The title is an awesome quote from an epic Hetalia fanfic. No, it's not as dirty as the quote makes it seem.
K, I've decided what course I'm doing for uni. I'm definite on it, now. Naturally, it involves Japanese. I'm also wanting to learn Italian. 'Cuz Italian is cool.
I wasn't into learning languages until last year. Oh, how things change. Don't get me wrong, I've loved Japanese culture for a few years now. I love their games. I love their television. I love their music. I just never felt the need to learn the language. Then, after watching Death Note, I discovered the band ナイトメア。Or Naitomea. Which is really just the Japanese approximation of the word nightmare. Gotta love all the ways of reading Japanese katakana.
Anyway, I was listening to them and absolutely adoring Yomi's vocals. He is very emotional with his singing. So I looked up a translation of the lyrics. But... it wasn't the same. I mean, the translations made sense and all, but it's not quite like hearing it for yourself. I realised then that I wanted to hear the song in its mothertongue. I didn't want a translation. I wanted to hear how it was written, the way it was supposed to be heard. I wanted to understand the vocalists intent rather than just read a translation that lacked the kind of emotion you could hear in the song itself.
That, my friends, is why I decided to learn Japanese. To listen to one band. Is this sad? Possibly. But it's kinda maybe changed my life (insert more corny phrases here). I mean, I ended up really loving the language. I soon came to appreciate the differences between English and Japanese; how rounded the language sounds in comparison, how simple it is grammatically, how complex the formalities are and just how different it is. And once you start really researching it, you can see how the culture is reflected in the language as well. It's interesting. It's fun. I've developed a love for the language, the history behind it, the country itself, the people, everything. Really, the language barrier is pretty bad. You miss out on so, so much by speaking only one language.
So I decided, hey, I may as well use this to my advantage. What can I do with Japanese? Well, I love video games and anime. Could I... I don't know... translate them?
Yes. Yes, I most certainly could.
It was only recently I decided I should do Italian. I watched the film The Bicycle Thief earlier this year and decided that this language sounded really, really cool. I ended up looking up plenty of languages, just to see how they all sound. I came back to Italian in the end though. Screw what everyone else says, French isn't the language of love. Italian is. It's beautiful, mmkay? I could talk for hours about what that language does to me. I adore it. Oh hay, you speak Italian? Excuse me while I take off my clothes.
I guess I'm also learning it so I can go to Italy and sample the pizza and pasta there. Viva Italia! :3
This has all lead to me looking up countries in general. I started watching Hetalia when I got an interest in countries, and that certainly jump-started things. I ended up learning some (slightly modified. Yeah, slightly...) world history through humour. Trust me, that's the best way to learn ^^. After watching each episode I'd look up the references. I started reading the webcomic as well. Eventually I started just outright looking up the countries online regardless of whether Hetalia had touched on said country and its history. I'm slowly but surely gaining knowledge on all sorts of world cultures, languages and history, for no reason other than my own interest.
Random fact: I've always hated flags, you know? They seem pointless and... I don't know why I dislike them. I just do. These days I do enjoy looking up the flags of each country and learning about what they represent, though.
And to think, all this random culture-immersion-stuff came from me listening to one band. xD
In conclusion, I am now going to study Japanese and Italian. And I have completely faith in myself with this. I'll get through, because I'm studying things that I enjoy. I will emerge triumphant in my language studies. Hopefully I will emerge with my shirt still firmly placed over my torso, though.
You know, watching Eurovision this year isn't really linked with all that. My good friend Tuo is very much in love with the show, and I am very glad I followed his lead. It also helps that the Hetalia fandom also appreciates this show. That said... I'm mostly watching now for the unintentional double entendre's that I kept hearing. Israel's entry for Eurovision this year was one of the more obvious ones. Honestly, the lyrics can be taken in a rather... awkward way.
♪Ding dong, say no more
I hear silent prayers
And it's making me high and fly
I know where to go and I'm coming now
See what I mean? I don't know how to take that. That last line... good lord, woman, keep it in your pants please. ^^
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