For the record, it’s not quite an error as a difference in culture.

Think about these two phrases in English.

I think he isn’t happy.
I don’t think he’s happy.

Which sounds more natural?

Most likely the second does. Just as in Japanese they would say
“彼は嬉しくないと思う。”　instead of “彼は嬉しいと思わない。”

It’s just a matter of where they put the negative. In this case it doesn’t change the meaning at all.

A decent understanding of English grammar is required if you continually compare English grammar and Japanese grammar. Otherwise there’s no benefit from comparing them. You’d be better off just learning Japanese grammar in Japanese.

あたたかく　なく　なって　きた。or

生麦生米生卵。｛なまむぎ　なまこめ　なまたまご）

I TOTALLY agree.. get a degree that will get you a job. You can get other certifications and qualifications (JLPT. BJT, Kanken etc..) to prove your Japanese ability.
Get a degree in a different field (if it’s not too late to change…)

I got N3 this past summer with my buddy, and he is going for N2 this winter… but I decided to hold off till next summer. I’ll have more confidence by then.

Good luck to anyone who goes for it this summer!

I’m in the same position as you too. For me, production purposes, I think studying an English->Japanese deck is better than Japanese->English.

I think Koichi assumes most members don’t have much opportunity to use (speak/write) Japanese and don’t need to be able to recall from English to Japanese as often as Japanese to English.

Indeed. I’m in Sapporo (originally from Canada). Have been for just over 3 years now. Still lovin’ it =D

I don’t make my way down to Tokyo too often. I don’t get so much time off so.. yeah.. That’d be the only downside I s’ppose.

Everyone has something valid to contribute (in most cases I suppose) but although tuba’s advice while perhaps appearing like anti-advice was perfectly legit advice that I tend to agree with more so than not.

There will be concepts which are easy to compare to English, ie simple vocabulary (赤い = red). But it starts to get really really messy really really quickly and in 95% of the cases, even my Japanese friends cannot clarify it for me. I’ve slowly learned when I should ask, and when I should just learn as is.

Language reflects the culture from which it originated and as we all know, Japanese culture is VERY different from Europe or North America. Trying to compare these on any grammatical or emotional level is basically pointless.

On the other hand, by studying the language you can gain a deeper understanding of the culture which is beneficial in many other ways.