How hard is Japanese to learn?

[TheKillerMonkey]

If you fully devote yourself to studying Japanese, how hard is it to learn and how long would it take to get to a level where you can hold conversations in most situations without difficulty and express complex ideas? I've asked a few people this question and some people have said Japanese is an extremely hard language to become conversational in and others have told me it's simplier than French and very easy to learn, I'm told people find Japanese hard because it's so different, yet once you get used to the difference Japanese becomes fairly simple and easy to learn.

You thoughts on it?

EDIT: I'm talking about spoken Japanese, I know full well "fluently" writting Japanese is a ***** to learn a takes years.

[Glenn]

I tend to agree with the latter lot. You should try it out for yourself, because people are different. You may find it to be extremely easy.

[Dutch Baka]

It all depens on how much interest you have, effort you make, and the way you study.

I think when you have an interest in a language it is not that hard to learn! Ganbatte

[Harvey]

I would say if you're totally dedicated you can be conversational in 1 year.

[Bucko]

Compared to other languages (like English) Japanese is very simple - few irregularities, no plural, only two tenses, no "a/the" problems, it's phonetical so no weird spelling and pronounciation is very simple).

However, it is very different which is what some people find hard. If you can get your head around the differences (e.g. word order, use of particles) then you'll have no trouble.

I'd say after a year of dedicated, focussed study you'll be able to hold normal, simple conversations. I've been studying it for almost a year and a half and can hold a descent conversation.

You might find kanji pretty tough though, but if you find a system that works for you it won't be so bad. After a year you should have around 300 learnt.

[Thunderthief]

Ive been studying for a little over 4 months now... I would say im catching on at a slow yet steady pace, but I know its going to take me at least another year to get decently conversational and able to write simple sentences...

As a bit of a slow learner I can say its probably going to take me at least a hand full of years to learn the langauge to a decent level of fluency in both written and conversational. Some people are faster than me by quite a bit, but I really have no reason to rush and take my time.

Someone living in Japan where its used every day might be under more pressue than me...

[KrazyKat]

I found this site to be verry funny. Be warned, the whole thing is a joke though and not to be taken seriously.

http://pepper.idge.net/japanese/

[Glenn]

Ah, that's a classic that has been around for at least six years. I still find it to be hilarious! (woman + child = carburetor; how can you get any better than that?!)

[KrazyKat]

EDIT: I'm talking about spoken Japanese, I know full well "fluently" writting Japanese is a ***** to learn a takes years.

It sounds like you may be thinking about advoiding Japanese characters and learning only to speak using roomaji. Sorry if I'm wrong.

Contrary to what you may think this will actually make Japanese harder to learn. It will be harder to distinguish words that sound the same but mean different things, and just harder to learn vocab generally. You would also not be able to learn any Japanese from reading. The best plan is to learn all 4 skills (reading, writing, listening and reading) together.

Its not so hard to learn kana and Kanji when you really get into it, you would be surprised. The first step for anyone starting to learn Japanese is to learn hiragana. If you enjoy learning this you will probably enjoy (and so succeed at) learning Japanese, if you don't then it will take much more work.

[Gaijinian]

That was great (I have read it before, but it was still great). Thanks KrazyKat!

[MtoM]

I found this site to be verry funny. Be warned, the whole thing is a joke though and not to be taken seriously.
http://pepper.idge.net/japanese/
はっはっはっはっはぁぁぁーーーー．．．　ぶ　ぶわはっはっはぁぁーー
あ、すみません、　我慢できない．．．．きゃっはっは ぁぁー　　　またすみません
このサイトは、ほんとに笑わせてくれる。まるで日本語 を習うのは無理より不可能なことような印象をあたえて くれる。僕だって、上級になるためよくがんばってきた 。まだ習うことが山ほどあるが、このままで勉強を続け れば、はやく上達できると強く信じている。皆もがんば ってください:-) 。
（わが辞書に不可能の文字はない）　ナポレオン（？）
＝＝＝
（ひどい文法の間違いをした気がする。返事のどこかな ぁ？）

[Uncle Frank]

On a scale of 1 to 10 I would give Kanji a 12, especially the tiny newsprint size.

Uncle Frank

:blush:

[MtoM]

Kanji are essential to reading japanese. Imagine that I sometimes understand japanese suntences without knowing the meaning of any word of them, because I know the kanjis used to form the words. I mean if you know the kanjis you can instead of reading a suntence, read "the meaning" of it.
doesn't that sound good. It is one award of dovoting sometime to learn the kanji.

[Jagotaro]

If you fully devote yourself to studying Japanese, how hard is it to learn and how long would it take to get to a level where you can hold conversations in most situations without difficulty and express complex ideas? I've asked a few people this question and some people have said Japanese is an extremely hard language to become conversational in and others have told me it's simplier than French and very easy to learn, I'm told people find Japanese hard because it's so different, yet once you get used to the difference Japanese becomes fairly simple and easy to learn.
You thoughts on it?
EDIT: I'm talking about spoken Japanese, I know full well "fluently" writting Japanese is a ***** to learn a takes years.

Hey, Killer.

I would agree with most of the responses you have gotten here, which could be summed up as "all depends on what you want to learn and how much time and effort are you willing to put into it."

Over the years, people have often commented that I was able to learn so many languages because I have a "knack for languages." I reply that the only "knack" I have is a burning desire to learn and a willingness to put in the necessary effort.

Think about one idea? How many 15- and 16-yr-olds fail driver's ed?

And how many drop out of German 101? It's all about motivation.

Cheers, Jagotaro

[Apple Bomb]

To me saying "it's not hard if you're dedicated" is about as helpful as saying "it's easy to become a lawyer if you're dedicated." Meaning, I think it's true but doesn't really mean very much.

I've been studying it for awhile in classes, and can say that it's easy to learn in that environment. Pronunciation is very easy to get the hang of, etc. But actually becoming conversational and absorbing the many grammatical structures and words, much like any language I would imagine, is hard. The more you dive in and immerse yourself in examples of it, the quicker you'll achieve fluency.

Obvious, but that's about as helpful as I can be, I think.