I had a special moment as a language learner today, and I wanted to pass this on to intermediate and advanced learners with a simple message: don’t doubt your abilities. We all have things we can improve and develop further, but today was a firm reminder of keeping in sight what you CAN do.
So, I had an opportunity today to catch up with a Japanese colleague who I haven’t seen since late 2019. He was back in the country (Australia) for the first since since the pandemic started, and we recognised each other at my workplace and got into an animated conversation in Japanese for about 15-20 minutes.
We talked shop, and I was asked about how I’d developed my Japanese in the past few years. I mentioned that I’d been doing a mix of movies, series, reading of books (at best some Shounen manga and stuff targeted at middle schoolers language-wise), and a little bit of study. I indicated that a best I could understand was about maybe 50-60% of movies these days.
The next thing he said floored me：「 Xさんの日本語は完璧ですよ。」I immediately, and in a slightly flustered voice responded 「ぜんぜん、ぜんぜん」while laughing.
We parted ways, and I got back to my desk, and then, it hit me – I had somehow managed to avoid the dreaded phrase – 上手ですね. I’ve had only a handful of experiences like this, but this one felt like the real deal.
I wont lie: I can feel the rust a bit and I know exactly where my strengths and shortcomings are, but at the same time, it really feels like things have come together, and my hard work over time is paying off. It was a firm reminder that these things are POSSIBLE, which is something we often lose sight of.
I still haven’t gone for N3 certification, and I’ve been slack with my study in recent years. My proper Japanese study dates back until around 2007, but there’s been gaps, pauses and blocks without use. One of my main skills is listening, deconstructing, and then reapplying language, and that was on full display today. I realise more than ever that there’s a lot of work ahead to improve my skills and literacy in Japanese, but this is a shining light in the midst of that long journey.
So, my fellow intermediate learners (そして、上級の先輩達へ）, whatever you do, don’t doubt what you’re able to accomplish. Try, try again and build your skill over time. It’s never easy and doubt is the greatest enemy of all in doing this. Most of all, don’t lose that sense of elation and excitement when you reach a milestone or an achievement. 諦めず、一生懸命頑張ってね。
4 comments
It’s really hard to truly see progress the more I try to track it meticulously, so the most I’ll do now is keep track of the native materials I consume daily through stuff like MyAnimeList, MyDramaList, and BookMeter. Those don’t track anything related directly to my language progress, but it’s a good reminder for me of how challenging old material felt compared to how laid back things have become now.
This is so important to remember! I’m so aware of every mistake or mistep I make that it can make me feel like I’m way more bumbling than I actually am.
I’m an ALT in Japan and often I’ll end up giving my Elementry students (who speak next to no English) some spiel in Japanese about the importance of making mistakes and how they’re not anything to be embarrassed about. At some point I’ll usually make some comment about “I’m sure I make lots of mistakes when I speak Japanese, but y’all still understand me. We can still communicate. It’s the same when you make a mistake in English.” I’ve been giving the same spiel for years and usually when I say this I get a lot of understanding nods. This year though when I got to “I’m sure I make a lot of mistakes in Japanese,” I got a very confused look from a 9 year old and a mumbled “no, you really don’t though.”
That really showed me that I’ve progressed more than I give myself credit for (though I’ve potentially lost a very good motivational speech lol)
Thank you for the read. I was in Japan for the first time after 10 years of study and I lost count of how many 日本語上手ですね！s I racked up over the week I was there. Yes, I still struggle with reading — I went to two literary memorial museums on one of the days and my head spun after reading so much Japanese in a short amount of time. [Neither museum had much, if any, English signage.] But just hearing feedback from Japanese people about how far I’ve come broke me out from the long spell of depression I had been in.
Just curious though, any reason you haven’t gone for N3 (or higher) certification? Here I was thinking perhaps you could give at least N2 a shot given how long you’ve been studying. Then again, speaking fluently does jack shit in studying for the exam…
You got kampeki’d!
Just kidding! Hard work pays off!
Rather than 一生懸命，people who succeed as you do think of the other thing 一期一会 (or as I like to say, Strawberry, one picture) because they treat every moment as your one chance to act to better yourself.
I think an unfortunate number of people think of hard work as something to do tomorrow, instead of what you should be doing right now.
Hard work is the cumulative effect of treating every moment as your one chance to do things to make life better. And you strung a bunch of those moments.