How many of you are actually trying to learn Japanese or move to japan some day?

[doombox 4421]

I've been taking formal lessons for just over a year. I've dabbled in teaching myself before that but didn't get very far. I definitely want to visit Japan again, maybe even work there for an amount of time. I'm not sure I'd want to live there permanently. It would really depend on the situation. 

[Mr Bacon 106]

I started studying Japanese language and culture at uni in 2009. I wanted to learn the language, learn about the country, do all things Japanese.

However, after one and a half year the realization struck me that in order to be able to speak a decent bit of Japanese I'd actually have to go there(which I didn't and still don't have the money for), and that (at least here in The Netherlands) there is little to no job market for graduated students of Japanese. Yes it was interesting, but I'd rather do something else and make a decent living(which is working out pretty well).

 

Unless you are certain that this is your one true passion and that you will be able to make a living doing it, I advise against actually studying Japanese(as a major). I have too many friends who have their university certificate after having done Japanese and now cannot find a job.

 

If you want to spend your free time on learning the language in a different way, by all means do because it is a beautiful and (socio)linguistically interesting language.

[chemicalpictures 1888]

I do want to learn japanese, mainly because of music.It would be nice to understand lyrics, blogs, stuff like that.

 

I plan to visit Japan on a trip, but I have zero interest in living there.

[paradoxal 2948]

Unless you are certain that this is your one true passion and that you will be able to make a living doing it, I advise against actually studying Japanese(as a major). I have too many friends who have their university certificate after having done Japanese and now cannot find a job.

 

 

I have a lot of friends who are majoring in Japanese, and that's the exact thought I've always had - what the hell are you seriously gonna do with it, unless you actually move to Japan or start teaching the language or something. XD I don't mean to be rude on purpose, I have just never quite gotten the point. (pls explain someone)

[violetchain 912]

I'd like to know how fast you have been studying japanese language? (In my school we will learn ~15 kanjis per week)

We did 20 a week in my class, plus 1-5 combinations for each character. The quizzes were all on the combinations. Like if we learned 生 that week, during the quiz he would say "isshou" and we would have to write 一生 and the meaning.

 

My professor was constantly saying how little 20 was, which was true in hindsight, but it felt like a ridiculous amount at the time.

[allisapp 303]

 

I have a lot of friends who are majoring in Japanese, and that's the exact thought I've always had - what the hell are you seriously gonna do with it, unless you actually move to Japan or start teaching the language or something. XD I don't mean to be rude on purpose, I have just never quite gotten the point. (pls explain someone)

 

 

 

To be honest, I decided to major in Japanology as a second thought. I admit knowing that I will never be able to work as a interpreter and if I wanted to be a (written) translator, Finnish-Japanese won't make enough to live with it. Don't know if studying japanese language will help in travelling agencies or anything like that, but that's the road I am planning to take. 

 

Taking Japanese language gave me couple more years to think about what I want to end up doing, if I won't get anything relevant to the degree. :'D

[lichtlune 915]

Interesting how many of you are interested in the language. For me i was always too lazy and unmotivated to learn even though i know i should have taken this seriously YEARS ago. I would be much farther along at a young age but alas.. it's the past. I'm also worried about living conditions in japan and if i could survive there or not. I would like it to be an option though. There's just so many reasons to learn it. I'm not just learning it because i listen to some Japanese music or watch anime sometimes. This stuff is seriously a huge part of my life. And so i have no other choice. I'll have to force myself to learn it.  

[Geos 5]

Nice thread here!

 

I have been living and working in Japan for about four years now and I think it's important to keep in mind where you are aiming at.

I started studying Japanese like seven years ago and at that time I would have never imagined I would be actually moving to Japan, have a nice job and play bands like I am doing now. But always had this kind of a dream to keep me progressing.

 

Especially when trying to learn the language, many times you would just want to give up.

I have been doing Japanese at university and always took it seriously, but after more than two years I couldn't read most of what was on newspapers and still had no clue of what people where saying on TV. It got slightly better after graduating but as soon as I actually went to Japan I noticed I wasn't anywhere near being fluent. And then after few months I suddenly realized I could finally speak and understand with no problems (o_o).

 

If you have the money and the chance to have one or two study years in Japan, just go for it. You get to learn more naturally and so much faster than being abroad (especially if you are going by yourself and have no chance to speak anything else than Japanese).

