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[shanshan310]

I haven't looked into the honyakusha field before, is there much correspondence work available? Could I be able to work on translations from home? What kind of things do they look for in a portfolio of this kind of work?

There's a lot of freelance work out there. I got a fair few jobs on zero credentials (I had a friend already working for the company though who put me on to them). They seemed pretty desperate for people with decent English really, a lot of the people I worked with made a LOT of mistakes either from not checking what they had written or not being native speakers. If you are a perfectionist, have decent Japanese skills (I'd just taken N3 when I started translating) and are willing to be paid peanuts for a while translating isn't that hard to get into in my experience. I got paid 3 cents per ji. You do it from home too. There are a lot of sites that just post up jobs and you can apply for them. They email the documents to you, and after the client receives them they usually paypal through your money. I will say right now don't let them do it through paypal - paypal took a huge slice of my pay =/

To me it was fun, and I enjoyed using my Japanese skills, but it got tiring very quickly. It required a lot of mental effort to translate for up to 10 hours a day (I had to stick to a deadline) and it didn't feel terribly rewarding. Knowing I could do it was something to be proud of, but I don't think I'd consider it as a career unless it paid better tbh

 

[Necrovex]

There's a lot of freelance work out there. I got a fair few jobs on zero credentials (I had a friend already working for the company though who put me on to them). They seemed pretty desperate for people with decent English really, a lot of the people I worked with made a LOT of mistakes either from not checking what they had written or not being native speakers. If you are a perfectionist, have decent Japanese skills (I'd just taken N3 when I started translating) and are willing to be paid peanuts for a while translating isn't that hard to get into in my experience. I got paid 3 cents per ji. You do it from home too. There are a lot of sites that just post up jobs and you can apply for them. They email the documents to you, and after the client receives them they usually paypal through your money. I will say right now don't let them do it through paypal - paypal took a huge slice of my pay =/

To me it was fun, and I enjoyed using my Japanese skills, but it got tiring very quickly. It required a lot of mental effort to translate for up to 10 hours a day (I had to stick to a deadline) and it didn't feel terribly rewarding. Knowing I could do it was something to be proud of, but I don't think I'd consider it as a career unless it paid better tbh

Give 8-4 a ring!

 

[Loona]

It's not a sentence but there's the いろは poem:

いろはにほへと
ちりぬるを
わかよたれそ
つねならむ
うゐのおくやま
けふこえて
あさきゆめみし
ゑひもせす

It uses every hiragana character exactly once - including the archaic ゐ (wi) and ゑ (we).

Thanks!

I've been trying to find a video or track of that where everything's clearly pronounced that I can set to repeat until it's all commited to memory, maybe that could help getting the hang of it - so far this is the best I've found, and the auto-tune isn't helping.

 

[Fou-Lu]

I've started taking Japanese this semester, so far it's pretty interesting, I never thought I'd be able to memorize all the hiragana and katakana so quickly. It is a rather intimidating language, especially now that we're starting to learn kanji.

 

[Necrovex]

I've started taking Japanese this semester, so far it's pretty interesting, I never thought I'd be able to memorize all the hiragana and katakana so quickly. It is a rather intimidating language, especially now that we're starting to learn kanji.

I still make a few mistakes when it comes to translating hiragana and katakana (more on the latter), but it tends to be simple mistakes I catch on a proofread. I have a lot of fun with the Japanese alphabet. I really dig the language. Kanji is pretty damn scary though. I know about 43 kanji, and it is difficult to remember all of them. I can read it fine, but when it comes to recalling the correct strokes, damn, it becomes hard.

 

[Issun23]

I've been trying to find a video or track of that where everything's clearly pronounced that I can set to repeat until it's all commited to memory, maybe that could help getting the hang of it - so far this is the best I've found, and the auto-tune isn't helping.

Search for ひらがなの歌 (Hiragana no uta - Hiragana songs) on Youtube. There's plenty of them. This one should be perfect for you.

 

[Ledsen]

I still make a few mistakes when it comes to translating hiragana and katakana (more on the latter), but it tends to be simple mistakes I catch on a proofread. I have a lot of fun with the Japanese alphabet. I really dig the language. Kanji is pretty damn scary though. I know about 43 kanji, and it is difficult to remember all of them. I can read it fine, but when it comes to recalling the correct strokes, damn, it becomes hard.

