Why are people studying Japanese?

Japanese is an East Asian language spoken by approximately 128 million people, a majority of whom live in Japan, where it is the national language. It belongs to the Japonic (or Japanese-Ryukyuan) language family, and its relationship to other languages, such as Korean, is debatable. While there are many dialects and accents in Japan, experts agree that the largely monolingual status that exists here is very unusual. Most countries have many major languages that are commonly spoken within their territories. Little is known of the language’s prehistory, or when it first appeared in Japan. Chinese documents from the 3rd century recorded a few Japanese words, but substantial texts did not appear until the 8th century. During the Heian period (794–1185), the Chinese had considerable influence on the vocabulary and phonology of Old Japanese. Late Middle Japanese (1185–1600) included changes in features that brought it closer to the modern language and the first appearance of European loanwords. While there are many dialects and accents in Japan, experts agree that the largely monolingual status that exists here is very unusual.

Job opportunities 

Of the many reasons for studying Japanese, a number of people study Japanese due to the variety of job opportunities and career advancements it stands to provide. Japanese are the inventors and innovators. They created bullet trains, pocket calculators, the walkman, android robots and a lot more. And people from tech backgrounds learn it as it can open doors for learning, job opportunities in this sector. Even if you are not someone who is tech savvy, knowing Japanese will allow you better understanding of cutting-edge technology and will help you to use it for your benefit. The most important aspect that draws students from all over the world are the job options available after studying Japanese. 

Forms of employment available after studying Japanese 

Fluency in Japanese will lead to new openings in a variety of industries around the world. It allows you to apply for positions at international embassies that tend to employ certain local workers from the host country to help with a range of tasks. In this aspect, customer service, receptionist, deals with passports and visas, IT technical personnel, dispatcher, interpreter, administrative job, press office job, research analyst, messengers, logistics, and other positions are available. With the increasing digitalization of the world, Japanese experts will earn handsome money working from home in a variety of lucrative jobs in fields such as translation, proofreading, interpretation, publishing, material creation, and so on. About half of all Japanese learners choose to work as freelancers. The ability to talk in Japanese is helpful for assisting overseas travellers, communicating with Japanese-speaking workers, and working in Japanese-speaking countries. Fluency in Japanese opens up multiple opportunities in the travel and tourism sector, that happens to be quite a flourishing industry in Japan, creating various career opportunities in the hospitality, aviation, entertainment, sector. People who wish to work there necessarily need to learn Japanese. 

Industries offering employment 

A Japanese language learner can easily secure a job in Japanese Companies worldover coupled with the other requisite qualifications. Japan is a self sufficient country, it manufactures everything right from needles to heavy machineries and earth moving equipment. This helps generate thousands of job and business opportunities. Other than several MNCs from US, and Europe, hundreds of Japanese multinational companies and groups, that are operating in almost every sector from their regional offices located worldover. Japan is the leader in many sectors like automobiles, animation, consumer electronics, computers, optical media, semiconductor manufacturing, infrastructure, shipbuilding, and many more, with ‘Made in Japan’ being synonymous with high quality and technologically advanced products. Japan is also one of the leading nations in patent filings. Statistical intellectual property data from around the world indicates that Japan’s total patent application in 2018 alone was over 300,000! 

Employment available abroad

Prominent Japanese brands such as Uniqlo, Sony, Honda, Panasonic, Hitachi, Toshiba, Sanyo, Casio, Canon, Minolta, Pioneer, Nikon, Fujitsu, Suzuki, Toyota, Mitsubishi, and hundreds of more continue to infiltrate the markets world over in a wide range of sectors. So it’s but natural that they prefer fluent candidates to head their regional offices and communicate with Japanese counterparts frequently. In most cases, companies who look for specific field specialists with the ability to communicate in Japanese usually given a language premium on top of the basic salary to the successful candidate. And, if the company plans to expand, your knowledge of the Japanese language will put you ahead of others considering any post in the company, with high earning potential!

Students aspiring to study in Japan can now have the odds to their benefit

Japan has been known over ages to have one of the best education systems in the world. The Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) an international organisation that works to build better policies for better lives, ranks the country’s high school students number one globally for maths and number 2 for scientific literacy. Thus, studying in Japan will always significantly improve your employability. It could prove to be your greatest career asset.

Japan proudly holds the title of being a leader in education owing to its outstanding academic tradition, pioneer research, hardworking culture and innovation. It houses approximately 780 universities, specialized vocational institutions, and 100’s of junior colleges.

For the love of games, anime and manga 

Japanese is the language of Anime and Manga. Most people get attracted to Japanese through these especially the younger generation. A number of people get to learn basic Japanese words through these and go onto learn more through Japanese games. Special edition game consoles, limited edition anime series and movies are accessible exclusively through a local reseller, however, these items are available in Japanese only. So, game addicts learn Japanese to understand and play these. Manga fans, on the other hand, learn Japanese, so that they can read the new  released Manga titles as soon as they are released, because translated versions of Manga take up almost a year or more to be released. Also Anime weebs feel better reading it in a language directly rather than looking at a translated version. 

For anthropologists 

Japanese is also a boon for the Japanese cultural anthropologists who specialize in studying of the vibrant rich Japanese culture and peoples’ beliefs, practices, besides the cognitive and social organization of human groups.

Food connoisseur 

Japanese is a blessing for a food connoisseur, with some of the world’s best chef schooling and culinary arts schools located in Japan teaching the famous Sushi and Ramen preparation amongst so many other traditional dishes. 

Promising economy offers security for future

The economy of Japan is a highly developed free-market economy. It is the third-largest in the world by nominal GDP and the fourth-largest by purchasing power parity (PPP), and is the world’s second largest developed economy. Japan is a member of the G7 and G20. According to the International Monetary Fund, the country’s per capita GDP (PPP) was at $41,637 (2020).

Have it, flaunt it

The least followed reason for studying Japanese is simply because it is cool to flaunt and it sets learners out of the crowd, generating unique opportunities for its learners. 

Japan is a country well known for its rise to fame from ashes after Hiroshima and Nagasaki like a Phoenix. It’s also admired as country governed by its conscience, its age old undisturbed traditions and pure culture with a great value system, respect for life, dignified behaviour, meticulous working, love for animals, respect for elders, peaceful yet  powerful religious coexistence between Shinto and Buddhism, “abide by the rules,” attitude that essentially means paying attention to social codes, etiquette, and manners – even if it is bothersome, genuine kindness, sharp eye for detail, awareness for individual needs, and the effort always to go the extra mile. The kindness Japanese extend, however, is not tied to specific situations or people in Japan. Instead, it is an integral part of what being Japanese means. Japanese people are brought up with the ever-present principle of not causing trouble to anyone else since their childhood. The great Japanese kindness is a result of the desire to be seen favorably by others as per the concept of “tatemae,” best translated as “public position”. With basic principles of honesty, discipline, cleanliness, respect, love, health over wealth, dedication and drive, has caused the country to be intriguing anyone and everyone.

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