Acquiring a new language is no small feat. It is so challenging, in fact, that it is easy to get discouraged and give up. So what pushes us forward to learn a language, especially one as challenging as Japanese? Although it may seem obvious that it’s useful for us since we live in Japan, you can get by without knowing Japanese here (and a number of foreigners do just that). So why be motivated to learn it really well instead of just enough to get by? That’s what our new video is all about.
There is a huge advantage to being raised speaking a certain language, because that language will be as natural as a native language. But that also underscores the lengths one has to go for really good language acquisition. Children pick up whatever language they are immersed in. It doesn’t matter if that language is “hard” or “easy” to learn — they learn the language all the same. Nothing really substitutes for immersion in a language, especially at a young age.
I’m glad my children can grow up in an environment where they are schooled in one language (in our case Japanese) and at home learn another language (English). Both of these languages will act as springboards to great opportunities in the future, whether it means learning another language or simply by bridging the fluency gap.
While it takes work and focus, nothing can substitute for the extraordinary opportunities that come from learning another language. And I’ve often said that the broadening of one’s own perspective is one of the greatest benefits of learning another language.
If you’re interested in acquiring a language, I suggest you take a look at Rosetta Stone software which offers robust language learning programs in many different language (including Japanese, English and Portuguese to name a few). They are offering a special deal for Life in Japan viewers and they offer reasonable monthly plans or a lifetime access for $199. That’s a great deal for learning languages — we pay nearly $600 a month for Ruth to do full-time language school, and that’s only for one month (not lifetime)! While they sponsored us to share about it on our YouTube and Instagram, we are not sponsored to share it here (nor do we receive a commission if you decide to go with them for language learning). Their software really is a great option to help you learn a language and get even more immersed in it!
So if you’re learning a language or interested in doing so, please check out the special deals with Rosetta Stone here: https://rosettastone.com/lifeinjapanyt. They have great plans that will get you going, whether you’re just beginning, you want to learn more or you want to become fluent.