Learning Japanese.... Who is into it?

[Shockproof Jamo]

Moreover, I've heard that Finnish is one of the hardest European languages to learn for other Europeans, because the only other European languages it has anything in common with are Hungarian and Estonian. The vocabulary probably isn't so bad, but the grammar is apparently a nightmare.

I don't know about that. We do have unique vocabulary that you'll only learn via immersion, and our conjugation system might probably keep a total noob to the language in a state of suffering during the early part of studying. The biggest issue with foreigners trying to learn Finnish seems to be getting the accent right however. English speakers for example, as a rule of thumb, are horrible at pronouncing Finnish, unless corrected by years of practice. I'm personally experiencing similar with Slavic languages like Czech and Polish, with their funky pronunciation. Anyway, why would a foreigner wanna learn Finnish anyway is beyond me, at least in the south, English gets you by just fine.

But back on topic, I've been "studying" Japanese on and off for about 6 years now. I have a grasp of the basic grammar and some vocabulary, but the problem is that I've recently found it very difficult to sacrifice the time needed to study intensively. This has especially hurt my studying of the Kanji writing system. I still heavily rely on machine reading of those. But I do nurture my existing, meager knowledge of the language, as it has proven itself invaluable with some untranslated manga and video games. As a bit of trivia, pronouncing Japanese is actually quite simple to a Finn, the pronunciation system is almost the same.

[Warwick]

From the New York Times

Just skimmed it, but it looks like the bar for learning Japanese is dropping for all you weeabos out there.

[Silentcook]

This is only tangentially pertinent, but I find it funny how wanting to learn a language seems to carry along a baggage of being some kind of xenophile snob. I went through being called an anglophile back then, I hear the cries of weeaboo now. At least nobody batted an eye because of Latin... in my country.
To play Devil's advocate, I must also admit that usually the first thing motivating someone to learn a language is some kind of admiration for the foreign culture using it. ...which usually gets broken in a hurry as soon as one gets firsthand exposure.

[Caesius]

I want to learn Russian, but only because I want to work for the CIA and go undercover in Russian hacker circles.

Then I kill them over the Internet.

[Pimmy]

This is only tangentially pertinent, but I find it funny how wanting to learn a language seems to carry along a baggage of being some kind of xenophile snob. I went through being called an anglophile back then, I hear the cries of weeaboo now. At least nobody batted an eye because of Latin... in my country.
To play Devil's advocate, I must also admit that usually the first thing motivating someone to learn a language is some kind of admiration for the foreign culture using it. ...which usually gets broken in a hurry as soon as one gets firsthand exposure.

I must admit, this one multi-lingual guy I knew wasn't a xenophile, but sure was snobby as heck! Apparently learning languages is a hobby that puts you above others.
The best reason (see: worst) for learning a language is to enjoy the entertainment that doesn't get imported! \o/

Watching kid's anime raw lately has been helping too, lately. I find myself picking out more and more phrases, and there's a fun sense of pride when you can get most of a simple conversation. I need to work on expanding my vocabulary, because even knowing most of the words in a sentence can help more than getting ever grammar part right.

[Gash]

I want to learn Russian. But only because a lot of the stuff in Earth orbit has Russian writing on it.

[dragonloverx]

Sooooo back to Japanese for me anyway. I want to learn it because I really like the music. I think that alone is what set me on a mental path to want to learn it. Sure video games and anime was part of it, but I think it was the music most of all. For me at least. And yes I like a lot of things I see in Japanese culture.

[Caesius]

Knowing what they're singing is only going to ruin it.

[Juno]

Knowing what they're singing is only going to ruin it.

Pay heed to this man. Once I learned enough English to know what was sung by most people I was disappointed, so I don't think it's different for any other language.

[Caesius]

Amazingly enough, that rule even applies to power metal.

[Juno]

I got that album back in the day when it came out. Since I was taking Latin lessons at school at that time (and having two Latin-derived languages as my naturals) I could immediately tell that particular theme sucked.

[Kota]

If you guys want practice reading something in Japanese, I do believe that Yotsubato is a good early choice.

I've learned the kana and done a little bit of reading over the past few years, but most of what I know is absorbed from random tidbits of Japanese media, animated or otherwise. I'd like to pick up Japanese more seriously, but the lack of formal classes around here and free time for myself make that impossible. Spanish is taking up more of my time.

[Captain Niggawatts]

If you guys want practice reading something in Japanese, I do believe that Yotsubato is a good early choice.

I've learned the kana and done a little bit of reading over the past few years, but most of what I know is absorbed from random tidbits of Japanese media, animated or otherwise. I'd like to pick up Japanese more seriously, but the lack of formal classes around here and free time for myself make that impossible. Spanish is taking up more of my time.

Yeah, except that much of Yotsuba's dialogue, which comprises a large majority of the text, is often mispronounced, and spelled to reflect that.

[ever17]

I wanted to learn Japanese because that's the only language aside from English that really matters.

AMERICA and JAPAN. The two USEFUL countries.

If you don't know either of those languages then you're not COOL enough for me to even want to talk to.

[Bara]

Knowing what they're singing is only going to ruin it.

Even enka?