Category: Japan – Language

Yesterday I had my first lesson in the 3-month Japanese course I’m taking, and all in all I came away with positive impressions about the school and class, and very excited about my prospects for progressing further in my never-ending (it seems) study of this language.

I chose this particular school in part because it seemed that with class levels higher than rank beginners, enrollment was quite low (when I visited the school a month ago, the class I sat in on briefly had just one student, in what amounted to a private one-on-one tutorial setup at a group class rate!). And so I was heartened to find that there are only two other students in my particular class. Today, only one of the other two students showed up and so it was just me and a Canadian woman (who ironically works for the same English conversation school company that I do, although at a different branch). So you can imagine that there is ample time to speak in Japanese, or as those of us in ESL say, ample amounts of student-talking-time (STT) and a correspondingly smaller amount of teacher-talking-time (TTT).

One of the results of my mish-mash of Japanese classes over the years is that I’ve learned grammatical structures all over the place, depending on the school and the text used. This class I’m now taking is convering the second half of Japanese for Busy People II, which is where I was told I was at when I took a level check last month. However, I’ve only studied some of the structures covered in the first half of the book so I was a bit hesitant as to whether the level was too high for me. But based on this first class, which was mainly a review of certain key structures from the first half of the book, I think I’ll be alright, as long as I continue to apply myself and study consistently. I was also heartened to confirm for myself that when push comes to shove, when I have to speak in Japanese and in the company of patient people, I say a lot more than I sometimes think I can say.

At the moment, I’m actually a bit more worried about the impact of these classes on my life and my health. I don’t really have enough time to go home after class and before work starts, and so I’m forced to stay out all day, which means leaving at 8 in the morning and returning home after 10. It’d be one thing (though still not pleasant) to be at one place all that time, but having to commute an hour into Tokyo in the morning, find a place to kill time in the afternoon, and then commute an hour and a half to my work place…well, let’s just say that I was exhausted by the time I got to work.

This to say nothing of the packed-like-sardines train in the morning, having one’s body pushed and pulled and squeezed for 40 minutes on the most crowded commuter train in the Tokyo metropolitan area (and that’s saying a lot!) is no picnic, and doing that three times a week is not something I look forward to. Of course, my little whining is about nothing compared to those who do all of the above every day of the week, for year in and year out.

I begin Japanese class tomorrow, paying (handsomely) for the privilege or torture of gaining some modicum of proficiency in what I think is the most challenging part of integrating into a new culture, speaking its language. So it’s time to buckle up and knuckle down and get down to brass tacks about Japanese. (Hmmn, I wonder ruefully whether I’ll ever be able to toss out Japanese idioms willy-nilly like I do with English one’s).

So should anyone care, posting here and on my photo diary might be a bit light for a while, we’ll have to see how it goes, but as the course is costing a pretty penny, I’m going to do my best to concentrate on studying.

I went back and forth about whether or not to take a class. Oh, I have been until recently taking a 50-yen per session class once a week at the local community center, but I was being taught by Tokumaru-sensei, who bless his heart is a retired high school English teacher and let’s just say that while his blessed heart is in the right place, his teaching style is decidedly old (Japanese) school, which meant that each 2-hour session I would be inundated with grammar concepts with very little reinforcement drilling and absolutely no practice applying any of them. By the time I had reached home on my bicycle after class, I had already forgotten all of them.

I’ve been told often that I don’t need to take a class, that I have the perfect environment with which to learn the language: a Japanese-speaking home. Three native Japanese speakers, and it’s free to boot (well, sort of). But the problem with that theory is that Naoko and I speak English to each other, predominantly (actually we speak sort of an 80% English – 20% Japanese creole). In large part this is due to her having to act as a go-between between the in-laws and myself. I’ve gotten into the bad habit of calling Naoko whenever I need an explanation or clarification. And I lack the confidence to forge ahead through this difficult time when I don’t understand 75-80% of what’s being said to me or have the ability to reciprocate and express 75-80% of what I want to say.

I also want a good grammar foundation (just not all of it all of the time), especially when taught in a communicative approach, which is what this school touts. It suits my anal personality, and gives me confidence. My hope is that unlike my previous Japanese classes back home, I’ll have the opportunity for lots and lots of practice outside of class, and going three times a week will force me to study more consistently.

Whether or not I’ve made the right choice we’ll have to wait and see. It’s an high-cost gambit to be sure, language schools here are incredibly expensive compared to the States, and while I did find one whose per hour price is the among the cheapest, it still adds up to a lot (I’ll be taking this particular course for almost 3 months). Gambarimashou!