"How did you get so good at Japanese?!?" "Well......"

So I suppose I should start from the beginning. When I was much younger, I encountered the Japanese language for the first time watching a subtitled version of one of the Sailor Moon movies. I think I was probably 11 or 12 at the time. I was fascinated by the musical, lilting sound of Japanese. From then on I had an enduring interest in the language.

For the vast majority of that time until now, the extent of my “studying” involved learning lyrics to J-pop and anime theme songs by ear following along to written versions I found on the internet. You remember the ol’ VHS days when they would have three tracks of subtitles on the opening/ending sequences for shows? The ones that were the Japanese text, the Roman alphabet spelling, and the English translations? Those helped a LOT. Each tape had maybe 3-5 episodes, each episode had full intro and endings, and by the second or third tape, I’d have the songs memorized. You have *no* idea how well learning songs like that helps one master Japanese phonology. Seriously. I recommend it as a studying method.

Another advantage was that I had no clue about the meanings of those lyrics for a long, long time. How is that an advantage? Well, when I finally got around to studying the actual grammar and vocabulary, I found myself thinking “Ohay, I remember hearing that before!” all the time. Thus memorization was much faster and easier because I had previous aural memory to support what I was learning. In fact, to this day I can tell you exactly what part of what anime I know XYZ words from. It's probably kind of weird, actually.

It wasn’t until I got into college that I took any kind of formal Japanese language course, but I whizzed through the first three semesters. Well, as far as listening comprehension, vocabulary, grammar and stuff. The WRITING, though. That I had only studied for maybe like, a cumulative two weeks in my life. So that was all new. Even now kanji (Chinese characters) trip me up and are my major jakuten (弱点) (weak point). Still I’m working on that as much as I can (read: as I am inclined to when feeling slightly less lazy).

Phew. That’s a lot of blathering, innit? I think I’ll stop here for now. Next time: how my interest in the Japanese language led me to JET.

Mata kondo (また今度) (‘Till next time)