How can you learn and continue to learn a language when you feel that culture hates you?

Question

I have studied Japanese for 4 years now. I've had my bad experiences with Japanese people here in usa. I don't mean i've had fights with them, but i feel this hatred and discrimination when i have tried to be friends with them. Mostly i feel what it is , it is racial discrimination cause i just see how they love it when White people approach them but when i do, they make aweful faces of disgust( slightly but you ccan see they are not happy).
Anyway, i started getting these things since i started studying... i got the feeling of being hated by a bunch of them. so now i don't meet any but i'm constantly internally reflecting on this and i feel like giving up my learning of that language cause Why do it, if you're gonna be hated by them?

But at the same time, i'm not going to waste all that i've learned. Who cares if they hate me, i'll just study on my own and for my own. Well but it's hard to think this way, cause naturally you want to speak kwith the native people.

I"m not in Japan BTW. i never gone there, but my experiences are with foreign students or people that come to the USA

i'm hispanic by the way

Answer 1

Funny enough, I have had the same experience with Japanese in the UK. For years, since I was a child I was interested in Japan, Japanese history and culture and even learnt the language. But the Japanese I met in this country (the UK) started of being friendly...or at least came across that way, but ended up being plain rude and impolite. The attitude really put me off. I think the only decent Japanese person I know in this country is my old Japanese teacher.
I do not know why they are like that.
Anyway, in their own country they seem to be a lot different and I felt on got on well with the Japanese I met.
I also think it is a cultural thing. I lot of Japanese do not have confidence in speaking the English they may know and often to us it feels like they are ignoring us.
In fact my best friend is Japanese but it is a shame that out of all the Japanese people I have met I can only class two has friends.
I do not hate the Japanese I just put it down to a cultural thing.
Has for learning Japanese...don't give up...just keep going, I know it is not easy when you feel it is worthless, especially when you have tried so hard, don't let a few people ruin it for you. And if you can, try and visit Japan I am not sure why but the attitude seems different there (Don't get me wrong, there are still some rude and impolite people in Japan...but it is the same in any country you visit)
I was going to give up learning Japanese, but my Japanese friend and teacher encouraged me to carry on.

Answer 2

Maybe they are suspicious of you. Learning a language helps to create understanding. Continue with it. Some people feel shy in speaking to a foreigner in their own language. Speak to them in English, and do not attempt Japanese before they become your friends. Happy learning!

Answer 3

If you really like the language, you shouldn't care about their behavior, most Japaneses are close minded, of course, not all of them, but they're quite traditional about relations with 'gaigin', anyway you may try to find someone to talk through Internet where cultures or races don't matter...

Answer 4

it not the language you should worry about it's the experience. the fact that learning more languages, makes you better in math and a lot of things. Dont let ignorance get you down. Become above the influence

Answer 5

You are making the equal mistake you criticize. You can´t pass judgement on a ebook by way of its quilt. Many men and women will probably be greater than joyful to engage with you and aid you finding out Spanish. Remember there's an identical quantity of movies or feedback with preconceived recommendations in opposition to Spanish talking men and women. Please do not forget they don't seem to be private feedback in opposition to you.

Answer 6

don't be turned off by your limited experiences. go to japan and see what happens there. you will meet people that may be wary of you at first, but when they find that you are interested in their language and cultlure, they will make up for any initial hesitation. good luck.

Answer 7

In life , most of the times , people don't tell us why they hate us .
Sometimes they hate us for what we say .
Sometimes they hate us for what we wear .
sometimes they hate us for our cleanless .
sometimes they hate us for a racial reason .
But are you sure it's the last reason!!!!???
Try to understand their way of thinking !!!!
Last thing : a language is ALWAYS useful .

Answer 8

I'm Japanese, and it was very awful reading your story. But I can probably tell you why some Japanese people acted that way.

1. Probably they thought that you were weird. For example. If you like anime, they associate the kind of people with anime otaku that most Japanese people don't like to make friends with. So if you are anime otaku, you'll have a difficult time to make friends with Japanese students.

2. Your approach to Japanese students were too strong and annoying. When I was in college, I met some white guy who kept approaching to many Japanese students to practice Japanese. He always did that in the main library and he was very famous among Japanese students as a weird White guy. Since his approach was very strong and annoying, many Japanese students tried to avoid him and I was one of them. But when I was in some class with the white guy, I saw him in a different way because I could see him as not a weird white guy who likes Japanese people and Japanese language but as a guy who is very smart and funny and who is a normal American guy who talks about things other than just Japanese stuff.

Anyways, many Japanese people don't discriminate Americans who want to practice Japanese language. But we do get intimidated by the weird Americans who always want to talk about Japan, Japanese language or Japanese anything. All I can tell you is that probably the way you approached to the Japanese students made them very uncomfortable in some way...

And for Japanese students, it's very hard to make friends with Americans since many of them don't usually want to make friends with Asian students but European students. And we feel that the Americans who want to make friends with us are usually weird ones who are so into Asian things that makes us feel that we are geeky and not normal. That's why, we want to avoid the weird Americans who make us feel that we are geeky.

If Americans are more open to asian foreign students, we don't probably need to feel this way. And we don't need to try to avoid the Americans who try to practice Japanese language with us. But of course we do know that some Americans who like to practice Japanese language are not weird but smart and interesting.

Anyways, I don't know how you approached to the Japanese students, but don't waste what you've learned.

I've lived in the states for 12 years. And I did really experience discrimination. White people, Black people, Mexican people called me names in the past, and I had a hard time adjusting to this country's culture and custom. I did cry so many times, and I don't know how many times I thought about going back to Japan. But still I'm here even though I've had really awful experiences in the states.

And before I go, I want to say that if you can speak Japanese language fluently or almost fluently,many Japanese people will treat you differently. I'm not that fluent in English, but people have treated me differently since I could speak English much better than before. So if you want to be accepted by Japanese people, study harder. That's the only way. I know I've said really harsh things to you. But still if you want to practice Japanese, you can e-mail me. I'm not learned to teach Japanese language to anybody officially but I can probably teach you Japanese from what I know.

Answer 9

Is anyone forcing you to learn Japanese?
Sounds to me like you are your own enemy. Why do you torture yorself?