My Interest in Japanese

When asked in grade school what I would request with only one wish, aside from the obvious but illegitimate wish for more wishes, I wished I could speak all the languages in the world. I wanted to be able to communicate with anyone and everyone I encountered. But alas by the laws of nature, wishes don't come true so easily. Soon I realized I would have to constrict my dream a little and choose a handful out of hundreds.

Like a good many of my peers, I was first introduced to the Japanese language through anime. I recall the hint of skepticism in my voice as I retorted to my best friend, "Aren't we a bit old for cartoons?" But four episodes into Escaflowne and I was hooked. The better the anime got, the more I wanted to understand the language instead of having to read subtitles or worse, watch the awful dubbed version that is any avid watcher's worst nightmare.

Although college life has hindered the continuation of anime marathons, I still retained my interest in the language. I was tempted to major in Linguistics, but the practical Asian influence led me to choose engineering instead. It wasn't until now, in my last semester of college, that I'm able to take language courses for pleasure. The only problem is learning Japanese and Korean at the same time. Not on rare occasions did I find myself wanting to say Kankoku or Chugoku in Korean class, and anyonghaseyo in Japanese class. I have a feeling it will only get more confusing as I start to learn the same words in both classes.