Should you learn Japanese?

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Hi,

Hope you're enjoying 2025 so far ^^

Recently, I was thinking back to when I first started learning Japanese, around 9 and a half years ago. This may seem a bit odd, but I didn't tell anyone I was learning Japanese until I was about 3 or 4 months in and my study habit was firmly formed.

This was partially because I had heard that telling people that you're going to do something gives you some of the satisfaction of actually having done that thing, and I didn't want to risk my motivation to study at the time.

But there was another reason I didn't tell anyone:

I was a bit worried about how they would react.

And when I did end up telling people, well, it turns out those worries were a bit more reasonable than I would have liked them to be…

"You're wasting your time."

"You should learn something more practical, like Spanish or Chinese."

"You're just going to give up within a few weeks once you realize you can't do it anyway."

"Manga/games/anime are dumb reasons to learn Japanese."

Ouch. I hope you've never been subjected to stuff like the above as well.

But if you have, should you take it to heart? Are they right? And…

Should you learn Japanese?

Well… I don't know if you should learn Japanese. There isn't really a one-size-fits-all answer to that question.

However, the people who are saying the above negative things probably shouldn't learn Japanese.

They wouldn't get much fun or anything practical out of it, especially if they don't have interests related to anything Japanese, or don't like learning languages to begin with. But wait…

What does "practical" even mean?

Does that mean we can only learn Japanese if we're looking for a job? Or if we have a family member who speaks it? Do we have to live in an area full of Japanese speakers for it to be considered practical?

When I started learning, I just did it because it looked like fun, and wanted a new hobby that I could do in my free time. I wanted to see what my favorite Nintendo characters were like in their original language, and found learning languages to be fun to begin with.

Maybe it wasn't practical. But looking back, I don't think that really mattered.

It was my own free time, and my choice of what to do with it, after all. But, along the way, I realized that I was unlocking an entirely new way of thinking, and the ability to begin to deeply understand an entire culture that was previously completely unfamiliar to me.

Before I knew it, I had moved to Japan. I've been living here for around 4 years now, and can confidently say that learning Japanese has completely changed my life.

Of course, I have no idea how or even if learning Japanese will affect your life. But I can tell you that I certainly didn't expect the above when I started my studies on a whim. Besides all that, I think it comes down to the fact that…

I've always been happy with myself for learning something I was interested in.

And the more I learn, the more I'm glad I started.

I've made so many relationships that would have otherwise been impossible, live in a different country surrounded by a new culture, and every day has the potential to be a fun (and sometimes embarrassing! ^^) learning experience.

And I've picked up new, related hobbies along the way. For example, I didn't think I'd enjoy ancient Japanese history much, but I can't get enough of it now that I can find so much information about it in Japanese. Another thing that was completely impossible before I started learning~

Again, I can't tell you what you should do with your precious, limited time on this planet.

But I think if you're curious about learning Japanese — no matter why that may be — it doesn't hurt to give it a shot.

After all, who knows where it could lead you. Could be fun to find out, don't you think? ^^

And if you want the legwork of figuring out what to study and when taken care of for you, then you might be happy to know that NativShark is currently on sale:

NativShark New Year Sale

Use this code and get $45 off an annual subscription every year you stay subscribed:

LEARN-JAPANESE-2025

Go to checkout

Sale ends January 8th at midnight PST.

You need an account to use that coupon. You can make an account here:

Begin my journey

Once you do that, the above checkout button should work.

Hope you have fun with your studies ^^
Ty & the NativShark team

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