What is your reason to study Japanese?

Japanese
#1

Hi, I am quite new to the community here an am a little curious why you decided to study Japanese and what you use as motivation.

As for me, I used to have a strong interest in Japan since childhood and eventually started watching anime and reading manga, which only strengthened that ambition. I originally wanted to do a program to learn Japanese and visit a high school in Japan after my graduation, but a certain virus cancelled that for me.
I then decided to study International Business East Asia in combination with Japanese at university. My study program included one year at a Japanese university which was got me interested about this specific program. But as I started uni, my interest for Japan started to fade suddenly. It was strange, because I used to be such a nerd for everything Japan related. I watched every documentary, went to anime expos etc. When I then lived in Japan for a year, it was all about surviving. Yes, my economics classes were in Japanese, too. I felt like I was only studying in order to not embarrass myself. Honestly, I also didn’t vibe with Japan that much either, but I think that is mostly because I rarely got time or energy to explore the beautiful sides. I‘m back in Germany now and I still feel like all I study for is to „not fail“.

I currently don‘t have any positive motivation for my Japanese study. It‘s only pressure, no love for the language or culture anymore.

So this is why, I want to hear your stories. I saw that there are some older topics about motivation etc. so I hope it‘s still okay to post a similar one.
I hope that we can share some positive perspectives here, some motivation and reasons to keep going., even though I don‘t plan to live in Japan for a long time anymore.
Maybe, your perspectives can help find a meaning in studying Japanese besides passing exams or JLPT.

Excited to read your thoughts!
~B

#2

Greetings from Poland!

Visiting Japan was my biggest travelling dream since I was a teenager. At 18, I had enough funds to do it, but mentally I wasn’t ready for such big excursion in my life.

As 2025 was coming to an end, I decided that 2026 will be the year of saving money for the trip, and I’m finally going to fulfill that dream in spring '27 (I will be 27 then). The idea of learning specifically Japanese was naturally born from that resolution, but I’m not learning it just to be able to communicate during my trip - let’s be honest: current AI translators can make you understand almost everything without putting an effort into learning.

My reason is broader, but I realized it a few days later. I need to have set a distant goal in my life. My life was always like this - no matter how long will it take to achieve it, but with such a goal I can keep wandering ahead, step by step. Learning a language, especially such a broad one like Japanese fits that goal perfectly.

Generally, I could say that the journey was always more important to me than the final goal - it refers to many aspects of my life.

1 Like
#3

Before going into my reasons for studying Japanese, have you considered if you have language learning burnout? I had burnout at my previous job, and it affected my motivation for working plus spilled over into a lot of other aspects in my life (the work environment was pretty toxic). If you think this might be true for you, then I’d suggest a Google search of the topic.
My motivation for learning is that my husband is Japanese, working overseas for a Japanese company. We will move to Japan at some point, and I will need Japanese language skills for everyday life. I also enjoy studying and like the structure of Bunpro and Wanikani because I feel that I need to learn and review a set amount every day. I will take the N3 at the end of the year, so that is motivation to keep going at a steady pace.

1 Like
#4

Thank you so much for your insight. I‘ve actually never heard of language learning burnout. I will totally look into that!

My fiancé is actually Chinese and working in Japan, so I will move back there too once I finished my bachelors this year. But we are currently trying to find a new country to live in, since he also doesn’t feel that comfortable in Japan anymore.