Tweet of the Week

Games, animated series, cosplayers, merchandise, and good (and bad) movie remakes, nothing seems to be able to stop Pokémania — not even the fact that the franchise has been around for more than two decades. Launched in 1995, Pokémon can be credited with raising a generation of anime fans and putting Japan on a whole lot of people’s travel bucket list.

Fast-forward to 2019 and yesterday’s Pokémon card-trading children are all grown up. But here’s the real catch ’em all, after 20 years of being on air and more than 1000 episodes, our eponymous hero of the animated series, Ash Ketchum, has yet to achieve his childhood ambition.

It’s about the journey, not the destination

That’s right. In case you didn’t know, Ash is still training to become a Pokémon Master at the ripe age of 30 years old.

It’s a reminder that in this world — and its animated Poké-equivalent — time is relative. Sometimes, the journey matters more than the destination, right?

At least that’s what Twitter user @AccSempai is telling themselves.

僕はドクターとるのに6年かかってるけど、20年かけてマスターとれてないサトシくんが元気にやってる姿を見ると少し気持ちが楽になるね。 pic.twitter.com/R0Z77iF9GY

— カソクキセンパイ@契約社員 (@AccSempai) January 29, 2019

僕（ ぼく）はドクターとるのに6年（ ねん）かかってるけど、20年かけてマスターとれてないサトシくんが元気（ げんき）にやってる姿（ すがた）を見（ み）ると少（ すこ）し気持（ きも）ちが楽（ らく）になるね。

Getting a Ph.D. is taking me six years, but watching Satoshi [Ash] being all smiles even after 20 years of trying to master the game is making me feel slightly better about myself.

How to say what you want to become in the future in Japanese

In Japanese, the verb “to become” as in “to become a doctor,” is translated with the expression combining the particle に and the verb なる.

To use になる with nouns simply put it afterward:

• 医者（ いしゃ）になる = to become a doctor
• 政治家（ せいじか）になる = to become a politician

You can also use になる with adjectives:

• 高（ たか）くになる= to become expensive
• 綺麗（ きれい）になる = to become beautiful

When you want to express your desire to become a doctor or a politician (why not both!), you’ll need to add the ~たい form to the stem of the verb, a conjugation that indicates that you want to do something.

• 医者になりたい = I want to become a doctor
• 政治家になりたい = I want to become a politician

Vocabulary

For more on learning Japanese

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