Well, you'll probably never have to write kanji by hand outside a classroom environment, so I wouldn't worry about that. Writing is just one more tool to aid retention as far as I'm concerned.

 

[HisshouBuraiKen]

How many of you have jobs that involve in any extend your knowledge/ability to speak japanese. I understand teaching is a popular job, but I was wondering more along the lines in terms of business relations and communication between international corporations.

I freelance in the anime and manga world (currently crunchyroll.com and mangareborn.jp specifically) and in my case it's really like I work in a vacuum. I have weekly deadlines to meet, the material comes in at various times but I always have at least 24 hours to get it done (pisses me off though, I prefer to have more of a cushion in case anything comes up). At some point I do intend to try and get some work in the game world since I hear it pays better and I want to see my name in a game's credits someday

Honestly, the "喋れる" part gives off the impression that you can speak more Japanese than "少しだけ." The sentence is fine, but if your intent is to be humble, you may want to replace "喋れる" with "喋れます" or "話せます."

These days I say 片言の日本語しか喋れなくてすみませんbecause translating in a vacuum for Western companies = very rusty speaking.

 

[Diprosalic]

sup guys, could anyone tell me what this song is? i'm pretty sure it's japanese, but watch out the video is a bit NSFW, just girls in bikinis.


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wXYTpqJwWLk

i think if you know the lyrics and type them in to google you would find it even if you do not know the song.

edit: got it, shazam didn't work but sound hound did.

 

[Mandoric]

I freelance in the anime and manga world (currently crunchyroll.com and mangareborn.jp specifically) and in my case it's really like I work in a vacuum. I have weekly deadlines to meet, the material comes in at various times but I always have at least 24 hours to get it done (pisses me off though, I prefer to have more of a cushion in case anything comes up). At some point I do intend to try and get some work in the game world since I hear it pays better and I want to see my name in a game's credits someday



These days I say 片言の日本語しか喋れなくてすみませんbecause translating in a vacuum for Western companies = very rusty speaking.

Wow, is it really that much of a vacuum over there? All of our interoffice stuff is JP at least.

 

[Shouta]

I freelance in the anime and manga world (currently crunchyroll.com and mangareborn.jp specifically) and in my case it's really like I work in a vacuum. I have weekly deadlines to meet, the material comes in at various times but I always have at least 24 hours to get it done (pisses me off though, I prefer to have more of a cushion in case anything comes up). At some point I do intend to try and get some work in the game world since I hear it pays better and I want to see my name in a game's credits someday



These days I say 片言の日本語しか喋れなくてすみませんbecause translating in a vacuum for Western companies = very rusty speaking.

If you really want to make money, legal, political, and medical translation is where you should go. Everything else is pretty assy when it comes to translation. Games are a bit better as I recall but the amount of work can be limited, I think. I'd love to do it too but considering how much gets localized and how troublesome it can be to get in, I really haven't had any luck. Plus, from what I hear I'd rather not honestly... I'll be happy going into it as a PM or as termniologist instead.

The MLV model has been hurting the industry a lot from what I've gathered.

 

[AngryMoth]

Studying intensively at the moment as I'm travelling the country for 3 months in a couple of weeks. Very excited!

 

[Loona]

Search for ひらがなの歌 (Hiragana no uta - Hiragana songs) on Youtube. There's plenty of them. This one should be perfect for you.

I was hoping for one that recited the poem in a more plain and clear manner, but thanks.

 

[Cranzor]

Yesterday I hit 600 kanji in Remembering the Kanji 1. Although rewarding, the process is becoming a bit tedious. I think this may be because I am solely doing RTK1. I saw someone mention somewhere that audio lessons are a good supplement to RTK1. I ride the bus everyday and do nothing except sit there so I think it may be a good idea. Does anyone here have any experience with JapanesePod101? I'm looking for something that won't interfere with RTK1. Also, I have pretty much no experience with vocabulary and grammar so I'm not sure if the lessons will be too advanced or not.

 

[LeroyPantwether]

こんにちはみんなさん。
すみません、質問がありますよ。
公園のために助数詞は何ですか？ビーチは？
日本語のクラスのためにスピーチを書きますから。分かりたいです。
ありがとうございます。


Side question, Is that the correct usage of のために(for)^

 

[KtSlime]

こんにちはみんなさん。
すみません、質問がありますよ。
公園のために助数詞は何ですか？ビーチは？
日本語のクラスのためにスピーチを書きますから。分かりたいです。
ありがとうございます。


Side question, Is that the correct usage of のために(for)^

It sounds odd in this case "The purpose of parks" I assume your goal however is to count parks/beaches?

