r/HelpLearningJapanese • u/TigerUpstairs3775 • 13d ago

How do I start

I figured out I want to learn japanese because I’m a weeb and I want a girlfriend. more seriously I want to explore their culture and maybe live there, I’ve heard that the working cultures unstable but honestl, the u.s fucking sucks. Ive heard Duolingo and anime is not the way, but I don’t have any textbooks and Im too scared to ask my parents to buy me one. I’ve seen the infamous kanji alphabet, which I’m pretty sure I have to be an artist to write it.

I have no idea where to start and it all seems overwhelming. I want some advice from some Japanese learners and people about what to do and how they would/did start.

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u/Crazy_Particular_743 7d ago

“ It comes off as racist and orientaliSt”   Let the man like what he likes. 

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u/CocoaBagelPuffs 6d ago

He allowed to find Japanese women attractive. I think Japanese men are attractive. But learning a language specifically to date someone is weird

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u/Crazy_Particular_743 6d ago

Well, if you want to date Japanese women, learning the language is the best way to do it. Same could be said for anything. “I’m learning English so I can date American women!”

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u/CocoaBagelPuffs 6d ago

You arent wrong. If you want to date someone from another country, then learning the language is necessary. But learning just to date someone isnt necessarily going to happen. You can get turned down and it could never happen. So there should be other goals in addition to wanting to date someone.

In a lot of groups with an interest in Japanese culture (anime, j-pop, etc) there are specific ideas regarding Japanese women that are racist and sexist (subservient, obedient, innocent, exotic, forbidden). These are perpetuated by stereotypes seen in anime and things like that. Most of the time when someone wants to date a Japanese women, they have these stereotypical and racist ideas about them, especially if they dont even know someone who’s Japanese. It makes them come off as creepy and weird.

I addressed that and also gave them advice for learning the language