Q: Why am I studying Japanese?
Hello! I actually get asked a lot about why I decided to take Japanese now, as a senior. I am very grateful to be able to take Japanese here at Columbia -- many people want to learn languages later in life, but it is far more difficult without the guidance of teachers!
While my family is from Taiwan, a small island of 24 million people to the south of Okinawa, I have come across Japanese culture and language many times in my life. When I was little, in addition to calling my grandparents "a-gong" and "a-ma" in Taiwanese, I also called my grandparents ojiichan and obaachan. Listening to my grandparent's stories about growing up in Taiwan before and during World War II, I learned about their Japanese names, the Japanese style of education, and having to run into bomb shelters when American bombers attacked.
Growing up, my parents actually decided to teach me how to speak Mandarin Chinese at home, as they thought it would be an ever important language to know in the future. I am very glad my parents made this decision, as now, more than ever, it is important to understand Chinese. Yet, after coming to Columbia and given the opportunity to learn a new language, I wanted to learn some Japanese, which I had little knowledge of, apart from a few phrases I had picked up from my family. When I go visit my cousins who live in Japan, whose side of the family has been in Tokyo since 1945, we communicate in broken Chinese. I hope to be able to communicate with them in Japanese the next time I visit!
So far in this class, the most difficult part for me has been remembering which words have long vowels. I think it is easier for me to learn vocabulary words by speaking them outloud rather than by writing the words, so the best way I have found to remember which syllables have long vowels is by saying the word in my head and finding where the syllable is held longer. I hope I continue to get better at this in the future!
-- Jason
While my family is from Taiwan, a small island of 24 million people to the south of Okinawa, I have come across Japanese culture and language many times in my life. When I was little, in addition to calling my grandparents "a-gong" and "a-ma" in Taiwanese, I also called my grandparents ojiichan and obaachan. Listening to my grandparent's stories about growing up in Taiwan before and during World War II, I learned about their Japanese names, the Japanese style of education, and having to run into bomb shelters when American bombers attacked.
Growing up, my parents actually decided to teach me how to speak Mandarin Chinese at home, as they thought it would be an ever important language to know in the future. I am very glad my parents made this decision, as now, more than ever, it is important to understand Chinese. Yet, after coming to Columbia and given the opportunity to learn a new language, I wanted to learn some Japanese, which I had little knowledge of, apart from a few phrases I had picked up from my family. When I go visit my cousins who live in Japan, whose side of the family has been in Tokyo since 1945, we communicate in broken Chinese. I hope to be able to communicate with them in Japanese the next time I visit!
So far in this class, the most difficult part for me has been remembering which words have long vowels. I think it is easier for me to learn vocabulary words by speaking them outloud rather than by writing the words, so the best way I have found to remember which syllables have long vowels is by saying the word in my head and finding where the syllable is held longer. I hope I continue to get better at this in the future!
-- Jason
Hi Jason! I really love Taiwan and I know it hasn't had the best history with Japan, but I'm very glad the countries have an amicable relationship now. I hope that with your ever-growing understanding of Japanese, you'll be able to speak to your relatives more and build on your relationship with them.
ReplyDeleteHi! Thank you so much!
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