As a freshman at Columbia university most of my classmates in Tatsumi-sensei's first year Japanese class are sophomores or seniors. For most of them, the motivation to take this class is clear. Some have an internship related to Japanese culture. Others need to fulfill a language requirement. All of these are reasonable explanations. But that leaves me...
Why am I taking Japanese?
The truth is, there is no clear reason why. First I guess I have to mention my early fascination with Japanese anime/manga. Starting with Pokemon, this hobby quickly spiraled into an obsession complete with cosplay, jpop, and silly crushes on imaginary characters. But this was all just a phase. By the time I graduated from middle school, my intense love for manga died down as well.
Next, I guess I have to consider practical reasons. Japan is the 3rd biggest economy of the world. As a native speaker of Chinese and English (the languages of the first and second largest economies), from a career standpoint, taking Japanese makes perfect logical sense.
But that sounds almost too practical for a 19 year old...
Truth be told, the best answer to this question would probably be "why not". As cliche as it may sound, the next four years of my life may be my last chance to devote my life to studying without worrying about bills, rent, taxes, and all the complications of being a true adult. I see this as my last chance to learn a language, to acquire a skill that will follow me for the rest of my life.
To those of my fellow freshmen who only have one class some days.... I AM jealous. But not as jealous as you'll be when I can converse in fluent Japanese!
There are actually freshmen who have one class a day?
ReplyDeleteまさか・・・しんじません！
And honestly, who needs a reason for learning a language besides sheer curiosity? だいじょうぶ、もんだいありません！にほんごをがんばってください！
トシンさん、ありがとうございます！Thanks for the words of encouragement!
DeleteI do hope that sheer curiosity will be enough to sustain me for when times get tough! Many of my friends have only one class a day or it seems like they're never busy! To me it feels like I always have more work then they do because of Japanese class!
こにちわ！
ReplyDeleteマンさんのBlogをよみました。
I enjoyed reading your posts so far and really appreciate the refreshing and honest approach you took in answering the prompt.
Coming from a person who also had an incredible obsession with anime and manga (and still do...), I can really relate to the initial fascination with the Japanese language and culture. And of course those silly imaginary character crushes...I also never actually considered the practical reasons that you listed so I'm quite glad that I can speak Chinese and English as well xD
However, regardless of its relevance to career goals, I agree with you that we really do have such an amazing opportunity to really learn and immerse ourselves in a different language and culture at this time of our lives.
So definitely, definitely make the most of it! Good luck and I hope these comments/posts will slowly graduate to be in Japanese rather than English!
Hi Jamie!
DeleteジェイミさんのCommentをよみました！I hope you had fun at comic-con!!! I was downtown this weekend and saw a ton of cosplayers and people reading mangas that could only have come from comic-con!
I'm hoping to see if I can do something more to augment my Japanese learning. Maybe I'll pick up an anime! But I've been so out of that world that I wouldn't know what to pick up. Any suggestions?
マンさん、although you are saying that you do not have clear reason, I already see a lot of connection between you and the language. Hope this gonna be a wonderful exploration of the whole new world of Japanese to you. And... I am jealous of you who already can speak English and Chinese as a native speaker! にほんごのべんきょう、がんばってください！TAむらい
ReplyDeleteむらいさん、ありがとう！I am trying my best to learn the language! Learning new languages is always hard but I think the Japanese department at Columbia is very supportive and helpful!
DeleteI'm also a freshman taking Japanese! I'm fascinated by anime and manga too, have you watched "Attack on Titans" yet? It's been pretty popular!
ReplyDeleteNo I haven't! That's really funny though! One of my classmates (Jamie-san actually from a few comments up) works with Kodansha the publishing firm and they translate/publish Attack on Titan. She was actually managing the New York Comic-con stand a few weekends ago!
Deleteすごい！That's so cool! I've never gone to a Comic-Con, but all my ともだち have told me it's very たのしです！
DeleteI've been to a few anime conventions but that was back when I used to watch more anime! ウェンさんはどこのがくせいですか？
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