I received a Formspring question a few months ago asking the following: "How hard was it to learn a new song and dance in Japanese for you?" I tried to answer this on Formspring, but I have a lot to write about, so I think it's better that I make a blog post about it.
The simple answer is that it's pretty difficult. Japanese is not my mother tongue, but I really like the language. When I listen to a new song that I want to learn, I often don't pay enough attention to the words themselves. If I did, I would understand the context a lot better from the start. ^_^" It's something I need to work on and pay attention to, but it often slips my mind because I'm so into the music of the song. In terms of which is more difficult to memorize between the lyrics and the dance moves, it would have to be the lyrics hands down. It's usually what slows me down and takes the most time for me to learn.
When it comes to learning a new dance, it's always difficult to follow at first. You have to first start in the right position and then remember which arm or leg moves first, etc. However, when the dance is broken down step-by-step, it becomes a lot easier to follow (watching videos at half speed help a lot). The tricky thing about learning dances is that it is not as simple as it looks. Often times, I replicate the moves as I see them, but they don't look the same as what the original dancers are doing. A good example of this is in my cover of Majide Suka Ska! where in the beginning part, I have to first put both hands on my hips and then both hands behind my back. But when I watch my cover, both parts look exactly the same. This was because I didn't practice in front of a mirror.
