EXPLAINED: Things not to do japan | Rare Historical Photos

Previously, a Lithuania-based Japanese language expert Kotryna Kvietkauskaitė told Bored Panda in an interview that the Japanese are very welcoming of foreigners who put in the effort to speak their language and absorb their culture.

“In Japan, when a foreigner speaks Japanese, they can often get praise for their language skills, even if they simply introduced themselves which is one of the first things that students learn to do,” she said that you’ll often get points for trying, even if what you’re saying isn’t at native-level standards yet.

Kotryna also said that learning any language, including Japanese, is a personal experience. Everyone moves at their own pace and we shouldn’t be in a rush to compare ourselves to others in our own journeys. “One person might take 5 years until they learn to read Japanese fiction without any problems while another person might take 10 years. In other words, there isn’t a clearly-defined point that can be reached after which a person can confidently state that they know Japanese as well as the average native,” she said.