How hard is it to learn Japanese?

[AUMM]

I'm thinking of enrolling in a Japanese class just for the sake of learning it. Anyone know how hard Japanese ???

 

[StevenYoo]

Originally posted by: AUMM
I'm thinking of enrolling in a Japanese class just for the sake of learning it. Anyone know how hard Japanese ???

well, i take Japanese and i'm enjoying it.

the basics are super easy. it gets a LOT harder as u move along.

you gotta learn THREE written systems, hiragana, katakana, and kanji (chinese characters)

hiragana and katakana are easy. Kanji is a bizznatch. Japanese makes use of about 1800 kanji in everyday use. in EVERYDAY use. it's nuts.

 

[kazeakuma]

Basics are easy, it get's more complex as you go along. Not to mention that many words sound the same and are written the same (in hiragana not kanji) and mean completely different things. It's fun though and I would recommend it if your interested. Also if you are interested in being able to speak it half decently it helps if you don't have much of an accent. Japanese is butchered by western accents, I still cringe when I hear a nasal konichi wa.

Guybrush, you should try Mandarin which I'm going to start next year. The chinese invented Kanji and they use far more of it than the Japanese. Ah well, at least I already know a ton thanks to my Japanese course

 

[Orsorum]

Basics are fairly easy, as everyone else has said... gets much more difficult as you go along. It helps if you have friends in the class, or native-speaking friends.

 

[dfi]

Woot, I should learn japanese then, since I already know chinese. So I suppose that would make it a lot easier for me right?

Oh wait... learning takes effort and time. Ah, forget it!

dfi

 

[AUMM]

Originally posted by: GuybrushThreepwood

Originally posted by: AUMM
I'm thinking of enrolling in a Japanese class just for the sake of learning it. Anyone know how hard Japanese ???

well, i take Japanese and i'm enjoying it.

the basics are super easy. it gets a LOT harder as u move along.

sweet, the class is for just the basics so ill prolly take it.

you gotta learn THREE written systems, hiragana, katakana, and kanji (chinese characters)

hiragana and katakana are easy. Kanji is a bizznatch. Japanese makes use of about 1800 kanji in everyday use. in EVERYDAY use. it's nuts.

my syllabus says exactly that "Most of the basic grammar of Japanese, Hiragana, Katakana, and about 170 Kanji (Chinese characters) will be introduced. "

 

[amnesiac]

If you want to learn just for the sake of learning, take a business Japanese course. They emphasize understanding and grammar over literacy, which is not needed in most cases.

Learning hiragana and katakana are minimally useful, as most Japanese is written in Kanji. The problem with that is that most people don't have an acceptable level of literacy until they've had YEARS of experience with kanji