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Should I learn French or Japanese?

Japanese

pomme de terre

Ahhh, that's a great textbook. We used that for our first semester classes, your Japanese will be quite decent if you learn all the stuff in it :smile:

I agree! Awesome textbook!

Reply 42

vander Beth

OP

13

pomme de terre

Ahhh, that's a great textbook. We used that for our first semester classes, your Japanese will be quite decent if you learn all the stuff in it :smile:

I also looked up my professors, he looks like he gets rave reviews from his Japanese learning students on the internet. He apparently is head of the French department too! My French classes would be taught by an assistant professor, so can't get the scoop there.

Reply 43

Earthly

12

I don’t have any experience regarding Japanese studies, but I do with Arabic and Russian, which are both tricky languages. Arabic is supposedly similar in difficulty to Japanese, so my advice is this: Make sure you’re absolutely committed, and prepared for a lot of frustration. It will take a lot longer for you to reach a reasonable level of proficiency in Japanese (it might take years if you have no experience with similar languages, depending on how talented a linguist you are) than it will French; having said that, passion should be the deciding factor- you’re already familiar with some of the structures and sounds of French, so maybe familiarising yourself with Japanese will allow you to make a more passionately informed decision; tune into an online radio, get a general overview and feeling of the language and go from there. Hope it all works well for you, best of luck!

Reply 44

pomme de terre

15

vander Beth

I also looked up my professors, he looks like he gets rave reviews from his Japanese learning students on the internet. He apparently is head of the French department too! My French classes would be taught by an assistant professor, so can't get the scoop there.

Sounds like you should do Japanese! Well, I think so anyway :cool:

Reply 45

AliciaJ703

2

Japanese (Nihongo) :yep:

Reply 46

Peregrine

7

Two words: Rosetta Stone.

Do both. Why not.

Reply 47

Mm_Minty

17

0w3n-69

This is actually one of the prime reasons why Japanese courses have such a high drop-out rate!

People drop out because they can't understand anime?
That saddens me :frown:

The dropping out, that is.

Reply 48

The Cornerstone

16

Le Francais :biggrin:

is more useful and more widely used. People who says japanese just say because of the anime.

Reply 49

0w3n-69

13

Mm_Minty

People drop out because they can't understand anime?
That saddens me :frown:

The dropping out, that is.

No. They drop out because they realise that wanting to understand anime is not a legitimate reason for studying the Japanese language.

Reply 50

Mm_Minty

17

0w3n-69

No. They drop out because they realise that wanting to understand anime is not a legitimate reason for studying the Japanese language.

Why would anyone take Japanese with that as their sole motivation? :s-smilie:

Reply 51

Kaylaleigh

12

Mm_Minty

Why would anyone take Japanese with that as their sole motivation? :s-smilie:

You'd be surprised. You get 'Japan-philes' who basically think something is amazing just because it is Japanese and tend to be like:
"OMG I love anime, Japan is awesome! ANIME'

Reply 52

Mm_Minty

17

Kaylaleigh

You'd be surprised. You get 'Japan-philes' who basically think something is amazing just because it is Japanese and tend to be like:
"OMG I love anime, Japan is awesome! ANIME'

I probably lean towards that, it's such a blow to find out that Japan has problems and is pretty imperfect too XD

Reply 53

vander Beth

OP

13

I been thinking about it and I think I am more likely to spend more time studying and putting effort into Japanese than French in my spare time. If I really wanted to learn French, I would feel more comfortable learning French on my own or later; real Japanese classes are harder to come by like has been said. I know employability wouldn't matter much to me for a couple of reasons, but at the same time I would like the opportunities some people have mentioned Japanese would present if I become proficient. I am really excited about it now, and am going to buy the books very soon.

But I won't be taking it until September however. For my own good, I've decided to take a Geology class with 7:30am lectures. :unimpressed:

Reply 54

0w3n-69

13

Mm_Minty

I probably lean towards that, it's such a blow to find out that Japan has problems and is pretty imperfect too XD

It's also a big shock for anime freaks, when they go to Japan (well... for most anime freaks, this is pretty rare) and are hit with the harsh reality that the Japanese really don't like/give a s**t about white people who like anime!

