I’m majoring in international business and it is mandatory to learn a third language to graduate (along with my first language and English ). Just this year I decided to enroll on my university’s Japanese classes , I take 3 classes a week for 2 hours each along with some personal study here and there . Just now one of the Japanese teachers is organizing an educational trip to Osaka for a month in the summer , in which we will be studying Japanese at a English-Japanese Academy of sorts. All the arrangements are done for us meaning it’s a really convenient trip for us students that requieres close to no planning from our part.
For staying 1 month the price is relatively good but still is a substancial amount of money, meaning that It’s a trip I would only make once unless I’m offered an exchange in the future by my university . Said this I’m worried I wouldn’t be using the full potential of the trip by being a beginner. I basically know Hiragana and Katakana along with basic phrases and terms used in class and the day to day . It would be a no brainer for me to wait 1 year or so to go when I’m more advanced , but since it’s the first trip like this they are organizing it is not a given that next year they will offer something similar .
I have heard both sides of the arguments, one side being I would benefit more if I’m more advanced so that I can partake in more day to day conversations , the other being that going as a beginner could lay a good foundation to learn the language quicker in the future. On Friday a spokesperson from the academy we’re gonna be studying at will be having a conference and I’m being pressured for a response a few days after that . What do you think I should do? Take the chance on a trip later on or go this summer ?
5 comments
I don’t think it’s necessarily too early. I think it would be a good experience in seeing how Japanese is used “in the wild”. And you’ll get an opportunity to hear native speakers of the language. I think you’d just pick up different things based on your level.
Couldn’t you go again next year?
I just got back from SA in Japan. I was starting my 3rd year of Japanese and I felt really capable of using it and improving. Some of the students in their first and second years struggled to have much to say to Japanese friends, but idk for sure because it wasn’t my experience. Japan is trying super hard to open up and get foreign students, and tourists of any kind, so I think there’s a great chance of there being more Japanese opportunities. Definitely research your own school’s situation though. Good luck.
Absolutely go. No question. It will be a great motivator to study beforehand, you’ll get a good boost in learning from being there, and I’m sure it will be an awesome experience in general.
They might not have it again, but if they do you would be able to go?
That means you have nothing to lose by going this summer, and you risk not going at all if you don’t go now.
So go. For sure.
Go on the trip instead of worrying about future tradeoffs unless it would put you in financial trouble.
Your Japanese will be next to useless other than for getting the “nihongo jouzu” praise (if you are not Asian), and you will make embarrassing mistakes when trying to speak. But it will be a lifelong memory and you will learn a lot that you wouldn’t get in the classroom. You will leave feeling like you should’ve learned more before going, but that will happen whether you go now or in 3 years.