[Kayci]

I started teaching myself because I always loved East Asia, and other languages.
Before Japan it was China.
And before China it was Sweden. (I made a leap into China at age 6.)
I was 8 years old. Had neighbors that were a mixed family. The mother from Osaka, the father from here. With a four-year-old daughter. They all spoke japanese.
I got so tired of being left out.
And I started getting interested in it. If I saw anything that I thought was japanese related I would get excited and go to the family to learn more.
By age 12 I became more serious about the language. I was into anime for a little while there but I learned, that anime =/= japanese culture, history, etc.

I love learning anything historically about Japan, even what they did wrong...
I can speak pretty well verbally, but I need to get better at reading and writing.

I am also learning Korean as well, and seeing some connections gets me all excited like a little kid.