Back to School Studying Japanese Filling in the gaps after JET Chrys Tappas was an ALT in Ibaraki-ken. As the season for reckoning in the JET Programme rolled around during my second year, and I began contemplating the third, I knew that it was time to move on. Having learned only bits and pieces of Japanese while in the countryside (my forté was junior high school slang), I became determined to fill the gaps in my Japanese language ability. Many people, specifically my parents, asked me why I was planning to study Japanese after JET. “Business...helping a foreign company,” I would airily answer, and rush off. Truthfully, I was not sure what I would do when I reached inevitable fluency after six months of study. I was accepted into a Japanese language school for the fall. I bid farewell to the large application fee and packed up. October came and I found myself staring blankly at a textbook filled with black pickup sticks. Faced with the realization that it was now or possibly never again, I squeezed in some daily studying between photographing Kyoto, meeting friends for coffee and teaching to support my wild and crazy lifestyle. After six months of study, the course ended, and to my surprise I had learned quite a lot. As with anything, what you put in, you usually get back. Learning Japanese is just a matter of gumption and diligence. It is possible to stay in a Japanese language school for a few years, as a good friend of mine had done. However, in order to justify this path I felt that I would have to commit to a future with a Japanese focus and constant interaction with the confusing Japanese communication style. The more I thought about this world, the more I knew it was not for me. I did not commit to the next Japanese course, but went home and volunteered as a canoe tour guide in Maine, USA. 161 Back to School I have no plans to live in Japan again, and sometimes thoughts about this decision bring on an unexpectedly sad mood. As much as I groused about the dearth of bagels and abundance of traffic jams, thoughts about Japan will continue to enchant me wherever I am. Intensive Japanese language courses Gavin Burtonwood was an ALT in Wajima, Ishikawa-ken and was an Associate Editor for the 2000 edition of this book. So what can you expect from spending your summer holiday studying at one of the many intensive Japanese language courses offered by language schools in Japan? For a month long study, expect to spend around 100,000 yen. Add to that the cost of your accommodations, food, travel, beer money and the rest, and you can budget on spending most of your August salary. Second, do not expect a miracle. Your Japanese ability will improve but no course comes with a guarantee of fluency. A native teacher who uses Japanese as the language of instruction generally conducts classes and this will certainly improve your listening ability. Rather than providing fluency in Japanese, many students find that intensive courses give their Japanese the kick-start that it needed. When I started such a course, I could not communicate in Japanese. I knew the words but was embarrassed of making errors, or not understanding what the other person was saying. During the course I learned not to be embarrassed and to use the Japanese that I had to say anything I wanted. Maybe I do not know the Japanese word for giraffe but I do know how to describe it in such a way that any Japanese person would understand to what I was referring. This is a definite advance over the sign language I used to rely on. Try to find a college that organises home-stays for its students. They provide the ideal environment to practice Japanese. Each of the home-stays I experienced was completely unique. All three families shared everything with me, from the cultural highlights of the area to magic shows and Beatles bars. With any luck you will take away some valuable memories and lasting friendships. Many intensive courses offer home-stays on a first come, first served basis and so people who apply late will be obliged to find their own accommodations. 162 Back to School Let your workplace know well in advance that you are intending to study at a language school. If the school has a prospectus, show it to your supervisor or principal. Request educational leave: kenshuu. Your supervisor will be impressed that you are making so much effort to study Japanese and may allow you the study leave. Some ALTs find that they are allowed the time to study without taking a day of vacation time, nenkyu. Others are compelled to take nenkyu or special leave, tokubetsunenkyu, for the entire length of the course. The following website has a listing of Japanese language schools around the country, listed by prefecture. Most do not have homepages. Some of the colleges listed hold intensive language courses during the school holidays and prior to the Japanese Language Proficiency Test: http://kbic.ardour.co.jp/~newgenji/jls/index.ht ml The Yamasa Institute (Aichi-ken) Three courses are available over the summer with discounts for JETs. It offers inexpensive accommodation, cultural activities, and some of the best Japanese language teachers in the world. http://www.yamasa.org KAI Japanese School (Shinjuku, Tokyo) Offers a three-week summer school. http://www.kaij.co.jp E-mail: [email protected] ARC Academy (Tokyo, Yokohama, Osaka) Offers intensive courses ranging from two to eight weeks. There are on average ten students per class. http://www.arc.ac.jp Academy of Language Arts (Shinjuku, Tokyo) Offers one- and two-month long intensive summer courses. http://kbic.ardour.co.jp/~newgenji/ala AMICA (Tokyo) Spring break intensive courses, golden week intensive courses, summer intensive courses, Christmas and New Year’s courses. http://www.amica.ac.jp E-mail: [email protected] Osaka YWCA Offers courses ranging from summer intensive to full time and 163 Back to School part-time morning or evening classes to JPLT prep courses, plus private lessons http://www.jca.ax.apc.org/ywca_osk Tel: 06-6361-2955 E-mail: [email protected] Kyoto Centre for Japanese Linguistic Studies, Kyoto Japanese Language School Instructors from this school participate in the linguistics/pedagogy and 164 Back to School translation courses offered by CLAIR. The school has been running since 1950 and offers a range of courses including a 4-week summer intensive course. http://www.kjls.or.jp E-mail [email protected] Tel: 075-414-04 Kyoto International Centre of Languages 21 Kamihata-cho, Kitashirakawa, Sakyo-ku, Kyoto Japan 606-8252 Tel: 075-722-5066 Fax: 722-50637 Offers three-week summer intensive courses from basic to advanced. Apply well before the May 31 deadline. Longer intensive courses, group and private lessons also available SIL Bell Idaimae 1F, 291 Nishi 18 chome, Minami 2-jo, Chuo ku, Sapporo, Japan 060-0062 E-mail [email protected] http://www.spr.dpc.ne.jp/silnihon Studying Japanese and Methods for Success Michael Radich lives in Nagano-ken and speaks both Chinese and Japanese. He has passed the Level 1 of the Japanese Proficiency Test. The following are his words of wisdom. Myth #1: “Japanese is heinously difficult” Japanese is a natural language that has evolved to suit the needs of its native speakers for all kinds of practical and aesthetic communication. As such, it is no harder (or easier) than any other natural language. The kernel of truth in this myth is this: Japanese is an isolated, typologically unique language. For native speakers of Western languages, this means that there is little in what you already know that will be of help to you in learning Japanese. More to learn means it takes a longer time to learn it, and in this sense only it is justifiable to call Japanese difficult. But this entire means is it requires patience, not stunning intellectual prowess, to learn Japanese. Myth #2: “picking up the language” Having no experience, I do not know if it truly is possible to just mysteriously “pick up” European languages through mere contact, like some communicable disease. I can fairly safely say that it is not possible with Japanese. People do not leave the language lying around the place for casual foreigners to snaffle up as a souvenir. Without study, what you will “pick up,” at best, will be pidgin. 164 Back to School How to study Use a textbook At beginner and intermediate levels, at least, the structured and ordered picture of the language given by a good text is indispensable. At advanced levels, texts are still extremely useful if you can find a good one that covers the aspect of the language you are focusing on. I have not conducted an extensive survey of the ocean of available texts, but I can recommend Japanese for Busy People, which has excellent explanations and exercises. Have some sort of native speaker tuition No matter how rural your situation, you should be able to find someone willing to help you learn. Pay for a weekly lesson, or organise an exchange in return for teaching your native language, or go to free classes in one of the main centres. Do not expect the teacher to structure your learning for you; you can use a text for that, or your own initiative. When necessary, take active control of the process, and come to the lesson with specific things that you want to practice.