You can use the generic counter つ if under 10, and こ if over. I can't think of how to count places any other way really. Edit: Oh yeah forgot, there is 箇所, 三ヶ所, 九個所, etc (several ways or writing the same thing).

There is no たい form of 分かる, In Japanese you either understand or don't, Jordan refers to it as an affective verbal since it can takes two が particles. Only operational verbals that can take を have a たい form. You would have to say something like 分かるようになりたい (I want to reach the point of understanding).

Cranzor: Congrats on 600 characters, keep in mind that languages are first and foremost spoken. I highly recommend adding some sort of extra curriculum besides RTK, JapanesePod101 sounds like a good start, but I'd try to diversify it even more.

 

[LeroyPantwether]

It sounds odd in this case "The purpose of parks" I assume your goal however is to count parks/beaches?

You can use the generic counter つ if under 10, and こ if over. I can't think of how to count places any other way really. Edit: Oh yeah forgot, there is 箇所, 三ヶ所, 九個所, etc (several ways or writing the same thing).

There is no たい form of 分かる, In Japanese you either understand or don't, Jordan refers to it as an affective verbal since it can takes two が particles. Only operational verbals that can take を have a たい form. You would have to say something like 分かるようになりたい (I want to reach the point of understanding).

.

Thanks!

 

[shanshan310]

Yesterday I hit 600 kanji in Remembering the Kanji 1. Although rewarding, the process is becoming a bit tedious. I think this may be because I am solely doing RTK1. I saw someone mention somewhere that audio lessons are a good supplement to RTK1. I ride the bus everyday and do nothing except sit there so I think it may be a good idea. Does anyone here have any experience with JapanesePod101? I'm looking for something that won't interfere with RTK1. Also, I have pretty much no experience with vocabulary and grammar so I'm not sure if the lessons will be too advanced or not.

I didn't have much luck with it, but others might have. I found it moved too slowly. Honestly I think your best bet is to start learning some grammar and some simple vocab through a textbook maybe, and supplement it with listening to Japanese by watching Japanese tv shows.

Japanesepod101 does start from scratch though, if I recall correctly, so it might be good for you. Just download a few episodes and see how it goes.

 

[Vigilant Walrus]

Sorry, will try to make this rant as short as can be. But TL;DR is this; Considering learning Japanese, and taking it as a major in University. That's the short story.




The less short story is as follows; Was never good in school, only good at the things that interested me. Was better at english than most because of my love for video games and movies, which would never be translated into danish. I was a bit of dyslexic so the Danish was not too good, but I caught up eventually. The sciences and math is were I burn, I wasted my life away in four years of german. It had no interest to me at the time.
I left school, have worked for 5-6 years, and now as a 25 year old man I decided last summer to go back and do college again. I now need 1,5 years more of dedicated community college.


I know my strengths, I am good at things that interest me. I am interested in history, philosophy, anthropology, psychology. The humanities. But the thing with all of these as a major field of study, is that while they interest me greatly, they interest me greatly in small doses, and as a pass time. Not my sole searching purpose.

I've been told by someone that if I took Japanese, I could take a minor field, and branch my Japanese into one of these.
I looked up the needed marks to get into Japanse as a major, and it's not to high. I suspect everyone is gratifying towards Chinese. That makes sense. But I am not about making sense. I am too much of a spoiled middle class idiot. I will never be able to vote or do the right thing based on that.
But like many of you, the fascination with Japanese, throughout Anime, Manga, music and games, and to me, now also, Martial Arts, I feel this is the right choice.



The thing is that it scares me. I've heard tales of people who had it for 6 years 1-2 times a week and then went to Japan and was not able to do anything. I've also heard someone say that learning to talk Japanese is easy. Writing is the hard part.


Finally, everyone talks about the Japanese industry and supremacy in Asia is over, and that it is now the time of Korea and Chinas reign, but I hope that in 5-8 years time after doing my bachelor or master, that I would be able to get a good career.


My mom says im stupid if I take Japanese. She says that I have no idea how hard it is, and that I should take something easier, and that I will most likely drop out as I have with lots of education related courses throughout my life. I can't disagree with this.

