is spending a decade on learning japanese to read literature really "worth it"?
the japanese canon seems to be rather small because it is basically limited to modern literature and most of the relevant works usually have excellent translations anyways some eroge are cool, but there is only a handful of genuinely amazing writers and works like muramasa already got translated most manga are getting translated and there aren't that many good light novel authors either, except for maybe mareni, romeo, kawakami and so on
It's not worth it. When the nips imported the novel format they used Japanese in a mostly 'minimal' capacity. Seidensticker's translations of Kawabata are very faithful in this regard. You're not missing out. No special use of Kanji to conjure up images normally not evoked in English. Nope. In fact, because both Japanese and English are genderless, you can stick to a (good) translation and rest easy knowing you're not missing out.
Andrew Harris
It's really not worth it unless you want to build an academic career off Japanese or plan to live on Japan (which you shouldn't). The fact that you are asking this question on this board is also a sign that you either have no real intention of learning it or that you will start and fail two months in because learning languages is a hard and laborious compromise with yourself that you lack the conviction to maintain. Also saying that the Japanese canon is limited to modern lit and mentioning eroge and manga implies that you are young and not very cultured so I find it highly unlikely that you would have the willpower and tenacity to learn Japanese. Go to /jp/ instead of shitting this board, there you will find other retards interested in those stupid cartoons.
Connor Evans
There are literally only three reasons to learn Japanese, in decreasing order of importance 1) Anime 2) Fucking the SHIT out of horny Japanese women 3) Japan is an American ally in the upcoming war
Austin Torres
How hard can it be. It's a pretty basic syllabic language and learning kanji is fucking easy. Remember dirt poor rice farmers learn harder languages.
Oliver Cook
I am learning Japanese currently but quite slowly since I have a bunch of other commitments. I think it depends on how much you want to read or watch, and also the likelihood of you going there/using it for work etc. If 90% of media you consume is Japanese it seems like a no brainer. That said the saying goes that things that aren't translated are that way because they're not good.
Bentley Wood
i gave up on it after three years > canon is limited to modern lit with modern i meant that that a majority of relevant japanese works were written in the 19th or 20th century because almost no one learns classical jp picrel
>a majority of relevant japanese works were written in the 19th or 20th century That is objectively wrong. The only unskippable part of the Japanese canon is the 17th century and onwards haiku renewal. That's the only reason a cultured reader would ponder learning the language. Novels have generally good translations and modern lit is good, but not good enough to make it worth it sinking thousands of hours on learning the language. Anime, manga, visual novels and those porn videogames are entertainment for brain damaged zoomers.
Samuel Young
>learning japanese You're going to have to learn a different Japanese if you want to read basically anything before Showa. The good news is that learning kanji opens up most of Chinese literature too, the downside is both languages love homophones and onomatopoeia and both literatures rely heavily on intertextual reference.
Jackson Ramirez
No language with that many letters is conductive to proper literature.
Lucas Moore
>and most of the relevant works usually have excellent translations anyways This is incorrect. Anyway I found learning Japanese to be worth it on the basis of all the untranslated porn alone, let alone all the LN/WN/manga/anime/VN that I read in the raw. It really depends on how much effort you'll need to put in and how often you expect to use it. I use it roughly daily and I learn languages easily so it only took two years of dedicated study (in uni). Totally worth it in my book.
Asher Ross
Shut the fuck up, weeb
Ryan Gutierrez
Why do you need a new word to describe Japanese culture appreciators? What's the difference from learning about French culture, for example?
Brody Sanders
>almost no one learns classical jp >You're going to have to learn a different Japanese if you want to read basically anything before Showa It's so fucked how East Asian countries caused a huge dis-junction between their past and present writing systems. China, Japan, Korea all did this to some extent.
Aaron Fisher
>is spending a decade wtf, you learn a language in one year. Obviously you won't speak it properly but you will be capable to read it
Landon Cook
>learn 10000 characters and the grammar in one year
Easton Wright
Yes? If you're above 120IQ this shouldn't be a problem. Only retards take years to learn languages.
Landon Walker
facts
Brandon Hall
>Implying everyone is an asocial NEET like yourself ngmi
David Cox
The truth? Japan has more than enough highbrow culture, even just contemporary, for a lifetime. This is true even if one is only interested in a fraction of what's worth browsing. Nice stuff from otaku shit is just a bonus.
The answer for OP, and every other wimpy faggot in this thread? NGMI, don't bother.
