I'm a big reader of tofugu.com, they're a really good fun source of information about Japan in general, as well as tips for studying and all sorts. However, they've enraged me somewhat with a recent blog entitled "5 Reasons You Shouldn't Major In Japanese (and 2 You Might Consider It)"
I began this blog post as a comment on Tofugu's post, but soon realised it was lengthier than my... *ahem* The point is, I felt that to get more people to read it (and indeed get them to read Tofugu's article) I should make it into my own blog post. So I put my keyboard-warrior helmet and sword on, and prepared a counter-blog.
It's probably advisable for you to read Tofugu's post before reading this one (or at least, have a quick skim so you can see what their points are), and it can be found here.
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Sorry, but I'm inclined to disagree with all of these.
Studying alone is all well and good, but at some point you need somebody who can point out where you're going wrong and show you how to put it right. For language learning, it's simply not enough to self-study. Furthermore, the skill-level of the graduate massively depends on the student. People who've graduated from Leeds University, where I'm studying Japanese, have completed N1 at JLPT before even completing their final year. It's simply not fair to say that a degree in Japanese will produce incompetent speakers. I don't want to get into insults, but any lack of ability you have is down to you alone, and not the people who taught you. And if you were such a good student, that would mean that you self-studied a lot, right? Then why did your Japanese not benefit from all of your good-student-iness?
I can see where you're coming from saying that other languages are more useful, but in all fairness it's very subjective. Not everybody learns a language for the purposes of business, and you don't necessarily need to do a job that relates to your degree. I know lots of people who aren't studying Japanese for the purposes of business (it's most assuredly not the reason I'm learning it!), and I know a lot of people who went on to do jobs totally unrelated to their degrees (eg. Masters in `criminology, goes on to be a fireman. Work that one out!) I don't know about America, but certainly in England it is often enough to show that you have a degree to a prospective employer. If you're worried about the employability (or apparent lack thereof) that may or may not come from studying Japanese, you should attend careers fairs at your University, you should speak to careers advisers and you should get in touch with Alumni from your course. Find out what all your options are before making such sweeping generalisations as that.
The debt issue is something that I really want to talk about. Whilst I'm fairly certain that the system for paying off student debt in the UK is completely different that that in America, saying that you shouldn't do a particular degree because you'll get into an unspecific amount of debt (again, assuming that's the system in America: in the UK everyone has broadly the same amount) is like saying I won't make ramen because it'll make a load of washing up. Everybody will end up in debt at some point in their lives, and personally I think it's better to get into debt doing something that you enjoy, rather than something that may or may not be useful further down the line. In England, thanks to Nick Clegg and David Cameron, the cost of University tripled in September 2012. This means that the most a University can charge in tuition per year increased to around £9000, and the government withdrew much of the funding they provide. And yet, the intake of people into Leeds University to study Japanese is still notably high. At the age of 18, people shouldn't be worrying about debt to the point of choosing a different degree. I asked my personal tutor, and in the last five years or so, of the people graduating from Leeds University's East Asian Studies faculty, over 90% were employed within six months. This is kind of tied in with my above response: you don't need to do something related to your degree for a career.
Now, I will agree that it's hard to learn Japanese and that it's certainly not for everyone. BUT, giving it as a reason not to try it at University is ridiculous. Physics is hard, law is hard, computer science is hard. And in exactly the same way, these subjects aren't for everybody. People should relish the chance to learn something because it's hard, because so much of education in this day and age is completely spoon-fed and overly easy. The challenge of Japanese, like you say, is the writing. But in learning the writing, you completely rewire your brain and have to learn to think in a completely different way, and THAT is something hugely beneficial to a prospective employer, or even to just learning something else. It shows that you can take this completely alien concept and wrap your head around it.
The advice my Dad gave to me when I was little and didn't want to practise the piano because it was too hard was "If it was easy, everyone would do it." That is the single best piece of advice I have ever had, so thank you Dad - you are a wise man.
