Current Events > Anyone move to Japan from the US? (As someone who originated from US)

(+) Yeah! (+)

Did you know the language, and how difficult was it? What can you tell me about your experience?

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bump

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You could probably gain a bit more insight on the matter from bigger forums like reddit, or YouTube videos of people's first hand exp.
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a friend of my cousin moved to Japan so he could teach English, and didn't know the language.

it has been a long time, though, and idk what's up with him now.
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boxington posted...

a friend of my cousin moved to Japan so he could teach English, and didn't know the language.

it has been a long time, though, and idk what's up with him now.

How do you teach english to foreign language students without knowing their language?
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TheGreatGeno6 posted...

How do you teach english to foreign language students without knowing their language?

I always never understood this either.

I relied solely on my extensive knowledge of japanese animation to help me get by and integrate myself in their culture. It worked flawlessly. Now I'm a salaryman with a submissive yet tsundare, hot wife that was formerly my step-sister.
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@Hapexamendios

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TheGreatGeno6 posted...

How do you teach english to foreign language students without knowing their language?

You use the excuse "while you're in my class, we only speak the language" that all my foreign language teachers used.

Shit was frustrating when I had a legit question >_> Like bitch I'm just taking this so I can fulfill my foreign language requirement. Throw me a bone here
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idk, but I just googled it, and this came up


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Zikten posted...

TheGreatGeno6 posted...

How do you teach english to foreign language students without knowing their language?

I always never understood this either.

cjs28 posted...

You use the excuse "while you're in my class, we only speak the language" that all my foreign language teachers used.

Proper language instruction should only take place in the L2. This is standard accepted pedagogy.
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How are you supposed to learn a second language by speaking it if you don't know what any of the words mean
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I did. I had taken 2-3 years of Japanese prior to moving there. Most Americans there didn't speak any Japanese though. Most things are written in Japanese and English so it's not too hard to get around in the cities. It's a little trickier outside big cities though. One there's less English signage and two the people may speak a dialect or with a strong accent (most Japanese courses teach Tokyo-ben, the Tokyo accent).

It took me a couple days to figure out what people were saying when I went to rural Otaru in Hokkaido.
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Do Japanese women like white American men?

Serious question >_>
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cjs28 posted...

Do Japanese women like white American men?

Serious question >_>

My experience is that they each have a type they like. Some like white guys, others like black guys and others stick to Japanese men. Some are just curious about foreign men and others are very serious.
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SerperiorThanU posted...

I found this video interesting.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZJBTiY_eceQ" data-time="

you should check out the black experience japan channel, has a lot of fantastic interviews
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Damn_Underscore posted...

How are you supposed to learn a second language by speaking it if you don't know what any of the words mean

Wondering this myself
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brestugo posted...

I did. I had taken 2-3 years of Japanese prior to moving there. Most Americans there didn't speak any Japanese though. Most things are written in Japanese and English so it's not too hard to get around in the cities. It's a little trickier outside big cities though. One there's less English signage and two the people may speak a dialect or with a strong accent (most Japanese courses teach Tokyo-ben, the Tokyo dialect/accent).

It took me a couple days to figure out what people were saying when I went to rural Otaru in Hokkaido.

I was looking at a job in Chiba (Funabashi?)

Ever been there? Is there much English in way of signs and stuff?

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TheGreatGeno6 posted...

Wondering this myself

Generally speaking, Japanese/Chinese/Korean students should be learning English from a non-foreign English teacher from elementary school and on.

Foreign teachers are there to teach speaking/pronunciation and culture. The non-foreign teacher would be the one teaching grammar. And at least here, contracts dictate that the English instructor is in the classroom to translate if need be.

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TheGreatGeno6 posted...

Damn_Underscore posted...

How are you supposed to learn a second language by speaking it if you don't know what any of the words mean

Wondering this myself

Through context, although it's much slower and impractical than just using some regular method like books or the internet. I learned some Kanji like that.
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AlCalavicci posted...

brestugo posted...

I did. I had taken 2-3 years of Japanese prior to moving there. Most Americans there didn't speak any Japanese though. Most things are written in Japanese and English so it's not too hard to get around in the cities. It's a little trickier outside big cities though. One there's less English signage and two the people may speak a dialect or with a strong accent (most Japanese courses teach Tokyo-ben, the Tokyo dialect/accent).

It took me a couple days to figure out what people were saying when I went to rural Otaru in Hokkaido.

