What're your reasons for learning your target language(s)?

Most of us here are probably already knee deep in studies and immersion and discovering things. But what made you make that first step in your journey? Also, when it gets tough, is there any major motivator for you to help you continue? Did you ever get a major language high that made you feel in tune with your goals?

Personal anecdote was I didn't start really committing to language learning at all until my niece was feeling suicidal. She was very much into everything Japanese. Language, anime, culture, etc. I started my Japanese because I wanted to make sure she wouldn't feel as ostracised (she had other issues at the time I won't get into). There's not really a huge pull for me for Japanese other than that. She's in a much better position now, but I've been on the grind long enough I don't want to stop. Japanese is fun and interesting in it's own right and the insights you get into other cultures via language also gives you more insight to other cultures than the target language as well as your own. (My minor kanji recognition for instance sometimes helps me guess what a small Chinese text might indicate, for instance).

Second to that, my Spanish is because my girlfriend comes from a Spanish speaking country, and I think it's important trying to be able to integrate somewhat with your SO's respective tongue/culture.

Irish for me is the same but self targeted. I've lived all my life in Ireland, but never really took up the language. I do aim to change that, but the other languages, Japanese and Spanish are more paramount for me knowing sooner.

So what about you? What made you jump into all this? Language learning seems like such a monumental goal. I figure to fully commit to it you have to be quite dedicated to it, so I'm sure you all have very good reasons for jumping in. I'd love to hear from everyone.

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[–] 6 points 4 weeks ago

Japanese for me started out practical and then moved into personal interest and it's circled all the way back around to practical again.

I needed to fill out my undergraduate course load for a semester, and a friend decided to take Japanese I. He invited me along. Like many kids our age at the time, we had an interest in anime and Japanese video games.

Naturally, my friend dropped out within six weeks--rote hiragana/katakana memorization isn't for everyone. I met some friends I'd end up keeping for the rest of my undergrad in that class, and also ended up doing four semesters of Japanese by the time I graduated. Five, actually, because I did a lower intermediate class when I did a study abroad for my last semester. I studied at Kansai Gaidai near Osaka.

From that point I let it drop for years, and I lost a ton of it. Probably most of the kanji, but not the kana, fortunately. Definitely whatever listening capacity I had.

I gradually let it come back to me. What got me back into it at first was the tech side of it I kept hearing conversations about. The Learn Japanese subreddit, friends on Discord, the occasional GitHub project. I kept thinking I wish I had half of these tools back when I was in college or in Japan, SRS in particular. Now I could do all this stuff from my phone.

I started SRS with the now-ancient Houhou, but it was Seth Clydesdale's great Tobira Study Resources site that really got me moving. I had purchased Tobira, the leading intermediate book at the time, but barely touched it for a year and a half. Now I had a motivating tool to work with. I went back a few chapters in Genki for remedial work (also using Seth's Genki site, which has sadly since been taken down by request), and then slowly started to make way through Tobira.

What really got me studying in earnest was a breakthrough in behavioral therapy where I decided to use Japanese to anchor my day. I'd been adrift--a business I'd tried to start wasn't going anywhere, work was drying up, and I wasn't getting hired despite my best efforts either. My routine had become pretty messy by that point. Regular Japanese helped me a lot, as did the challenge of study, I think, in hindsight. A lot of learning comes naturally to me, but language never had, even when doing Spanish and French in grade school. Languages have always been something I had to put extra effort into.

Integrating the tech become a critical part of my journey. I'd since returned to college, and my classes in web design overlapped with card styles in Anki. Anki lead to Yomitan, which led to learning how to work with API calls to Azure to generate voices for my mined flashcards. After graduating from college I started learning AI workflows for my career development, which I also started integrating into my study. I've even started writing Python scripts to make or process study materials.

What started as a regulating, anchoring activity ended up being a gateway into present-day tech for me, which has become essential. Language study somehow turned into this interdependent, parallel path to my career. Now I'm in the home stretch of a push towards N2 (upper intermediate) certification, which is the minimum to have Japanese as a marketable skill.

Japanese work itself could end up being part of my career in the end. I don't know what direction that's headed in yet, but I do have a strong interest in localization and not many people in my field can translate Japanese to English. Even setting aside the wins you get from using another language, everything I learned about tech from language study and the routine it gave me has all been highly rewarding.

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