But if I also tell you that this phase of being *addicted* to Japanese culture, from having J-Pop on my Itunes playlist to walking around with T-Shirts with Buddhist scriptures, and that I have been doing this nonsense for 9-10 years now? I just don't think it's going to go away. Do I want to live in Japan forever? No, I don't think so. But I do feel it's one of the things I need to do. From 13 Assassins to Lost in Translation, from Ebisu Muscats to Envy and Susumu Hirasawa, from Samurai Champloo to Elfen Lied. What the hell am I supposed to do if I don't do this, even if it sounds near impossible to learn all this!!

 

[shanshan310]

I've been told by someone that if I took Japanese, I could take a minor field, and branch my Japanese into one of these.

You should definitely pair Japanese with something else. I'd advise against taking it as a minor though. It depends on your uni I guess, but at mine a minor equals one course a semester for four semesters - which on its own is not enough to grant you the proficiency you desire.

The thing is that it scares me. I've heard tales of people who had it for 6 years 1-2 times a week and then went to Japan and was not able to do anything.

I've met a lot of people like this. These are generally the people who don't take the time out to study, and people who don't use it outside class. If you are passionate about anime etc you'll be hearing Japanese all the time, and with a little study time I doubt you'll end up like that.

Finally, everyone talks about the Japanese industry and supremacy in Asia is over, and that it is now the time of Korea and Chinas reign, but I hope that in 5-8 years time after doing my bachelor or master, that I would be able to get a good career.

People forget that Japan is the third largest economy in the world sometimes. There are plenty of jobs out there, and even if you don't get a job you'll be able to use it a lot if you're interested in the culture.

My mom says im stupid if I take Japanese. She says that I have no idea how hard it is, and that I should take something easier, and that I will most likely drop out as I have with lots of education related courses throughout my life. I can't disagree with this.

This seems pretty negative, you won't know till you try! You will need to study though. If you don't take time to practise you won't remember anything. Don't let it be a waste of time. If you did so well with English though I don't see why it would be a problem.
People get scared by the writing, I think. The language itself is pretty easy to speak - vowels and consonants can only be pronounced one way, for example. The grammar is backwards to English, but is very logical. There are a lot of English lone words. Its probably the easiest of the Asian languages, imo.

 

[Arctic Feather]

Anyone know of any Japanese podcasts they would recommend?

I'm currently around the N2 level (taking in a couple of weeks for the second time, after just missing out on the pass mark first time round)

I tried some of the intermediate JapanesePod101 before (maybe a year or 2 ago), but was annoyed at how much English was in each podcast. Have they improved since I last listened?

Failing that, are there any good Japanese news podcasts or similar (video or audio) with a level of Japanese that isn't too difficult?

 

[Vigilant Walrus]

You should definitely pair Japanese with something else. I'd advise against taking it as a minor though. It depends on your uni I guess, but at mine a minor equals one course a semester for four semesters - which on its own is not enough to grant you the proficiency you desire.


I've met a lot of people like this. These are generally the people who don't take the time out to study, and people who don't use it outside class. If you are passionate about anime etc you'll be hearing Japanese all the time, and with a little study time I doubt you'll end up like that.


People forget that Japan is the third largest economy in the world sometimes. There are plenty of jobs out there, and even if you don't get a job you'll be able to use it a lot if you're interested in the culture.


This seems pretty negative, you won't know till you try! You will need to study though. If you don't take time to practise you won't remember anything. Don't let it be a waste of time. If you did so well with English though I don't see why it would be a problem.
People get scared by the writing, I think. The language itself is pretty easy to speak - vowels and consonants can only be pronounced one way, for example. The grammar is backwards to English, but is very logical. There are a lot of English lone words. Its probably the easiest of the Asian languages, imo.

Thanks mate,

It was this sort of reply I was hoping for


I def want to take Japanese as a major.
But if I then took, business, management, anthropology, history, or something like that as a minor, do you think I would have good chances?

This is of course speculation as it would be 5-7 years down the road, and who knows how the world will look like then?

 

[Gacha-pin]

Do you have something you want to do with the language like you want to be a coordinator for the Japanese/Danish companies which want to kick in Denmark/Japan market or you want to study Japanese culture academically so you have to understand the language?

