Why I Decided To Learn Japanese.

I've never learnt a language before, so why am I learning Japanese?

Back in high school, we had classes on French and German, I enjoyed them, often it would feel like I was completing puzzles by structuring sentences in these different languages.
The teachers in these classes would make them interactive, which is what I found the most fun! They would use flash cards, and games on the internet to gauge our interest.

I stopped learning French and German when I reached my GCSEs of high school, where I picked the subjects I wanted to further study.
Back then I thought there would be no benefit to learning the languages offered in my GCSEs.

Skip ahead a few years, and I’m a programmer, currently studying Games Tech at University and working Internships in Gameplay Programming roles – My dream job!

The reason I got into the games industry is because of how much I love playing video games and being creative. At first, I wanted to get into the concept art side of games development, but then realized how much fun programming is with all of the problem solving and technical creativity that comes with it!

Learning how to program really changed my perspective on A LOT of things that I see day-to-day, and my journey to where I am today made me realize that I really can do whatever I dream of doing, so long as I have the drive and I enjoy what I’m doing, and as many people say if you work a job you love, you will never work a day in your life!

As I’ve learned a few programming languages, and I’ve enjoyed the process of learning them, I believe learning a spoken language would be similar, and I’ll enjoy doing it as much as I enjoy programming! - That is one of the reasons I’ve decided to learn a language.

The games industry is a huge industry, and it grows larger every day, with the games industry being bigger than the music and film industry combined. (Shocking, right?!) And there are games being made all around the globe!

This means that learning any language will only ever be a benefit as it would open up so many more opportunities!

But why Japanese? You may ask – It’s one of the hardest languages to learn, so why am I not learning something closer to English like French or German?

I’ve got lots of favorite games, which are made by companies all around the globe, and some of these favorite games and movies are made in Japan. I also really enjoy Japanese food; sushi is one of my favorite dishes of all time!

It would be really nice to see what it’s like to work in another country, as I haven’t really traveled or been abroad! (except that time when I went to Disney land in Belgium when I was a toddler – But I don’t count that, I was too young to remember!!)

So that’s my reason and my motivation.

There are loads of places I want to work and visit, like America, Canada, Korea, Japan, France… and so on!

So, learning Japanese is my starting point, and once I feel confident enough in Japanese, I will start learning more and more languages!