WHY GO NIHONGO???
Before I delve into specific reasons why I decided to learn Japanese, the short answer is this: I am learning Japanese to compliment my knowledge of Mandarin Chinese. What I mean by this is that Japanese and Mandarin are the two largest languages of East Asia. Since I already have substantial knowledge of Chinese language and culture, I felt like college would be an excellent opportunity to start learning about another central piece of East Asia: Japan (I am currently considering a major in East Asian studies). What better way to learn about another country than to learn its language? By speaking Japanese, I hope I'll be able to build a more solid understanding of not only Japan, but also, by comparing it with what I already know about China, of East Asia as a whole.
But, between you and me, here's why I really chose to learn Japanese:
For me, Japanese is a novelty. Aside from being what I believe is the prettiest sounding language, with its rhythmic, bitonal quality, what fascinates me about Japanese is its relationship to Chinese. Japanese is considered by linguists to be unrelated to the Sino-Tibetan language family (Chinese), and yet, knowing Chinese, I am able to read and get a general understanding of a lot Japanese. Ever since I made this discovery I've been fascinated by the mechanics of written Japanese. In addition to the sounds and the writing system, I was drawn to its unique grammar and sentence structure, which places the object before the verb (SOV) versus English and Chinese, which share a similar sentence structure of subject, verb, object (SVO).
Which brings me to my final order of business: the challenging aspects of learning Japanese (so far).
Luckily, before the semester started I had already studied a little bit of the basics of Japanese. I could already read and write most hiragana, I knew the particles は and の, I could ask questions and introduce my name. However, now as we are learning verb conjugations, the particle に, and forming more complex sentences, I find myself struggling more to keep up than I did the first few weeks of class. On the other hand, part of what drew me to Japanese in the first place was the fact that it is so grammatically different from English and Chinese. That isn't to say that I believe Japanese would be necessarily more difficult than, say, Spanish or French (in fact, I do not think those languages are inherently any easier), but the fact that Japanese forces me to re-order the way I think is an exciting challenge, and it is part of why I decided to start learning the language in the first place.
Before I delve into specific reasons why I decided to learn Japanese, the short answer is this: I am learning Japanese to compliment my knowledge of Mandarin Chinese. What I mean by this is that Japanese and Mandarin are the two largest languages of East Asia. Since I already have substantial knowledge of Chinese language and culture, I felt like college would be an excellent opportunity to start learning about another central piece of East Asia: Japan (I am currently considering a major in East Asian studies). What better way to learn about another country than to learn its language? By speaking Japanese, I hope I'll be able to build a more solid understanding of not only Japan, but also, by comparing it with what I already know about China, of East Asia as a whole.
But, between you and me, here's why I really chose to learn Japanese:
For me, Japanese is a novelty. Aside from being what I believe is the prettiest sounding language, with its rhythmic, bitonal quality, what fascinates me about Japanese is its relationship to Chinese. Japanese is considered by linguists to be unrelated to the Sino-Tibetan language family (Chinese), and yet, knowing Chinese, I am able to read and get a general understanding of a lot Japanese. Ever since I made this discovery I've been fascinated by the mechanics of written Japanese. In addition to the sounds and the writing system, I was drawn to its unique grammar and sentence structure, which places the object before the verb (SOV) versus English and Chinese, which share a similar sentence structure of subject, verb, object (SVO).
Which brings me to my final order of business: the challenging aspects of learning Japanese (so far).
Luckily, before the semester started I had already studied a little bit of the basics of Japanese. I could already read and write most hiragana, I knew the particles は and の, I could ask questions and introduce my name. However, now as we are learning verb conjugations, the particle に, and forming more complex sentences, I find myself struggling more to keep up than I did the first few weeks of class. On the other hand, part of what drew me to Japanese in the first place was the fact that it is so grammatically different from English and Chinese. That isn't to say that I believe Japanese would be necessarily more difficult than, say, Spanish or French (in fact, I do not think those languages are inherently any easier), but the fact that Japanese forces me to re-order the way I think is an exciting challenge, and it is part of why I decided to start learning the language in the first place.
I like your use of the word "novelty" here. It was interesting to hear your perspective on the Japanese language and you taught me a bit about the relationship with Chinese, too. That was smart getting a head start on the language!
ReplyDeleteThank you! I like the word "novelty" too because it pretty much sums up my reasons for pursuing Japanese. I'm surprised but also glad that you feel like you learned something about the relationship between Chinese and Japanese! Hopefully I didn't anything wrong... hehe
DeleteHi Justin! I really relate to your comment on the similarity between Japanese and Chinese. I used to travel to Japan frequently because of my parents, and I noticed that I could read most of Japanese articles/store names because their use of Kanji. I like how you pointed out that the huge difference between English and Chinese grammar versus the Japanese one. I never noticed it before in class but it makes so much sense now that you pointed it out!
ReplyDeleteAlso kudos to majoring in East Asian studies !! I have always wanted to but my course load is already too heavy. However, I heard from my friends that the EA department @ Columbia is really amazing. You will definitely learn a lot :)
Hey Cynthia! Isn't it also really weird that Chinese and Japanese have such different grammar but its possible to read and understand entire Japanese sentences by knowing Chinese characters? I'm glad I'm not the only one who feels this way even though of course, there are a lot of Chinese characters that I don't quite understand.
DeleteAlso, I still haven't decided on a major yet, EA studies is just something I'm considering at the moment, but I really appreciate your input and will definitely keep that it mind!
As an EALAC minor, yey for EALAC! Honestly, I think the EALAC department does a great job with its language classes and I've taken too many East Asian history classes all of which were super interesting (which has had an impact on my finishing my actual major lmao). But glad to hear that you're planning to major!
ReplyDeleteThat's so cool! I'm curious as to what your major is, and what about EALAC made you decide to minor in it? Is there a certain culture or aspect about it that you find interesting?
DeleteOur reasons for studying Japanese are practically the same! On paper, I'm interested in Japanese purely for professional and academic reasons, but personally, I love the challenge and the fun that studying Japanese presents. It truly is a unique language, and I completely agree that it has a beautiful rhythm to it when used by a native speaker. From what I understand, classical Japanese has a similar quality to classical Latin, in that it sounds more like poetry than prose--you might find some examples of this online. To your last point, I certainly don't think that Japanese is any more difficult than the Romance languages--it just requires a different way of thinking, and that you forget some of the most basic rules of Western languages (temporarily, of course!).
ReplyDeleteI've never heard classical Japanese, or really any classical Latin for that matter, so I'll definitely have to look into that! It's fascinating how languages can develop to be melodic and rhythmic even though they are designed to communicate ideas. As for the difference between romance languages and Japanese that you pointed out, I totally agree. To become fluent in any foreign language requires a change in thought processes that are backed by the culture of the people who use it. I believe Japanese is no exception, and Japanese culture just happens to be very foreign compared to European languages, which is why it may be more difficult to think in that way.
DeleteHi again Justin. I agree that the linguistic aspects of Japanese are fascinating and tracing the etymology of words back to their origins gives us a much deeper understanding of Japanese and East Asia. However, Japanese is far from the widest spoken language in East Asia. The only other country that lists Japanese as an official language is Palau, and it has almost died out on those islands.
ReplyDeleteI hope that you find lots more of similarities and differences between Chinese and Japanese this semester and continue to pursue your academic interests for years to come.
Hi Panko. Although the number of people who speak Japanese may actually be quite small, but I feel like it has a very strong presence throughout not only East Asia, but in the Western world as well due to their exposure to Japanese products, media, and popular culture. Would do you think?
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