 

[Kilrogg]

Not to bring you down, but I'm of the opinion that Japan is indeed not the best of choices for a successful career. It's not the worst option I suppose, but if the idea is that you'll be looking for a job in 5 years at least, Chinese and Korean are indeed better choices. Japan is a stagnating country, and it will only get worse as the population grows older and Japanese companies get even more disrupted by other Asian companies than they are now (which they will). I'm doing a Japanese/international trade master's degree, and everyone in my curriculum is saying that, from students to professors to guest lecturers.

The thing is that Japanese culture rejects the notion of internships, so that's a no-go. Your best option is to work there, but first you have to want to live and work there (which you can't know in advance, you have to experience it), and possibly find a foreign company if you want an easier time.

That being said, what kind of a job do you want? Japanese is hard and Japan is declining hard, there's no question about that, but depending on your career of choice it could be okay. Worst comes to worst, what keeps you from learning it as a hobby? I'm not sure I want to make use of it in the future because of all I've said and because maintaining a good level is a pain (spoken from someone who had very good grades and generally likes languages), but I don't intend to just forget everything either. I'm glad I know it.

 

[Vigilant Walrus]

Do you have something you want to do with the language like you want to be a coordinator for the Japanese/Danish companies which want to kick in Denmark/Japan market or you want to study Japanese culture academically so you have to understand the language?

I am not sure yet mate! Is that bad? Do I need to be more focused?

 

[I'm an expert]

Man.. the amount of people I ran into who studied Japanese in school and wanted a job in Japan!! ..only to end up a JET or some shitty eikaiwa teacher. The reality of which inevitably kills their fantasy version of life in Japan.

 

[shanshan310]

The people with good language skills and a passion have ended up in good jobs. JET isn't a bad job, but I do think there is a problem with the Japanese education system in general when it comes to English language teaching. Japanese skills should be of great use when teaching people English, but it seems like the focus is more on culture exchange.

The thing is that Japanese culture rejects the notion of internships, so that's a no-go. Your best option is to work there, but first you have to want to live and work there (which you can't know in advance, you have to experience it), and possibly find a foreign company if you want an easier time.

Really? A lot of my friends are involved in internships in preparation for finding a job after graduation.

 

[I'm an expert]

Jet is a great job in terms of pay and benefits, it's just I rarely met people who didn't go in it as either a last resort to get to Japan or a one year break to party in Asia. The actual teachers I met who came on it were really fantastic people, though they often didn't have much interest in Japan outside of the novelty.

And yes, there are often international internships through schools and organizations.
Though I never saw it in my field. Business and law definitely. Columbia law at least..

 

[Kilrogg]

Really? A lot of my friends are involved in internships in preparation for finding a job after graduation.

You mean in Japan with Japanese companies? What are they studying/doing internships in? Are they American (which I assume is more attractive to Japanese companies)?

 

[Sage00]

The thing is that Japanese culture rejects the notion of internships, so that's a no-go. Your best option is to work there, but first you have to want to live and work there (which you can't know in advance, you have to experience it), and possibly find a foreign company if you want an easier time.

Haha, that's the complete opposite of the truth. Every decent sized Japanese company has a ridiculous amount of interns, and they're desperate for interns from other countries even if only for a culture exchange experience for their JPN employees. I'm just back from one in the summer, there were at least 10 other foreigners there and the same amount arriving after we left.

 

[Kilrogg]

Damn, are you guys shattering my worldview or something? :lol

Maybe it's just my school that sucks. Though, again, are you guys American?

 

[Vigilant Walrus]

Man.. the amount of people I ran into who studied Japanese in school and wanted a job in Japan!! ..only to end up a JET or some shitty eikaiwa teacher. The reality of which inevitably kills their fantasy version of life in Japan.

Ok. Let's say then I wanted to be involved in Japanese-Western business relationships. In HR, or in cultural understanding between two different companies.

Could I do a minor in say, Business Management, and be proficent enough? can I improve my minor if I started working on my master, or take another minor after I did my first one?


Last question, was those people who had it as a full time 3-4 year education major?

 

[Sage00]

Damn, are you guys shattering my worldview or something? :lol

Maybe it's just my school that sucks. Though, again, are you guys American?

I'm Scottish, Comp Sci / Econ dual major. Of the other interns I met there were 3 from China, 1 from England, 1 from France, 1 from Poland and 1 from Switzerland.

Edit: Those are the foreign interns. There were a large amount of Japanese interns too, obviously.

