I will be moving to Mutsu, Aomori in 11 months with my Japanese boyfriend. I’m excited for the move as I’ve been in Tokyo for the last 18 months, so country life will be a nice change. However, even though I take Japanese classes at my college, my level is still low and I lack confidence when speaking and get very shy. I know the basics but my output is quite terrible. My boyfriend and I speak mainly in English. The house we are moving to is very close to his parent’s house, so we will be there multiple times a week. I’ve stayed with his family before and it went very well and they were very nice, but to communicate my boyfriend translated 95% of the time. When they spoke to me I froze and suddenly couldn’t understand anything and it’s like my brain doesn’t work fast enough to come up with a response. These situations sent me into a shame spiral and severely stressed me out.
So, I’m now confronted with the reality that I need to improve my Japanese before the move in 11 months if I don’t want it to be as stressful for me as when I visited. Japanese classes at my school are helpful as far as learning grammar, but I still speak making English the rest of my time. I’m a very slow learner and am considering putting myself in a more immersive environment, so I was considering language school part time.
If anyone has any advice or any words of wisdom, anything at all, I would greatly appreciate it. I want to embrace this new journey, but leaving my comfy Tokyo bubble has filled me with some intense anxiety for what lays ahead if my skill doesn’t improve fast.
edit: I forgot to mention that this move will be temporary, only 15 months. After this we plan to move the states. Yes I am planning to marry him and I agreed to moving with him only after we get engaged. I’m willing to make this sacrifice, but as some of you have pointed out it will be tough for me and I want to know how to make it enjoyable as possible. As far as jobs go, being an English teacher is my goal and seems most realistic.
by phiasan