A Step Forward to Multilingualism

        Im trilingual, technically: English, Tagalog (our national language), and Cebuano (home province dialect. Im glad to be fluent in all these 3 languages, easily switching from one language to another. I talk Cebuano to my friends, English to my professors, and Tagalog to my mom and relatives in the capital city.

        Language is the way of understanding between people. Not only does it gives understanding, but it opens networks and opportunities not only between people, but also between nations in fostering peace relations and economic progress.

        As a foreign exchange student in Japan, obviously one way to adapt quickly to the country is by learning its language. Since in the university and the dorm i'm staying, no one speaks my nation's language, and some only speak english, of course I had to be the one to learn their language, not the other way around. At first I thought that language learning was easy, since I can already speak with 3 different languages. But as I start to learn it, I realize that this one's totally different, a whole new kind of language.

        Since i'm already studying in Japan, what better way to learn the language faster than to enroll on the subject itself, so I enrolled Intensive Japanese (J1 and J2) in the beginning of the autumn term. Before the class started officially, we were told to study and master hiragana and katakana (japanese handwritings). From there, I started feeling its difficulty. It was difficult to master their handwriting in just 2 days before class started. But at least I did it, but with a really bad headache. During the first week of my intensive Japanese class, things were really bad. I couldn't catch up with the words, sentence structures, and kanjis. At first I thought it was just the adjustment period (since the dorm I stayed in also had activities every night). But it has been 2 weeks, and I just did not do any better. It really troubled me. On the day of changing your subjects, Matsui Sensei (one of my teachers for the class), talked to me if I had a problem or anything. I was really glad for her to notice on my performance, so I told her everything. She then told me that she would help me in any way she can, even going everyday to her office just and have a one-on-one class to catch up with the rest. I told her how grateful I am (I really am, since in my home university its either help from classmates or study on your own), but the risk was just too high, since I have two scholarships, and I had to pay for both of them if I'd fail any of my subjects. And if I got a bad grade, not only would I suffer the consequences, but my country's reputation as well. So I decided to shift from intensive Japanese to the normal paced Japanese1.

Essay from our Kichijoji Orienteering, a field work

        So from a 4hr40mins Japanese class I shifted to the regular 2hr20mins class. It was the perfect pace for me, and I was doing quite well in my grades. Though I wasn't learning as much as I was in the intensive, but at least I was learning in my own pace, and I really enjoyed it. I did really quite well in the first lesson test. The only problem I was having was in the listening and conversation part. Apparently the teachers were teaching us the formal style of conversation, and I was not able to use it since in casual conversations with Japanese, it was in informal style. And the pace of speaking was really fast, so it was difficult catching up. We didn't learn the casual terms until the last lesson. I did not do well on the second lesson test. I had a cold and all of my senses and memory were not coordinating with me, but I was happy I did not fail.

        As I was preparing for the finals, we were given 2 reading days to study, so I made them really  productive. On the first reading period, I went with my friends to the Pokemon Center. If you'd thought “How is that supposed to be productive???”, think again. It was for my exposure and application for the things I learned in class. Together with my friends, I read signs in Japanese, talked in Japanese, and basically did everything for me to practice my Japanese. Not only was it really fun, but it was really informative. Hitting 2 birds with one stone, I'd like to call it. On the second day of the reading period, I reviewed all the things I learned: from vocabulary, grammar, foreign words, and kanji. Though I did not get any sleep, I was confident and ready.

        On the day of the exam, sitting in the room 5 minutes before the test, with my recently bought Pikachu pen (for lifting my mood while answering), and all the things I learned stacked in my head, I was reminiscing everything that happened and reflecting on the things I've done. I expected the final test to be totally comprehensive and long, but I was surprised that I answered them with ease. Not that I'm bragging or i'm intelligent (which i'm not considering that I shifted from intensive because I couldn't catch up), but what made the finals exam okay was because with every question there was, memories of the class discussions would pop out of my head, together with all the laughter and drowsiness I experienced together with my classmates. After the written exam, I went to the other building for our oral exam which was due 50 minutes. I rushed there and did not stop for lunch since I was first, and I eat very slowly. When the interview started (10 minutes duration), I really enjoyed it. In fact, it didn't look like an exam. I was talking about my life with my sensei and laughing at some funny conversations. It was natural, and I felt infinite. I was really happy. After the interview, before I went out the room, I gave my sensei dried mangoes and keychains of a seashell and wooden slipper (specialties from my home country), and gave her my sincere thanks for all the help. I wanted to take a picture, but there was still an exam going on, so I was not able to do it, but I felt happy anyways.

Picture of J1 class with Hirata sensei (lower row 2nd from left)

        This is just one of my unforgettable and special memories of my stay in Japan. Thanks to all my classmates for sharing the laughters and headaches while learning the basics for the language, to Hirata sensei, Fujimoto sensei, and Taro sensei (J1 teachers) for all the learnings, to my dormmates in 2^nd Men's dormitory for strictly letting me talk in Japanese and helping to learn it quicker, to my UNBRAND friends for the companion in the trip to the Pokemon Center, and to Matsui Sensei who helped me make the right decision and gave me encouragement. Specially, thank you to the Lord for being with me thought everything.

        I'm now on my first step to learning the Japanese language. Next term, I will be taking J2. I'm really excited and challenged about it, so I'm gonna give it my all so that by the end of this program, I would be multilingual, and I hope I could use it to help my country progress through foreign relations. :)