 

[Kilrogg]

I'm Scottish, Comp Sci / Econ dual major. Of the other interns I met there were 3 from China, 1 from England, 1 from France, 1 from Poland and 1 from Switzerland.

You win this one, Sage00, but the war is not over yet! In all seriousness, that's news to me. It really must be that my school is poor at striking partnerships with Japan.

 

[I'm an expert]

Damn, are you guys shattering my worldview or something? :lol

Maybe it's just my school that sucks. Though, again, are you guys American?

My personal experiences are with Americans, yes. For example Matsuo and Namba in Tokyo is a law firm that takes internships from law students, my friend actually just took a group this summer from Columbia law. Whether your country offers internships I don't know, but there are independent ways of going and finding an internship.

Ok. Let's say then I wanted to be involved in Japanese-Western business relationships. In HR, or in cultural understanding between two different companies.

Could I do a minor in say, Business Management, and be proficent enough? can I improve my minor if I started working on my master, or take another minor after I did my first one?


Last question, was those people who had it as a full time 3-4 year education major?

"Business relationships" is a bit vague. You want to be an interpreter/translator? Because what else do you really offer that a Japanese person can't do? If you bring tons of experience in HR and happen to speak perfect Japanese, well, then they have no reason to overlook you. The same with any field really, whether as a programmer or mathematician or chef. Otherwise, you're there because of your linguistic skills. Many companies do have "business English liaisons/coaches" so to say, but that would require something mighty impressive on your part to set yourself apart.

Your majors/minors don't really matter. You just need to convince a company to actually sponsor your visa. For what it's worth, I had a minor in Japanese and it didn't really mean much other than a bullet point on a resume. It was holding JLPT 1 when I was 20 that made the biggest "oomph". Also whether you major or minor in Japanese at school, the curriculum/course work will never be enough to truly teach you anything. You have to study outside of school, extensively, and even then it's only after living there that you begin to acclimate to the language. This is true with any language of course..

I'm not sure what your last question is referring to, who had what full time?

 

[shanshan310]

I'm not sure what your last question is referring to, who had what full time?

I think he means the people who went on to teach English.

 

[I'm an expert]

I think he means the people who went on to teach English.

The people who went on to teach English in Japan? There's a bunch here on GAF, even a thread for it. I think even some mods were JETs.

In general there are three types of people who do English teaching (this is just my personal experiences with the people I've met) -

1) Love Japan, want to go to Japan in any way possible
2) Love education, want to try teaching ESL in a new environment
3) Minimal interest in both of the above, looking for something fun/exciting/a break

If you're asking whether you need an education degree to teach in Japan, god no, you just need any degree for the visa. A degree in pasta would let you teach in Japan.

 

[Kilrogg]

My personal experiences are with Americans, yes. For example Matsuo and Namba in Tokyo is a law firm that takes internships from law students, my friend actually just took a group this summer from Columbia law. Whether your country offers internships I don't know, but there are independent ways of going and finding an internship.

True enough.

Your majors/minors don't really matter. You just need to convince a company to actually sponsor your visa. For what it's worth, I had a minor in Japanese and it didn't really mean much other than a bullet point on a resume. It was holding JLPT 1 when I was 20 that made the biggest "oomph". Also whether you major or minor in Japanese at school, the curriculum/course work will never be enough to truly teach you anything. You have to study outside of school, extensively, and even then it's only after living there that you begin to acclimate to the language. This is true with any language of course..

Even truer. The gap between academia and real life isn't too big for English, but for any other language, especially one that's so different like Japanese, school won't teach you that much in the end.

 

[I'm an expert]

My undergrad was a while ago lol ..but back then I believe the main curriculum for a college based Japanese course was get through Japanese for Busy People or Genki. If I remember right, Genki was favored because it didn't dive right into polite form as "normal" and also mixed in kanji from the start. Japanese for Busy People had a higher level business component though where keigo and shit was actually useful though.

Either way, if you came out after 4 years of that you still only had a tiny handle on the monster that is Japanese. This is assuming you were a by the books student who simply did the coursework and maybe once in a while went to a "Japanese day" where you got say shit like "sugoi desu ne" a couple 100 times.