I was looking at a job in Chiba (Funabashi?)

Ever been there? Is there much English in way of signs and stuff?

Chiba is like a suburb of Tokyo (BTW Japanese call suburbs "local areas"). I've spent time in Chiba, and Funabashi yes. Narita airport is also in Chiba. Yes the signs will be in English and Japanese in Funabashi, it's right next to Tokyo.

Getting a job in Japan is a lot more difficult than when I was there in the 1990s. Very competitive nowadays. It's a popular gig for people right out of college.
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monkeysRfunny posted...

TheGreatGeno6 posted...

Damn_Underscore posted...

How are you supposed to learn a second language by speaking it if you don't know what any of the words mean

Wondering this myself

Through context, although it's much slower and impractical than just using some regular method like books or the internet. I learned some Kanji like that.

It is absolutely not more impractical lmao. You do not know more than an entire field of study on the subject
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@ASithLord7 Please explain how it's "absolutely not more impractical" to learn a language by winging it than through a structured lesson.
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brestugo posted...

Getting a job in Japan is a lot more difficult than when I was there in the 1990s. Very competitive nowadays. It's a popular gig for people right out of college.

I unironically blame anime
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monkeysRfunny posted...

@ASithLord7 Please explain how it's "absolutely not more impractical" to learn a language by winging it than through a structured lesson.

You think "books or the internet" is a structured lesson, and a classroom taught by a knowledgeable language teacher is "winging it"?

The fuck?
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Gomenasai, my name is Ken-Sama.

I'm a 27 year old American Otaku (Anime fan for you gaijins). I draw Anime and Manga on my tablet, and spend my days perfecting my art and playing superior Japanese games. (Disgaea, Final Fantasy, Persona series)

I train with my Katana every day, this superior weapon can cut clean through steel because it is folded over a thousand times, and is vastly superior to any other weapon on earth. I earned my sword license two years ago, and I have been getting better every day.

I speak Japanese fluently, both Kanji and the Osaka dialect, and I write fluently as well. I know everything about Japanese history and their bushido code, which I follow 100%

When I get my Japanese visa, I am moving to Tokyo to attend a prestigious High School to learn more about their magnificent culture. I hope I can become an animator for Studio Ghibli or a game designer!

I own several kimonos, which I wear around town. I want to get used to wearing them before I move to Japan, so I can fit in easier. I bow to my elders and seniors and speak Japanese as often as I can, but rarely does anyone manage to respond.

Wish me luck in Japan!
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TheGreatGeno6 posted...

How do you teach english to foreign language students without knowing their language?

It's literally what every school in the world that have esl programs prefer. They want the only language spoken in class to be in English. I've taught in Thailand and now I'm in China. I've never had a problem and I teach mostly grade 1 to 4. Sometimes I might require an assistant to translate something but not often.

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ASithLord7 posted...

monkeysRfunny posted...

@ASithLord7 Please explain how it's "absolutely not more impractical" to learn a language by winging it than through a structured lesson.

You think "books or the internet" is a structured lesson, and a classroom taught by a knowledgeable language teacher is "winging it"?

The fuck?

Ah, I see, you just misunderstood. Nothing else to discuss then.
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monkeysRfunny posted...

ASithLord7 posted...

monkeysRfunny posted...

@ASithLord7 Please explain how it's "absolutely not more impractical" to learn a language by winging it than through a structured lesson.

You think "books or the internet" is a structured lesson, and a classroom taught by a knowledgeable language teacher is "winging it"?

The fuck?

Ah, I see, you just misunderstood. Nothing else to discuss then.

it's much slower and impractical than just using some regular method like books or the internet

Are you not a native English speaker? Honest question.
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Yes however I was on a military installation so I did not need to know the language.
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brestugo posted...

What does this mean?

And, what are your thoughts on Funabashi? Does it have nice scenery/fun stuff to do? Looked like it was pretty close to Tokyo on the map, and close to the bay. Are beaches nice there?

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AlephZero posted...

Gomenasai, my name is Ken-Sama.

I'm a 27 year old American Otaku (Anime fan for you gaijins). I draw Anime and Manga on my tablet, and spend my days perfecting my art and playing superior Japanese games. (Disgaea, Final Fantasy, Persona series)

I train with my Katana every day, this superior weapon can cut clean through steel because it is folded over a thousand times, and is vastly superior to any other weapon on earth. I earned my sword license two years ago, and I have been getting better every day.

