Learning Japanese is Easy
Learning Japanese Is Easy
By Isie Gallegos
Instructor Walton went on with his lecture on the structure of the Japanese sentence. As
interested in the subject as I was, I was finding it hard to follow.
I wasn’t the typical manga junkie nor was I the type to go the anime conventions. I
couldn’t see myself acting like a school girl who would find crushes on girly-looking guys who
weren’t even real. It was a bit scary the obsessions that some of these fan girls occupied
themselves with.
I was more the type to find a language intriguing because of the sound of the syllables or
the culture behind it. These aspects were real and I could comprehend them with respect.
“The subject goes first in the sentence.” Instructor Walton told the overfilled university
class. “After the subject, you put ‘wa’ to show the word is the actual subject.”
I could feel my eyes start to bug out. How many times would I have to retake this class to
pass it? If the sentence structure wasn’t difficult enough, then the kanji would be the brick wall
my head would smash into.
“Next, place your verb after ‘wa’. For those of you who’re lost, the verb is an action
word. Examples of a verb are…” From here, Instructor Weld wrote down the examples of; go,
eat and run.
I found it hard to imagine a student in the university not knowing what a verb was by
now. Thankfully, not all parts of language blew my brains into little pieces.
Then again, it didn’t take a genius to pass high school anymore. Some students barely
knew how to write a paper. Thinking themselves smart, they would turn their papers in without
going to the language center for a very needed proofreading. Was it too embarrassing for them to
do so? Only those students could tell you, and that was only if they wanted to.
I looked around the room at all the different type of students who occupied the seats. I
know I was stereotyping but I could spot a few students that might fit into the category that the
Instructor was talking about.
Two rows in front of me, sat a few girls who were reading a Japanese manga. They
chatted inaudibly about the characters, ending in giggles a couple times. Evidently, they found it
hard to hide their enjoyment of the characters.
Although I was too far away to be able to see the pictures clearly, I could tell from the
simplicity of the pictures that it was manga.
When I was in high school years ago, I was heading on my way to lunch. All that
separated me from the cafeteria was a group that decided to huddle themselves by the entrance
and I was hungry.
As hungry as I was, I was also curious about what was holding them up.
“Excuse me.” I said, poking one of the girls on the shoulder. “Can I get through?”
The girl turned around and looked at me. She had glitter on her eyelids and wore heavy
makeup. I almost had to question if she was goth with the amount of makeup. Being smart, I
withheld making a comment. I wasn’t sure how she would take it if I did.
“We should move.” The girl with the glitter on her eyelids told the group. “We’ll enjoy
the manga in the corner WITHOUT interruption.”
With that, the girl snagged the manga from her friends hands, putting her finger on the
page they were reading.
I glanced over, seeing the drawings of the big eyed characters in their high school
background before she moved away. So this was the manga that I’d been hearing some of my
classmates speaking of. I couldn’t help but find the drawings childish. What could possibly make
anyone want to read these?
With that question posted on my list of mental things to do, I went off to lunch. After
school, I would look it up. I wasn’t going to start reading them. All I wanted to do was
understand why almost everyone was interested in manga.
I blinked. Now I was back in the university classroom. I moved to another group
of students; Four boys and a magazine.
A few seats to the right of the manga girls group, was a group of four guys. Each had a
magazine of a different type; Sports Illustrated. It didn’t take me long to know why they were
looking at the magazine. They were wearing big smiles on their faces as they oogled the half
naked girls in the pictures. I had no doubt, the boys were undressing the girls of their ‘bra’s’ and
‘underwear’ as they continued to stare with their lopsided grins and imaginary piles of drool.
They weren’t even paying attention to class.
The boys and the manga girls were what I called a waste of space. Surely, someone here
had to be taking this class seriously. I found this group very quickly.
I spotted what most would call a ‘nerd’. With the textbook open and pen and paper in
hand, the posture of the body was straight and their focus was to the front of the class where
Instructor Walton was teaching. With the pen moving, I’m sure they were writing down the
points the teacher was making verbally. Now this was dedication!
“To end the sentence, be sure to use ‘desu’.” As Instructor Walton said this, he wrote
down a basic sentence; Pen wa koukou desu. “Later, we’ll get into different tenses. For now,
please focus on the basics. Soon, you’ll find that Japanese is easy.”
It was obvious the Instructor was convinced it was easy; After all, he was fluent in the
language of Japanese. Somehow, he’d forgotten about how difficult it was to learn the language
in the beginning. Not all of us were gifted in the language department.
With all his language experience, Instructor Walton was bald with a five o’clock shadow
enveloping his face. No doubt, he stayed up late grading papers from his other classes of the
University and the local community college. After all, didn’t most teachers have multiple classes
at the same time?
