I learn Japanese out of two reasons.
First, it's related to my major. I'm in the MA program of Columbia University's Department of East Asian Languages and Cultures and major in pre-modern Chinese history. There have been close associations between China and Japan in the past and Japanese scholarship on China is important and famous all over the world. Scholars like ないとう こなん (内藤 湖南), みやざき いちさだ (宮崎 市定), and しば よしのぶ (斯波 義信) are well-known sinologists. Mastering an East Asian language is the requirement of my department, and a second one is preferred.
Second, I'm interested in learning languages, which may result from my having been a sports fan and geography zealot for 15 years. The names of Japanese people and places in Chinese and Japanese seem very mysterious to me. For example, おの しんじ is 小野 伸二, and かがわ しんじ is 香川 真司, and おかざき しんじ is 岡崎 慎司. おの is 小野, and おおさか is 大阪, and おおた is 太田. The proper names in Japanese can't be transliterated in Chinese, which adds to is mysteriousness. I come from Shanghai. I heard that Japanese is somewhat similar to Shanghainese in pronounciation, and I find that this is true in some cases. When I saw the word "まいとし" for the first time, I couldn't help laughing because it sounds exactly the same as "买腌笃鲜" in Shanghainese. This should be able to help to memorize words.
Are there better motivations to learn a language than these?
I really liked your comment about pronunciation! Spanish is my first language and although we don't have many words in common with Japanese, there are a few words in Japanese that are said exactly the same but have very different meanings in Spanish. For example, in mokuyobi, the "moku" part sounds a lot like how you say booger in Spanish! And you're totally right, it does make it easier to remember certain words if they remind you of words in your native language.
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