English was a nightmare for me and yet I prevailed. I only have had a few Indian friends, one was a kid my age in elementary school, one who is still currently a friend, actually a family friend because he’s near my parents age, and another was a kid from college. I will end with a quote from John Lennon, "Time you enjoyed wasting, was not wasted.". 'Safe return doubtful'. If it is the vague, badly expressed Japanese have to put up with, many of our native-speaking Japanese translators haven't got a clue either. Therefore, it brings to the point that if you're gonna live here you need to learn the language. The average American reads at the 7th- to 8th-grade level, according to The Literacy Project. In that case you shouldn't learn ANY foreign language at all and better still, forget you own language. I attended language exchange every week and free Japanese classes. People who live in Japan and don't speak Japanese beyond a few phrases don't know what they're missing. You have to admit that the article has a point; that point is driven home with blunt honesty and wow do people get all bent out of shape over it. Wow, at least your bottom line was correct. And then find a hobby: listen to Japanese radio/podcasts/youtubers, read shounen/shoujo manga, watch Doraemon, etc. I guess you think we don't know anything about former civilizations and their culture because we don't speak their language, right? Watch a samurai movie or something and grow a pair. Timely for me anyway. But on a scale of 1 to Hot-Tub-at-the-Playboy-Mansion, learning Japanese slots in somewhere between soldering together your own black-and-white TV and copying the Bible by hand while wearing a Medieval monk outfit. It was refreshing to at least see one editorial that told the truth, that learning Japanese is a waste, but left the reader with the impression that somehow they will have no problem finding enough English in Japan. Now I came down out of the tree and I am moving away from learning Japanese Language, just the basics will be enough ;). Japan is Japan, and it is still my Dream Country all this time. On VRCHAT even the Koreans who speak Japanese don't want to speak to me : (. I'd still try to learn the basics so you are not a burden in the case of an emergency etc. Its very much possible to become fluent in a language without dedicating the time you mentioned in this article. English is a pretty upbeat language; Japanese, eh, not so much. But I am confident to keep trying. I lived and worked in Japan for three years and I do agree with a few points in this article that you can definitely get by with only knowing a few words and phrases and that Japanese people do like using you to practice their English. Of the hundreds of people I’ve seen study Japanese over the years, only about 10 succeeded in speaking the language with any level of competency. It's out of respect that if I'm visiting a japanese speaking country that I will at least attempt to communicate with them in japanese. Of the hundreds of people I’ve seen study Japanese over the years, only about 10 succeeded in speaking the language with any level of competency. I hope no child ever reads this. We would like to show you a description here but the site won’t allow us. Throughout this article ill admit, you had some good points. I can understand the lyrics of my favorite bands and watch TV and movies without subtitles and get 90% of the dialogue. Sure, I learned the hiragana and the katakana but can't read anything due to everything is in Kanji and if there is some hiragana or katakana there is Kanji mixed into it. Who said I was judging JUST based on my in-laws? Do they have a clear insight into whatever you read on Wikipedia about what foreigners think is Japanese culture? It's funny that a bunch of gaijins living in Japan who won't/don't/can't learn Japanese always complain about the abysmal English ability of Japanese people. I don't know, Ken... this is certainly not your best work. There is no try. They put me in the 5th year level, so there was 1 person better than me and 65 worse. Seriously man, I've lived all on almost every continent and I've never met a country as anti-English as Japan... except for France, but they've got a good reason, that 100 year war thingy. This I can read! In the case of guys, I would say 99% of them learn Japanese to hit on women, and once they succeed or realize it is unnecessary, well then no need to keep studying. If you really want to learn a language, then stop procrastinating. It might be impossible if you don't know how to study, but people making an effort in learning it can easily become conversational/comfortable using it after a year or so. The two are intimately intertwined. Therefore it takes a long time for the Japanese to learn English. Australia, USA and Japan are few countries with very high literacy rates. Why learn the guitar? I happen to have a fascination with logographic writing systems (in particular, chinese characters) and japanese culture and wanted to speak another language; Japanese was the obvious choice. Seriously, I understand short termers not bothering but otherwise, I personally think long term expats in any country who don't make the effort to learn the local language are parasites. Everyone is well impressed. The whole novelty foreigner status gets old quickly after people realize that you can speak fluent Japanese. My goal is to be able to help myself when I am there and because I like the culture and history. Surely y’all are missing the point of learning a foreign language - anywhere - for me as a male, I get to sleep with more girls. The Japanese on the other hand are god-awful at communicating in any language, including their own. The remainder just bitches and whines about every one and everything and quite often letting their frustrations typed on this very site. If you learn kanji, you learn Chinese. india is risen again and will be super power by 2030 write in paper. (geisha, samurai etc..) Probably not, because that is not what Japan's living culture is. Pretty sure Yoda said that. Or perhaps im not and Ill find myself having to throw away >10 rotting cakes. I'd take Japanese I think.. No body ever spoke Japanese. Your ability to speak will be a perpetual novelty to every single person you meet, which will be fun for the first couple months and