The Instructor scanned through the room of all the students. You would think he’d just do
this to get a feel for his present class but that wasn’t the case this time.
The instant he spotted me, he stopped. For a moment, he looked surprised. I was back
around for another beating from the Japanese language.
I smiled slightly in embarrassment. I wished he’d just pass me up already. It was
embarrassing enough to retake the class without him picking me out of the jumble of his current
students. Where was that hole to hide?
To my relief, Instructor Walton realized my embarrassment, moving onto the rest of the
students. I was thankful.
“If any of you are wondering what this sentence means,” Instructor Weld said as he
pointed to the random sentence he’d written on the board earlier, “I’ll tell you. The sentence
means ‘The pen is here’. Pen wa koukou desu. Say it with me.”
“Pen wa koukou desu.” I repeated as I was instructed. My pen was here. I smiled to
myself at my cheesy joke. Sometimes, it was too easy amuse myself.
Erasing the sentence from the board, he began writing something different. I watched as
each word made it’s way onto the white board that desperately needed a cleaning from all the
erasings that had been experienced today alone.
“Turn to page ten in your textbooks. With a classmate, please complete the first exercise.
You have five minutes.” The Instructor told the class. “If there is an uneven amount of students,
please pair in a group of three so we can all experience the joys of Japanese together.”
The joys of Japanese? Wow. This guy REALLY loved the language. Maybe the language
was his mistress.
From the sounds of the students, not all of them seemed thrilled about this. I could hear
groans and the shuffle of papers as fellow students moved to the left or right for the chance of a
partner.
I wasn’t too phased by this at all. The exercise was simple enough; Introduce yourself to
a classmate.
I turn to my left, spotting a shy student with greasy brown hair and pimples littering his
face. He seemed flustered as his big blue eyes moved to and fro for someone to pair with. He
didn’t seem like the type to jump out and introduce himself to anyone so I was going to pick him
as my partner. After all, he was available.
Upon looking at me, his nervous fluster toned down some. “Hi.”
“Ohayo gozaimasu.” I responded in Japanese. “Ogenki desu ka?”
He sighed. “I don’t even know what you just said. Is this part of the assignment?”
“No.” I said shaking my head. “Ohayo gozaimasu means good morning. Ogenki desu ka?
means how are you doing? I didn’t mean to confuse you.”
“Oh.” He said turning a bit red. “Could you help me with the assignment? I don’t know
any Japanese at all.”
“Sure.” I surmised that the redness on his face was from embarrassment. “Our
assignment is to introduce each other. For example; O-namae wa Roburatoson desu.”
He looked confused. If I were wanting to be comical, I would have put a question mark
on his forehead. He genuinely looked confused so I wasn’t about to do this just yet. Not
everyone had a good sense of humor.
“My name is Alishea Robertson. When you’re introducing yourself, use your last name.
I’ll help you with how to pronounce your name in Japanese.” I told him, finding that even though
I was retaking this class, I had actually retained some of the language. I was TEACHING him!
That was a change.
“Oh.” He seemed to break out into a smile. “I’m glad you’re better at Japanese than I am.
I thought this would be an easy class.”
“Ah. It takes quite a bit of work but you can pass it.” I told him, purposely omitting the
fact that I was retaking the class. “Make sure you do the work and don’t get behind. The pace of
the class speeds up as you go through it.”
It was almost like I was warning myself of the horrors to come. If he chose to get to know
me, he’d probably find I was almost a hypocrite at times. I didn’t always practice what I
preached but I made an effort to do so none-the-less. Now was a perfect example.
“What’s your name?” I inquired, seeing he wasn’t going to offer it without my
prompting.
“Sam Garcia.” He answered, seeming a bit nervous. Sams hands started to tremble while
his eyes were starting to resemble perfectly round saucers. He looked like he was about to run.
“Let’s try that in Japanese.” I told him calmly. The last thing I needed my partner to do
was to flee from the class after the first assignment. If this was how Sam was going to be today,
the rest of the class would be torture for him. He might be a challenge.
“How does it go again?” He asked with another sigh.
I was going to keep him in the room. I pointed my finger at the example sentence. “Insert
your name on his line. For example, I used my name. “O-namae, meaning my name, wa
Roberatoson desu. My last name is Robertson.”
“How would I say Garcia?” Sam asked.
I took out the Japanese alphabet chart. Choosing the Hiragana Alphabet, I picked out the
letters based on his name. “Ga-ru-ci-ya.” I pronounced to myself. “I believe your last name
would be pronounced Garuciya. Using this sentence form, put it into a sentence for me.”
“O-namae wa Garuciya desu.” Sam stumbled out. With wide eyes, he looked at me for
approval.
