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| The neon lit streets of Shinjuku |
So it's now 2015 and I'm plotting out a
language learning journey. For Japanese, that's fairly easy because I
know exactly what I need to do ... talk Japanese a lot ... simples!
I'm also thinking about learning Swahili, although to be realistic,
Japanese is firmly in the hot seat.
A couple of things have happened
recently that I want to write about. I met an Australian guy in a bar
who has lived in Japan for some fourteen years. We sat talking with a
Japanese guy and at one point, the Australian guy asserted that he
thought it was great that, “you talk so much terrible Japanese ...
it's brilliant ... and the Japanese love hearing you clomp around
messing up the grammar and switching from formal to casual.” It's great because many Japanese people think their ability in English is terrible (and yes, that may often be true) ... but it's never going to improve if you sit there waiting for the day to arrive when all of a sudden you'll be able to talk fluently, so seeing someone who is perfectly happy to crash around in another language is thought of very highly, even if people take the piss at the time. I sort of know that people walk away from me and then if I bump them again will often tell me they're really impressed by what I'm doing.
Anyway, back to that story - I smiled, on the one hand knowing that his assertion was pretty accurate; but on the other, knowing that I need to raise my game ... up my level ... push onwards and upwards ... yet, also, know that it's going to take a lot of effort and if I'm absolutely honest, when I'm so often praised for my existing ability in the language, it becomes more difficult to find the motivation.
Anyway, back to that story - I smiled, on the one hand knowing that his assertion was pretty accurate; but on the other, knowing that I need to raise my game ... up my level ... push onwards and upwards ... yet, also, know that it's going to take a lot of effort and if I'm absolutely honest, when I'm so often praised for my existing ability in the language, it becomes more difficult to find the motivation.
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| Going to gigs is always a great motivation for me to speak more Japanese! |
Saying that, I met a girl who took the
piss out of me speaking Japanese throughout the evening. She wasn't a
native Japanese speaker, but her level of fluency seemed from what I
could tell, pretty native sounding. She wasn't taking the piss in a
horrible way for the most part, but occasionally I thought that if
she was talking to a younger, more impressionable me, I would have
probably taken her criticism to heart and been so easily crushed.
But that's not the now me. I think my
best reaction was to speak in the most kawaii (cute) Japanese because
that seemed to get the crowd on my side. For example, brilliantly, at
one point she said, 「おなかがすいて」(I'm
hungry) and then ask me if I'd understood ... and genuinely, it's a
phrase I vaguely remember from an italki session a year ago, but one
I seldom use myself ... so my delayed acknowledgement that I knew
what she'd said was met with, “... derrrrr, that's like one of the
most basic things you should know in Japanese!!!” And then just as
quickly, I said, “but if I'm hungry, I never say, 「おなかがすいて」,
I'd say, 「ペコぺこになる」- to
which she retorted, “but you sound like a baby saying that!”
Oooh, I exclaimed, “we've obviously learned a different Japanese
from each other ... did your book have cute baby ducks on the cover?”
Game, set and match to me.
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| If it's got cute ducks, I'll be interested! |
Now, in reflection, here are some
thoughts. Sometimes I go out and get lavished with praise for my
ability to converse in Japanese; either by Japanese people who are
amazed that I speak any Japanese at all, or by non-native's amazed
that I've only been living in Japan for three months and can hold a
reasonable conversation in Japanese. Just like anyone else, I love
praise ... can't get enough of it, so please, if you have any to
spare, shower me in your praises because it's always welcome here!
However, I'm resilient enough to push on regardless and I know that
I'm fuelled up with a lot of Japanese language that sits dormant
awaiting conversation. So that's what I'm going to do now.
I also know that whenever I need to make progress, the trick is consistency. To achieve that, the thing I do which I wasn't doing before is joining the Add1Challenge. I can't emphasise it's importance enough; honestly, I would have plodded along at a snails pace with language evaporating almost as quickly as I was acquiring it! Eventually, unable to level up from the first of many barren plateaus you'll come across, it's all to easy to teleport yourself back to easy street with even more idolising of those who can actually become fluent in other languages. But here's some news, they're reluctant messiah's who's message is always the same one ... "I'm not special, anyone can learn a language ... it's hard, but not difficult etc etc." You've heard it all before haven't you? I'm trying to sell sand to the Arabs here ... but if you want to learn a language to fluency (which let's face it, you can set yourself whatever goal you want, but I always think, in for a penny!) then you can. It is possible but you'll have to fortify yourself against many nay-sayers. There are plenty of them out there, when people give up a language they often become naysayers and need to spread their negativity. Don't be fooled by that, tis sour grapes! That's the other really important thing about the Add1Challenge; I've done four of them and was always encouraged and supported ... in fight club,the first rule is, "you don't talk about fight club", but in the Add1Challenge, it's kind of unsaid rule ... but you're in it to be part of a community that supports each other ... not happy clappy support, but like 'hey, you're not alone" support which is much underrated in my opinion. So it's counter-intuitive to be a tosser because all you'll ever achieve is looking like a tosser that nobody want's to support and paying for privilege!
