Not looking to be a snob, just wondering if any other working adults with advanced degrees (Masters, JD, PhD, MD/DO) on renshuu and studying Japenese. Bonus points if you're in the medical profession as I work in Sports Medicine, but I'm EM trained.
Curious why you're studying Japenese, how it's going, and what you plan on doing with it.
I'm a working adult with a master's degree in translation, working mostly with English. Technically you're only supposed to translate from a foreign language into your mother tongue, but that's often not doable with limited-circulation languages (particularly for literary texts and films), so my niche is translating into English.
As for why I'm studying Japanese, my reasons have changed over time, but a few of the current ones, in no particular order, are: a) I enjoy working with languages; b) Japanese is so intricate and beautiful; c) it's a great mental challenge – in the words of someone else on Renshuu (I'm so sorry I can't remember who you are, I'd have wanted to give you credit, since you said it so well), Japanese scratches my brain in ways other things don't.
If you want to share what brought you from medicine to Japanese, I'm sure it would be interesting to hear.
It's not an "advanced degree", but I do have a Bachelor's in Computer Science. I also occasionally dabble in academic translations — from my native language to English — specifically in the field of geosciences.
I've always been a fan of anime and manga, so I just naturally became interested in the language and culture. It's actually very similar to how I learned English. My current focus is on kanji, with the goal of eventually being able to comfortably read a wide variety of native content.
Progress has been slower than I would have liked, but motivation has practically crystallised into something semi-permanent. Reason being that I conduct a lot of my hobbies in Japanese. It's not difficult to maintain a level of motivation, when the language has effectively become a part of your daily routine.
I currently don't plan on using Japanese in any professional capacity, but that's certainly an option that will remain on the table. I don't plan on living/working in Japan, so Japanese simply doesn't have the same universal "value" as English in that regard.
PS: I'm also curious to know your answers to these questions. Are your reasons for learning Japanese perhaps a bit more professionally motivated?
I have a masters in nursing and I work a a Nurse Practitioner, aka a super nurse or the nurse equivalent of a Physician Assistant (PA) for those who aren't familiar. My first love is emergency medicine, but I lucked out with a sweet sports medicine job about 3 years ago and have been loving it.
Why Japenese?
I've always enjoyed anime, but I think it's my wife who really introduced me to Japanese culture and language and got me excited about it. She studied the language in college and took me to cultural fairs when we were dating. She talks fondly of her various times living there. I also really love asian cuisine in general, but especially Japanese food. I'm a sucker for ramen or yakisoba. Noodles are my favorite food group. Japenese products are also generally really high quality and I'm a "Made in Japan" fanboy; great cars, watches, guitars, etc.
How's it going?
Not too bad so far. This is my first time studying a language on my own, having studied French in high school and Italian in college, and I'm surprised by how much fun I'm having and how motivated I am. I don't always stick with new hobbies too long but this seems to be an exception. I'm currently working through N5 material and do anywhere from 30-45 mins of study, mostly review and a little new stuff each day. Also found out my city has a Japanese conversation club which has been a lot of fun. It's a little bimonthly push that reinvigorates my study. Currently a little over 800 terms pretty well memorized. I can thank my medical background for being good at memorizing a ton of info quickly, but I think conversation and listening will pose a bit of a challenge.
What do I plan on doing with it?
We casually talked about living there someday either temporarily or retire there and so I started studying to bring that dream closer to a reality. It's a pipe dream right now, but working as a professional in Japan would be something for sure. Much harder for me with medicine than for IT or business fields, but who knows. It's also been fun being able to communicate in Japenese around my kids when I'm trying to say something that I don't want them to hear haha. They're too old for me to spell stuff out lol.
(returning with the last two points after getting interrupted yesterday and deciding a partial answer is better than none:)
As to how it's going – no idea. It just feels good studying what I can when I can and noting the slow, steady progress. I'm focusing mostly on reading, my output is still dismal for lack of practice. But with a Japanese dictionary installed on my e-book reader, I can tackle simple literature like ラノベ, and it makes me ridiculously happy.
What I intend to do with it – eh, you mean it's meant to be used? I'm an informational magpie (ha! black and white like the ムジナ), I just collect what's interesting and shiny. It always turns out to serve some purpose or another eventually. Of course, it would be great if I was eventually able to visit Japan as more than a tourist, but that would be an added benefit. For now, my goal in studying Japanese is to... study Japanese.
I'm an informational magpie (ha! black and white like the ムジナ), I just collect what's interesting and shiny. It always turns out to serve some purpose or another eventually. Of course, it would be great if I was eventually able to visit Japan as more than a tourist, but that would be an added benefit. For now, my goal in studying Japanese is to... study Japanese.