 

If you are considering about moving to Japan or working there, you can try to get a working holiday first as a tryout. Unfortunately my country has no working holiday regulations with Japan, so I didn't have this chance. I heard many horror stories about Japan before coming, but actually enjoyed it much more than expected. Ok, after a while you get to see all the bad points about being a foreigner in Japan but there are also so many good things too and spending few years overseas is never a bad thing anyway isn't it?

 

If you think you can get a job because you know Japanese or/and English, good luck I guess everybody's story is different, but most foreigners I know had troubles finding full time jobs unless they were married with a national or had powerful connections. Finding a job took me so much time and I was actually on the verge of giving up.

Even if you are going to study and do not need to work to pay for your school and life, do as many part-times as possible. This way you start getting used to jobs in Japan and some working experience on the field will make you look more reliable at job interviews. You can also meet tons of new people who might be helping you later and of course get more confident with the language. Being able to do something other than knowing the language is also a big plus as the country is already full of gaijin able to translate from/to Japanese or blonde guys who can teach English at language schools.

 

I made it sound quite hard, but if I could do it I guess everybody has a chance. I am not particularly clever, I don't come from a rich family and had no Japanese acquaintances when I first came. All you need to do is just moving forward without giving up. It's your dream after all isn't it?

Sorry for the long post! If you guys have some questions about Japan or learning Japanese or whatever, feel free to ask  

[Takadanobabaalien 3607]

I think for a native english speaker, you don't even need an education to teach english here. Which makes it pretty easy for native english speaking people to get over and work here. ^^

[Peace Heavy mk II 7200]

I've minored in Japanese -- took 6 classes in language and picked up some culture as a result of that. While it is officially on my expensive piece of paper, the training I received is honestly only enough to really say I have a 2nd grade vocabulary. Would love to pick up taking lessons again and practice with native speakers, but for the time being my skills are kind of deteriorating. 

 

 

Formal Japanese is very different from how bandmen write on blogs or twitter, even with figuring out song titles. I have learned a lot of vocabulary from trying to pull apart names, however. Genki didn't have a teen angst section, so thank you Auto-mod for giving me this experience.

[薔薇の末裔 157]

I think for a native english speaker, you don't even need an education to teach english here. Which makes it pretty easy for native english speaking people to get over and work here. ^^

 

That's true, but how many native english speakers are in Japan looking for work now? 

Sure you can find tons of part time jobs but they wouldn't sponsor your visa unless you have very high qualifications/experience. After all, they can find tons of unexperienced english teacher to replace you.

[doombox 4421]

I have a lot of friends who are majoring in Japanese, and that's the exact thought I've always had - what the hell are you seriously gonna do with it, unless you actually move to Japan or start teaching the language or something. XD I don't mean to be rude on purpose, I have just never quite gotten the point. (pls explain someone)

I began to learn because I wanted a job for an airline but they were only hiring for someone who also spoke Japanese at the time. Where I live gets many Japanese tourists, but very few Japanese people live here. So if you do speak it you can make quite a bit of money, so I decided it would be worth it since I always had an interest in Japanese culture and entertainment anyway.

[kyoselflove 2680]

I've been trying to learn Japanese slowly over the years.  I used to be really good at reading Katakana but recently I have been failing lol.  I know some basic phrases and all that jazz but I have been slacking because I don't think I will ever move to Japan but I am moving to Indonesia.  So I've been learning Indonesian and Balinese -.-  My brains can't handle so many languages at once I guess.

 

Though someday I would love to live in Japan xD 

[Nyasagi 259]

I kept thinking "I wouldn't like to work in Japan", but someone made me realize Europe isn't a good place for people of my nationality, because they're being treated like Mexicans in the US :/. I want to try to go to Japan and work as an English teacher and I've just started my university (American Studies major, with all courses in English), I'm also taking Japanese classes on my uni. Would an American Studies BA be enough to get a job as an English teacher there (no experience of course)? I read it doesn't matter what kind of degree someone has, but posts in this topic are discouraging me... Maybe I don't have any chance, after all...

[kyoselflove 2680]

I kept thinking "I wouldn't like to work in Japan", but someone made me realize Europe isn't a good place for people of my nationality, because they're being treated like Mexicans in the US :/. I want to try to go to Japan and work as an English teacher and I've just started my university (American Studies major, with all courses in English), I'm also taking Japanese classes on my uni. Would an American Studies BA be enough to get a job as an English teacher there (no experience of course)? I read it doesn't matter what kind of degree someone has, but posts in this topic are discouraging me... Maybe I don't have any chance, after all...

