Prior to this trip, I had very little awareness of Japan's culture. I also did not know any Japanese. But after the first day, I knew I wanted to come back for a longer period of time - this would mean that I would probably have to learn the language. If I were to go back for whatever reason - career or travel - I would love to speak with my Japanese friends in their native tongue. There is something special about communicating through each other's native languages, and I hope to become advanced enough to express my thoughts comfortably.
The Japanese language course will also help me fulfill my East Asian Studies major requirements. I am simultaneously taking 3rd year Korean, which will complete my language requirement, but I wanted to learn another language as my elective because of its practical use outside of school. It's also a lot more fun than a seminar.
It's been a great four weeks so far, and I am looking forward to the rest of the semester and beyond!
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| Tokyo |
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| Iwaki Train Station |
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| Soba |
Yoo-Nahさん、こんにちわ
ReplyDeleteIt seems like you had a meaningful and fun trip. How did you get around not being able to speak Japanese in those two weeks? How did it feel like?
Also, how is it like taking Japanese at the same time you are taking Korean? Do you ever get confused or is it pretty okay to handle? I'm also planning to take Korean as well for an elective so I'm just wondering how it would be like.
Joseさん！こんいちは！
DeleteWe had two members in our team who are native Japanese speakers - they were born and raised in Japan, but now live in the U.S. We also teamed up with groups in Japan who had bilingual speakers! We were lucky to have so many great translators with us, but I did wish that I could talk to people by myself. I would love to go back with a conversational understanding of japanese and improve from there.
Taking japanese and korean at the same time can be a little confusing at times, but I haven't come across too many difficulties yet. It might be because I am at different levels for the two languages. I love seeing the overlaps, especially when we go over chinese characters. It's so interesting to see how different and similar the two are at the same time.
I highly encourage you to take korean! The only difficulty will probably be the workload since both classes meet 4 times a week (unless you take the 2 credit ones). But other than that, it's a lot of fun!
are you studying japanese right now?
I see. Fascinating. Wow, you got lucky there in having a lot of translators haha. I would be a nice thought to do.
DeleteI see, interesting. The Chinese characters you say? Hmmm.
Okay, will do! Workload eh? I can do it.
Yes, I am currently in he first year taking it.
いいですね！I'm very excited for you :)
Deleteゆなさん！日本語のきょうしつはどうですか。たのしいですか。
ReplyDeleteこんいちはDooriさん！にほんごのきょうしつはとてもたのしいです。まいにちのほんごおべんきょうしますがにほんごがとてもすきです。Dooriさんのきょうしつもたのしいですか。
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