A Canadian Living in Japan
Krista Wakelin
Learning a new language is a challenge. In order to master a language,
a person must have lots of time and determination and a whole bag full of
patience. My native language is English, and thankfully so. Have you
ever stopped to look at how difficult English really is? Two, too, to;
in, inn; accept except--these words are all similar and sound alike to
a non-native speaker; yet, they have to understand the context of the
word to understand the meaning--I tell you it's tough. Teaching English
has certainly opened my eyes to not only how difficult English is but how
many different accents there are. Have you ever spoken face to face
with an Australian? The first time I was overwhelmed...SaturDAI...what
the hell?? Oh Saturday! Ever speak to a Japanese person speaking
English as their second language? Sankyu---Oh, thank you.
It's definitely a challenge.
When I was in Grade 7, I went into the French Immersion program, and, although I liked my classmates and
the new school, I wasn't too thrilled about the French classes. I loved
learning new vocabulary but grammar was never my strong point. And now
as I'm attempting once again to study Japanese, the grammar issue is back. My listening
skills are great -- thanks mostly to my older Japanese students in their
60s who often start out telling a story in English but turn it into community gossip in Japanese. So through these sessions of "what does
that mean?" or "please explain in English," my ears have been trained to
pick up on the vocabulary that I have so loved to study over the past
few years.
My vocabulary is very good. I can watch a TV
programme and news, and have a basic understanding of it solely by picking
out the vocabulary I know. Of course, there are a few times when I have
no idea what they are saying and ask my fiancé who is fluent in Japanese
to help me out, but more often than not I can get the gist of the
story.
I have taken Japanese lessons three times before. The first being a 101 class at university where I learned one of the three alphabets (as well as basic greetings) from an exchange teacher from Osaka. Kanji is the alphabet made up of thousands of Chinese characters. The other two alphabets are hiragana and katakana. English words are spelled using katana, and grammar particles are always in hiragana. I'm sure there are other differences and uses for them but I don't know them. People learning Japanese always learn hiragana first, then katakana, and finally kanji which has thousands of characters as I have already mentioned. In one sentence all three alphabets are used.
It was two years after my 101 class that I came to Japan with a cocky attitude and thought that my
Japanese would just come back. Unfortunately it didn't, and I was
continuously confusing ohayogozaimasu (good morning) with
onagaishimasu (please be kind to me), and sashiburi (long time no see) with
subarashi (wonderful!). As a new face in Japan, I quickly understood what the
presenters at my Tokyo orientation were talking about when they said learn as
much Japanese as fast as you can to make your life easier. I was
placed in a small prefecture of 450,000, most of whom speak minimal English.
So, in order to improve my life, I studied Japanese for the second
time on Thursday nights from September 2002--January. 2003.
January in Japan is very cold, and, with no central heating, the outdoor
temperature of 6 degrees also happened to be 6 degrees in my one room apartment.
I was cold, missing home and found my young Japanese teacher too
bossy, and so I quit. I realized that I didn't like Japan as much as I had hoped
and decided to return to Canada after my contract was finished in July. I
had learned basic greetings and daily sentences that were useful like
"Where is the toilet?" and "How much does it cost?"
After returning to Canada for a few months and missing Japan like crazy, I returned to the same city to work for another company. This company allowed me to have free time during the day and I worked mornings and evenings which gave me more time to actually explore the city (plus I had a car which made all the difference in the world). I reunited with some old friends from the previous year and made lots of new friends, one of whom was Japanese and could speak English just as well as Japanese. She agreed to teach me Japanese, so I attempted to study Japanese for the third time. Since we were both very social people, most of the time our lessons started out as a language lesson but they usually ended up as a girls chat lesson, and although I had a text book, I didn't devote nearly enough time and energy to make a difference.
So here I am, my fourth time studying Japanese having been in the
country for over five years. I am determined to nail grammar on the head
this time. I am in a beginner's Japanese class--as far as listening and
writing go, I am very advanced in the class, but when the teacher started
teaching about prepositions, I retracted to the helpless little girl in Grade
7 who couldn't understand the teacher. After each lesson, I go to
Starbucks and rewrite my notes and write a Japanese diary--this helps me
with my writing skills. I now know the two complete alphabets of
hiragana and katakana and about 500 kanji characters. The journal also helps me
integrate grammar into my writing, and so hopefully with this repetitive study and
homework, the grammar will finally be imprinted into my brain.
I am starting to gain confidence and can speak in sentences, although
I am still weary of having a full on conversation with a
stranger....sober. When I drink alcohol I seem to become fluent; I think I just relax
and don't care if I make mistakes, but when I'm sober I get too nervous
to develop my potential. As an English teacher, I am constantly
telling my students to practice practice practice: alone, in your car, in the
tub say things out loud... so the muscles in your mouth get used to the
action and your ears get used to hearing you speak another language--if
only I could follow my own advice!
My Japanese course finishes mid-December and while no other course is offered, there are Japanese volunteers there to aid us in our conversation skills. I would love to improve my speaking skills, but I just need to find the right person with a lot of patience who doesn't intimidate me and who I am comfortable with. It's tough, I know--I already have three strikes but this time is number 4, and I think I may just connect with the grammar this time.
Another thing I have going for me is that this is the first time since
I have come to Japan that my Japanese teacher is actually a teacher. I
have told people over and over who want to do "language exchange"
lessons that just because you can speak the language doesn't mean you can
teach it. I'm sure some people who aren't trained teachers have the
knack for it, but most don't. Many people I come across in Japan want to
teach me Japanese in return for me teaching them English. I tried this a
few times but it always ends up as an English class and the Japanese
is pushed to the back. Basically I was giving free English lessons.
Another thing I stay away from is teaching friends. Sometimes a student becomes your friend but it is my policy not to let a friend become my student. It is better for everyone involved. When you start to teach English to your friend, the whole relationship changes. You no longer are a friend, but you are the teacher. In Japan, the teacher is respected and the hiararchy of your friendship changes to teacher-student, rather than a friendship on equal ground. Friends are friends; students are students.
As I count down the number of classes I have left, I hope that the lessons will stay with me and I will become confident enough to speak Japanese in full sentences. As we say in Japanese 'gambaremasu!' (do your best!)
Photo Credits: All photographs associated with this article courtesy of Krista Wakelin (permissions granted).
_______________________________________________________
