Japanese 101

The other day, I was re-arranging my bookshelves at home. Over the past year, I’ve collected various study aids that are supposed to help me become fluent in Japanese. I’ve got tons of resources. Untouched White Rabbit kanji flash cards. Genki textbooks. Free CLAIR study guides. JLPT past papers. Slang books like “Making Out in Japanese.” Books dedicated to the conjugation of verbs and the differences between particles. And notebooks scrawled with my messy hiragana and odd attempts at writing kanji.

(I'm getting better at recognizing kanji! At least when it comes to my kids' names. At lunch, the ichi-nenseis willingly scrawl their names in kanji for me. And I break it down in cursive writing for them. And they finally understand that my last name isn't Gemma, even though I'm called "Ms. Gemma" at all of my schools.)

By now, you’d think I’d be comfortable talking in somewhat broken Japanese. But still, my head doesn’t exactly grasp the odd grammatical structure of the language! My listening comprehension has improved leaps and bounds, but I can’t let the words escape my mouth with ease.

Last year, I was completely illiterate when it came to Japanese. It was frustrating, having to rely on others to translate for me. I remember when the taxi company hung up on me that first time, as I struggled to tell him I wanted to order a cab. I remember looking at the train timetables, and having no idea which kanji illustrated my destination.

So, little victories amuse me. These days, I can call the cab company and actually ask for a cab to pick me up at a specified time. I can read certain kanji, and figure out when my train is arriving.

And while I was in the photocopier room this week, one of the students’ parents came in to talk to me. She wanted to drop off her son’s uniform order slip, and asked if I could bring it up to the teacher's room. I understood her! Last year, I wouldn’t have had a clue.

わかりました。