Japanese

I am fascinated by the myriad ways in which humans can communicate and am determined to minimize my ignorance of foreign cultures. Thus, I have decided to learn an asiatic language. I debated between studying Japanese and Mandarin but after much consideration decided that ordering my sushi in its original tongue was too good to pass up. So here I am, with no previous exposure, struggling to put a grammatically correct sentence together in one of the most difficult languages on Earth. I find that when I pass by Japanese restaurants I can pronounce most of the words on the signs (very exciting.) Knowing what they mean - well, that will come later I presume. I have found that pronouncing and drawing is not as challenging as constructing sentences. This is the most challenging course I have ever taken, and I hope it will also be the most rewarding.