Monday, March 13, 2006
Third Japanese Lesson
Today I had my third Japanese lesson. I arrived on time for the first time, which was a good start. And my teacher, "Hoshidai Sensei" actually greeted me in Japanese. Yeah! I was optimistic about the day's lesson. And with reason. This time our thirty minute discussion about why my lesson should or should not be conducted in Japanese was more therapeutic than frustrating. I heard her side, she heard mine, and we began and I learned.
Still. She just cannot seem to resist translating. I've come up with a helpful strategy, however. Just talk the whole time, so that she cannot get a word in edgewise. (That makes it sound like I know a whole lot of Japanese. I don't. I just speak really really slowly!) I also notice myself raising my hand up to her in a "stop" gesture and telling her "Japanese, please" when she wants to interrupt me with her English. Probably very rude practices. But then I say "excuse me" (sumimasen) about 5000 times and do a mini head-bow thing to try to convey some sense of humility. I'm sure she sees right through me though.
Oh, and you know what other dumb thing I did? I went and told her that I was gonna learn Japanese faster than any of her other students! She had said, "I've never had any other students say that they want to learn your way before. But we can do it that way if you want. I just don't want you to say you didn't learn anything." (Hmmm...didn't you tell me that last week?) So, I had to go and say, "Maybe I'll start slow, but just you watch. Soon I'll be speaking better than any of your other students." Crap. What did I do that for? Now I have to study!
Well, time for sleep now. Hasta la pasta
-Kelly
P.S. My new favorite Japanese word is "-no" It makes a words possessive, just like adding an 's to something. "Kellyno senseiwa nipponjin desu." (Not sure if that's right...wanna guess what it means?)
Still. She just cannot seem to resist translating. I've come up with a helpful strategy, however. Just talk the whole time, so that she cannot get a word in edgewise. (That makes it sound like I know a whole lot of Japanese. I don't. I just speak really really slowly!) I also notice myself raising my hand up to her in a "stop" gesture and telling her "Japanese, please" when she wants to interrupt me with her English. Probably very rude practices. But then I say "excuse me" (sumimasen) about 5000 times and do a mini head-bow thing to try to convey some sense of humility. I'm sure she sees right through me though.
Oh, and you know what other dumb thing I did? I went and told her that I was gonna learn Japanese faster than any of her other students! She had said, "I've never had any other students say that they want to learn your way before. But we can do it that way if you want. I just don't want you to say you didn't learn anything." (Hmmm...didn't you tell me that last week?) So, I had to go and say, "Maybe I'll start slow, but just you watch. Soon I'll be speaking better than any of your other students." Crap. What did I do that for? Now I have to study!
Well, time for sleep now. Hasta la pasta
-Kelly
P.S. My new favorite Japanese word is "-no" It makes a words possessive, just like adding an 's to something. "Kellyno senseiwa nipponjin desu." (Not sure if that's right...wanna guess what it means?)
