皆さん、明けましておめでとうございます。
I'm just now noticing how much my Japanese has improved since I've been here. It hasn't felt like a lot because every day I'm exposed to Japanese full-force, nonstop, and I'm always struggling to understand. But the past couple of days I've been going back to listening exercises I did right before I came here, and while I used to think they were too fast and difficult to understand, now they sound overly slow and easy to make out. What an awesome feeling knowing I have made progress in the three or four months I've been here and that I'll keep making progress. I look forward to speaking with my Japanese professor from my home university when I return, even though that won't be for another six months. Holy shit, six more months.... It's both a long time and a short time.
Anyway, this is all I have time to write. The end of the semester sneaked up on me, and I find my to-do list growing longer every day.
Oh, but I will tell you this: I'm participating in a 成人式 (coming of age ceremony) on 成人の日 (Coming of Age Day), which is next Monday! I'm so excited. I have a beautiful furisode to wear, and I'll be going with my boyfriend and some of my friends. How many foreigners can say they participated in 成人の日?? :O
Happy New Years~
ReplyDeleteJust discovered your blog. ^_^
I've got a question ^^" You've probably been asked this a lot but..how long did you study Japanese for before going to Japan? And about what level of fluency? o_o Cause I want to go as high school exchange student this year but my Japanese is (....) ^^"
Thank you~! Hope you have a great me on Monday~
Angel
Hey, thanks for the comment!
ReplyDeleteI had been studying Japanese for two years before I went, but one of those years was just wishy-washy, off-and-on self-studying, so I really only had one year of college classes. Communicating is hard, and the daily-life things that are normally easy become hard, but I'm totally able to function with my very limited knowledge of Japanese. I only wish I knew more Japanese before coming here so I would feel like I'm not wasting the experience. (Things may be harder, though, if you stay with a family, especially if they only speak Japanese. I haven't had that experience.)
Good luck!!! I'm totally envious that you have the opportunity to come here on a high school exchange! :D