Japanese The Hard Way
“The problems of victory are more agreeable than those of defeat, but they are no less difficult.” – Winston Churchill
Japanese is difficult. If anyone tells you otherwise, they’re probably lying to you or trying to sell you something. If you choose the easy way, you might learn something for a little bit, but it’ll all come crashing down eventually (i.e. you’ll quit). Learning Japanese the easy way is so easy to do, but if you’re thinking long term (as in, if you want to learn Japanese and become fluent) it won’t help you very much.
Despite what it might seem like, it’s so much better to do Japanese the hard way. In fact, it’s a lot easier overall, strangely enough. It’s still going to be hard, and you’ll still have to do some work, but you’ll get to the finish line before everyone else (and be better than everyone else too).
Here’s the deal, to learn Japanese, there are certain things you have to do. There are certain things everyone has to do. A lot of programs gloss over these things, as if skipping them will really help you out (it’ll make you feel like you’re learning more Japanese than you are, for sure, but you’ll figure out that you’re being tricked eventually). If you take a Japanese class, on the other hand, they tend to actually do a pretty good job covering the “hard” stuff. The problem is, even though they’re also taking you the hard way they also tend to take you the dumb way too. It’s like climbing a cliff (not that I know anything about climbing cliffs, come to think of it), but instead of climbing up with ropes and picks and all the right tools, the leader is having you climb only with your left hand while you’re upside down. It just doesn’t work that well and you still tend to fall.
Instead, you’re going to do the best of both worlds. You’ll learn Japanese the hard way, to be sure. You’ll learn the things you need to learn so you can get better and eventually become fluent in Japanese. At the same time, though, you’ll be incredibly smart about how you learn these things. I’ll provide you with all the best tools, ideas, and ways of learning (very innovative and effective ways I think too) that will make the hard way the easy way (while still getting all the benefits of learning something the hard way).
So, no gimmicks, no shortcuts…just the hard way done right.
That being said (and I’ve said this a lot), I hope you’re prepared for some work. In fact, the first few chapters are designed to weed out those who just aren’t ready to learn Japanese. If you make it through, then you have a pretty good chance. If you don’t make it through… well, I hope you come back later when you’re ready (or you spend all that excitement and energy learning something else, because learning is pretty great, no matter what you learn).
Let’s not draw this dribble out any longer. Let’s get started. The first things you’re going to do will help steer you for what comes ahead. We’ll do everything we can to make sure you’re ready for the long haul. If you quit, we both lose, so let’s put a little time in now to make sure that doesn’t happen.