I smiled. “That’s correct.” I nudged him with my elbow. “That wasn’t so bad, was it?”
“I guess.” Sam commented, looking as if he wanted to flee the class. Blue eyes darted to
and fro, looking for a exit of the room.
“Don’t be so nervous. We’re all learning here.” I told him calmly. “Let’s check out the
second part of the exercise.”
“Okay.” Sam said, this time omitting the sigh.
Supposedly, he was comfortable enough around me not to flee the room. “Alright. It
looks like for the second part they’re asking us to introduce our partner to the class.”
“Oh no.” I heard Sam groan. “Is this hard?”
“Not at all.” I reassured Sam. “All that’s going to be done is a simple rearranging of the
sentence. We are going to omit the ‘Watashi no’ from the sentence and put ‘san’ on the end of
our last name.”
“You go first. I’ll mess it up.” Sam admitted, turning red again.
“Alright.” I said, noting his red face again. Sam was going to be a tomatoe soon. Pointing
at Sam, I said, “Kurasometo wa Garucia-san desu.”
“Oh.” Sam gave a small smile.
I knodded. “It’s easy. Try introducing me. Simply add ‘san’ to the end of my last name.”
Sam turned really red. “Okay.” He stammered. “What was your last name again?”
“Roburatoson.” I answered him.
“Okay.” Sam took a deep breathe. “Kurasometo wa Roburatoson desu.”
“You forgot the ‘san’.” I corrected calmly.
“Oh, okay. Uhm…” Sam collected his thoughts, putting his hand to his chin.
“Kurasometo wa Roburatoson-san desu?”
I smiled, patting him on the back. “You got it.”
“Do we have to do this in front of the class?” Sam asked quietly. His hands were starting
to shake again.
“Yes. Don’t worry though. I’ll be up there with you.” I told him, hoping he’d be able to
speak in front of the class. In all my life, I’d never seen anyone with so much stage fright.
“Okay.” He smiled wide this time. “I might be able to make it through with your help.
Thank You.”
“Think nothing of it.” I told him, flattered by the compliment. Apparently, he thought I
was one of the smart ones in this class. I sure hope he was right. I might be the one to mess this
up, not him.
I couldn’t understand how someone this nervous ever got through college courses,
especially a foreign language course where you had to speak to other people to make the grade. I
suspected that throughout the semester, I would be his continual partner. As hard as this would
make Japanese 101 for me, I looked forward to the extra work.
It put my worries to rest that someone was depending on me. It might be pity but Sam
seemed genuine. Perhaps with him, I might actually pass the class as well. We might be mutually
beneficial to one another. This was a scary thought!
“Five minutes is up!” Instructor Walton announced to the class.
A few students moaned as if they were in pain at hearing his words. I could imagine they
thought five minutes was not enough time to complete the exercise. Either way, Instructor Weld
was unyielding.
“Enough groaning.” Instructor Walton says in an attempt to shut all the complainers up.
“By now, you’re grown adults. Act like it.”
As the class heard his booming voice echo throughout the room, I heard everyone quiet
down. Fear had officially been placed in the rest of the class. Now, everyone knew how hardcore
Instructor Walton was.
“Would Alishea Robertson come up with their partner and demonstrate the exercise?”
Instructor Walton asked the class, looking our way.
I cringed. Deep down, I knew he would do this when I saw him staring at me earlier. He
was trying to think of some impending doom for me. Only now, did I know what he was up to.
I looked at my partner Sam. “Are you ready? It’s our time to go up.”
Sam’s eyes grew wide as he looked at me. His hands began to shake. “Do I have to go? I
don’t want to.”
Putting a hand on his shoulder, I told Sam, “I’m right here. You have no need to worry.
Come.”
“Okay.” Sam stuttered. “I will only go since you’re helping me.”
“Good.” I smiled. At least this was working out. Without another word, I made my way
down with Sam nervously trudging behind.
Once we reached the front, I could feel all the eyes on me and Sam. I’m sure we looked
odd for a group. When wouldn’t an anxiety ridden boy with oily hair look odd with a girl with
short blonde hair and expensive gap pants and a t-shirt? We were complete opposites.
“Forget about everyone else, Sam. Just focus on me and you’ll succeed.” I told Sam in a
calm but supportive tone.
“So we’re the only two in the room?” Sam asked, confused at first.
I nodded my head, adding, “Of course, you can’t omit the instructor. He won’t harm
you.” The last thing I wanted to happen was Sam forgetting about the teacher of the Japanese
class.
I could feel the instructors eyes watching us. Curious, I looked at the instructor, who was
genuinely confused at first.
I saw the instructor move from me to Sam. From his look of surprise, he looked back at
me with a nod of understanding.
