30. My Japanese Language Learning Journey

We have reached our 30th entry on FFL (the abbreviation everyone now seems to be using to refer to this site) and, as promised, I have asked another “language fool” to be my guest blogger. This time around it’s Loris, a good friend from Rome, who describes his adventures on the road to learning Japanese. 

 My Japanese Language Learning Journey

by Loris

Learning a foreign language has always been one of my major interests. The story dates back to my early childhood. I think it all started when I was a tiny Anglo-Saxon-looking kid. Blue eyes, ice-blonde hair – not so common for an Italian. I can’t remember this for obvious reasons, but my mother often tells me of an episode when I was still in a baby carriage and some American tourists approached me cooing in English. I think it all started there.

If asked why I became so interested in learning different ways to communicate, I would probably answer because of my need to know. Well, rather than “knowing” itself, I should say “understanding”, which implies the capability of gathering pieces of information from the outside, elaborating them inside your mind, letting them pop in your heart and, finally, turning them into malleable bricks in the brain. “Malleable”? Yes, because there is nothing worse than sticking forever to the same principles. At least that is how I feel.

And now comes the choice of which language to learn. I was not particularly lucky during my school years: no foreign language was offered in elementary school, while English was the only available tongue other than Italian in junior high school and, once again, throughout senior high school. Far from complaining – I actually really like English – I have always been interested in what is different or, better yet, exotic. For example, when I was 14 I woke up one day and thought it would be nice to learn some Icelandic. Unfortunately, my studies did not progress very far, but it was definitely fun!

At that time, I dabbled in many different languages, all for short periods. I was growing up, just entering “teenager-hood” and felt like I was in search of my soul. “Which rhythm suits me? What language should I speak to feel satisfied?” I was looking for the “good vibe”, that shiver down my spine. I liked my native language and always will, but I felt that it was not enough. 

In this experimental period, going from Icelandic to French, from Finnish to German, passing through Norwegian, Spanish and Arabic, I finally met Japanese. This was not totally by accident since I actually had quite an interest in Japan having started reading mangas, or Japanese comics, from the age of 9. That was the first time I told my mother: “Mom, I wanna go to Japan!” Twelve years later my dream would come true.

My first formal introduction to the Japanese language was thanks to a course I found on the Internet. I got to learn some really basic grammar and kanji, or Chinese characters, together with the Japanese phonetic alphabets, hiragana and katakana. That was it but it was enough to stimulate my interest. Soon I had downloaded some applications to my computer for learning kanji, their meanings and various pronunciations. I could basically recognize – if not properly write – some 150 kanji at the age of 15. I immediately realized that THIS was what I was looking for. The rhythm of the language struck the right note in me, the visual aspect satisfied my artistic sense, and I felt pleasure in learning more and more.

This individual study period lasted about one year with long breaks in between. Then I had the chance to take part in a real Japanese evening class organized in my town with a real teacher from Japan. Was she the first Japanese I met? I think so. What I clearly remember is that thrill every Tuesday when it was time to go to class, and the feeling of pure joy when coming back home after the lesson I would look at the notes containing the new words I had just learnt. Unfortunately, the language course was discontinued after one year and for assorted reasons I had to drop my individual study of Japanese for some time.

After graduating from High School, it was time to choose a university and, more importantly, a direction for my future career, job and profession. I did not think twice, I knew already I would choose Japanese Studies. When I first entered university I had the feeling that I would be able to coast for a while because of my past study background – but how wrong I was! In four short weeks all of my grammar knowledge had been “used up” and I was on the same level as all of the other students, except for kanji. Compared to the complete beginners around me, I could understand a lot more characters.

As for my studies, the more I learned, the more complicated things became. “That is normal”, I said to myself. But the truth is that, from a Westerner’s point of view, learning a language such as Japanese really does take time. This was probably the first time I began to question whether I would be capable of learning to communicate well in Japanese someday. But I believe a strong will can survive any storm, no matter how tough it gets. I integrated flashcards and notebooks filled with ideograms into my study regimen. I attached little papers to every piece of furniture in my house. Each day I seemed to come up with a new approach to master the language. I was determined.

As graduation approached, I was growing discouraged by the amount of hurdles I met on my path to fluency. As a result, I decided to delay taking more courses. Instead, I would just make my dream come true by visiting Japan and then go straight into the workforce back home afterwards. Again, I was so wrong. During my time in Japan, I realized how much I actually wanted to continue until the end of this adventure and achieve some remarkable goals in Japan itself. I came back to Italy with a stronger will than ever, and I changed my plans for the future, entering a Master’s degree program in Japanese Studies. 

I studied hard for almost 2 years, engaging both body and soul, but still I felt that I could not properly understand everyday conversations or, for that matter, silly TV programs. Once again, I felt like saying, “Screw it all!” But just when I thought everything was lost, I met a Japanese who would become my partner. This event gave me strength to hold on and keep on learning in order to better understand everything that comes with having a Japanese mate. It was no longer just a question of studying the language. Since Japan entered my life so intimately, learning the language has become an even greater pleasure in everyday life. Although I am continuously meeting new hurdles during my learning process, I approach them more as new adventures. And I feel I have enough knowledge now to put the language I do not understand into a logical frame of reference, elaborating in my mind until the new slips into the box of “Already Learnt” items. It comes without saying my Japanese has improved a lot.

On the academic side, after two years of studying for my Master’s degree, I am about to embark on another exciting experience as an exchange student in Japan for a whole year. This is nothing less than what I have always dreamt about and it is going to definitely be amazing! Or rather, should I say this is how it was meant to be? We shall see. 

(If you are really a fool for languages, check out my language learning website, http://en.sulantra.com/, with courses from and to English, Spanish, Chinese, Japanese, Turkish, Bulgarian, Thai, German , Korean and Italian!)