Workin' 8 - 5; Monday Thru Friday

[cloudiwolf]

So, I've been listening to a LOT of tech news and podcasts lately, and I feel like I've found my passion for technology again. Too bad the last great tech-anything I did was build my current Windows PC that's gathering dust at home (and sitting with three years worth of upgrades...). I feel like I've been chasing the wrong dream these last four

Comments

[rose_revolution]

okay, let me give you some advice from someone who has changed their academic history about three times for greener pastures, and trust me, the idea of doing something is so much greater than when you obtain the capability and skills to actually do it. When I left for NESOP I told myself when I was a photographer I would be so happy and working for a company and everything, but I knew before I graduated I was going to go back to UMass for Japanese. The thing is your going to graduate soon and now that you are here in Japan and you are so close to grabbing what it is you dreamt about years ago, apart from the fact that when you talk about languages and culture, you can never being perfectly fluent, its always a learning curve and new experience, it is natural you feel a little sad. Sometimes I wish I went back to school for something different as well but then I seriously think about what I have done while here, although maybe it seems like not a lot at times, I wouldn't trade it back.

[cloudiwolf]

I'm close to obtaining this "dream", but will I be happy in the future? That's also been factoring into my lack of motivation and general hatred towards Japanese lately. I don't think I would be happy with a career in Japanese at all. I dispise studying it, why would I want to work with it? Seriously. I can't even bring myself to read any of my Japanese books and comics I used to love so much.

But I get what you're saying. I'm too close to quit now. I don't plan on just dropping Japanese. That wouldn't make any sense at all since I've come this far. Still, I'd like to pursue something that I actually enjoy. That'd be a nice change of pace.

Thanks a bunch for the advice, Vince. :D

[psychedasmic]

Hey while Vince MAY be right somewhat... I think if there's something you definitely think you should go back to, think of adding it onto your Japanese major. A language major by itself is rarely useful, in my opinion. I've appended to my English major (useless) the Tech Writing and Professional Writing program certificate (useful) and next year, I finish my IT minor (useful). There's always time to add on -- you could do tech stuff for Japanese clients!! It's not a waste to accumulate a couple of concentrations that assist each other in this... GLOBAL ECONOMY.

[cloudiwolf]

That's the option I've been thinking about a lot lately; adding a minor that would be useful and that I would enjoy. I have one more year left, so that begs the question "Will I have enough time to start and finish a minor?". I don't have enough information at the moment to answer that, but I guess I'll just have to do my research.

Thanks a lot for the insight. :)

もう一度思い出したい！日本語の楽しさを

[ladyomnipotent]

I have been feeling almost the exact same way for a while! I don't enjoy Japanese like I used to. I've always said that I want to be a translator, but it seems like the more experience I get with translating, the more irritated and discouraged I get. I wish I could set my brain back to the time when I was so excited about the idea of being able to read and write Japanese, and when I had lots of energy and MOTIVATION to learn. Now, 4 years or so later, I just feel worn out...I still can't just pick up a magazine or something and read it comfortably, and much of the reason why is because I have these negative feelings towards JP that make me feel unpleasant about the idea of studying. I don't keep up on kanji and all that, so I end up retaining not as much as I should....I have had several shitty japanese classes in a row and I'm just sick of it....my experience in Japan had some serious lowpoints that unfortunately have attached anxious, sad, and frustrating emotions to anything to do with JP

Re: もう一度思い出したい！日本語の楽しさを

[cloudiwolf]

You've pretty much hit the nail on the head with your post, Caitlin. That's exactly how I'm feeling with Japanese. I'm sick of the shitty classes, the shitty teachers, just the entire language all together. My experience here in Japan, as far as being in a foreign country for leisure, as been great. As far as improving my Japanese and studying, it's been a total waste of money and time. I just learned that I really hate this language a lot more than I originally thought. Hm. I guess it wasn't a waste of money if it made me realize that I might not want to do only Japanese as a career

Re: もう一度思い出したい！日本語の楽しさを

[ladyomnipotent]

My parents always assure me that education is never a waste of money, so even if both of us were to graduate college and never earn a penny for our Japanese skills, we'd have learned and experienced irreplacable things. A big one, for example, is being able to go to Japan and sort of understand what the heck is going on in that country! Also, the people we met (I would not have met David and you would not have met Tal) the good and bad times with learning a language and studying, the insight into another culture...etc. Anyway. I was gonna say that my feelings were not helped much when I talked to Forrest-sensei last semester and he basically told me that getting a stable job with Japanese is kind of a crapshoot. I'm really not into the whole freelance thing. That's one reason why I chose not to pursue writing as a career, because often you have to start with freelance stuff and it will probably take a while before you can become like, a columnist for a magazine or someone who can live off of selling novels. Besides that, I've