Why learn Japanese?
10 great reasons to start learning Japanese
6. Japanese cultural exports are exploding.
From anime to sushi bars, karaoke to manga, bonsai to origami,
Japanese culture has become part of international culture. A knowledge
of the language will give you direct access to Japanese film, animations,
and comic books, give you insight into the special terminology used
in your favorite martial art, help you understand the cultural basis
for kamikaze training and the origin of the samurai warrior, and
develop your ability to order sashimi like a native at your favorite
Japanese restaurant!
7. Knowing Japanese will set you apart from the crowd.
The majority of people who learn a foreign language choose a European language like Spanish, French, German, or Italian. Choosing a less commonly learned language will pop out on your resume and differentiate you from the crowd.
8. The Japanese are international tourists.
With all of the disposable cash in their pockets, 16.8 million
Japanese tourists headed to destinations abroad in 2004. In a survey,
94% of Japanese visitors to the U.S. reported shopping during their
stay, and more so than any other group, the Japanese were more likely
to pay for goods and services in cash. 3.7 million Japanese tourists
visited the US in 2004, second only to the British among overseas
tourists. Visitors from Japan spent $12.4 billion in the U.S. in
2004, up 24% from the previous year, and were alone responsible
for the majority of the U.S. travel trade surplus.
The market for Japanese tourist dollars is strong. A knowledge of
Japanese can gain you entry into that market. Of course, knowing
Japanese will make your own visit Japan both easier and much more
enjoyable.
9. It's not as hard as you think!
It's true that Japanese has a much different system of writing
than English or any other European language. However, foreigners
can get by with learning the 44 or so hiragana or katakana characters
that represent sounds in much the same way as the English alphabet
does.
In addition, the grammar of Japanese is in many ways simpler than
that of European languages. Japanese nouns have no genders, plural
forms, or accompanying articles to learn. The language also has
only two verb tenses, present and past, and includes very few irregular
verbs. Spoken Japanese has only 5 vowel sounds and spelling is phonetically
consistent, making the language relatively easy to pronounce.
10. Japanese is a stepping stone to learning other Asian languages.
Like other languages of Southeast Asia, Japanese is a highly analytical
language, relying heavily on function words rather than extensive
systems of inflection to denote linguistic properties. These languages
also share a similar subject-predicate sentence structure. Though
Southeast Asian languages are distinctly different among themselves,
as a group they are clearly differentiable from geographically more
distant language families, such as Indo-European and Afro-Asiatic
languages.
In particular, the grammar of Japanese is very similar to that of
Korean and both languages have an equally advanced system of honorifics
for showing respect. And Japanese takes its kanji writing system
from the Chinese system of ideographs. Learning Japanese brings
you a step closer to taking on Korean or Chinese because many of
the concepts underlying the language are similar.
