Reply #6: japanese here too

[NuttyFluffers]

i don't need it for work or my daily living, yet, but i hope i will in the future. it is my BA major. (i also have relatives who speak)

previously i was studying spanish in high school and half my family speaks it. i on the other hand, cannot (or i can, but it's at a child's level. not enough complexity and nuance). after that i dabbled in other languages, french, hebrew, arabic (had to take classes in it as a child), chinese, vietnamese (i have relatives who speak), german, italian (have relatives...), hindi, portuguese (i have relatives...), tagalog (i have relatives...), a touch of korean (previous roommate), etc. basically it was the shotgun method of learning language. very bad idea. i've since learned then in the value of discipline and teachers in learning such things. but, i have a surprising ability now of picking up more than my fair share of bits and pieces of conversation in foreign languages -- i still have yet to find a good use for that.