If you're serious about Japanese, the JLPT is really the route to go to breaking the barrier of learning the language. I think anyone in this thread would tell you that aiming for JLPT 1 or 2 (there were only 4 levels when I took it back then, I know they changed it now but I don't know to what..) will expose you to shit you will never dream of seeing in an undergrad course. You'll say shit like "what?! they've never said anything like this in my anime!!" and constantly battle with yourself with which method of learning kanji is better (Heisig is garbage lol).

 

[Ledsen]

My personal experiences are with Americans, yes. For example Matsuo and Namba in Tokyo is a law firm that takes internships from law students, my friend actually just took a group this summer from Columbia law. Whether your country offers internships I don't know, but there are independent ways of going and finding an internship.



"Business relationships" is a bit vague. You want to be an interpreter/translator? Because what else do you really offer that a Japanese person can't do? If you bring tons of experience in HR and happen to speak perfect Japanese, well, then they have no reason to overlook you. The same with any field really, whether as a programmer or mathematician or chef. Otherwise, you're there because of your linguistic skills. Many companies do have "business English liaisons/coaches" so to say, but that would require something mighty impressive on your part to set yourself apart.

Your majors/minors don't really matter. You just need to convince a company to actually sponsor your visa. For what it's worth, I had a minor in Japanese and it didn't really mean much other than a bullet point on a resume. It was holding JLPT 1 when I was 20 that made the biggest "oomph". Also whether you major or minor in Japanese at school, the curriculum/course work will never be enough to truly teach you anything. You have to study outside of school, extensively, and even then it's only after living there that you begin to acclimate to the language. This is true with any language of course..

I'm not sure what your last question is referring to, who had what full time?

holy fucking shit, how?

 

[Kilrogg]

holy fucking shit, how?

I know, right? I got mine when I was 25 .

 

[shanshan310]

I have a couple of friends who got N1 in high school. I imagine having kanji background helps a bit.

If you're serious about Japanese, the JLPT is really the route to go to breaking the barrier of learning the language. I think anyone in this thread would tell you that aiming for JLPT 1 or 2 (there were only 4 levels when I took it back then, I know they changed it now but I don't know to what..) will expose you to shit you will never dream of seeing in an undergrad course. You'll say shit like "what?! they've never said anything like this in my anime!!" and constantly battle with yourself with which method of learning kanji is better (Heisig is garbage lol).

Aaah JLPT's not that great. It doesn't measure language output at all, for one thing, and a lot of the grammar is stuff that Japanese people don't even use. I mean, the resources I've been using for JLPT have certainly helped me learn new vocab so there are definitely benefits.

Heisig is really what you make of it, like any language resource I guess. Some people learn better through rote, but others don't.

Regarding uni courses, it really depends on the university. The fourth year courses at my uni covered all the kanji and grammar for JLPT 2.

 

[Necrovex]

This seems pretty negative, you won't know till you try! You will need to study though. If you don't take time to practise you won't remember anything. Don't let it be a waste of time. If you did so well with English though I don't see why it would be a problem.
People get scared by the writing, I think. The language itself is pretty easy to speak - vowels and consonants can only be pronounced one way, for example. The grammar is backwards to English, but is very logical. There are a lot of English lone words. Its probably the easiest of the Asian languages, imo.

My mother and father constantly thought me taking Japanese as my secondary language would be an ill idea. But, I'm one of the better students in the class, acing the class, and I am in love with the language.

Wal, you'll probably be intimated by Japanese at first, but remember to take it one step at a time, and you'll understand the language by the time you graduate. Like Shan said, Japanese's grammar is structured fairly logically, and the pronunciation is easier than English. I'm a native English speaker, and I still find speaking English semi-difficult; I have found it easier to speak in Japanese at times.

And if you ever need help, Gaf is here to assist!

 

[Sage00]

I have a couple of friends who got N1 in high school. I imagine having kanji background helps a bit.



Aaah JLPT's not that great. It doesn't measure language output at all, for one thing, and a lot of the grammar is stuff that Japanese people don't even use. I mean, the resources I've been using for JLPT have certainly helped me learn new vocab so there are definitely benefits.

Heisig is really what you make of it, like any language resource I guess. Some people learn better through rote, but others don't.

Regarding uni courses, it really depends on the university. The fourth year courses at my uni covered all the kanji and grammar for JLPT 2.

Yeah, the problem I have with JLPT is that it's constructed grammar to emphasise little-used points (which, to be fair, you do need to learn at some point because while Japanese people won't use it they will understand it). Like a really advanced version of textbook points.