Julian Cruz
Yeah maybe if you do absolutely nothing else with your life for that year loser
Leo Phillips
This. Was always told growing up that this would be a fruitless endeavor. 20 years later and the fact is I consume Japanese media on a daily basis. From literature to cinema to music to yes, anime and manga. Japanese culture is a mainstay of my life and for that, I only wish I had decided to learn two decades ago.
Jacob Lee
it's almost like they were rapidly and traumatically dragged into the modern era
Gabriel Williams
japanese grammar is pretty easy, there's only two irregular verbs, no gender, no plurals, and no future tense
Austin Taylor
Ouiboo
Jayden Thompson
>picrel If there were a text of a similar level of difficulty, but written in English, you would have no trouble reading it. The difficulty of Japanese is artificial, due to its writing system and how foreign it is to western languages.
David Barnes
>and works like muramasa already got translated Really puts a damper on the motivation to learn.
There's a huge difference between the cosplaying, anime-loving weeb and someone that learnt the language to consume its literature.
Nicholas Stewart
I promise you it's real. There's no distinction in their eyes: you're going to great lengths to immerse yourself in a culture that to them is literally just their version of 'normal'. You're a freak to them, and to be avoided at all costs.
Parker Johnson
Please stop talking about Japan and Japanese people if you've never been there.
Thomas Hernandez
If you read the translation, you didn't read the VN... sorry bro, you read some western faggots fan fiction. It is actually awful.
Fine with me. I'm not learning Japanese to marginally improve my experience of the same story.
Andrew Morgan
I do live here. I learnt this lesson the hard way when I invited a friend out to stay. He told some peeps we met in Osaka on a night out that he was learning Heian Japanese so he could read the 'Tale of Genji' and they literally recoiled and made that 'ehhhhhh?' sound that signifies surprise, astonishment and even incredulity. One of the ladies, she looked to be in her thirties and was evidently the oldest of the friend group, had a look of PURE disgust on her face, like she was face to face with a leper or some toothless rapist. Then one of them said, to my friend's utter embarrassment, >"Why? We read your Shakespeare in Japanese, not in the old English."
I never invited him back. I realized that night he was a freak.
William Campbell
The number of JET or Interac fags I see here in Hokkaido who think they're the first person to go to Japan and proclaim their love of 'Anime'. And then they wonder why they can't hook up with a single woman kek. It's truly theatre of cruelty for me. I love it. Plus they really can't teach English properly so that's a bonus meme.
Jaxon Anderson
lol still gonna learn chinese for the culture
Levi Rivera
>>"Why? We read your Shakespeare in Japanese, not in the old English." You realize that's a really stupid take, right? Shakespeare is the height of ENGLISH. It's the story is only part of it. How he uses words is important and doesn't translate well, if at all, into other languages.
It is most commendable to learn a language to read great literature in the original. That's the entire point of degrees in Classics.
Gabriel Torres
Its literally normal to learn ancient greek or latin so you can interact with those cultures media if youre interested. No different with japanese, its just the way your friend phrased it cause hes probably lame.
Wyatt Sanders
If you are seriously saying this and not trolling, you are just a shallow, terrible excuse for a human life. Probably a soulless bug like the rest of them Japs.
Tyler Barnes
Chinese is the complete opposite
Jack Sullivan
Wdym? I was just saying im still gonna learn a language for the great writers and culture in general. i know theyre different
Cooper Barnes
Their reactions, I mean If you are a foreigner and you speak fluent Chinese you're practically a God to them
Julian Wright
Cope. I can 100% believe that other user's anecdote. You fuckers are literally exotic animals to them. Gawped at, but never admired or respected. You WILL be friendless.
Luis Gomez
oh nice
Isaiah Murphy
I can tell you don't lift.
Josiah Brown
You /fit/cels have no self awareness whatsoever. Goofy ass niggers.
Jaxson Lee
Feel free to move those goalposts around all you like, it's probably the only exercise you're gonna do this week anyway.
I dunno user, I have entirely different experiences. In fact so different that I married a Japanese woman who also loves literature. I'm currently not living in Japan but spent quite some time there and never really had similar experiences even if I bought manga or retro games. Literally no one cared.
Zachary Hill
What use is lifting plates if you're still an incel who can't touch pussy.
I think the opposite is funnier. When weebs go to Japan and try to play it cool, lying that they're not just there because of anime. >I'm here for the culture >Oh? What culture, specifically? >Uh...
Austin Ortiz
Spanish is a more useful language, and has a richer history of literature
David Scott
yeah but mexicans speak it
Chase Nelson
Literally just one worthwhile book (don quixote) Spanish is dying, every literate Spanish speaker learns English now.
Xavier Nguyen
You are stupid. No Latin American has a need to speak English because they can move to the us and make a living just knowing Spanish.
