My fiancee is learning it, but I only know a couple of words. I find it a huge undertaking to learn not just a different vocabulary and sentence structure, but also an entire new alphabet.
Without wanting to sound prejudiced - make sure that you're learning it for the language itself rather than because of being an anime fanboy. That way you're more likely to stick with it.
In conclusion: Watashi wa byoki desu, because I have an exam tomorrow. =(
I really have to learn Japanese cause i'm studying literature and history. And foreign languages are really important for me. Not forgeting that China is a growing power that will overwhelm US one day. I'm probably gonna take Japanese classes in school on my next year anyway
As racist as you sound, you are correct in that there is a major similarity between Japanese and Chinese - they use the same (or roughly the same) Kanji alphabet. However, even though the symbols are drawn the same way they are pronounced very differently, making it extremely difficult to learn one language if you already know the other.
If you plan to learn Chinese then I would recommend you don't learn Japanese first. Because the Japanese took, and modified the Chinese character alphabet [Kanji meaning literally "Chinese writing": Kan=China, Ji=Writing] But used Japanese and "Chinese" pronunciations the language has become convoluted. You would have to learn 10 times the amount of readings for each character. Learning Japanese exclusively, each Kanji has between 2 and 10 readings, I would imagine that if you then tried to leard Chinese it would be all but impossible. Not to mention that Japanese is a phonetic language and Chinese is not. Which is why they sound so different. And why the "Chinese" readings for characters aren't actually in Chinese. However, Japanese is a wonderful language and if you are willing to take the time to learn not one, but three new "alphabets" (hiragana, katakana, and Kanji) than it is completely worth it.
@whittles k. : yep, i'm gonna learn both of them (chinese & japanese).
@phizzy: yep, it is.
@ivan corney: that' interesting then tell me what my nick "guri-n ha" means.
What's the point. All the countries in the world will soon be speaking English. It's the only reason why Britain is still one of the major countries of the world.
Wong, why's that racial? Is it racial to say "Britons, Australians and Americans look and sound the same"?
Edit: JP, what's your first language? (curious)
Edited by the Author.
"Say you're hanging from a huge cliff at the top of mt. everest and a guy comes along and says he'll save you, and proceeds to throw religious pamphlets at you while simultaniously giving a sermon." - Dustin G
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