Learning Japanese isn't Sexy

Growing up, most of us had opportunities to learn foreign languages in school, and the choices were made, 90% of the time, based on which one sounded the prettiest or most exotic. In general, at my schools, that always meant French. French was the cool, I'm-gonna-get-laid language that everyone wanted to learn. Was that the case at your school?

As I'm learning Japanese, I'm realizing I have this ingrained notion that learning a foreign language makes me more attractive. When you see someone fluent in French or Spanish, maybe, doesn't that make them look sexier?

However, that is absolutely not the case with Japanese. In general, people outside of the Japanese community have two reactions when they find out I'm studying: I can see a running list of questions forming on their faces ("Is she a nerd?" "Is she obsessed with anime?" "Why Japanese? It's so irrelevant," etc.), and then they comment on how "hard" it must be. They just don't seem to know how to react and generally appear at a loss for words or reaction at all.

France is the country of amorous people, Spanish-speaking countries (and Italy) are the stereotypical homes to amorous and dark, handsome people. Japan's vibe, on the other hand, is pretty brain-centric, don't you think? They're stereotyped for intelligence, honor, thinking before they speak, politeness, etc. To the West, I'm not sure those are the first qualities that come up when we think of what's sexy.

So, as this has been hitting me, I've been realizing I feel almost like I'm not getting enough out of learning Japanese. My whole life, there's been this strange association between speaking another language and appearing more attractive to other people, and now that that isn't being fulfilled, I'm almost tempted to quit.

I don't mean this in any real sense--I'm not learning Japanese in order to appear more attractive, and I certainly wouldn't quit over something that insignificant. But that imbedded association is so deep that it has actually caused some unrest in these deep-set expectations!

I'm mostly just looking at this from a psychological, ethical, and sociological standpoint. Does this hold true for you? Do you feel that this is an attraction to learning a language, so that you will be perceived as more attractive because you come off as more cultured and able to speak pretty words? Or is it just me?

Let me know in the comments below!

Happy New Year

And we're back in Japaradise!

Happy New Year to all, and I hope you had a wonderful holiday.

I took a big break from vlogging, tweeting, and blogging. I'm not sure I'm ready to come back full force because I'm still really deciding on my battle plan, but writing is the easiest part for me, so I wanted to drop you all a line.

Here is what I'm thinking for this year as far as injaparadise goes:

On this blog, I will write posts in both English and Japanese for people learning about the cultures of America, the West, and/or Japan. I really enjoy teaching, so I want to share my experiences and tips about learning Japanese, but I'm not ready to start making videos of them yet.

I'm hoping to post at least once a week, and we'll see where that gets us. I've been blogging, vlogging, and tweeting in various capacities since 2008, but I have never held myself to a schedule, so this is new to me (in addition to being a full-time student and having a part-time job)!

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All that said, I wanted to holler at my fellow studying peeps and empathize with you all--for the first time in quite a while, I stopped studying my Anki cards for well over a month. I'm now trying to catch up on all of them, as well as learn new vocab for my two vocab tests Wednesday, and it is making my brain seize up. So if you're hitting some roadblocks, I am right there with you!

What are you studying now? What's your favorite method for learning new vocab?

Looking forward to a fun 2015 with you all!

injaparadise