Learning To Practice Japanese

You know there’s an app for that, which can be just about anything, like learning a language. Well, I got back into learning Japanese in October. It’s not like I have so much free time on my hands that I can master the hardest written language there is. But Japanese lingo and culture have always intrigued me. And my wife and kids use Duolingo everyday. So I jumped in; now I feel like that green owl is following me everywhere.

I first tried Duolingo 3 years ago. I think I just fizzled out when the language got more demanding and my time was distracted away. But I was recently able to pick up pretty much where I left off. And this time I'm more interested or committed than before. 

One reason is because Japanese culture and media continue to intrigue me. That's a long-standing fact. I still remember the line in Back to the Future where Marty McFly tells the Doc that all the best stuff is made in Japan (like his JVC “portable television studio”).

The biggest influences on me are:

• Nintendo

• Japanese role-playing games

• Martial Arts

  • The Karate Kid 1 and 2 (Okinawa)

  • Judo (where I learned to count in Japanese)

• Sony, Toyota, Honda, Mazda…

Because of Japan’s cultural influences, I had a keen interest to enjoy reading the book, Pure Invention. I liked it overall. Some parts were less interesting; others were fascinating. Just check out this description:

“The untold story of how Japan became a cultural superpower through the fantastic inventions that captured--and transformed--the world's imagination, from karaoke and the Walkman to anime and emoji.”

With that, I recently finished reading the book How to Master Japanese. Now that I know all the secret tricks, I’ll master Japa…ok just kidding. The book was a great read though. I really enjoyed the real-world effort and experience chronicled within. A normal person went from knowing zero Japanese to becoming both fluent and literate enough to translate, interpret, and teach Japanese. It detailed the required relentless commitment level. To learn a foreign language is, in essence, to pursue a culture and adapt yourself far beyond intellectual knowledge acquisition. I recommend the book if you want to learn any language.

I also just finished Fluent Japanese from Anime to Manga. I didn’t like it nearly as much, though it did have helpful info and resources. It was very short, so I didn’t waste time really. It was enough to help confirm and encourage me to pursue immersion in Japanese language through both listening and reading.

Tying right into that, I also recently received a nice gift for my birthday (besides the awesome orange Razr): a month subscription to Crunchyroll. That way I can watch Anime in Japanese only, training my ears and brain to adapt to the language.

Topping that off, I’ve also been listening to Japanese learning podcasts (shadowing audio) and watching some YouTube training videos like JapanesePod101. There are so many resources these days. Like me, you can also install the Google and Apple Translate apps on your phone.

To wrap up, let me say that I’ve had some great light-bulb moments in just the past few days. Even though I’m only a few weeks into Duolingo’s Japanese lessons and am still learning the language’s scripts (Hiragana, Katakana), I’ve been slowly finding myself able to read a few Japanese letters/words here and there. It’s working!

How far will I go? What’s my goal? I don’t know. I’m just enjoying it and hope to be able to at least read JRPGs, Anime, or Manga in their native tongue. Maybe I could someday be an interpreter or video game localization person.