Learning Japanese

Desperate thoughts from a desperate student

Many moons ago, I decided to learn Japanese. It seemed like a good choice at the time as I was always fascinated by the Japanese culture and if I’m being honest, I wanted to be able to watch anime without subtitles.

Even though I knew I had a tough task ahead of me, I started lessons full of excitement, feelings that were quickly replaced by stress and despair.

Everything was great in the beginning, we learned basic greetings, how to introduce ourselves and general stuff we already knew. Then came the time to learn hiragana (ひらがな) the first alphabet (oh yeah there is more than one alphabets), which seems more complicated than it actually is. The second alphabet katakana (カタカナ) though… well we might never fully get into that one.

Of course let us not forget about kanji (漢字) the Chinese characters adapted into the Japanese writing system. A single kanji has a lot of pronunciations depending on the word you use it in. There is no other choice but to learn all these pronunciations by heart or you can head to an abandoned place, start a glorious fire, throw the book in and then watch it burn with immense pleasure while whispering to yourself “Never again.”

Another socking fact about the Japanese language is the way of counting. The are different counters which depend on whether you are counting people, animals, minutes, days, small objects, flat long objects, flat thin objects and so on. It is about that time you realize you were better off learning French or something. “Why are you doing this to yourself you masochist?”

So, where do I stand after months of studying Japanese? You will find me in the corner of my room curled into fetal position with all the books scattered over the floor, trying to find the will to open them. Ι grab my Totoro plushie “たすけてください” (Save me please)! I say staring into his lifeless eyes. I can already imagine the first certificate (N5) flying away mocking and waving goodbye to my useless self.

I do not regret it though. Nothing good comes without hard work and dedication. Learning a language gives you the opportunity to open new horizons and it allows you to explore in depth cultures completely different from your own. Beside all the hardships the only thing left to say is “がんばります” (I will do my best)!

I would also like to take the time to thank my classmates without whom I would have definitely run out of the classroom Naruto style. You know who you are, 大好きだよ!

Originally posted on beasty-press.com