Yes, I learned how I learn a language best (everyone's different and you need to know what works best for you), but most important thing isn't how, but how often. This one is the most important aspect of language learning - you need to put the hours in and by that I don't mean surfing around the web trying to find an easy way to magically absorb language through digital osmosis. No, I mean, don't beat yourself up, but just be absolutely honest with yourself. It's very easy to set half hearted goals or make New Years resolutions ... it's much harder to stick to them.
Life will do everything it can to derail your aspirations. In some language learning communities, I've often found that my peers secretly enjoy watching me fail ... maybe you've found this too? There are those who raise themselves up by pushing you down. That was how things were when I tried to learn computer languages in the 1980's. There was always one geeky kid who would know more than me and jump on me saying, "Oh, didn't you know _______ ... derrr, that's one of the first things you should learn ... oh, you're such a beginner" ... all the time you've actually put a lot of time in to learning stuff and it's upsetting to hear someone saying you've hardly broken the surface. Truth is, these people have often spent plenty of time, learning inefficiently and resent the fact that you've come into a domain that they've inhabited longer than you ... that sometimes turns them into psudo-language bullies ... sometimes not, but you meet all sorts of people whenever you go on a journey. It's a personal journey, but you'll meet your fair share of utter tossers whilst also meeting the most delightful people you can imagine! One has to take the rough with the smooth! Anyway, back to what I'm planning to do ...
I also know that whenever I need to make progress, the trick is consistency. To achieve that, the thing I do which I wasn't doing before is joining the Add1Challenge. I can't emphasise it's importance enough; honestly, I would have plodded along at a snails pace with language evaporating almost as quickly as I was acquiring it! Eventually, unable to level up from the first of many barren plateaus you'll come across, it's all to easy to teleport yourself back to easy street with even more idolising of those who can actually become fluent in other languages. But here's some news, they're reluctant messiah's who's message is always the same one ... "I'm not special, anyone can learn a language ... it's hard, but not difficult etc etc." You've heard it all before haven't you? I'm trying to sell sand to the Arabs here ... but if you want to learn a language to fluency (which let's face it, you can set yourself whatever goal you want, but I always think, in for a penny!) then you can. It is possible but you'll have to fortify yourself against many nay-sayers. There are plenty of them out there, when people give up a language they often become naysayers and need to spread their negativity. Don't be fooled by that, tis sour grapes! That's the other really important thing about the Add1Challenge; I've done four of them and was always encouraged and supported ... in fight club,the first rule is, "you don't talk about fight club", but in the Add1Challenge, it's kind of unsaid rule ... but you're in it to be part of a community that supports each other ... not happy clappy support, but like 'hey, you're not alone" support which is much underrated in my opinion. So it's counter-intuitive to be a tosser because all you'll ever achieve is looking like a tosser that nobody want's to support and paying for privilege!
Yes, I learned how I learn a language best (everyone's different and you need to know what works best for you), but most important thing isn't how, but how often. This one is the most important aspect of language learning - you need to put the hours in and by that I don't mean surfing around the web trying to find an easy way to magically absorb language through digital osmosis. No, I mean, don't beat yourself up, but just be absolutely honest with yourself. It's very easy to set half hearted goals or make New Years resolutions ... it's much harder to stick to them.
Life will do everything it can to derail your aspirations. In some language learning communities, I've often found that my peers secretly enjoy watching me fail ... maybe you've found this too? There are those who raise themselves up by pushing you down. That was how things were when I tried to learn computer languages in the 1980's. There was always one geeky kid who would know more than me and jump on me saying, "Oh, didn't you know _______ ... derrr, that's one of the first things you should learn ... oh, you're such a beginner" ... all the time you've actually put a lot of time in to learning stuff and it's upsetting to hear someone saying you've hardly broken the surface. Truth is, these people have often spent plenty of time, learning inefficiently and resent the fact that you've come into a domain that they've inhabited longer than you ... that sometimes turns them into psudo-language bullies ... sometimes not, but you meet all sorts of people whenever you go on a journey. It's a personal journey, but you'll meet your fair share of utter tossers whilst also meeting the most delightful people you can imagine! One has to take the rough with the smooth! Anyway, back to what I'm planning to do ...
One of my work colleagues suggested I
visit a language exchange in Chiba. I went there a couple of days ago,
but it was closed for the New Year holidays. But I now know where it
is and will go back there soon and get the ball rolling. Meanwhile,
I'm also planning to learn Swahili on either the next Add1Challenge.
I'm a bit torn over whether to start learning Swahili now, or begin
after another three month Japanese challenge. The pros of learning
Swahili now, is that I absolutely intrigued by the idea of seeing
what I can achieve over three months from scratch. On the list of
cons, Japanese has my primary focus and the difference between my
Japanese speaking ability today and what it could be in three months
could be amazing. At least if I do a three months Japanese challenge,
I get the additional wow factor of having even more interesting
conversations in Japan.
When I spent a month immersed in
Japanese, I came away speaking Japanese with a greater level of
fluency than I currently have. I had roughly half the vocabulary, and
maybe a little less of a feel for how the grammar works ... but that
really hasn't got a lot to do with fluency. Fluency has everything to
do with being able to produce the language and make utterances with
relative ease. How does one achieve such a thing? Yep, you guessed it
... speak speak speak speak! So with the language exchange in Chiba,
that's what I'll be doing. So, the question is, shall I set forth an
learn Swahili now or later. That's one for me to think about over the
next few days.
