<p>I’d go with whichever one you’re most interested in. Would you rather study in France or Japan?</p>
<p>DO NOT…I repeat…DO NOT study Japanese for the “business aspects.”</p>
<p>For one, you’ll be very unlikely to get good enough to use it in business at this age. Also, Japan is saturated with bilingual (American and Japanese alike) businesspeople. Your marginal value added is very low. </p>
<p>Study it because you’ll enjoy it. Otherwise, it’s a bear.</p>
<p>UCLAri, what do you have to say about Korean and Chinese? I actually thought learning Japanese would be a strategic option for prospective business people, since “everyone else” is doing Chinese. I can see myself enjoying Japanese much more than any other foreign language, but I would like to fully know its practical benefits. Thanks.</p>
<p>Okay, first off…don’t pick a language because of its “strategic benefits.” Learning a language without an interest in it will mean a miserable time.</p>
<p>As far as Japanese goes, let’s get down to brass tacks. Most people I know who speak Japanese have studied it for at least 3 or more years. Most are in the 4 or more years range. Most people who I would call fluent by any standard have lived in Japan for at least a year or longer. Most for more than two years. Some for nearly a decade.</p>
<p>And they all struggle to some degree. Very few people really “pick up” Japanese after a certain point. Japanese is wonderful for a beginner, and it’s very easy to have a basic speaking ability. After a couple years of learning, however, the curve gets very steep, and you’re stuck with a language that will stay difficult to learn for the rest of your life.</p>
<p>Never mind that to truly be fluent in all areas, you need to devote the rest of your life to learning and using kanji. I’ve slacked off on this for about a year now, and believe me, I’m suffering.</p>
<p>I always refer people here: <a href=“http://pepper.idge.net/japanese/[/url]”>http://pepper.idge.net/japanese/</a></p>
<p>Yeah, it’s mostly tongue-in-cheek, but you can pick up on what’s hard. Seriously, Japanese is a pain. Don’t learn it to make money. You probably never will.</p>
<p>ide say that pretty much makes sense, since the prospect of getting top electronics and automobile jobs of communicating between japanese and american branches of businesses is pretty low.</p>
<p>I’m at LG right now for an internship, and almost all international communication is done in English. The Korean speaking foreigners have an easier time getting by on a regular basis, but when LGE in Changwon calls Chicago, they all speak English.</p>
<p>Chinese is even better…</p>
<p>You should take the one that interests you more (doesn’t take a genius to figure that one out). That’s like asking apples or oranges.</p>
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<p>this article really made my day</p>
<p>I always take the stand never learn a language for career reasons unless you want to use it as a career such as a linguist or translator or something else like that. </p>
<p>Because the simple reality is why would a business pick a white/black/hispanic guy that knows Mandarin over a Chinese-American that works in the company to send to China on a business trip. They will almost with a guarantee know more Mandarin than you, the cultural norms when speaking, and will have less of an accent than you, if they even have one at all. </p>
<p>Learn it because it interests you and it will make you a more educated, versatile, and appealing person. It will look good on a resume but it is very unlikely that you will be hired for your language skills in a business environment or any other environment.</p>
<p>Correct me if I’m wrong though.</p>
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I said this before and I agree. like even when you write kanji you read it in different ways too making it just even more difficult sighghhh. (i remember in hating the korean wave, japanese author saying korean people were stupid for not using chinese characters… and seriously korean does fine without using chinese characters in our writing system) I only know hiragana, and I’m not gonna attempt ot learn kanji at the moment. I just wanna speak it and understand it, although I’m probably going to suffer later hahaa. I don’t need to be completely fluent in it soo… long as I can get by i’m fine.</p>
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I heard this too, and I heard it was the other way around for chinese. Like japanese is easier to begin with and then it gets harder. Chinese is harder to begin with, but the learning curve gets easier.</p>
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that’s what I’ve been trying to say and I TOTALLY AGREE WITH YOU. It’s just the hard truth.
</a> LOL I agree. Good thing I already knew about these though but I always fear the people who believe anime is real… and stick in random japanese words in their every day conversation “Omg that cat is soo kawaii!” uhhh… </p>
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yup, my bro was in samsung for an internship in korea, and they called people from the states who’s fluent in both korean and english. Like even in some korean universities, they are having lectures in english etc… Like english skill is a must for most big companies in korea (or its a HUGGEE plus)</p>
<p>UCLAri,Best article ever. I laughed through the whole thing.</p>
<p>Yeah that article is an old but funny one. I found it while researching language learning techniques, since im a Japanese major. The funny thing is that in my community college class I was taking during high school, they described everyone perfectly. Everything they say has a lot of truth to it even though it is said in fun.</p>
<p>Where are you taking japanese? Hows the program?
I want to Major in EAS, and take tons of japanese and alot of Mandarin.</p>
<p>Middlebury</p>
<p>i meant kenshinshan, but thats great. Im sure with any language programs at Mid you will be getting some of the best professors.</p>
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<p>Groan. So true. I was the deer in headlight; I did fine with hiragana and katakana, but the class shifted into kanji and I ran around with my head chopped off for the rest of the quarter.</p>
<p>Wish I knew it earlier. As much as I’d love to learn Japanese, realistically, it’s too hard in an academic setting where my grade and GPA is affected.</p>
<p>I’m going to be taking Japanese at Michigan State University. I haven’t started classes yet but from what the students say the program is great. </p>
<p>The teachers are very nice and caring, and the program is very well structured. With the four years plus a semester to a year trip abroad to Japan that 95% of Japanese Major students go on, many senior Japanese major students I met said they were near fluency or fluent.</p>