Learning Japanese

By melissalus at stock.xchng

In the past, I’ve always set up some sort of website, blog, or whatever the awesome-cool thing to have was. But I never used them. Why, you ask? (Even though I know you’re not asking that…) I never used them because they never had a purpose. Sure, I’d set it up to be some sort of portfolio or hub for whatever I was doing at the time, but I never thought it through, and it showed.

This time it is different. This is just a blog, plain and simple. Eventually I’d like for it to be for more, but that will come with time. For now, it’s a blog. And I’ll mostly talk about my progress in learning the Japanese language. But why Japanese, and not Spanish or Mandarin? Well, I’ve always had a thing for Japanese culture. And some TV shows (I’m looking at you, Ninja Warrior!) have furthered my interest. But I hate subtitles. Having to read subtitles because you can’t understand the language always bothers me. And eventually I’d like to travel to Japan, but I don’t want to look like a stereotypical tourist when I get there. I want to know how to fend for myself.

But the big thing I want to do with Japanese is to use it to help understand the advertising and design world embedded in Japanese culture. It’s so remarkably different, and it fascinates me. But I feel that to truly understand it, I need to know the language. So learning Japanese is my first step towards that.

I know it’s not going to be easy. I’m going to have to really dedicate the time to it. (And with the Fall semester of college, things are going to get crazy!) I’ve always used the excuse that learning a new language is difficult for me, but it is for everyone. I will just have to work for it. I also have the entire internet to help me out when I need it. I have used the excuse before that I have no one to help me if I get stuck. But that’s just not true, and I will not allow myself to quit.

So, with that said, here I go into learning the Japanese language!