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Nihongo Kon Kon!

I have been immersed in Japanese pop culture ever since my discovery of anime sometime around 1994. Technically, like a lot of us, I had been watching anime on television without realizing it but it wasn’t until someone handed me the first Bubblegum Crisis that I really got a clue. It didn’t take me long to become really interested in it and my award winning anime magazine, other Jpop oriented websites and businesses were created soon after.

I have always had a dream of learning Japanese but it has always seemed like an impossible task to me. When I was first introduced to the language in college, I tried taking a course which was later canceled due to lack of enrollment. During the run of my magazine I was fortunate enough to meet several native Japanese speakers whom I learned from at random times during our busy schedules but never with any kind of formal structure. Between my work in psychology, extended schooling, and trying to maintain successful businesses online, my learning was in spurts with long intervals in between. After all of these years I’ve learned that I don’t learn well self teaching myself through books and, unfortunately, there are very few AFFORDABLE formal classes available where I live aside from “speed learning” and “crash courses” for busy people. I’m not that busy. I want to learn at a steady pace, not cram my brain full of information so fast that it explodes. *grin*

Between anime, music, and dramas, I spend easily over 12 hours a day listening to the Japanese language and have spent over 10 years working closely with it. The result of this is that while my vocabulary is minimal, I do understand some spoken Japanese but I don’t have the skills to speak, read, or write it at any kind of functional level. I want to change that.

My hiatus from my behavioral therapy students has given me time to work on my novel, this blog, and also to start diving into learning Japanese. I hope to be able to make some progress and document it here for anyone else who might be interested.

Step 1: I shelled out $1300.00 to take a Level 1 Berlitz class at a Language Learning Center that is only about 20 minutes from where I live. It’s 2 days a week (Mondays and Wednesdays), 2 hours, for 8 weeks. It’s a great group – if you can even call it that – of me and one other girl with the instructor. It feels like I will get a good start. My first class was yesterday and I will blog about it later on tonight.
Step 2: I’m going to couple that with supplemental learning at home with various workbooks and online tools to see if I can at least get my feet wet.

I signed up with Berlitz mainly because they were 20 minutes away from me and to my knowledge it’s the only formal course I can take in my area. It’s way outside of my budget range but I need to start somewhere. I seriously doubt I will be able to continue to pay $1300.00 for each session. And no, that doesn’t mean I’m not serious, it just means that in this economy I have to be realistic and I also have a tribe to think about. I will do what I can affordably and consistently to try and start myself off in the right direction.

I welcome any suggestions or advice that anyone has. *grin* (Encouragement is always awesome too!)

See you later! KON KON!