I have always
been good with language. Well, I have always
been good with my own language. Words come easily. My thoughts are in words (as
compared to pictures or mathematical formulas). I approach the world through
words, understand it's beauty through words, and express myself with words.
But because of
this, learning a new language has been very difficult. I tried learning Spanish
in high school and college. I studied for six years, but never really mastered
more than basic conversation. Mostly because I was not interested in fluency.
There was no real point. It was not necessary for my survival. Just convenient
since I was living in the southwest.
Japanese is
a different story. I really need to be able to speak and read. It is necessary for
my survival. But my head is struggling to rewire itself from English to
Japanese. Naïvely I assumed I would learn
language quickly by immersing myself. This is partially true. I have learned several
useful phrases. I am able to conquer the small activities required by daily life,
like buying groceries or asking which train I should take to get to X. but my
lack of knowledge of sentence structure, verb conjugation, basic vocabulary,
and kanji makes most simple activities difficult and frightening for me.
Thankfully I
have an amazing support system here in Japan, including several people who
speak almost fluent English. I have also found several apps and programs to
help with the mechanics. And some good friends to practice on. I am working on
it, but it is a long road. Emersion
might be easier in a more similar language, but what I have realized is
language learning takes dedication, hard work, and patience. Also a decent amount of courage.
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