Learning the language (2004-03-02)
Culture shock coupled with language barrier, and
you're looking at a very tough time here the first few months. The
process of adjusting and adapting is made a whole lot easier for me
because of my understanding of Chinese characters which make up a big
part of the Japanese language, which they call them kanji.
When I first arrived in Tokyo, I didn't know the pronunciation of
Japanese words, that's not to say I do now, but I've picked up quite a
bit so far. Since the meanings of kanji closely resemble those of the
Chinese characters, I had no problem reading street signs and station
names etc. I could even read newspaper if there were a lot of kanji in
it. I rarely got lost in train stations, except once in Shinjuku (
)
Station. If you come to Tokyo to visit and go to Shinjuku Station to
catch a train or to switch lines (which is worse) and NOT get lost
there, you are not from this world.
I'm not fluent speaking Japanese and that's not being modest. I
believe you have to speak the language in order to acquire fluency, I
just don't get much chance doing it. I speak Mandarin with my
girlfriend whenever we see each other. She speaks Japanese like a
native and I've tried to practise it with her, but somehow we'd always
go back to speaking Mandarin two lines into our conversation. I never
expected to become good at Mandarin living in Tokyo, that's kinda
funny. My husband practises speaking Japanese at work, he's much better
at it than I.
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