I speak Japanese fluently, both Kanji and the Osaka dialect, and I write fluently as well. I know everything about Japanese history and their bushido code, which I follow 100%

When I get my Japanese visa, I am moving to Tokyo to attend a prestigious High School to learn more about their magnificent culture. I hope I can become an animator for Studio Ghibli or a game designer!

I own several kimonos, which I wear around town. I want to get used to wearing them before I move to Japan, so I can fit in easier. I bow to my elders and seniors and speak Japanese as often as I can, but rarely does anyone manage to respond.

Wish me luck in Japan!

addressing himself as "Ken-Sama" despite the fact that it would be seen as incredibly rude and arrogant to do so, fake weeaboo alert

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I moved to Japan from the US for work (I work as a research professor). I already knew Japanese before I went. It's considered the hardest language to learn for Native English speakers for a reason. It's extremely difficult and even know I make mistakes (studied for around 10 years on and off before coming here, mainly through playing games in Japanese, and have lived in Japan for 2 years). In general I don't think moving to Japan is a good idea for most people. Academic research is just kind of in a shit position in the US right now for a number of reasons.

Oh and I never took classes and think they are a massive waste of time and money. I knew lots of people who got degrees in Japanese at University of Washington when I worked there. None of them could speak Japanese worth shit (or read it). It was like Japanese people's English (they study for years and yet most can't even form a simple sentence).

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AlCalavicci posted...

brestugo posted...

What does this mean?

And, what are your thoughts on Funabashi? Does it have nice scenery/fun stuff to do? Looked like it was pretty close to Tokyo on the map, and close to the bay. Are beaches nice there?

It means 'bump' in Japanese.

Japanese cities have a lot of fun things to do generally. They first year or two it's all new to you anyway so you won't get bored. Generally the cities are kind of grey and ugly IMO but there are parks, temples and stuff that are nice. Funabashi is close enough to Tokyo that you can consider it a part of Tokyo.

The best beaches in Japan are in Okinawa (again, IMO). Just don't call the Okinawan's 'Japanese' - they'll correct you that they're Okinawan. They have a nice culture there very different from the mainland. Kind of a Hawaiian thing almost.
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I just came back from Tokyo and made friends with some locals from the states. They aren't fluent in Japanese whatsoever, but knew some.
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ssjevot posted...

I moved to Japan from the US for work (I work as a research professor). I already knew Japanese before I went. It's considered the hardest language to learn for Native English speakers for a reason. It's extremely difficult and even know I make mistakes (studied for around 10 years on and off before coming here, mainly through playing games in Japanese, and have lived in Japan for 2 years). In general I don't think moving to Japan is a good idea for most people. Academic research is just kind of in a shit position in the US right now for a number of reasons.

Oh and I never took classes and think they are a massive waste of time and money. I knew lots of people who got degrees in Japanese at University of Washington when I worked there. None of them could speak Japanese worth shit (or read it). It was like Japanese people's English (they study for years and yet most can't even form a simple sentence).

Chinese is considered the most difficult language to learn by every metric out there. Followed by Arabic. I'm not saying Japanese is easy but Chinese is ridiculously hard to learn. All the different tones are insane.

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If you watch 4k videos of people's experiences moving to Japan you may decide to stay where you are to enjoy the 4k quality of the videos. Or bring your 4k system with you to Japan.

MuayThai85 posted...

Chinese is considered the most difficult language to learn by every metric out there. Followed by Arabic. I'm not saying Japanese is easy but Chinese is ridiculously hard to learn. All the different tones are insane.

The FSI ranks Japanese as the hardest, and that's usually the most common ranking system used.
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MuayThai85 posted...

Chinese is considered the most difficult language to learn by every metric out there. Followed by Arabic. I'm not saying Japanese is easy but Chinese is ridiculously hard to learn. All the different tones are insane.

It's objectively not as pointed out by the other user. FSI and other institutes have ranked Japanese as harder. I also know Chinese, so you're not really telling me anything I don't know. "All the different tones" (4 for Mandarin, plus a neutral tone) are tough yes, but the grammar is intuitive for English speakers and incredibly simple, and the amount of actual words you need to learn to be fluent are few. The Chinese characters usually only have 1 or 2 readings, and often readings are very close to each other (a simple tone change or initial change), so it's not hard to remember (when they aren't close together, their meaning is usually quite different like and where the readings represent such different concepts you are unlikely to make an error). Japanese has extremely difficult grammar, that is not intuitive at all for an English speaker, and without a doubt the most difficult to learn writing system in the world used by a major language. The writing system is so difficult even native speakers often cannot know for certain how to read a word written in kanji if they haven't heard it said before, characters can even have arbitrary readings unique to a word or name, but even just official readings most characters have 2 or more and they tend to sound very different as they combine Chinese and native Japanese derived readings (and occasionally also have readings derived from a European language like ). You also need to know far more words to be fluent than you do for Chinese. Japanese is no joke.