Edit: Meant to say westerners, rather than just white people!

Reply 55

vander Beth

OP

13

xmarilynx

If you have lots of time, are super-super motivated and are prepared to put lots of effort in, then Japanese. The opportunities for a scientist fluent in Japanese and English would be immense.

However, I'm assuming your spare time will be limited considering you're already doing a degree and presumably have a social life, so in light of that, probably French, because you'll be able to progress much faster and with less difficulty.

Sorry for taking a long time to quote, but this has stuck in my mind. Could you elaborate the bold bit?

Reply 56

Jazmine

17

0w3n-69

No. They drop out because they realise that wanting to understand anime is not a legitimate reason for studying the Japanese language.

I was once told the complete opposite! That the people who study Japanese to understand dramas/animes/etc are more likely to be the ones to stay on because they have more of a reason to learn it (due to having a passion about those things) as opposed to people who take it at Uni. just 'cause they think it looks like an interesting language or because they like Japanese landscapes and/or traditions. Not saying those are the only reasons that people would take it anyways though, just repeating what another person said to me.

Reply 57

xmarilynx

18

vander Beth

Sorry for taking a long time to quote, but this has stuck in my mind. Could you elaborate the bold bit?

Japan is a scientific powerhouse, so if you were Japanese speaking you'd be able to work on projects over there and such, and since there are few Science graduates also fluent in Japanese, there wouldn't be much competition for jobs in that area. Even with traditional language jobs such an interpreting and translating, language graduates won't have the scientific knowledge to, say translate certain documents because they probably wouldn't understand them even in English. Multi national agencies such as the UN actively recruit scientists that are fluent in more than one language, too.

Reply 58

0w3n-69

13

Jazmine

I was once told the complete opposite! That the people who study Japanese to understand dramas/animes/etc are more likely to be the ones to stay on because they have more of a reason to learn it (due to having a passion about those things) as opposed to people who take it at Uni. just 'cause they think it looks like an interesting language or because they like Japanese landscapes and/or traditions. Not saying those are the only reasons that people would take it anyways though, just repeating what another person said to me.

Well, when you think about it, it's quite obvious...

When you study Japanese as a degree, anime and manga plays no academic role. (actually, i think one university offers a modules on it... but still...)

So people who want to study for a Japanese degree, with just an interest in anime and manga have a very hard time. This is because they are expected to write essays on Japanese politics, economics, history, literature, classical Japanese etc... and on top of this, the very very high language workload....

An interest in anime and manga will rarely carry a student through... it can happen! But it's not common. That is why Japanese has such an incredible drop-out rate... 70 people are ususally taken on for 1st year. Around 10, or even less finish the degree. This goes on to make a further point... that even for people who do have an interest in these specialist study areas, as well as the language; even they can't even hold their own with such a harsh work-load...

Reply 59

Jazmine

17

0w3n-69

...

'Tis truesay.

I think perhaps a fair point would perhaps be that you'll have a hard time learning Japanese (or a language in general) at Uni. if you merely have an interest in one thing to do with the country/countries they speak it and are not too interested learning about anything else. Myself, I really enjoy the Japanese language a lot. However, I do not know much about Japan and don't really claim to have an interest in the country that stretches beyond general interest of societies (of which is one of my core interests but still).

Maybe, liking Japanese media on the side aids your learning a lot and gives you extra motivation but, won't be enough to completely pull you through.

I am interested in taking Japanese at Uni. but, such things worry me. Do I have enough stamina and interest to complete such a degree? - I feel I have a great passion for it but, I cannae be sure (I suppose you can't with these things). I would like to combine the course with Law though, if I were able to go (to Uni.). I think the two Unis that do it only offer Japanese as a minor with it. That combined with self-study would hopefully be good enough!

Should I learn French or Japanese?

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