My ability to communicate in Japanese has always been a struggle. It’s a tough language to master.
My life has been devoted to learning it despite the many difficulties I’ve encountered. No matter how many times I’ve tried, I couldn’t decipher a Japanese sentence, no matter how much effort I put into studying it. I’ve cursed, too. Quite a bit. The road to fluency is long and arduous. But I can’t imagine a life without Japanese, and I don’t think I’ll ever want to.
When I was twelve, I took my first Japanese class. My interest in Spanish began as a passing fancy, sparked by my love of anime and manga and a dismissive attitude toward the language itself.
I, on the other hand, developed a much more personal connection to Japanese culture over time. However, despite my growing interest in Japanese culture, my professional aspirations remained hazy. What exactly did I want to do with my life? And to top it all off, I was still a rather reserved speaker. Let’s just say that kanji and I have a tumultuous relationship.
Having studied Japanese for five years in junior high and high school, I decided to double major in English and East Asian studies when I started college. My Japanese grades were excellent, but I couldn’t shake the sense that I was faking it.
The truth is, I wasn’t really good at Japanese; I was simply good at doing my homework. It was something I’d been thinking about for a long time.
Then something happened.
During my junior year of college, I spent a semester studying abroad in Osaka, Japan, where I was able to practice my Japanese language skills with the help of a wonderful host family. As a result, I developed a love for Japanese literature. Everything made sense all of a sudden.
For the second time, I returned to Japan as an English teacher on the JET Program a year after receiving my bachelor’s degree. Despite the fact that I was in a town where almost no one spoke English, I began to see a future for myself as a professional translator while alone in an old tatami room. During my two years in Kyushu, I immersed myself in the language and culture of the people and places that I encountered. Because of the abundance of unfamiliar Kanji, my occasional attempts at reading a Japanese novel ended up being fruitless. I persisted, however. I failed the JLPT N2 twice, by two and one points, before passing it the third time around, six months later. About a week ago, I took the plunge and tried N1.
Here’s the deal: I’m not a genius in Japanese, and I’m not particularly talented. There will always be one kanji that I can’t remember, and one word that I can’t pronounce (hint: it begins with ). I am, however, driven, imaginative, and aspirational. In my spare time, I enjoy reading, writing, and learning new languages. The path I want to take, the career I want to pursue, and the language I want to learn is Japanese.