Hello!

I call myself Eihiko, though I have a sneaking suspicion that it’s an old man’s name. If it’s an old man’s name, please let me know so I can start slipping “you kids!” and “yung’uns these days!” into my conversation. Mucho arigatou!

Wah, what am I doing here? …oh, right! Introductions! I’m from Cleveland, Ohio, which is an eternal font of cynicism, sarcasm and snowstorms. I’m in college right now, studying to be a computer whisperer.

Why do I want to learn Japanese? Am I allowed to have two reasons? I have two reasons.

1. Because it’s so much fun! I don’t know if this is a valid reason, but it should be. Languages can be so cool, and learning a new one is like exploring a new world. One of the things I that really excites me about Japanese is the vast amount of linguistic culture (I think I just made that term up) it has. The Japanese language has 3 alphabets and multiple pronunciations for each kanji, sure, but they actually engage with this fact. How cool is it that you can have a common Japanese name embedded with your own personal significance? How cool is it that so much literary Japanese has subtle wordplay with profound effect? Even if I only pursue Japanese for a month and give up, that will be a month well spent.
2. Because the most satisfying thing you can do in life is make a connection with someone. That is what language, art and music is all about- bridging the gaps between people, dispelling that loneliness which is so bewilderingly intertwined with human nature. According to highly regarded sources (Wikipedia), Japanese has 122 million native speakers and only 1 million second language speakers. This is staggering in comparison to languages like English, which has more second language speakers than native speakers, and French, which is about half and half. According to my valuable sources (still Wikipedia), the closest language to Japanese’s staggeringly high ratio is Marathi, which has 4 second language speakers for every 100 native speakers. (Japanese has 0.8 second language speakers for every 100 native speakers). The difference is that Japanese culture is just reaching out into the world, waiting for us to grasp its hand and bridge that gap. (Sorry, Marathi) I guess my point is that by learning Japanese, I am closing the gap between myself and 122 million people. How could anyone not want to spend their time doing something like that?
3. I’m adding a third reason, in part because I still need a “tangible goal,” but mainly because lists feel sad when they have fewer than three items. I’m going to be weird here and say something other than “I want to speak fluently” because that seems impossibly far away. My goal, for the time being, is to be able to translate most any Japanese passage, using only a Japanese dictionary. Right now, if I try to translate a sentence using a dictionary, it is nearly impossible because I don’t understand the structure or tenses or implicit subjects and so on. I think being able to translate a sentence by “looking up the words you do not know” marks some sort of milestone in language comprehension, so that’s what I’m shooting for.

I have dabbled in Japanese in the past, but have not been ready to commit to it until just recently. I do not know many words, but I do know a few.

よろしくおねがいします!

永彦