vaguely insulting ever after. I plan to move there for a few years before going to South Korea. The best site I've found so far sells Japanese picture books, but they each come with what's called a "Nihongo Recipe" which essentially is an in-depth translation, filling in all the "whys" and "hows" of the language. I pick up a lot more culturally than I ever have and wished I would had been this fluent when I was in Japan. Part of the problem lies with ever-loftier goals. High School: Statistics & Probability. Practicing conversation skills is really a must. I happen to love it, but still. Keep in mind that this is all thanks to you. well my Japanese is very average but that has not stopped me from earning a lot more than the average Japanese wage. Not quite. Nobody says you have to be fluent or anything, but if you're making the effort to meet Japanese people more than halfway (which you should, as you're the one who chose to live here), most Japanese people certainly do appreciate your effort. The other two got away with a lot. Finland had one of the highest-ranked education system in the world for many years, but they lost out in 2013 to Japan. Who has not felt a sense of awe while looking deep into the sky, lit with countless stars on a clear night? There are lots of reasons to learn and it should need to be explained. That depends how much you want to understand the country and how deep you want your friendships to be, but I think knowledge is better than ignorance, don't you? Second: A culture is encoded in a language. According to this page that's enough to become between intermediate high and superior: http://www.languagetesting.com/how-long-does-it-take. Aside from the fact that my language skills have been useful professionally, they have enriched my life immeasurably. Even though they may appear very different, they are in fact very similar. Splendid, I can't wait to read part 3 in your series. 3 to 7 years to learning japanese? it seems also, that the author (s) have little understanding of how truly bad the English in Japan really is, outside of Tokyo. Go to Osaka, live among the locals, learn the dialect. I don't want special treatment, myself, but the unfairness gets annoying. But now looking back, it's the kind of mindset that I could've done without. In the end, were all going to die anyway, it would all have been a waste of time!". Then they start telling you their life story. Was it fun? 2) The premise that you shouldn't learn Japanese if you're only a tourist could be extrapolated to say if you are a tourist anywhere you never have to learn the language. Who said I was judging JUST based on my in-laws? (3) If you do learn Japanese (or any other language), you will enter an entirely different world due to your language ability. I was beaten by your article. I felt I didn't want new clothes, new things, new trips - nothing. I know about the culture of South Korea from reading a few history books and travel guides on the country, I even learnt a bit more by travelling there a few times with nothing more than rudimendtary Korean skills, but I do not presume to truly know the cultural idiosyncracies of the country because I do not understand the linguistic nuances that play an important part of everyday communication, and thereby make up a huge part of the living, breathing culture of the people and country. It's just common courtesy I think. You don't think it opens so many worthwhile doors of opportunity and relationships, and can make a massive difference between living here for a year and living here for a lifetime? Now that her health is failing, I'm relying on translators and my crappy, broken Japanese to keep in touch with them. If one has 4 hours of lessons a day, plus studying in the afternoon, 5 days a week, for 18-24 months, while living in Japan, is it possible to became fluent in 18-24months? If you're going to live here learn the language, also don't expect to get a response in English all the time! This is totally false, and completely ill informed I'm afraid. You should persevere and learn to understand, speak, read and write Japanese as far as possible, because otherwise it's a massive waste of a good opportunity, and of your time here; and because otherwise you'll become a tiresome cliche of that foreigner. Plus, Japanese pronunciation is very similar to my native language's pronunciation (Japanese pronunciation is actually a simpler subset) so at least that part of learning the language is easy for me. True, you'll never really be Japanese, but many of my fellow translators have proved that you can live a full adult life in Japan if you bother to learn the language to what is called "professional competence.". These countries are extremely prosperous and the citizens have a high per capita income. Your personal experience? If the real reason for not learning is as you say - fair enough. I go to Japan for my holidays every year and I do my best to learn as much Japanese as I can... out of respect. I know full well though that when I go back to Japan for a trip in a year or so I will use what I have learned and although I might not have anywhere near native level conversation I think my trip will be better off. How's it different than others learning English? Media and Information Literacy Teaching Guide 1. If you're going to learn any language, you should do it for the right reasons; like being able to have more relaxed conversation, closer relationships, better opportunities, a sense of independence, or for academic purposes. Most people seem to last about a year and a half. It made me very lazy about learning Japanese. while its true that its different when you are just "travelling" or vacationing in Japan VS living and working in Japan.. its true that a better lifestyle you want to acquire living in Japan the harder you need to work.. based on my experience yes, this is true.. But i will be really honest, i really want to learn japanese especially because i feel like its something i need to do.. its hard to understand and explain but thats it.. Use your Facebook account to login or register with JapanToday. I get more negs move for supporting good comments of others, than I do for making my own dumb comments, though. Read: I studied Japanese for four years as an undergrad. 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