OMG Why are you learning a language that almost none of the world uses?! (Japanese)

I guess this is a bit of a cliche' question, but what drives you to learn Japanese? I'm sure most of us would say we, "just like it," but in more details... why?

I'll hold off on my answer till after a few others post

I learn so that I can get a Japanese girlfriend and watch Naruto without subtitles.

If I learn Japanese, I can attain a harem and become that one indecisive guy in the middle of it.

That and I will be able to transform into a Power Ranger.

Raybuster wrote:If I learn Japanese, I can attain a harem and become that one indecisive guy in the middle of it.

That and I will be able to transform into a Power Ranger.

Best reason ever.

also...nice avatar.

Honestly, when I first came to Sac State and decided to take Japanese it was because I wanted to be able to watch anime, movies, read manga, and understand what they were saying. I'd be lying if I said that anime and manga had NO influence on me.

Meeting a lot of Japanese people, J-Club people, and wanting to travel to Japan became a huge motivator for me. I didn't really care about my original reasons as much as wanting to make new friends and just enjoy the ones I had. My language ability was at a really low level, so I was motivated to get better. It helped that all my classmates and J-club people were really motivated and it was a lot of fun speaking with people like Yuko, Yuriko, and Sachiko. The two years I did study helped me to get around Tokyo (very international friendly, but still), so I was able to see some benefits from my language learning. Naturally, learning more Japanese would enable me to do more things, and so I still try to study.

Nowadays, after having applied for numerous jobs and having worked at a Japanese company, I realize that having Japanese language ability is a very sought after skill. A lot of companies, especially in popular media and business, want Japanese speakers. It's hard to get a job in general, but having Japanese language ability gives you a huge advantage against others who are applying for the same position. It's just a good skill to have and it shows that you are international-minded.

I think learning languages in general is fun and learning Japanese is worth it for me.

Brian is up next!

lol ok, but Ray's was the best reason possible, and I wish I could change mine to is reason...

For me, I had a Japanese-American family friend who exposed me to the language and "Japanese stuff" when I was young. I had always loved video games and such, and made little one's when I was a kid so naturally I was also exposed to Japanese stuff quite indirectly through games as well. I had limited exposure to anime or that stuff, since it was rare at that time, so most of my curiosity grew from the fact that Japan "was something different" and that the language was considered "hard" and totally different. Plus I had always hoped to play a game in full Japanese. At that time, there were often numerous games that never were released in the US.The idea of something different, unique, and hard had a certain draw to it, even if it was simply an illusitory (I'ma make new wurds!) perspective build around Japan and Japanese language.

Everything slowly built as I took more classes, made friends, delve more into the details and more.

Sorry if it isn't well said, I'm about to pass out, and gotta meet my professor tomorrow and a crazy tough IR class so my mind is all whacked out now.

I actually struggled with foreign language. I wanted to learn Tagalog, but my parents didn't speak it much in the home after I was age 7 or so because my sister wasn't picking up Englsh and they didn't want to confuse her. I wanted to learn French, but there was no opportunity to take it in schools. I was forced to study Spanish for a few weeks in middle school and failed miserably. And in high school, I was able to get away without studying a foreign language because it fell into the same category as art where I had well over the required credits.

Then at Sac State, I found out I needed to pass one year's worth of foreign language in order to graduate. I figured that I would probably fail at Spanish again, and considered taking French class, but saw that Japanese was offered. I had always had an interest in anime, Japanese music, Japanese arts & crafts. I hadn't watched anime in several years, but was getting interested in the culture again after I learned how to crochet & knit.. I had discovered Japanese amigurumi (crochet), and lots of sewing projects tagged as being "zakka" style. I bought boughts but couldn't understand the patterns or instructions. Studying the language might help me to actually figure these things out! So I did. And it was fun! Definitely a challenge. Making friends through language classes and J-Club definitely made it funner than I thought it would be. And it was these friendships and experiences that pushed me to continue studying into my second year, although I no longer had any graduation requirement for it. I also went on to study art & sociology of Japan through other classes to further my knowledge and understanding.

I could go on, but at this point this is where you all met me. So you can connect my personality know to this back story. And read my JET Statement of Purpose in the other post. Haha.

Pretty much the same as Nick. Didn't even know anime was Japanese until I moved here in the US. They were just cartoon I watched in English or Tagalog (Goku speaking fluent Tagalog was amazing). Also, my parents had a Japanese friend that was a company friend and he was really nice and I kinda wanted his job. LOL! And I stuck with it because Japan is kinda like the fashion center in Asia which is the industry I wanted to enter.

Anime existed in US cartoon TV in the early 80's, but it mostly dropped off I believe, so when it did show up it was clearly separate from regular TV if I am remembering correctly. Probably the difference that made the anime crazy along the fact there were many Japanese games that were popular.