[TheBCM]

Y'know the joke...

What do you call someone who speaks three languages?

Trilingual.

What do you call someone who speaks two languages?

Bilingual.

What do you call someone who speaks one language?

American.

Anyway, I'm gonna make a study-resource thread here at some point, so I'll post stuff that's helped me and stuff people have mentioned, along with misc. sites I've found.

[Kurisu]

I'm sure British could fit in to the end of that joke, too. Oh, and that study-resource thread sounds like a really good idea! I'd definately stop by to check it out.

Momotaru, I agree with you about the importance of a second language. There are a lot of times when I feel extremely ignorant, so learning a second language would make me feel better. Hopefully I will enjoy learning :)

[Hydaelyn]

That's a good joke. I've actually never heard it before. :blush:

What languages will help most with finding a job? I'd imagine that something like Chinese or Spanish would be more beneficial than Japanese, but perhaps it depends on your specialty. Either way, I suppose it's best to study a second language that you're actually interested in.

:angel:

[TheBCM]

Oh, if you're looking for utility in America, definitely Spanish (if you live in the Southwest, South, or wherever there's a large Hispanic population). Chinese is another good one, less so for practical use right now than Spanish, but good if you're into the international business scene or want to get ready for the future where China becomes the new America.

[Eorzea]

Yeah, I think some schools these days are actually teaching their students Chinese as early as elementary school. Personally, I have no interest in Chinese; however, there's no denying that it would be a useful language to learn. For me, though, the pronunciation is just too difficult. And all that kanji... :sleepy:

I wish I had paid more attention in Spanish class back when I was in high school. It would definitely be useful for when I move back to America. I may start studying it in addition to Japanese, actually.

[Hydaelyn]

Sorry to bump an old topic, but no, I don't study Japanese. I have always wanted to but... I'm kind of shocked no one else around here seems to be interested. I thought this section would be popular.

Maybe later...

[Quinn]

No i don't study Japanese as such but I do have 7 friends that are all japanese so they teach me things and in return I teach them how to say things in english it works quite well as long as we have our translators turned on lol

I would love to be able to talk fluent Japanese though, one of my dreams if to go to Japan to the Studio Ghibli museum...(one of my 7 friends live 10mins from it-lucky guy -.-)

Also want to go to Tokyo...anime and manga heaven yay!!

[Inaaca]

I took a couple Japanese classes back at my old community college. Gotten rusty since then though, and I never really followed through.

[ahleanna]

I just wrote this big long spiel and my son jumped in my lap and I canceled it!!!!!!! ARGGHHH!!!!!!!!

I can speak German and Spanish, once fluently but now hardly at all. I live in Texas so you can't spit without hitting a Mexican (not intended for racist joke) and I married a German years ago and lived in Germany for a few years.

I think I'll try to find something with a good workbook and CD so you can hear it being spoken too. That's how I learned the other two. I'll also try that one for the busy people

[Eorzea]

You've got to love cats!
Seriously, I do, though.

Be sure to check out our list of Japanese study resources if any of you are looking to get back into (or begin) studying Japanese. I will also try to provide some additional resources for beginners later on (as well as suggest textbooks and whatnot).

[Panda]

I studied Japanese at my uni for two years. They don't offer classes any higher than that at my school (yet... we're trying to expand the department but there weren't enough students by the end of the second year to convince the administration to offer a third year of courses because they'd have to hire the teacher full time ). I'm trying to work out the money to keep doing private lessons with the same teacher, as I'm a bit worried about keeping myself motivated on my own... Before I got to have an actual class I tried for a few years to start studying Japanese but always got distracted by real schoolwork. ^^; I really do love it, though, especially kanji, and this year I've gotten serious about maybe becoming a translator one day, so I'd better do everything in my power to stick with it... P:

The textbooks we used in class were Genki 1 and 2 (plus their workbooks). They seem pretty accessible for self-study as well. I had a few books on Japanese before Genki but they were more like phrasebooks/simple grammar for travelers than actual language textbooks, and were written all in romaji... It depends on what your goal is for learning Japanese but that might be something to watch out for when you start--though I guess that any phrasebook is ultimately useful since it'd build your vocabulary, and they're pretty unintimidating too. It did help me to have some of the very basic basics down before I started classes. So maybe I should appreciate those books more than I do now XD



My old high school recently started offering Chinese classes, and they've had to cut some elective classes because of budget constraints but I think that the Chinese classes actually made it through.