Why I'm Studying Japanese
I've wanted to study Japanese for years now. I learned hiragana in seventh grade because I thought it was interesting. I love that Japanese is new. In high school, I studied French and, because I spoke another Romance language, most of it made sense. That sort of connection does not happen for me in Japanese. I wanted to learn the language initially because I am interested in Japanese culture and history. I love Japanese food—I spent the summer working at an udon shop in Boston. These are still my reasons for learning, but what keeps me motivated are the challenges. Learning Japanese has taught me to put in much more effort than I am used to in learning languages, and it feels very rewarding. The udon shop I worked at is called 夢があるから, which is what I titled this blog. I learned a lot about Japanese cooking, but a lot more about life. The concept of dreams is a big focus of the shop, and they pushed me a lot to make everything I do meaningful. I realized that my dream...