Alec Chang

What inspired you to do Japanese?

I chose Japanese because when I first saw Japanese characters it looked a lot like Chinese characters, so I wanted to learn something close to a language I already know. Another reason is because my mom knows some Japanese, it seemed like fun so I wanted to try it out and prove I can learn it. And for the last and final reason, I really love Japanese music, culture and anime. I hope this class can bring me a step closer for not just speech and understanding, but also the culture.

What do you hope to do with your new language skills?

I would really like to visit Japan on day, and learning Japanese would be really useful for that. I would love to be able to read signs and hopefully speak to some of the people from Japan, since I have heard some amazing stories online about Japan. I hope to be able to read and write the Hiragana alphabet and hopefully be able to study some Kanji.

How will you keep yourself motivated throughout this course? What will you do if you are struggling?

I will keep myself motivated throughout this course by reminding myself what I hope to accomplish and how great it would be if I were able to read, write, speak and understand Japanese. If I ever find myself struggling, I will definitely be asking my peers and my teacher for the support I need. I could use google translate and maybe even ask some family members who took Japanese in high-school to help me.