Comments | chard: Itch scratched

chard

Itch scratched

Aug 20, 2005 20:33

In my article The three month itch last week I had a really good moan about my school, the course, and my problems learning Japanese. I was in a really bad mood, if you couldn't tell. Well, things are quite a lot better now.

The course director obviously got wind of my discontent, because he came and sought me out on Thursday, and spent over ( Read more... )

etp, nihongo

Comments 6

matoki August 20 2005, 14:27:39 UTC

Good that you feel better! Have a nice first week of vacation, see you at Tokyo port next Saturday for our Ooshima vacation!!!

bookly August 20 2005, 15:57:57 UTC

He sounds like a really awesome guy, and what he said fits pretty well with what I've been told. I'm glad you're feeling better.

bookly August 20 2005, 16:08:20 UTC

Oh, yes, one other point about my own experience, just for the record: I spent close to three months studying Japanese intensively before I went to Japan; two of these months were in a class very much like the one you describe, and the third was at Berlitz (which, incidentally, I found almost useless because of its lack of structure and inability to deal with students who had progressed beyond the basics but weren't yet conversational). When I got there, it took about three months (with almost no additional classes) for me to come up to speed with speaking and listening. I sometimes describe myself during this period as feeling that I was building a bridge between my brain and my tongue (or ears, as appropriate ( ... )

ashley_y August 20 2005, 22:20:45 UTC

I'm glad to hear you're feeling better about it, and presumably aren't considering quitting the ETP anymore...

chard August 23 2005, 08:40:36 UTC

Well, there might be other reasons to do that, such as lack of opportunity in Japan, or simply going off the place sufficiently that I'd be wasting my time learning more, but these are quite a lot less likely. Breaking my contract with the EU could cost me quite a bit of money, too.

ashley_y September 1 2005, 07:14:08 UTC

My experience is learning Italian, so take with appropriate pinch of salt. I had regular evening classes to learn grammar etc but the social immersion was the key (I was predominately working in an English environment). Many an evening spent understanding little and being able to contribute less, but it started slowly to sink in. 9 months in I was fairly comfortable on a one to one basis. It took another 9 months to speed up enough to be comfortable in a group situation ( ... )