Learning a new Language
Growing up, I was sort of forced to learn mandarin (which I’m not that good at anymore) and enjoyed learning English via watching English TV shows. Not to mention Indonesian, with it being my mother tongue and all.
I recently started watching videos of this one guy who documented his time in Japan. He’s an Australian there who teaches part-time english. I couldn’t help but notice that even though this guy was mainly an english speaker, he still made an effort ot learn Japanese. And I know a thing or two about how hard it is to learn a new language. The pronunciations, grammar, particles, tenses can be quiet overwhelming.
You definitely feel stupid when you’re trying to make basic sentences like “Hi, do you understand english?” and not being able to find the right words for it. Even though it’s second nature when you have to say the same thing in your mother tongue.
Watching this guy’s videos made me want to go travel. Specifically to Korea/Japan and learn their language. I’m lucky enough to be in a school where I have the opportunity to do just that. There are some programs that promote cultural exchange in foreign countries and they sound like really dope opportunities to learn a different language.
As of right now, I’m still thinking about which program I’m going to choose for this month-long overseas journey. I’m trying to learn Japanese via youtube videos. I know it sounds lame when you tell people that you’re trying to learn something through youtube videos, but hey, at least I’m doing something about it.
I’ve learned how to say the following in Japanese from watching youtube videos :
Hi, Do you understand english?
excuse me, I don’t understand japanese
That’s a dog (I know some other animals… mainly, cat, horse and fish).
It’s all very bare-bones at the moment and I’m pretty sure if I try to communicate with a native-japanese speaker, I’d make a total fool out of myself. But I know more today than I did before and that’s where I want to go with this.
Trying to learn something new everyday. I hope this “project” works out. And by “work out” I mean get something fun and meaningful out of this, and of course, a chance to showcase some of my newly learned japanese speaking skills.
