<p>I am planning on self-studying Japanese(I'm fluent in Chinese so it'd be easier) during the summer however, with all the things that are going on in Japan right now, I'm worried that it'd be worthless to learn Japanese. What do you guys think about the value of learning Japanese now in terms of economic opportunities it can bring? What language should I study instead? (already studying French and Spanish)</p>
<p>Worthless to study Japanese? I definitely don’t think so. There will be much work and much help needed in rebuilding from the earthquake/tsunami/nuclear crisis. In some ways there may be more opportunities for foreigners because so many people have been needlessly “scared away” from the country.</p>
<p>Also, there are vast areas of the country that have not been affected–all areas south of Tokyo, including Kyoto, Kobe, Kanazawa, etc etc. Tokyo, in spite of what media may have presented, is mostly open for business and unaffected by the nuclear radiation. Although Tokyo will suffer from some electrical outages and shortages this summer (and continuing aftershocks), that should resolve soon.</p>
<p>Also, if you’re into the sciences, mainly nanotechnology, chemistry, engineering, knowing Japanese could open up so many doors for you. They are definitely leaders in the engineering and science fields. Also, knowledge can never be a burden. Learning more languages can only benefit you.</p>
<p>Just because you are fluent in Chinese does not necessarily mean Japanese will come more easily. I’m a first generation Chinese-American and my Chinese is decent. However, I found my college- level Japanese course to be very time consuming even though I knew Chinese.</p>
<p>Grammatically, Japanese has requires verb tense conjugation to a far greater degree than Chinese. You need to consider not only tense, but always whether the person you are addressing is your superior or inferior and conjugate the verb according to that too.</p>
<p>The Japanese also used the five elements (water, fire, metal, etc) for the days of the week, so you have to remember which element goes for which day of the week.</p>
<p>The above example are just two of the many examples that explain how the two languages differ. Although Japan borrowed many Chinese words, they don’t always use them in the same context used in the Chinese language.</p>
<p>If you are able to self-study and become fluent in Japanese over the summer, I’d be very interested to know what you did to become fluent.</p>
<p>Chinese students generally suck at Japanese. The only foreigners who can speak Japanese well are Koreans, probably due to natural similarities between the two languages. As a fluent Japanese speaker, I’ve found very very few Chinese/Americans who can speak Japanese well. That doesn’t mean you can’t become fluent; it just means that you shouldn’t learn Japanese just because you think it’ll be easier to you as a Chinese.</p>
<p>I don’t know Korean, but I HAVE heard that Japanese and Korean are from the same linguistic family (Altaic) so it would make sense that Koreans have less problems learning Japanese than the Chinese would.</p>
<p>Chinese only helps with kanji. I’m Chinese-American, but I found Japanese much easier than Chinese; my Japanese is way better than my Chinese. (Maybe my Japanese class just goes really slowly.)</p>
<p>OP, Japan has recovered from far worse than what’s going on right now. It’s in their national character to deal with adversity and come out better than before. IMO the future is East, and learning Japanese is a great investment.</p>
<p>Hmm… So judging from the appearance of most of the replies, it seems that Japanese is still worth taking however, knowing Chinese would not ease the burden of learning the language. However, because I cannot attend a summer language camp because the timing coincides with my summer Gym class, I can only self-study. Would it be too difficult to self study?</p>