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What are the benefits of learning Japanese?

Japanese is one of the most spoken languages in the world with 125.6 million speakers, and it is expected to reach 200 million speakers by the year 2030. So when learning Japanese, you will be acquiring a skill that will allow you to visit a lot of different places and it will give you access to a lot of different content and people.

Learning Japanese can improve your experience. Perhaps you are interested in visiting Tokyo and learning Japanese is part of that interest. It is certainly true that interacting with the locals in Tokyo will be much improved by the fact that you are making the effort of speaking their languages. It may also give you a different perspective of the Tokyo experience, one that makes you feel more immersed in the city and not so detached as a tourist.

Learning Japanese can enhance your mind. It will enhance your memory, your problem solving skills, it will enhance your creative thinking capacities and your verbal and spatial abilities.

Learning any language that exposes you to another culture and way of life will give you perspective and appreciation for cultures that you may not be entirely familiar with. It will also make you appreciate people who are bilingual who have done the work of learning your language and you may see the effort behind it.

Finally, learning a new language, such as Japanese, can make your brain bigger. Bilingual people have shown growth on the cerebral cortex and the hippocampus. Data also shows that people who speak more than one language enjoy higher incomes as a result of increased professional opportunities.

Learning Japanese has a lot of benefits. Taking Japanese lessons with a teacher is now easier than ever using platforms such as Superprof. Lessons can be via webcam and they can use material that is found online. Learning with a teacher will keep you focused and motivated and it is a great opportunity to see for yourself the benefits of this new skill.

The challenges of learning Japanese

Japanese has several things that are quite simple. For example, while several languages have different sounds and conjugations for vowels, Japanese has only one sound for each of the five vowels.

One aspect of Japanese that might be hard to acquire is the different ways that it can be written. In total, there are three scripts for Japanese: Kanji, Hiragana and Katakana.

Each one of these presents a different function and a different alphabet, and the three of them play an integral part when it comes to Japanese in written expression. Learning three alphabets for one language can be a hard thing to learn, but once learned the language takes on a full form.

Motivation for Japanese and how to find it

Learning Japanese gives you a lot of opportunities, but it is important to be focused and motivated when you learn it. Taking lessons with a Japanese tutor may improve that experience. It will help you define your goals, keep you motivated and consistent in your work. It will also give you guidance to find the best route for you.

Finding a tutor is quite helpful, not just for guidance but for our motivation and consistency. And this could be the first step for us to understand that learning a language needs to be addressed from several different avenues. We need to read the language and we need to listen to the language. We need to spend some time writing it and speaking it. A teacher can guide you through these different areas of learning. Exercises given to you could go from talking about an experience to writing about yourself. Your teacher might recommend a movie in Japanese to you that is not quite difficult to understand. It could guide you into finding the right book or story for you to read in Japanese.

One good advice we can give you is to immerse yourself in the language. You can put on Japanese radio while you cook or you can listen to a Japanese podcast on your way to work. You could watch a Japanese TV show while having lunch or replace the book you read at night with a Japanese novel or magazine. Remember to spend time with the language, doing things that you enjoy and make you happy.