If you want to be like everybody else, give up when something's too hard. Don't bother sticking at it, because hey, you might fail. And then, when life gets to difficult, why don't you just not bother at that as well, you lazy, half-arsed fuck.
I will say at this stage, I have been luckier than most, to be learning Japanese in school since year 9 (that's the age of 13). And it was hard back then, and it's hard now. But guess what? I love it. I love the language, I love the country, I love the people I've met through learning Japanese, and I love the challenge that Japanese presents.
So go drill a hole in your skull. Not doing something because it's hard is fucking dumb.
On to why Tofugu says that you should consider it then!
Anybody that's seen Harold and Kumar Go To Whitecastle will have heard the line "And if you're hung like a moose, it doesn't mean you should do porn." - Kal Penn (Kumar).
Being super good at something is no reason to do a degree in something. In fact, I would go so far as to say it's a good reason not to. How many times have we all thought "I'm good at this subject, so I don't need to revise for this exam" or something similar. If you're good at something and you know it, you're much more likely to get complacent and not work at it. I know this, I've been there and I'm still there: trying to learn new things is difficult because I don't remember the learning, all I remember is being good at them.
Don't go to University to do something just because "you're super good at it" - go to University because you want to. Go to learn who you are as a person. Go to get away from home, and learn to fend for yourself. Learn something completely different, and that little bit unusual. Because guess what? Doing a degree in something that you are already good at is not hard, it's easy. And we all know what I feel about that.
The final point of your post is good: combining a language with extra skills is always useful. The more marketable you can make yourself to employers the better, but sometimes even only a vague grasp of a language can be enough to set you apart from the crowd.
This article has really annoyed me, because a lot of people who might be wanting to study Japanese may well have just been put right off by the things you've said. You were quick to blame your education, when actually it might be you that's to blame for your Japanese ability. You were quick to say that there are little to no jobs available that involve Japanese, but at Leeds Uni there are whole days devoted to the careers one can choose after taking a degree in a language like Japanese. Will they all be related, or will you definitely use your Japanese in each and every one? No, but these people are actively seeking someone who has studied Japanese, Chinese, Thai, Arabic or any other of the so-called "hard" languages. Clearly, we have something that the French-speakers do not.
My point is, that your opinion on this matter is going to be read by an awful lot of people, and I think that you owe it to them to tell them that their education is what they make of it and if they choose to mess around and not work hard for however many years, then their Japanese (or any other ability they've gone to Uni for) will suffer.
My final argument (and then I'll be done, I swear) is that this post could apply to so many other degrees than Japanese, and not only that but with much more accuracy *cough*Philosophy*cough*.
So anybody that read John's article that has been kind enough to read mine and stick with me all the way to the end, don't let him put you off. I love my Japanese degree. Yes I have my doubts, yes I sometimes wonder if I shouldn't have kept at trying to become a doctor. But this degree has been, is and will continue to be amazing. And if I come out of it £20,000 in debt, with no job prospects and no Japanese ability, and regretting not choosing an easier degree... Well, then I will come back and write an apology of equal or greater length than this endless rant of mine.
/rant
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Well, thanks for sticking with me on that one folks!
As an interesting, slightly embarrassing side note: the last essay I wrote was just under 3000 words in length and took me the best part of about twelve hours in total to write.
The post you have just read which is only about half the length, took me around an hour to write. Go figure.
Keyboard warrior helmet and sword have been removed, I can go back to revising for my Japanese exam tomorrow.
EDIT: I welcome all keyboard warriors to have their say in the comments below, or write a counter-blog of their own. I also welcome abuse via Google+ and occasionally Facebook. I will hand out my email only to those the blog is specifically about.
In some cases (I'm looking at you, Stephen Fry and/or Scarlett Johansson) I will even hand out a phone number.EDIT: If anybody wants to read about what it's like to study Japanese, here's an article written for The Independent by a student in the year above me.