“See? Instructor Walton means no harm.” I coached Sam, hoping to relieve some of the
anxiety. Slowly, Sam began to understand.
“Okay.” Sam told himself, releasing his breathe. “I can do this.” A smile came across his
face as he began to focus on me. In his eyes, I could see the enduring trust of a child. Slowly,
Sam began to steady himself until the shaking stopped.
“I’m ready.” Sam told me with confidence.
“Introduce yourself to the class.” Instructor Walton told Sam in a calm, not strict voice.
Even he knew he was treading on needles with Sam.
Sam sighed, looking at all the students in the large university class. “O-namae waaaaa
Gaaaruuu…”
Clamming up, Sam looked at me scared. From the looks of it, everything hit him all at
once. “How do I pronounce my name again?”
“O-namae…” I started to say to Sam.
“O-namae…” Sam repeated, his hands shaking some.
“Ga-ru-ci-a.” I continued.
“Ga-ru-ci-a.” Sam said with a smile.
I smiled back. Sam was starting to get it.
“Now.” Instructor Walton said, breaking the silence.
We both looked at the instructor startled. Neither of us had expected this obviously.
“Say all that in one sentence.” Instructor Walton finished.
Sam froze, unable to move or speak. The shaking of his hands started to increase.
I was going to make Sam stay in the room. “You can do it, Ga-ru-ci-a-san.” I told Sam,
giving a gentle reminder of how to pronounce his name.
Sam blinked, seeming reluctant to continue.
I could only imagine how Sam was feeling. Not only did Sam seem to suffer from
anxiety issues but now he was stuck in the front of the classroom as the worst example of a
clueless student who was trying to learn Japanese. With all the pressure he was feeling, I had no
doubt he really wanted to spring from the room as quickly as possible now. His anxiety had to be
reaching it’s peak now.
“It’s easy.” I told Sam. “Say the sentence with me.”
Sam snapped out of his reluctance, looking to me for support.
“Repeat after me.” I promted Sam, not giving him anymore room for doubt.
Sams eyes bugged out. The saucers were back.
“O-namae wa…” I said quickly. I was going to see if this trick would work.
“O-namae wa…” Sam repeated with a nervous twitch.
“O-namae wa Ga-ru-ci-a desu.” I blurted out quickly.
“O-namae wa Ga-ru-ci-a desu.” Sam repeated as quickly as I did.
There had been no mistakes! There was no hesitation or any way for Sam to trip over
himself either! I had never given the time to let that slip in.
“You did it!” Both Instructor Walton and I told Sam simultaneously.
Sam yelped in surprise then smiled at the praise he was receiving. He’d done the exercise
correctly.
“Thank You.” Sam said quietly to the both of us as he turned bright red in the face. He
seemed to realize he was in front of the ENTIRE class.
“Can I go back to my seat now?” Sam asked Instructor Walton in a whisper of a voice.
“You may.” Instructor Walton said with light laughter.
Sam saw his freedom, running up to his seat where he sat quietly with a tomato red face.
Instructor Walton turned to me. “Your turn.”
“Okay.” I told him, suddenly not so embarrassed anymore.
“O-namae wa nan desu ka?” Instructor Walton inquired.
“O-namae wa Roburatoson desu.” I answered calmly and correctly.
“Correct.” Instructor Walton answered.
I knodded, hoping the instructor would select someone else for the second part of the first
exercise.”
Instructor Walton seemed to sense my reluctance as well. “For the second part of the
exercise…” He said as he fingered through the list of his students names. “Peter Jackson, please
come up with your partner to the front of the class.”
I realized from the new choice of student, that I was temporarily free of being the center
of attention. I took my leave, walking up the stairs that led to the student desks.
On the way up there, I spotted preppy Peter as he was heading down with his female
partner who looked as if she’d just come back from a royal gala. Neither looked thrilled to be put
in the spotlight.
As I sat down, relief hit me as I sighed. The spectacle was finally over. Looking over at
Sam, I could tell he was happy about this too.
Sam was no longer nervous. In fact, he seemed to have got a confidence boost from the
completion the part of the exercise that he did. I could see a little bit of pride starting to show.
“Learning Japanese is easy.” Sam commented happily in his quiet background voice.
“Stick by me and it won’t be as challenging as it can.” I told Sam. “Soon enough, you’ll
be doing this all on your own. Take it all with baby steps.”
“You’re stuck with me now.” Sam told me with a smile. “You’re smart.”
“I don’t know if I’m smart enough to say the language of Japanese is easy.” I told Sam.
Personally, Sam was giving me too much credit. We still had the rest of the semester to go. I
understood that this would be a challenge for both of us. However, this time, I wasn’t going to be
making the journey alone.