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JBaLLEN66 posted...

I just came back from Tokyo and made friends with some locals from the states. They aren't fluent in Japanese whatsoever, but knew some.

When I was there in 2016, a lot of tourists used Google translate.
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ASithLord7 posted...

The FSI ranks Japanese as the hardest, and that's usually the most common ranking system used.

That probably heavily incorporates how difficult it is to read and write. Japanese is probably the most difficult to learn in that respect due to the multiple different forms of writing and the staggering amount of characters used. Even most native Japanese speakers won't know all the characters. Plus kanji is just hanzi with slightly different meanings/pronunciations.

Spoken it is definitely Chinese though. Everywhere except FSI backs that up. Tonal languages are incredibly difficult to learn if your native language is Latin based (or simply not tonal). You not only have to train yourself to pronounce the different tones but also recognize the sound of them. You'll have the same word but 5 different ways to pronounce the "a" sound in it and all 5 sounds completely change the meaning of the word. Thai is the same way in that respect. For example, you have "mai", "mai", "mai", "mai", and "mai". All have different tones and different meanings but if you aren't familiar with tones then it'll all be the same to you. If you say "mai mai mai mai mai" while using each of the tones it literally translates to "new wood doesn't burn, does it?"

For most expats, reading and writing aren't very important IMO. At least not nearly as important as being able to communicate at at least a basic level verbally. If you don't plan on living the remainder of your life in that country then learning the language conversationally is the way to go.

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MuayThai85 posted...

That probably heavily incorporates how difficult it is to read and write.

MuayThai85 posted...

For most expats, reading and writing aren't very important IMO.

This is such heinous bullshit lmao
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Go to any country that has a lot of expats, the vast majority can't even speak the language at even a basic level. Simply being able to converse is more than enough to get you by on a day to day basis.

98% of ESL teachers won't be able to speak the local language at a basic level. China for example has 400,000 foreign teachers, the vast majority don't speak a word beyond "Ni hao", "Xie xie" and "sha bi". Same goes for Thailand, Vietnam, Japan, Korea, etc.

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I don't give a fuck about expats, the discussion was about the most difficult language, and reading and writing are absolutely a part of a learning a language. And for "expats" actually living and working in a country and trying to learn a language, those are essential.
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ASithLord7 posted...

I don't give a fuck about expats, the discussion was about the most difficult language, and reading and writing are absolutely a part of a learning a language. And for "expats" actually living and working in a country and trying to learn a language, those are essential.

No the topic is not. The topic was literally about being an expat. Notice the title of said topic being "Anyone move to Japan from the US? and the OP's question being "Did you know the language, and how difficult was it? What can you tell me about your experience?"

And I disagree that they are essential to an expat working in a foreign country. Speaking the language conversationally is what is essential. Like I said, if you plan on living there for 50 years then sure, you should make an attempt to learn every aspect of the language but if you're only going to be working there for a few years then it is not necessary.

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And the discussion in the last few posts was about the most difficult language. This isnt hard.
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There are plenty of American YouTubers that lived in Japan for years.
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ASithLord7 posted...

I don't give a fuck about expats, the discussion was about the most difficult language, and reading and writing are absolutely a part of a learning a language. And for "expats" actually living and working in a country and trying to learn a language, those are essential.

Yeah, my job is almost entirely in Japanese. All paperwork, e-mails, and most meetings happen in Japanese. I use English in a dual language class I teach (I lecture in both English and Japanese on the same material, once in one language, then in the other).

I have no idea where he is getting the everyone but FSI backs that up. I have never heard of a credible organization involved in language learning that doesn't teach reading and writing. I don't even understand how someone could learn to speak Japanese but not at least read it. Almost all the best learning materials are books or other written sources. And most people who learned Japanese find it easier to read than speak or listen (this is true for most second languages). I certainly find Chinese incredibly easy to read, and would wonder why someone would learn to speak it but not read it when the system isn't bad for the language and China has very poor English language signage (when it even exists).

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