Japanese is considered one of the most difficult languages in the world to learn, but not if you’re dyslexic.
I had been studying Japanese for eight years when I was diagnosed with dyslexia at the age of 25. This was during my master’s degree in translation. A dyslexic translator, who would have thought! My case, however, is not as rare as you might think.
There are many myths surrounding dyslexia in Japan and the West: dyslexic people don’t read and can’t write, only children can be dyslexic, smart people can’t be dyslexic, etc. None of this is true, of course, and many successful people have been diagnosed with the condition including Tom Cruise, Steven Spielberg and author Max Brooks.
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