Thanks to Bernie Stolar, I'm taking up Japanese in College!!

[hashiriya1]

Well actually, I was planning to take Japanese anyway, this thread was more created in light of the dozens of awesome-looking RPG's that never made it over to America because of Bernie Stolar. Thank you for the warning, though... looks like a fucking insane language to learn. I might reconsider my choice of language, unfortunately.

A quick question, though - aren't most of these games written in Kanji? I might just focus on one of their alphabets if that's all I need. I don't really care very much about speaking the language fluently, or even vocally; I just want to be able to read it.

Famicom, Gameboy, and Wonderswan RPGs are all Hiragana and Katakana. Any other system, it is a mix of all three, hiragana, katakana, and kanji. You can't survive in the japanese language only knowing one.
There are over 3,000 kanji characters you would have to learn to be able to fully understand kanji. RPGs tend to use rare kanji and rare kanji combinations for some reason.

And after you master about 3,000 of them, you would have to know which ones can combine with one another, and which cannot. Also, you would have to know their pronounciations. Each kanji has 2 to 5 pronunciations, with an average of 3.

To be able to read games, especially RPGs, you MUST be fluent.

[hashiriya1]

English is considered a difficult language due to the large number of words that have multiple meanings based solely on context clues

Japanese is notorious for this. There are only 47 unique syllables in the Japanese language, but over 600,000 words.

For example, the word "haisha" can either mean "Dentist", "allocate", "loser", or "wrecked car" depending on context.

[fast]

I always hate going to the wrecked car, mainly because I end up lying to him. "It doesnt look like you floss everyday" ofcourse I dont.

Sorry, standup comedy on the way to work is probably a bad thing...

[Zeonik Freak]

I always hate going to the wrecked car, mainly because I end up lying to him. "It doesnt look like you floss everyday" ofcourse I dont.

Sorry, standup comedy on the way to work is probably a bad thing...

I had to pay 1900 out of pocket to the wrecked car for a root canal and a crown (because my company insurance is BS and cant cover me till i have the insurance over a period of time).

For a crude example:

English; I am going to the store to get food.

Japanese; I go to store for food.

English is one of only a few languages that tries to describe every facet, while most foreign ones (French, Chinese etc...) only give you just what you need without any hints.

In Spanish it would be: "Store i go, Tequila i buy"

The only reason people find English easy is the fact that is all they have spoken from day one till this moment in time, and it is true, we use so many verbs to describe everything.

Let me see if i can rephrase my sentence in how it can be said in japanese: Reason people find english easy speak all their life from day one, verbs describe everything.

... god, that looks like crap.

To me as long as everything isnt said backwards like in spanish, then that doesnt sound to bad...

[MrPopo]

Well actually, I was planning to take Japanese anyway, this thread was more created in light of the dozens of awesome-looking RPG's that never made it over to America because of Bernie Stolar. Thank you for the warning, though... looks like a fucking insane language to learn. I might reconsider my choice of language, unfortunately.

A quick question, though - aren't most of these games written in Kanji? I might just focus on one of their alphabets if that's all I need. I don't really care very much about speaking the language fluently, or even vocally; I just want to be able to read it.

Famicom, Gameboy, and Wonderswan RPGs are all Hiragana and Katakana. Any other system, it is a mix of all three, hiragana, katakana, and kanji. You can't survive in the japanese language only knowing one.
There are over 3,000 kanji characters you would have to learn to be able to fully understand kanji. RPGs tend to use rare kanji and rare kanji combinations for some reason.

And after you master about 3,000 of them, you would have to know which ones can combine with one another, and which cannot. Also, you would have to know their pronounciations. Each kanji has 2 to 5 pronunciations, with an average of 3.

To be able to read games, especially RPGs, you MUST be fluent.

I've heard rumors that the Japanese schooling system has more emphasis on memorization of facts, vs. the US school system of trying to build critical thinking skills (not that they necessarily succeed). If that is true I wonder how much of that is due to the fact that you have the several thousand kanji you have to memorize to be fluent.

[hashiriya1]

Well actually, I was planning to take Japanese anyway, this thread was more created in light of the dozens of awesome-looking RPG's that never made it over to America because of Bernie Stolar. Thank you for the warning, though... looks like a fucking insane language to learn. I might reconsider my choice of language, unfortunately.

A quick question, though - aren't most of these games written in Kanji? I might just focus on one of their alphabets if that's all I need. I don't really care very much about speaking the language fluently, or even vocally; I just want to be able to read it.

Famicom, Gameboy, and Wonderswan RPGs are all Hiragana and Katakana. Any other system, it is a mix of all three, hiragana, katakana, and kanji. You can't survive in the japanese language only knowing one.
There are over 3,000 kanji characters you would have to learn to be able to fully understand kanji. RPGs tend to use rare kanji and rare kanji combinations for some reason.

And after you master about 3,000 of them, you would have to know which ones can combine with one another, and which cannot. Also, you would have to know their pronounciations. Each kanji has 2 to 5 pronunciations, with an average of 3.

To be able to read games, especially RPGs, you MUST be fluent.

I've heard rumors that the Japanese schooling system has more emphasis on memorization of facts, vs. the US school system of trying to build critical thinking skills (not that they necessarily succeed). If that is true I wonder how much of that is due to the fact that you have the several thousand kanji you have to memorize to be fluent.

Japanese schools love to conveniently censor history books. Nanking massacre? It's not even in Japan's biggest war museum. I digress.

They don't really make you memorize facts, but they do mold you into a good sheep to make you follow all rules and never question anything.

[RCBH928]

That is weird since they are like #1 nation in building and innovation, which needs questioning and thinking not following rules with no questions

[blackmagepwns]

Just learn the language, if you can't take it, stop.

[lisalover1]

I just started taking Japanese language classes about a week ago. I hope I can make some progress there. Like Hashiriya1 said, it will take several years just to even just get a basic hold on the language, but I believe that the benefits [especially as a gamer] far outweigh the rigor of learning it.

[RCBH928]

you guys must be taking this gaming thing seriously ,
I would never learn a language(whatever it is) just to play games which are supposed to be fun in the first place and in my leisure time, not dedicate time to play the game.

I can see how it can be an additional motive or an advantage of a language, but not the main motive