Japanese is an East Asian language spoken by about 128 million people, primarily in Japan, where it is the national language. It is a member of the Japonic language family, and its relation to other languages, such as Korean, is debated. Japonic languages have been grouped with other language families such as Ainu, Austroasiatic, and the now-discredited Altaic, but none of these proposals has gained widespread acceptance.
Regardless of what language you’re studying, age is nothing but a number. If you think otherwise, feel free to talk to the members of the Polyglot Conference, which was held in Fukuoka, Japan this year. The members range in ages, speak multiple languages, and constantly learn new languages. They’re the reason why I aspire to master several languages. I’m 27 (2.5 years away from 30), and Japanese is my second language.
I studied Japanese for the past year and Korean for the past two weeks.
When will you reach fluency? If you are a native English speaker, the U.S. Foreign Service Institute estimates that it will take 2200 class hours or 88 weeks to reach “Professional Working Proficiency” in Japanese.


