Besides English, I know enough Spanish to get by. Sadly, my parents wanted me to avoid having any hint of an accent and to have English as my first language, so I had to attend ESL (English as a Second Language) Classes. Although my Spanish-speaking skills were affected, I still managed to understand it. From then, I have been doing my best to regain my Spanish-speaking skills. I’m not fluent, but much better than I was before.

After a few years, I thought about learning another language just out of curiosity. Two languages that came to mind were Italian and Japanese. Having a great interest in Japanese culture, art, and its part in the gaming/entertainment industry, I naturally leaned toward that option. I’ve since tried learning it on my own, starting with Duolingo, but that stopped because I felt I wasn’t really learning the language in the right way. Then Duolingo started shifting more toward AI, and that sealed the deal for me. I decided to search for any local classes near me and tried out an online course offered by a local Community. It was an okay course, but again, it was more about learning phrases than the basics. I’m sure it’s a great course, but I just couldn’t get things to stick. From there, my determination faded, and I just stopped altogether.

But now I have a new reason to want to learn Japanese. For you see, I have discovered the greatness that is CHIIKAWA! For those of you who don’t know what that is, Chiikawa is a character from the popular manga/anime of the same name. It centers around the misadventures of Chiikawa and friends (Hachiware, Usagi, Momonga, and Shisa, to name a few)! They all do their best to get through everyday life, facing things like stress, studying, and scary monsters. Sadly, there is no English version of the manga, and I could just find a version online or use Google Translate, but the manga itself is so minimal, I thought, maybe this is something I can use to learn how to read Japanese. So instead of going into it wanting to learn reading, writing, and speaking Japanese, I’ll just focus on reading. If all goes well, I can shift to speaking Japanese later on. For now, BEING ABLE TO READ THE CHIIKAWA MANGA IS MY GOAL!!!

Ahem, well, I wish well and hope good things come your way! Till next time!