 

I'm sorry to hear about your discrimination T__T I know someone who has gone to Japan to teach English with a BA, but I guess it really only depends on the school.  So I would just suggest to send your resume to as many schools as possible ^^

[Takadanobabaalien 3607]

I kept thinking "I wouldn't like to work in Japan", but someone made me realize Europe isn't a good place for people of my nationality, because they're being treated like Mexicans in the US :/. I want to try to go to Japan and work as an English teacher and I've just started my university (American Studies major, with all courses in English), I'm also taking Japanese classes on my uni. Would an American Studies BA be enough to get a job as an English teacher there (no experience of course)? I read it doesn't matter what kind of degree someone has, but posts in this topic are discouraging me... Maybe I don't have any chance, after all...

 

As far as I know (I have friends who work as english teachers here), you don't need a university degree to teach english. Maybe it's different at a university here though, but language schools are fine, and there are loads of the. However, you have to be english native speaker or have taken the TOEIC test (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/TOEIC).

[Mr Bacon 106]

I have a lot of friends who are majoring in Japanese, and that's the exact thought I've always had - what the hell are you seriously gonna do with it, unless you actually move to Japan or start teaching the language or something. XD I don't mean to be rude on purpose, I have just never quite gotten the point. (pls explain someone)

For most people, nothing really.

If you live in a country where your education is being paid for, sure. But over here it is not, and I see a lot of people majoring in Japanese because they like anime or visual kei or whatever(okay, I kind of fell into that category 5 years ago, to some extent), without even thinking about job prospects.

 

Some of my friends now live/work in Japan(only a small handful), all the others either spent €6000 or more on an education with which they cannot get a job and are trying to get retrained in a different field at the last minute, or are lucky enough to find a decent job in a completely different branch.

 

In the Netherlands, majoring in Japanese is a train bound for disaster for 80% of the students, but most don't realize it until it's already too late. (This sounds kind of pessimistic lol.)

[Peace Heavy mk II 7200]

€6000 in debt + no jobs in your field of study

 

must be rough

[seikun 317]

I have a passion for languages. I don't learn languages because they could provide me with any financial benefit (if it happens however then bring it on!).  I love to be able to say things in other languages. It is like discovering a new world.

 

You never know if you could become an interpreter and/or a translator of Japanese news for any TV station...

[Ikna 1225]

I know a girl who went to the same art school as me ad she studied japanese. It's true that the job prospects are really bad and she has no clue what she is going to do with her degree. But she started to study it because she's interested in learning the language and not because she is a weeb or expects to be able to live in Japan. But then, in my country, studying is still affordable and given your parents can financially support you, you can finsih your studies without having debts as a student loan isn't required, unless you are piss poor or are studying much longer than you need.

 

I myself have tried to learn a bit japanese, but I am generally very bad at learning new languages, so i gave up. Maybe one day I'd try it again, but I am not that motivated either.

[cherushii 24]

MY LIFE'S STORY (JAPAN RELATED ONLY) XD prepare yourself for a wall of text (even tho it's the SHORT VERSION HEHE), and MOTIVATION OVERLOOOAAD ;D

I've been dreaming of Japan ever since I was young, too many reasons AND FEELINGS to sum up why, and I FINALLY made it there this year ^ - ^

I always really wanted to study Japanese on an university here. I've been trying to work my way towards that goal since I was about 12. Unfortunately my "highschool" (we have a totally different ed. system in the Netherlands but I'll call it highschool for now), didn't agree with it, I missed 0.1 points to stay on the ed. level I was following and with which I could get into the university I wanted. They shattered my dream and plans and made me graduate a level lower. I was fucking devastated (thinking back it still hurts) I decided to go study Communication and Multimedia Design (fit to the level I fell in), my current major. I planned to finish my first year with good grades, get the certificate for passing the first year, and, with that, go to the university I wanted to go to and try to end up studying Japanese anyway.
Thankfully, at the beginning of my first year, I got a super awesome job concerning the major (front-end development and web design) and discovered I'm actually PRETTY GOOD with this shit XD then I found out that doing minors was a part of the major, and that there was also a possibility to do these ABROAD.

 

BOOOOM!!!

