, that’d be a little bit much for just a holiday. Hokkaido also puts in a few appearances on my list, but for some reason, Hokkaido (and Okinawa) has never grabbed my interest as much as the central areas of Japan.
The Tohoku Region is currently having a competition – the prize is a million yen to travel in Japan, but in exchange, you essentially need to be a tourism ambassador in Miyagi prefecture. Which is to say, it’s presented as a competition, but really they’re advertising for a short-term job. I’m tempted to apply, but the trip has to happen next February, and I’m not sure I can afford to take February off from work.
Well, either way, the website about it is here: https://tohoku365.com/entry.html
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