hahaha. i like this idea.. would love to find myself a japanese wife..

anime is a great way to learn how it sounds and get your pronunciation pro but.....
as i have learnt from talking to my japanese teacher the things they say in anime is really rude and unformal so in a way its bad ahahaahhahaa
but definitely read up on the three alphabets and if you can get any sort of lessons were you can acctually speak it then go and keep watching anime!!

What is learning Japan going to get you?

There is only 1 country in the world that speaks primarily Japanese.

I'll give you a list of investment languages that will help you land jobs.

1) German
2) English (Go back to school)
3) French
4) Cantonese/Mandarin
5) Spanish
6) Sign language

In no particular order

Go do something with your life

No1 is asking about jobs.. and why not learn japanese.. Reason is for communicating with others, expanding your horizon

It'll get you to Japan?

1) More people speak Japanese than they do German. This is also entirely irrelevant outside of Europe.
2) Hilarious.
3) More people speak Japanese than they do French. Again, largely irrelevant outside of Europe (Canada speaks an almost mutually unintelligible form of French, and only as a second language)
4) Learning Japanese will help you learn Chinese as many kanji are also used in hanzi. This is also a lot harder, and nearly everyone speaks decent English anyway as even they admit it is easier.
5) Can't argue with you there. Arguably this is more useful.
6) Obviously more people speak Japanese, again.

Of course, it's irrelevant if you're set on what you want to do and where you want to go, anyway.

@OP, there is no 'easy way' to do something like a language. You're a moron if you think that there's some magical 'easy way' whereby you can understand an entire history, language, and culture quickly. It's called 'hard work'. Do some.

As for 'how to go about it', that's a different question. Come back when you figure out that languages are huge commitments, though, I suppose.

This post was edited by Razzattack on Aug 2 2011 04:48pm

Germany is not the only country that has German speakers. Not sure if it is more than Japan or not.

France and French Canada is definitely not the only countries that speak French.

Haiti, many parts of Africa, as well as some parts in Asia. Missing a lot more.


German, French, Italian and other languages are from a Latin base. You learn one, the rest are easier and those languages are easy.

I really see no long term benefit of learning Japanese unless it has to do with your career. If you're doing for fun zzzzaaaazzzz

This is true.
A lot of the languages he mentioned are so much more beneficial. Especially if you're going in to business and need to know more than 2 languages.

I didn't claim it did. I'm aware Austria and Hungary, at least, also speak German. I did say that more people speak Japanese in total than they German. Look up the statistics, this is a fact.

Yet again, I never said 'these examples are the only places that speak it', I said that 'it is largely irrelevant outside of x'. Sure, there's French Guiana, The Ivory Coast... not that much else, but again the focus was on the fact that more people speak Japanese if we're going off pure demographics.

This isn't specifically true. Languages have evolved over thousands of years, and now you'll see very few similarities with the languages you've mentioned. I've actually studied a little bit of Latin, and I wouldn't disagree that they have come from Latin in some form, but learning latin is unlikely to help you learn, say, German or French.

Some of the earliest forms of literature and film have come from Japan. It's certainly been influential in both of those fields, and I could give some examples. It is also responsible for creating much of the world's technology and is incredibly useful with regards to its application in business.

Of course this is all subjective, but then again you must realise that your suggested 'more useful' languages are also subjective. If I spend my life in China, say, why would knowing German make the slightest bit of difference? If I lived in Spain, what would be the point of knowing Sanskrit? I am not trying to argue that one language is more 'useful' than another, I am trying to dispel the notion of something being 'definitively more useful' entirely. Is it not fair enough, sir, to agree there is not really such a thing as a 'more useful' language unless we consider what we wish to do with our lives?

e/ I am wondering why you're here if you see no benefit of learning Japanese, however.

This post was edited by Razzattack on Aug 4 2011 04:29pm