 

I was like, "OMG FUUUUCK!! THIS IS MY CHANCE!! THIS IS MY CHANCE TO GO TO JAPAN!!". So I went to the International Office of the ICT & Media academy, who arranges all this stuff, and asked them if they have agreements with schools in Japan. OF COURSE THEY DIDN'T XD So I talked to to a coordinator there and told her "WELL I wanna do this shit, I want to go to Japan so I'm gonna fucking get us an agreement :') ". Took me 2.5 years (I'd have to do my minors in my 3rd year, so that's this year) and didn't manage to find an university in Japan that wanted to set up an agreement for exchange with us. I was just about to give up when this professor from ANOTHER academy contacted us and told us his major has an agreement for exchange with an university in Osaka. He recommended me to the university, helped me apply for everything and with a lot of energy and anxiety of not getting in the program (Asian Studies Program at Kansai Gaidai University in Osaka), I got accepted :DDDDDDD
I studied and lived in Hirakatashi, Osaka this year from Jan till June and have never EVER been as happy as I was living in Japan. I've always had the feeling it'd be the place I belong, it's the reason I kept on going and the reason of my longing, but it exceeded ALL of my expectations and feelings. Thinking back to how I felt there, typing all this I can't help but tear up haha XD ANYWAAAAAY before I went to Osaka for minors I'd already decided to do my graduation internship in Japan as well XD come what may ;D So while I was there studying I worked my ass off trying to find an internship at music & entertainment related companies (wrote PSC, Speed Disk, Tower Rec, Zeal Link, SHOXX) etc. I got reply from Shoxx and Zeal Link that they'd want to offer me a JOB, but that wasn't exactly what I was looking for. The months passed and I was back again in my fucking cage called the Netherlands. I hadn't found an internship yet BUT still had time and was still looking :3333 I ended up using my network HERE to try and see if someone had contacts at Sony Music&Entertainment in Tokyo. NOT GIVING UP, I WAS ABSOLUTELY DETERMINED to do this shit in Japan. I made to many promises I'd be back.
Via via via I got contacted by a guy who had worked at the hardware dep at Sony in Tokyo and told me he'd try and get me into the company, but couldn't promise me he'd be able to get me in the Music & Entertainment part of it. But at that point I didn't care, I mean, IT'S FUCKING SONY IN TOKYO LOL XD I'll just network my ass off at raibu and parties and get into music & entertainment later ;DD with Sony on my resume, I mean, geez XD soooooo I got contacted by SONY :DDDD and Skyped with them. And they were super excited and offered me an internship ^ - ^

 

SO, here I am, leaving AGAIN for Japan in 15 days, EXACTLY how I planned and hoped, THIS TIME living in TOKYO for 4 months !! While keeping my promise to come back and celebrate Xmas and New Year's with all my friends who are still there :DDDD stressing and arranging everything on a super short notice. BUT I FUCKING DID IT. There's only one obstacle left really, and that's my current course, if I fail this course I'm not allowed to graduate :'D BUT everything has worked out this far, and I just handed in my project, so I'm positive I'll be able to pass and go to Japan leaving all those troubles behind ^ - ^

 

moral of the story: IF YOU WANT SOMETHING, FUCKING GO AND GET IT!!! or like Walt Disney says "All our dreams can come true if we have the courage to pursue them."

 

Anyway, concerning Japanese language skills; I've learned kana and some kanji on my own, I have always been in love with the Japanese language but couldn't follow lessons or anything (no money, no time, no nothing XD). So basically, being crazy about anime and about Visual Kei, I learned basic Japanese the way I learned English really (I am pretty good with languages, especially when I like them). That, and having learned to read kana and some basic kanji, actually got me into level 2 Japanese Spoken and Reading/Writing at Kansai Gaidai, instead of level 1. Studying Japanese language was part of the program so I had Japanese classes for the first time ever, for 4 months straight. And my Japanese's gotten pretty good tbh ^ - ^ I'm still self studying and practicing with friends, and I will try and do the JLPT level N3 in December this year.

 

If all goes well I'll finish my graduation internship at Sony in March 2015, then go back to the Netherlands and hand in my report, and then hopefully graduate :DD I am planning to move to Japan some time after I graduate, preferably next year but it depends on how things will go.

 

SO YEAH ^ - ^ I'm pretty fucking serious about all of this really XD
 

Sorry for the wall of text, but I hope this will be motivating for people who want to make a change and follow their dreams, but are afraid of doing so. I mean, there is always failure lurking in the shadows to smack you down and get you scared, but you can get really far with networking, determination and JUST GOING FOR IT, JUST DO IT! If you never try you'll never know anyway. Might as well go for it and regret doing it than regret NOT doing it.

And if you're miserable now, what do you have to lose anyway?

 

<3