just a reminder that learning japanese to consume their cultural products like video games more is totally fine and not a sign of disrespect or whatever
gatekeeping how people use and study languages is just a ridiculous notion that needs to be dispelled asap

so what if someone thinks japanese is a “cool” language and their only exposure to japan is just anime? as people become more invested in the language and cultures, they’ll end up learning about history thru osmosis
learning japanese is not just about the language itself, y’know

there’s also a fundamental misunderstanding on what cultural appropriation is lately: people think using “japanese”-inspired usernames is somehow cultural appropriation and it somehow sullies their intent to learn jp
bruh, there’s bigger things you can make a molehill out of

people seem to discourage the learning of japanese esp because it’s associated with “weeb” things
well, what isn’t “weeb” nowadays? if someone’s looking through the history of samurais, are they a “weeb” or are they a scholar of japanese history?
you don’t see this shit w/ china

i know a lot of folks on the twitters complain about how “uninformed” the stereotypical gamers/weebs are
but i’d also wager many of those complainers are ignorant about history too and being hypocritical
if you’re applying a standard to others, make sure it applies to you too

what makes your learning japanese different from “weebs”? or are you one of those folks who think learning japanese in general a “weeb” thing to do?
maybe that’s less a reflection on people who want to study the language and more on how you view folks in general then

learning japanese was (and still is) a lifechanging experience for me
i’ve read so many interesting works, listened to people discuss their real life via thoughts on video games, and trying to (poorly) recreate that experience i had reading w/ jp media by making my own stuff

i’m not japanese (i’m chinese indonesian) and my japanese is poor
but i once got the opportunity to meet the developers of a game i really liked and i communicated with them through my poor japanese
and they were so touched by my need to express these thoughts that they sobbed

was me conveying those thoughts that resonated with the developers a kind of cultural imperialism? a kind of disrespect toward language and japanese cultures? how was i supposed to tell them what i thought? only one of them understood english!

look at the comments of japanese artists and vtubers, there’s always people who don’t speak japanese trying to communicate with them in the language
they could write “good” in english but they want to express their feelings more
how is this disrespect or cultural appropriation?

if you wanna discuss orientalism, cultural imperialism, and all that in regards to how people approach japanese media
that’s fine
but you have to realize you too are a part of orientalism too
you are not innocent from the annals of the history we are all in

if you think learning japanese or watching anime is a toxic form of cultural appropriation, stop
you don’t understand how cultures exchange ideas and build upon each other
i look forward to people not using the english word “emoji” because guess where that’s from

we live in a world that depends on translations, exchanges, and even appropriation
and not all of this is smeared with imperialism
you should be able to watch tokusatsu and consider learning japanese without thinking this is born out of some ill will
this is a toxic mindset.

now, let’s turn the tables around
is learning english in japan inappropriate? what if japanese people just want to play skyrim or watch john wick without subs or dubs?
more importantly, how do you think people are discussing political movements like BLM in japan?

i can’t generalize All Japanese People but the folks i have talked to enjoy american culture and do similar things “weebs” do
they have Cool English words and mention american pop culture
the yuri vn series, FLOWERS, has so much american pop culture — it even mentions oj simpson

do we tell them that they should stop learning the language because their heart isn’t in the right place? what reason should they learn the language for?
for that matter, what is the proper, legitimate reason to learn any language?
i sincerely ask this in good faith

because i’ve seen people argue so much about how learning the japanese language is some act of colonialism or whatever, i want to know what they think is an appropriate reason and the code of conduct
i know it has to be silly and unrealizable but they’re never clear about it

this is a topic i hate seeing on twitter a lot not just because the arguments are always stupid and condescending to japanese learners but also because they sully the actual power concepts like cultural imperialism have
i am pissed off it’s always some woke american doing this

this shit is the real cultural imperialism if you ask me
it silences the voices of people in the global south (there are for example many indonesians interested in learning japanese) and discourages people in broadening their horizons
those folks are the real assholes imo

what i want to make clear is if you’re learning any language, whatever your reason it may be, you are valid
extremely valid
you don’t need to listen to any of these shit arguments about how bad it is to learn a language
go watch a vtuber and learn some japanese, it’s good

p.s. someone’s gonna ask me how i’ve learned jp so here’s a post
it also discusses how i became interested in japanese politics and pursued a master’s degree in international relations
so fuck anyone who says learning a language is just a “weeb” thing https://mimidoshima.wordpress.com/2018/12/17/i-wrote-this-for-essay-warmup-but-i-ended-up-writing-1000-words-more-than-the-max-limit-dot-dot-dot/

p.p.s. if someone pretends to be asian, that’s something to be decried upon
if it’s just someone expressing their attachment to japanese culture through writing their names in japanese or some shit, that’s not a problem at all
i want to make this clear because nuance is dead

p.p.p.s. if you are learning a language to hit on women or to commit similarly unethical shit, congratulations, you are actually the person who should be called out for learning japanese and this thread doesn’t apply to you :-)

p.p.p.p.s. if you want to get a kanji/hanzi tattoo, please uh make sure you’re not getting 糞 or some stupid shit
get someone who knows japanese/chinese to vouch for it first lol.

p.p.p.p.p.p.s. this also goes without saying but i’m not talking about people using japanese as “aesthetics”
i’m talking about people with a genuine interest in learning the language and culture
if you think adding japanese text is aesthetic, you’re a shit orientalist

p.p.p.p.p.p.p.s. because someone had to mention it, no, this thread does not apply to people learning indigenous languages and the such for the sake of it
those include ethical issues that are still debated in anthropological circles

i am not discussing ethics about linguistics and anthropology, that’s a very different issue and it’s bizarre i have to even mention it, i didn’t write this thread to fully generalize on everything and simplify things. what the fuck.