Ideally the best place to learn Japanese is from native materials, copying native speakers, etc. Flashcarding those resources has worked out pretty decently for me so far.

 

[I'm an expert]

holy fucking shit, how?

For me, personally, it came down to brute forcing it. I had already had experience with the language in my teens from fansubbing/doing other nerdy shit in Japanese, but after freshman year of college I realized it was a waste of time starting form such a low level - even with a placement test to bump me up a few levels. Basically, all the stuff I wrote above about undergrad coursework not being enough.

So, I took advantage of being a young student and started studying for the JLPT 1 daily. I dedicated about 8 hours a day to study, basically like a full time job. Wake up, piss, and immediately write 100 kanji on my whiteboard. Listen to this, read that, practice test, whatever. It actually only took me about 2 months, from August to October (when the test was) to pass.

I don't really recommend this to others as it's a crazy method that I doubt would work on a general basis. It's also important to note that I'm a bilingual child so I'm assuming languages come easy to me. I did a similar thing in high school with French.


edit- just a disclaimer, JLPT is indeed "worthless" when it comes to communication ability, it's more about understanding the gears working beneath the lanauge. You will never use 90% of the shit you see on a JLPT test in day to day life

 

[Vigilant Walrus]

"Business relationships" is a bit vague. You want to be an interpreter/translator? Because what else do you really offer that a Japanese person can't do? If you bring tons of experience in HR and happen to speak perfect Japanese, well, then they have no reason to overlook you. The same with any field really, whether as a programmer or mathematician or chef. Otherwise, you're there because of your linguistic skills. Many companies do have "business English liaisons/coaches" so to say, but that would require something mighty impressive on your part to set yourself apart.

Your majors/minors don't really matter. You just need to convince a company to actually sponsor your visa. For what it's worth, I had a minor in Japanese and it didn't really mean much other than a bullet point on a resume. It was holding JLPT 1 when I was 20 that made the biggest "oomph". Also whether you major or minor in Japanese at school, the curriculum/course work will never be enough to truly teach you anything. You have to study outside of school, extensively, and even then it's only after living there that you begin to acclimate to the language. This is true with any language of course..

I'm not sure what your last question is referring to, who had what full time?

You scare me, haha. Thanks for the feedback and thoughts.


I guess business is just not what drives me, but what do I do then if I want to study Japanese Language and culture?


You said major, minor didn't matter? So should I just take something that interest me like philosophy or anthropology?

 

[Necrovex]

You scare me, haha. Thanks for the feedback and thoughts.


I guess business is just not what drives me, but what do I do then if I want to study Japanese Language and culture?


You said major, minor didn't matter? So should I just take something that interest me like philosophy or anthropology?

Why not take up the major, "International Business?" You can make your secondary language Japanese.

 

[I'm an expert]

You scare me, haha. Thanks for the feedback and thoughts.


I guess business is just not what drives me, but what do I do then if I want to study Japanese Language and culture?


You said major, minor didn't matter? So should I just take something that interest me like philosophy or anthropology?

Take something that will guarantee you a job IF your Japan dreams fail. I'm a firm believer in studying something that pays over something that you enjoy. I know a lot here disagree with that, but it obviously depends on your financial situation.

Why not take up the major, "International Business?" You can make your secondary language Japanese.

In my experiences and others I know, international business is a stupid major because it's too vague. It's a mish mash of courses with no concentration that in the end just leaves you with a general degree. Focusing on accounting or finance is a much better solution and you can couple that with international business if you really want. Most international business components are things like international law 101 or international money markets 101, really basic shit that don't give you anything that stands out.

 

[Kilrogg]

In my experiences and others I know, international business is a stupid major because it's too vague. It's a mish mash of courses with no concentration that in the end just leaves you with a general degree. Focusing on accounting or finance is a much better solution and you can couple that with international business if you really want. Most international business components are things like international law 101 or international money markets 101, really basic shit that don't give you anything that stands out.

Holy crap am I taking a beating here. Japanese + international business student here .

 

[I'm an expert]

Holy crap am I taking a beating here. Japanese + international business student here .

You tell me then, what's your curriculum look like for years 3 and 4? What are the international components? What skills will you have that sets you apart from an accounting or marketing major?

What did you want to do with that major? (not beating you, just asking lol) You also said you don't live in America right? I think that's to your advantage then when it comes to international business.