To Learn Nihongo: Not Just for the Foreign Otaku

Fluent in English and Spanish, I would also love to be able to communicate and extend my linguistic abilities to the Japanese language, as well as gain a better understanding of various facets of Japanese culture. I watch a lot of anime (I’m not afraid to admit that I watch mostly comedy and shoujo series) and occasionally read manga. I wouldn’t call myself an overzealous otaku, but I’d be dishonest if I said that anime has not had any influence on my desire to learn Japanese, because anime has, indeed, augmented my desire to learn Japanese. Who wouldn't want to be able to read manga and watch non-dubbed anime without reading the subtitles?

Konata engaging in daily ritual.

Although being able to better enjoy Japanese pop culture is very rewarding, I would also like to learn from other aspects of Japanese culture. One friend of mine, who has relatives from Japan, was excited to invite me to visit. He told me a lot about the prefecture they come from and was excited to share that they even have their own shrine. I would love to accept this invitation, but it would be much cooler if I was more aware of the culture and could communicate in the residents' language first.

I’ve made a couple of failed attempts at learning Japanese on my own (I only learned a few phrases from anime, the first couple of hiragana "sets", and about 5 kanji, so I am very much a beginner). I believe that in-person communication is essential, since it seems much more stimulating for social beings, like ourselves, to learn from mirroring and imitation, just as babies learn their first language; classroom instruction has given me the opportunity to exercise this learning mechanism. 

At the moment, I am finding it difficult to effectively communicate my thoughts in a language for which I have yet to gain fluency. Therefore, I will try my best to convey my thoughts in “good” Japanese, to challenge myself, and to ultimately learn to listen, speak, read, write, and think in Japanese.