How Difficult is it to learn the language?

[KyleGoetz]

Look, if you pick an easier language, then you'll be competing with other people for good marks. Those other people are also finding the language easier, just the same as you. Unless you go to a school that doesn't use bell curve grading, it doesn't matter how hard the language is because it will be the same for everyone.

Also, foreign language classes at university are, in general, cake. Mickey Mouse even.

Most universities don't let you study abroad unless you already have studied the language some. I know my university required two years (that's four classes!) of classwork before getting to go abroad.

And if you're in high school, worried about getting a bad grade in a foreign language class in college already, boyo, you've got another thing coming to you. Foreign language classes are almost uniformly easier than anything you'll experience your 3d and 4th years of college.

In my 4th year, for example, I took the most advanced Japanese class offered. I put in about an hour a week of work on average. For my math classes (my other major), I probably averaged ten or more for each class. One I spent maybe five hours a day on for some spans of time.

Basically, if you're so afraid of a B in a Japanese class that you won't even take the class, then you don't deserve to ever learn the language. Life is full of challenges; you've got to take risks or life will be boring and you won't accomplish anything of meaning.

[james1254]

Originally Posted by Khengi

As there are less sounds in Japanese, there are homonyms everywhere. While everyone always says that 'Kanji helps lower the problem of homonyms,' what happens when you're speaking?

Pitch accent most of the time. Take a look here: Japanese Word Accent

[saikyo]

Originally Posted by Khengi View Post
As there are less sounds in Japanese, there are homonyms everywhere. While everyone always says that 'Kanji helps lower the problem of homonyms,' what happens when you're speaking?
Pitch accent most of the time. Take a look here: Japanese Word Accent

And more than anything - CONTEXT.

[Kayci]

I've been teaching myself for years.
No professional help.
And I've decided to major in Japanese with minor in Journalism.
[/yes, that way]

I'm a language lover.
I have a list of languages I plan to master by age 30-35...so 12-17 more years to keep it up! LOL

However, you can't really ask us how hard.
It's all on the individual.
I find Japanese pronunciation easy, others struggle sometimes when I teach them.

Same could be said for someone else and writing compared to me.

It could be scary, going into the course.
But take it easy on your nerves, and seriously on the workload...

[hinata2]

well others say its hard but im good at it just depends on how bad you want to learn it

[Nagoyankee]

Originally Posted by hinata2

well others say its hard but im good at it

In that case, why don't you help me answer the language questions here?

You don't answer questions. You don't chat in Japanese. How can we believe you're good at it? Reply in Japanese.

[mercedesjin]

I don't think it's that hard to learn. It takes a lot of dedication and hard work, but the information is easy to process. So, I think you'll be fine if you take it. =)

[Khengi]

Originally Posted by Nagoyankee

In that case, why don't you help me answer the language questions here?

You don't answer questions. You don't chat in Japanese. How can we believe you're good at it? Reply in Japanese.

Despite it being true, that was a bit cold Nagoyankee...

[sardO]

Originally Posted by KyleGoetz

Basically, if you're so afraid of a B in a Japanese class that you won't even take the class, then you don't deserve to ever learn the language. Life is full of challenges; you've got to take risks or life will be boring and you won't accomplish anything of meaning.

Wow, that's pretty harsh.

I'm not afraid of a B - in fact, a B is quite good. I'm afraid of a low mark that might push my average below the mark I need it to be in order to continue on in my program. Sure, you need to take risks sometimes, but I'm not prepared to risk my future just for a Japanese class I may not even need. If I graduate from university with a degree, even if I didn't take any risks, that will still have plenty of meaning for me.

As far as the language goes, I've recently have accepted the fact that I will probably never speak the language well, but I do dream of going to Japan one day, so I do have a desire to pick up a decent amount of the language so that I can somewhat communicate if/when I go. As I've said before, I can do that by taking classes outside of school or picking up a book or learning on the internets.

Thanks again for the useful responses.

[Nyororin]

As far as the language goes, I've recently have accepted the fact that I will probably never speak the language well, but I do dream of going to Japan one day, so I do have a desire to pick up a decent amount of the language so that I can somewhat communicate if/when I go. As I've said before, I can do that by taking classes outside of school or picking up a book or learning on the internets.

I think you have the right idea, at the least.
I believe that the level of difficulty someone is going to feel has a lot to do with their expectations. If you expect to come out of it fluent in no time at all, then you are probably setting yourself up for failure. If you have realistic expectations, then you will probably have your ups and downs, but most likely will be satisfied with the outcome. If you just have the dream and low expectations, then you`ll probably be amazed at how easy things are in the end.

I think that too many learners simply make their goal fluency... Which is great, but that is very very far away. It`s sort of like starting a hike from New York to Los Angeles, and setting your first goal as LA. You`re not going to make it all the way there in one go. Walk as far as you can in that direction, and end up collapsing somewhere along the way with the feeling of total hopelessness... After all, you wouldn`t have even made it out of the state, let alone anywhere close to LA.
But if you say "I want to walk as far as I can toward LA - my first goal will be *insert small town within a day`s walking distance*" chances are, you`ll make it to the first goal with time to spare and feel good about it. Have a good meal, get a good night`s sleep, and be ready to walk to the next town in the morning. And when you look back, instead of feeling that you aren`t any closer to the ultimate goal, you`ll be impressed by how far you`ve come.