• Erika3sis [she/her, xe/xem]@hexbear.net
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    4 days ago

    I think I heard once that anime weebs comprise actually the majority of Japanese learners, and I will never not feel just a twinge of embarassment knowing that that is me as well.

    But hey, at least I can take comfort knowing that my boomer mom also decided to start studying Japanese because of the cartoons, so it’s evidently not just a socially awkward young person thing.

    Also an unfortunately not insignificant share of the people in my life can’t distinguish Chinese from Japanese to begin with, so.

      • Erika3sis [she/her, xe/xem]@hexbear.net
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        4 days ago

        You kid, but that was literally something I told myself to justify learning Japanese: “It’ll help me learn Chinese… later on.”

        Turns out that having reasons for learning languages is overrated, anyways. I still have “justifications” for learning languages but over time you just grow fond of the languages themselves to the point where learning feels self-sustaining. I think I have a decent theoretical knowledge of Chinese by this point but just haven’t built up enough momentum to say I’m actually learning it yet, and who knows when that will be.