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This article is from the Japanese FAQ, by TANAKA Tomoyuki tanaka@cs.indiana.edu and Olaf Meeuwissen olaf@IMSL.shinshu-u.ac.jp with numerous contributions by others.

13 How many years does it take to learn Japanese?

Americans often ask me such a question, expecting an
answer such as "10 months" or "about 2 years" or
"5 years, 7 months, and 12 days".

such a question only reveals the questioner's naivete
about learning a foreign language. (similar naivete
about about learning a foreign language is almost as
common among the Japanese.)

do these people also ask,
"how many years does it take to learn to play
the piano / guitar / soccer / baseball ?"

see also the next section "Japanese learn English faster
than Americans learn Japanese".

 

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• prev: 12 Notation of Japanese names
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• next: 14 Japanese learn English faster than Americans learn Japanese.

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languages, Japanese, learning, misconception, characters, expressions, kanji