what's your take on this?

[B.Scott]

I would have loved to have had te chance to learn Japanese. I told the wife if I won the lottery I would take a 6 month course of Japanese IN Japan. She said I was being selfish but hey, it's just a pipe dream anyway

[Bancherd]

Quote: Originally Posted by Akai-San Got my language books and new Japanese language software. Makes me wonder now...why did I quit my Japanese schooling when I was young? I didn't even follow through with Japanese language in high school. Bummer...

Would you believe I turned down the chance to take Japanese Language courses while I was in high school? I took French language instead. !

However, I took enough Japanese courses while I was in Japan(for two years) to get around without much difficulty. Unfortunately, I have forgotten most of what I'd learned from the lack of use.

[dick benbow]

thanks Brian for your input.

Bancherd, your story sounds like mine!

Hopefully people like koiteen will see some wisdom in learning while the opportunity is golden

[kiky]

In the seventies, who cared about learning Japanese. It was just not fashionable. So for most of us I think the opportunity was already lost. Only for the present younger generation is learning Japanese for in vogue.

Still I do hope that one of these days one Japanese hobbyist will suddenly pop up here to join us in this forum.

[Ryan S.]

The younger Japanese people I know all live in the city in appartments, maybe the typical older koi keeper there is more traditional and does use internet as much as in the US and Europe. I think in some areas at least internet access is relatively expensive, slow, and limited on time from some areas I've recieved emails from.

[Akai-San]

I believe that Ryan is right in saying that the younger generation all live in the city now. With the heavy emphasis on being a professional rather than a farmer is prevalent everywhere. Just as important are the cultural arts and older customs that somehow slowly gets diluted generation to generation.

My great grand parents, Japanese Nationals when then made the trip over to Hawaii. Now I'm fourth generation, and sad to say that none of our family (my generation or my fathers generation) can speak Japanese. Living in Hawaii we ALL knew the learning to speak Japanese would payoff big in the long run......sad to say that I and most people I know who are regretting it now were just to lazy...I'll admit that.