Hello there~

France-bred art student, finally taking Japanese on after years of useless pondering. Oh well! Let’s tackle this “Why Are You Learning Japanese?” question.

I’ve got a lot of reasons to learn Japanese.

One of them is my interest for the Japanese perspective. Thorough years, I’ve discovered more and more Japanese values (such as effort gratification) that I feel I can identify with (as in, these are values I’d stand up for).
I’ve lived in occident for my whole life, so I feel I understand the occidental perspective and its values rather well. And the more I think about it, the less I feel like I share these occidental values.
For instance, I don’t believe some of us are more gifted (as in, more capable) than others. There are differences in initial abilities, that’s a given, but from my point of view proper effort application allows anyone to do anything (barring extreme handicaps, of course – but that’s precisely the definition of a handicap), which is in direct contradiction to genius as a concept.
I don’t want to live in a world composed of geniuses and idiots. I want to live in a world composed of hard workers and lazy people. Because in such a world, one’s worth isn’t determined by external factors but only by their own motivation and will power. One’s limits are exactly the one they set for themselves. And I find that much more wonderful than the alternative.
As an author and artist, one of my goals is to spread my values around (art is a specific kind of magic that transforms the hearts of its appreciators).
Learning Japanese will give me a better insight of the Japanese perspective, the Japanese values that I feel so close to. That way, I’ll be able to better portray them (and any value I choose to portray, by virtue of knowing more of them – variety is a factor of knowledge). In other words, it’ll ultimately make me a better narrator (even for English narration!).

Another reason why I want to learn Japanese is my interest for Japan as a culture to live in. It really goes hand in hand with the previous reason, but I feel closer to the Japanese values system, and I don’t feel there are a lot of good reasons for me to stay in occident, so why not migrate?
Thus, one of my goals is to eventually move to Japan and to establish myself over there as an artist. Hopefully, by then my narrative projects (such as Creative Release) will be making enough money to support me, but if they aren’t (and as a matter of fact, even if they are) I’ll probably try to do something as a mangaka (since manga is one of the most narrative forms out there). Or perhaps a story-boarder – I wouldn’t mind working with SHAFT or GAINAX Studio one day.

A third (and last for now) reason is simply that Japanese media are my primary inspiration source (and that I consume a lot of them – I’m a geek and an otaku). Being able to feel the untranslatable subtleties in the spoken language (anime and live action), and being able to consume media without depending on the good will of translators (basically everything) is definitely a motivation for me. And who knows, perhaps I’ll eventually translate for the sake of others!

What else… I currently make a webcomic named Creative Release. Biggest project so far; it’s definitely made me realize that I can develop huge amounts of energy given proper motivation. Learning Japanese never felt more plausible than it does now that I have this knowledge. So, here I am!