There are many ways of approaching the study of Japanese. You can follow the traditional approach, studying with Japanese textbooks like the Genki series. Or try learning through popular culture, like manga and JPOP songs or even dating-sim games. Another study method I’ve employed at various times is the “Find a Japanese Girlfriend” approach, wherein you find an attractive Japanese girl to date and share language with. While softer and more huggable than even the best kanji wall poster, there are some drawbacks to choosing this path to mastering nihongo. The biggest is that the language used by women and men is quite different, with the best example being the first and second person pronouns used by each group. For example, males will usually use the neural boku or the more manly-sounding ore (oh-reh) to refer to themselves, while females use the more formal watashi or cute-sounding atashi, and if you pick up too much Japanese from your significant other, you might sound more effeminate than you’d like. Incidentally, we have a fun line of T-shirts, hats and hoodies for anyone interested in finding their own Japanese girlfriend or boyfriend — click and browse our fun products!
One way of studying Japanese is the “Japanese girlfriend” method.
