Inge thank you oh la la I am blushing .; well I always had this THING for japan . it was a real passion for me so when i began to learn the language it was like a revelation ... it was MY WAY .. It was like I was born to do that .... japanese language is not very easy (the structure is complicated but the pronounciation is easy) I have heard very often that the language structure in japanese was very similar to finnish .. I am not sure it is any true ...
I speak japanese for 25 years now and for me there are words that are always japanese in my mind I speak japanese naturally (which is not true in english for me ) after many year of non practice I am having more difficulties to read or write it now (I need time compare to 20 years ago) but about hearing listening or talking i can stay in japan for the rest of my life and never feel any frustration