<p>I have 5 semesters in college, i started taking chinese this semester, when I graduate I'lll have finished all 300 level Chinese laguage courses at my school, but I've decided after further study into the cultures that I am more fond of Japanese than Chinese. I haven't taken any Japanese language courses, but so I am mainly speaking about culture here. Being someone who wants to work internationally would it be stupid for me to start over with japanese 101 in the fall of mu junior year and only complete up to the 200 level by the time i graduate? I may be able to catch up if I can cran 101 and 102 this summer at community college, but idk how helpful that would actually be.</p>
<p>IF you are more interested in Japanese, I would say go for Japanese - and besides, you wouldn’t have to worry about Kanji as much which is the biggest buttkicker in Japanese learning in my opinion since you would know alot of chinese character at this point. Japanese might use simplified kanji though compared to Chinese…</p>
<p>Don’t force yourself to stay in a language if you like another one better. It doesn’t work really, I took 3 years of french but was alot more interested in Japanese. I actually had no interest in french whatsoever, and despite my 3 years (and A’s) I know NO french whatsoever. I knew more Japanese although I took no classes. LOL.</p>
<p>What uyulove said. Take what really interests you. And since Japanese is what interests you, go for it. You can always keep taking classes after you graduate (as non-degree seeking) to master it. Being multilingual is a great asset.</p>
<p>If you want to work internationally, I think Chinese is a lot more useful. Japan’s economy has been in the dumps for years</p>
<p>^though what I think about all languages really - if you are learning it for the first time in college/high school… Chinese/Japanese native speakers will most likely speak english alot better than you speak their language anyhow. I actually don’t know if sort of knowing a 2nd language will be that helpful enough in the work force unless you get completely fluent. Which is really difficult when you are already in college. I’m in Japanese 4 right now but nobody in my class is close to even being fluent and we are only like 2 levels away from the last level.</p>
<p>Yeah it isn’t that helpful unless you’re fluent. But it’s not impossible to become fluent. It’s a lot of work once you’re past those “golden years” of language development, but many rewarding things in life require hard work to get them.</p>
<p>^ it’s not impossible, but it’s pretty darn hard past a certain age, especially if there’s another language that you are more interested in. So go for Japanese. English IS my 2nd language and I know from other people around me that past a certain age, it’s hard to be completely fluent in English. So least go for the one you are interested in because in the end, it doesn’t matter what level of language you were in (unless you need it for graduation I guess)</p>
<p>2 years of Japanese alone will be completely inadequate to have any useful for a career level of Japanese. You will need to spend the summer between your first and second years at an intensive (such as Middlebury, or the Hokkaido International Fund in Hokkaido, etc. Those in Japan are largely preferable). Doing a study abroad program after graduation might also be a good idea. </p>
<p><-In Japan right now.</p>
<p>
It’s not impossible. @John Butler: if you’re interested in picking up Japanese quickly, take a look at [url=<a href=“http://www.alljapaneseallthetime.com/]AJATT[/url”>http://www.alljapaneseallthetime.com/]AJATT[/url</a>]. It’s very intensive, but you can make it fun and it will allow you to attain both spoken and written fluency in less than 2 years.</p>
<p>できるが、普通の授業によってできないよ。</p>
<p>You CAN do it. But not through just regular college class. And you CANNOT attain fluency in two years. It is simply not possible, no matter what the site claims. You can progress advanced levels in two years of intensive study, but it doesn’t sound like that’s what the OP had in mind.</p>
<p>Thing is, to be really fluent you gotta be around people who speak the language. I wouldn’t be fluent in speaking Spanish (I’m fairly fluent in reading/writing but not as much as English) if it wasn’t for the fact that I speak it and hear it from my mother and our house keeper.</p>
<p>You can learn a lot of Japanese in two years but to become truly fluent you’d have to be immersed in the language at some point. Who knows, you could end up working for the Marines (or be a Marine) in Okinawa and you could practice your Japanese there with the locals.</p>
<p>I still don’t see the use in learning Japanese, there just aren’t that many opportunities in Japan…</p>
<p>There are more native speakers of Japanese than French. Additionally, the French are more fluent in English than the Japanese. Unless you think that learning French is a waste of time, there’s nothing wrong with learning Japanese.</p>
<p>Have you ever heard of this thing called learning for the sake of learning? Not everything has to be done with the goal of being able to clinch that multi-million dollar deal or win that supreme court lawsuit.</p>
<p>Taiwan!!! Seriously. I’ve lived in Taiwan and China, and spoken at length with a PhD student who lived in China, Japan and Taiwan. Taiwan is Chinese speaking (with a very slight accent and different slang), but was once a Japanese colony. As such, the culture is halfway between Japan’s more rigid culture and developed country status and China’s chaos and lack of economic development. Of the many people I’ve met (probably about a dozen) who’ve gone to both Taiwan and China, all recommend Taiwan hands down, as do I. </p>
<p>From your study of other languages, I’m sure you realize that three of four college classes in an Asian language is nowhere near fluent or even passable, so as other posters stated, you’d need private tutoring or study abroad in Japanese if you hoped to be able to do anything with it. But no one says that you have to stop learning when you graduate- you could teach English in Japan for a year or two or some companies will either offer Japanese courses or reimburse tuition for language courses if you need the language for your job. If you really have your heart set on Japan, go for it!</p>