Welcome to Gaia! ::

I started at school and loved it, now I do it extracurricularly. (<--- LONG WORD!)

How did you start learning Jap?
Do you have japanese heritage or did you start at school??

Grew up with the culture, since my dad is also interested in Japan and has studied Japanese - he's an Aikido Sensei. No heritage, just interest. I tried learning on my own, but learned very little (too busy with school and I was learning Latin in school, which took up all my time and the foreign languages portion of my brain.) Went to study abroad there, and learned almost all I know while I was there, through independent study (Kumon) and through talking to people. I had a couple of lessons, but they really did me no good - I just taught myself and picked it up through conversation. Came home in January, and started taking 4th semester college Japanese at the local CC, where I learned little at all, except for a few words that I had never used before as they weren't necessary to the life of most teenagers at school (work things). I'm going to continue next year at real University, where I will be studying at a higher level, so I might actually learn something, and then I shall probably be studying abroad again in my junior year (assuming I don't decide to study in Spain instead).

My dad does Aikido too!
I love my teacher, he's kinda crazy. He starts telling stories in the middle of lessons.

Haha, I remember this very well. It was third grade; my teacher, Mrs. Kim, started this unit on Japan with us. After that, I took every book out of my school library that I could find on Japan. Ever since, I've been reading bits and pieces about it. I'd love to become fluent in the language, taking it as a course next year in high school, and I do enjoy watching anime. I've read manga, but I've always enjoyed watching cartoons more than reading them (I mean, if I'm reading, I'd rather have everything described in words than have to watch action scenes broken up into panels). I've fallen in love with original Japanese dub with english subtitles; anime just doesn't feel right if I watch it an english dub. But my real passion is the country itself; the music, the people, the culture, the food (one of my personal favorite topics in any culture xd ) and the history, especially. If i don't end up living there, I will certainly visit it more than a few times in my life.

I teach myself. smile I got into it primarily because I'm interested in all languages. It's so pretty, too.

I had a tutor, but she went back to Japan, she was only here for college- I was taught by her for about five months or so. I still email her. heart

Self taught. There arent any schools that teach it around me either, thatI know of sad ...except for the state college...(i'm not there yet...)
I hope to get a job as a translator, teacher or in foreign relations...possibly do some missions work in Nihon.
I thought the language was really neat and organized, and it sounds amazing when you speak it! ^^ And the people rock!

It started with manga and anime when I was young whee but I love languages so I latched on quickly.
Now it's a bit of an obsession and I can't escape! eek

I started learning on my own (8th grade) and took it up in highschool. Now I'd like to continue in college and study there for a year or two.

My dad lived in japan for 7 months but doesn't remember a thing! scream I also have an aunt and other relative who have lived there, but I never speak to them. crying

Anime and Manga at first, but then I started wanting to go to Japan.