Hello! My name is Ayla and though I’ve been using textfugu for a long time I never posted my self introduction.
I’ve been learning Japanese off and on for nearly 10 years (following Tofugu all the while). However when I was younger I never stuck with it and would always end up giving up and quit after a couple of months, always starting over again from the beginning after awhile… it was a vicious cycle (though it did make me fluent in the basics).
I’ve had an interest in Japanese culture, art, literature, and (of course) anime for as long as I can remember. My only reason for learning Japanese for a long time was just to feel closer to this place I had never been but loved so much, and that just wasn’t enough to drive me.
Now that I’m older I’m ready to take it more seriously. I realize now how many door it could open for me to learn another language, and while that applies to any language, Japanese has always been the one for me. I’d like to one day become a translator for books, manga, and anime. And I would love to one day travel to Japan and be able to fluently speak the language. I could kick myself now knowing that if I had stuck with it from the beginning I could have reached fluency years ago, but everything happens for a reason and I’m happy to say that I’m finally ready to put in the work and learn Japanese the hard way.