Discovering Japanese

I first started learning Japanese on my own in seventh grade. I read anything I could get my hands on, so of course when I discovered my oldest sister's manga I read that, too. I noticed that some manga had Japanese characters written among the illustrations, and I remember thinking to myself, "I wish I could read what they said..." Then I thought, "Well, why shouldn't I be able to!" I looked up the Japanese writing system, then some simple words, and I got more and more interested the more I found out.

I tried to teach myself Japanese from there on out, and I don't think I did a terrible job, all things considered...I learned hiragana and katakana and a fair number of kanji, I learned some simple grammar, and I learned enough to say some simple sentences. But I had a really hard time memorizing vocabulary, plus I had little skill and even less confidence in speaking because I had no one to practice on. Other things always got in the way of studying, too: school, music practice, et cetera. And my high school didn't offer Japanese. It didn't even offer French.

But I love languages and cultures. I think it's interesting to see how other cultures structure their languages. I applied to Columbia in part because it has strong language programs, so I jumped at the chance to learn Japanese formally. I am looking forward to studying this language with its beautiful writing and its musical sounds, and finally really learning it, once and for all.