Moku moku youbi! (Thursday)

Today was not a bad day at all...I mean really not bad! I just got back from a 2 day mid-week holiday and had work today...but only 2 classes! Nice surprise! I had only 1st graders (for middle school, so equivalent to 7th grade in America). I was originally supposed to have 3 classes today because I was going to have one 2nd grade class in the afternoon, but that got switched to math because the math teacher had just come back after he had been gone since his brother passed away last week.

So I had a lot of free time which was nice! I planned out some lessons for next week so I feel pretty good and prepared. I'm usually the type to procrastinate, so I felt overjoyed when I actually had printouts and other things ready for next week!

So since I had free time, I decided that I would use that time to study Japanese....

I enrolled in CLAIR's free Japanese language class offered for JETs. There are 3 levels, beginner, intermediate, and advanced. I signed up for the intermediate and got the coursebooks a couple weeks ago. So I cracked them open today to see what they're all about. It's actually not too bad. I think I'm in just the right level, because the beginner would have been way too easy. And the advanced probably way too hard! Haha, go figure. I also like that the kanji in the intermediate book has the furigana written so that I can follow along with what's going on. The great thing is, I know enough vocabulary and Japanese to understand it all even though I can't necessarily write it all or read it if I had only the kanji.

But I was going through the book and doing pretty well. I don't think that it will be too bad! But then I got to the kanji handbook where it gives 10 kanji per lesson. There's an area to write the kanji and practice it. Well, that was fine. I was getting the hang of writing it and actually could write it legibly!!! Wooo!

But then I got to the 10th kanji...and could NOT remember how to write the 2nd, 3rd, 4th, 5th...you get the picture....kanji! It's so frustrating! At the moment that I'm studying one kanji, I know it and I feel confident. But then when I go back 5-10 minutes later, I realize that I have instantly forgotten the readings for that and how to write it! I could maybe recognize it, but even that is difficult!!


Ahhhhhhhh!!! Looks like I have a long road ahead of me....to learning the 1000+ kanji that I would need to know to get around very comfortably in everyday life in Japan. I want to learn the kanji not only for myself, but because I don't know how long I will live in Japan. But if I do stick around in Japan, I'll want to be a "literate" Japanese person. For now, I'm Japanese on the outside but still American on the inside. I feel that to be able to live in Japan and be able to get around anywhere smoothly and without weird stares or people judging me is if I can learn the kanji and be able to speak more fluently.

I figure that I have a couple options ahead of me in life after JET.

1. I could work in Japan at a Japanese company.
2. Go back to America and work at a company again.
3. Go to graduate school in America or Japan (Then I'd have to figure out what I want to do after that)
4. Bum around....

Haha, I know that my parents wouldn't be happy with option number 4 and I wouldn't be happy with myself either if I did that!

But really, all the options are inclusive of me having to learn kanji at some point. So I think it will be beneficial, plus it's a good skill to have...be bilingual!

I'm pretty good at Japanese sometimes...but there are many words/vocabulary and phrases that just go right over my head and in one ear and out the other! I just have noooo idea what's going on sometimes. And there's other times where I can hold a conversation for hours on end in Japanese. I think it also depends on who I talk to. There are some people who just know how to talk to another person simply and with easier Japanese. Some people are so used to using difficult/advanced vocabulary and original Japanese forms that it makes it harder for me and probably other foreigners who have just learned the language to understand. It's the most frustrating to talk to these people because even though they're usually very nice, it's just hard to understand what they are saying and I really can't follow the conversation. I usually end up nodding and smiling and make an excuse to go talk with someone else or to have to go do something.

But I guess living and being integrated with all these different people is the most effective way to learn Japanese!

Well, I rambled on for awhile to get to the point that I started learning Japanese and kanji today at school!

Wish me luck!