At the Barbers
>> Monday, 5 October 2009
This afternoon I was feeling rather ashamed of myself. I was getting a haircut at the barbers, the guy cutting my hair was really nice and always does a good job. He's the one that takes the time to explain to other barbers how I get my hair cut.
Yet I couldn't tell him about the birth of my second son....
I've been living in Japan for over Three years and still I have barely taken the time to improve my language ability. I thought about this on my way home and I'd like to share my thoughts.
1. My job requires me to think exclusively in English. I need to be listening to what my students say for the purposes of responding correctly to them, interpreting what they really mean and looking for areas where they need to improve. It's much more difficult than simply having a chat in a pub with a friend.
2. My home is an English environment. I only speak to my eldest son in English, even if he talks to me in Japanese. Often I will ask him to repeat himself in English. My wife speaks English very well and there is little need to speak Japanese at home. I speak at my 2nd son, but a 3 week old baby understands nothing.
3. As a prisoner to my job, working Saturday to Wednesday and to my family allows me no time at all to get out and find friends around me. How easy will it be to find people interested in blogging, online games and children in Saitama? I live an isolated life that doesn't encourage me to speak Japanese.
I've had spurts of energy to study Japanese before, I've been gung-ho in the past. But now I simply feel guilty. In my weekly life there simply is no need for me to speak Japanese and I have no strong desire to learn to do so. Sigh.
What do you think?
8 comments:
Learning a language is tough. I don't blame you.
Thanks, it sure is.
Yes, learning a language is tough, but it's also a terrible waste to be living in Japan and to not make the most of the wonderful environment for learning you are in.
I took Japanese in high school for 4 years, but it wasn't until I went to Japan that I realised how woeful my language skills were.
When I lived in Japan I worked my butt off studying (after I came home from work) and talked to everyone I could (I avoided other gaijin like the plague).
After about a year I could have a reasonable conversation. After two years I passed JLPT 1 and entered university in Tokyo.
I taught English and worked as a freelance translator for the entire ten years I lived there and now that I've come back to Australia, I'm doing everything I can to keep my Japanese functional.
I always used to tell my students that a language is a tool for doing something. Simply studying a language as a subject will not help your fluency because you need the motivation of 'doing' something with the language.
Perhaps you could find something that you want to learn to do and use Japanese as the medium.
I know the feeling about it being difficult to find time to study Japanese, and the necessity to keep your english-speaking mind sharp.
I taught english at Elem and Jr High for 3 years when I first got to Japan, and while I was able to study alot in my freetime, my social transactions were always kept to English, so that my students could continue to learn. I had a lot of book-learning, but very little practical knowledge.
When I changed over to a Japanese company, I found that while my practical knowledge jumped by leaps and bounds, my study time dropped like a rock because of crazy salary-man hours. :/
I'm not quite sure which was worse: the learning without using, or the using without learning...
In order to combat that, I actually started a Japanese study site under the mistaken impression that getting content for other people to study would somehow force me to study as well... It ended up that I just spend all my time working on the site, and have even less time to study now.
BUT! You should not give up hope! 頑張れ！ The JLPT is just around the corner!
You need to speak both languages to your kids. Once they work out your Japanese is woeful, they will not want to be seen with you in public. They will shun your presence because the peer pressure on them will be enormous. You not being at remotely the same lanaguage level as their friends' fathers will give them sooooo much pressure. Think about it before it is too late. Just 2 cents from my personal experience.
Well, I know I need to pull my finger out.
This only gives me more motivation to do something!
Its hard to learn a language. But maybe you can try Pimsleur language course, its exclusively spoken language (i think) but probably the best course on the market, as it uses the 'immersion' and 'repetition' methods. Somewhat expensive, but you could certainly find it on the internet for free XD
Also, you can listen to it on an mp3 player on the way to work or whatever, 30 minutes a day.
I've already completed the first set, but I still can't communicate.
And I have no energy for levels two or three...
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