I Think I'm Learning Japanese (I Really Think So!)

The kanji for "flower" painted by one of my favorite students

When I was a child, my favorite people were the characters in my Roald Dahl books. When my friends were climbing trees and doing cartwheels in the grass, I had my nose stuck in a copy of Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone. I’ve always been the kind of person who has to stop into the bookstore, just for a second, to look at all the pretty paperbacks and daydream about the stories housed within. I’m the girl with the thick novel in her purse just in case there’s a free moment on the train or at the restaurant. I love to read. 

Then I moved to Japan, and suddenly I became illiterate.

There’s something very upsetting about living in a culture and not being able to read. The simplest of tasks suddenly become monumental challenges. I remember going to the grocery store on my second week here and staring at an aisle of seasonings and vinegars, trying to decipher which bottles could possibly contain soy sauce. Or going to the Miyazaki City train station and trying to figure out the cost of a train back to Kadogawa, when the timetable was written in kanji. It’s difficult to feel like an independent, autonomous person when you have to ask the lady at the 7-11 what kind of meat is inside the rice ball you’re holding.

I studied Japanese for about a month before coming to Japan. It was difficult. Without the classroom setting that I had become accustomed to in university, I wasn’t able to retain much. I listened to my Living Language CD in the car, learned basic greetings and vocabulary (like body parts, numbers and family members) and began to learn the hiragana syllabary. It wasn’t much, but I was proud of myself for trying. I assumed many Japanese people would speak some English anyway, since it’s a mandatory subject in Japan.

The reality of the situation was a bit different. Arriving in Tokyo and realizing that I didn’t even know how to order a bowl of noodles made me feel completely underprepared. I relied heavily on other JET participants’ knowledge of the language and culture to get around and figure things out, all while studying like a total maniac whenever I had the opportunity. If I couldn’t be a Japanese language expert on arrival, at least I would be the best student I could be.

For the first month of living here, I learned as much as possible. My world was a flurry of flashcards and “what is this in Japanese” questions to anyone and everyone I came across. I signed up to meet with a tutor twice a month with one of my ALT friends. Everything became a learning opportunity.

But the thing that made moving to Kadogawa unique in comparison to other language learning situations I had been in was the fact that I wanted to learn Japanese really, really badly. I wanted to be able to communicate with small children and people I met in town. I wanted to know what the super nice lady at the convenience store was asking me. I wanted to tell jokes!

The experience of being immersed in a community where I had to use the language on a daily basis gave me an intrinsic motivation to learn and become a better student. It was really fun to learn new vocabulary, because everything I learned I was able to use almost immediately. Learning a new language gave me tools to make friends, be autonomous, and express myself in a culture completely different from my home. 

Today marks my two month-iversary of being in Japan, and things are really different than when I first arrived here. Of course, I’m not fluent in Japanese, and I still have difficulty with many parts of the language. My grammar is a mess, I often forget words, and some days, my brain just kind of shuts off and I don’t really understand Japanese or even English all that well. 

But in spite of my shortcomings, I have basic conversations and chat with my coworkers and students in Japanese on a daily basis. When I go on a trip to a different part of Miyazaki and people ask me where I’m from, I understand them. It’s a huge accomplishment! Being bilingual has always been a dream of mine, and I am so proud that it almost kind of sort of maybe feels like it might come true (if I keep studying).

The coolest part of all is that I can even kind of sort of read Japanese now. I’m studying kanji everyday and I’ve mastered hiragana and katakana. I may still be illiterate now, but not for long. 

Soon I’ll have my nose back in those Harry Potter books. I’ll just be reading them in Japanese!