Study Japanese

    "Study" in Japanese is "勉強", a phrase which looks similar to the Chinese phrase of forcing　people to do things reluctantly. However, in Japanese, it means studying hard. It is a bit strange, right? We know that Japanese is derived from Chinese language centuries ago, yet in the contemporary era, they carry different meanings. 

Why I would like to spend much time explaining what is the meaning of "study" in Japanese? As a student currently studying in Singapore, which is located in South-East Asia, there might be ample opportunities to meet with Japanese students, and even to work in Japan in the future since both Singapore and Japan are main business centers in Asia-Pacific region. Due to the early exposure of Japanese manga and anime, I was interested to study Japanese, and even considered to study in Japan under  student exchange programs offered by my university, National University of Singapore (NUS). Hence, I am currently taking up a Japanese language minor in the university! The Japanese classes offered in the University are actually free of charge! This is one of the imperative factors that drive me to seize the opportunities to study Japanese during my undergraduate studies in NUS. 

     The Japanese classes in NUS are conducted by native speaking tutors (usually we call sensei, 先生), and this is also a good opportunity for you to pick up the native slang as well. Studying in Japanese language classes actually helps students to learn in a much more systematic way that could foster the foundation of Japanese language. 

     Studying Japanese can be very fun. Hopefully, after reading this article, you will be inspired to pick up Japanese language and be bilingual, even multilingual in the future! 日本語の勉強がとてもおもしろいです(Studying in Japanese is very fun). See you in the next blog post! 

 Credit: The above photo is taken from https://www.letsgojp.cn/archives/405055/