Today by far was my best Japanese speaking experience. I met four Japanese people and we interviewed each other, asking questions like where they lived, where have the traveled, what school I went to, what I liked doing in my free time, what was my hometown famous for and other questions.
On top of answering the questions, I had actual conversations.
me: 外国へいったことがありますが。(Have you traveled to foreign countries?) [given question]
them: はい、ヨロパいったことがありました。(Yes, I've been to Europe)
me: 私もヨロパいったことがありました。高校の時イタリアにいきました。気礼奈で、食べ物はおいしかったです。(I've also been to Europe, When I was in Highschool I went to italy. It's beautiful, and the food is delicious.) By the way my Kanji is not that great, but this wonderful machine takes all my hiragana and transform it, so thank God for technology.
I was so proud. Don't get me wrong, their was some difficulty. At first I was a bit confused when they gave me their name, but I got the hang of it. I was asked why I wanted to study japanese, and that was difficult to explain, I didn't know the proper vocabulary to explain, but I talked around it, and I think they got the point. My second interviewee asked me all the questions but that was fine with me.
On my third interview my sensei came around and said it was time to speak in English, however my partner was not feeling that, out of respect I kept up the conversation in Japanese, and I was not the least bit upset. It was funny because they wanted to speak in Japanese and I wanted to as well. We were forced to go to english, and I went slow and asked the same questions, still responding in Japanese mannerisms. It was a fun experience.
My fourth interview was supposed to be entirely in english but she buttered me up to speak japanese, She thought I was soo Kawai (cute). That made me smile, She probably haven't seen too many little black girls, but I was happy to accept the compliment.
Today was a good day, Praying that my exam went well, this is the most confident I've been after an exam so hopefully all is well. With this trip coming to a close, I'm excited that my 3 months of learning is turning into something tangible. After all my goal was to be conversationally fluent, And as long as I keep abreast of my vocabulary I'm getting there. We actually finish our Genki I textbook next wednesday and move on to the first two chapters of Genki II. I have basically learned a year's worth of Japanese language (2 semesters) in three months. And although I'm not the top in my class, this is my very first experience learning Japanese, one of the most difficult languagesfor Americans to learn. I'm happy to be added to Japanese speakers.
But that's all for today.
Until Next Time,
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