Monday, April 6, 2009

Okay! I am going to learn some decent Japanese!


I have been putting it off for way too long. I really need to speak much better Japanese. It can only be good for me. I am tired of not being able to communicate with most people. I am sick of the stress that comes with living in a nation in which most people cannot communicate with me effectively. I have even experienced a bit of depression from not being able to talk with most people normally. I want to be understood when I have something to say. The only way this is going to happen is for me to learn to speak the native language of the nation I call home.

Desire and action are too very different animals. I have desired to learn decent Japanese for a while now; yet my action has not matched my desire. Actually, I can speak a little. I cannot hold a decent conversation but in a hard pressed situation I can squeeze out a few phrases. Now, I am trying to match my action to my desire. This evening I signed up at edufire.com. I have heard so many things about this website and I am going to give it a go. I got an account but I have to wait until payday to buy a webcam because I am a cheap bastard. I also plan on finding me a good book shop and pick a decent beginner Japanese textbook to help me out. When I first arrived in Japan I took a survival course in Japan from some little Japanese language school. I will review all of that stuff as well. At this point I am just trying to learn how to speak Japanese. I will learn how to write it at a later point.

I know that a lot of people pride themselves on being able to read and write Japanese. Currently, I do not need to read and write the stuff. I just need to speak the damn language. Once I feel confident about speaking I will try to read and write. It may be hard to find a teacher who will only teach me how to speak. From what I have noticed they want you to also learn to write the stuff. The thing is, trying to learn how to speak and write at the same time will confuse me. I understand how hard it is to read and speak a second language. My heart goes out to my students everyday. Some of them try so hard to get better.

So, wish me luck in my efforts to get better. I will try my best to speak better Japanese.

8 comments:

Anonymous said...

gambate kudasai !

Jon Doe said...

Thank you Anonymous!

Benjamin L. Belcher said...

You're certainly in the right country. I recommend Genki I published by Japan Times, it's a really friendly beginners book (and you could just ignore the reading and writing portions)

billywest said...

I learned a lot in the early days with the "Japanese For Busy People" series. It's very contextual, so you'll be able to use what you learn in real-world situations fairly quickly.

Jon Doe said...

Good suggestion sir. Do you have a recommendation of a good book shop I can pick up a copy?

billywest said...

Don't know if you're asking me or Ben, but both books can be had at Kinokuniya. If you haven't been to the one in Shinjuku (east exit side), you should definitely go. Huge selection of Japanese study books as well as English-language fiction and non-fiction. Magazines, too.

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