I’m a 14 years old girl from Thailand, but am currently studying abroad in England as well. During the summer, my parents have decided to put me on an exchange student program to Japan.
While I would love to study there, my Japanese is extremely horrible. I still have no idea how I passed N5, and I will be doing N3 during the start of summer break, and afterwards I will be on the exchange program.
I started learning Japanese when I was around 8-9, I think… I take one class per week. That being said, no one around me spoke Japanese with me, not even my teacher(s). I’ve never participated in a conversation using Japanese for long than one minute, I believe. As such, I have never placed much focus on Japanese, and did not revise them a lot when I was a kid. I was not immersed within the language in contrast to English, which I was sent to an international school for. So, I was unable to have a decent knowledge on Japanese. While I do study hard on Japanese know, it is difficult to manage three languages at once- English, Japanese, and French. So, unlike French and English which has impact on my school grades, I was unable to prioritize Japanese as much due to it being an extra-curricular. This makes it so that my Japanese vocabulary, grammar, and reading (kanji) is extremely limited. I can understand conversations to a certain extent, but I wouldn’t say it’s “moderate”, maybe a bit less than that. My speaking is extremely bad because I have never had anyone to speak to- of course, there is the internet, but I have only started to realize that now. The problem is that while I can write and read to a certain extent, I am unable to form sentences instantly due to the complexity of the grammar and just my lack of vocabulary in general.
My parents aren’t going to change this decision and I will have to go. I know that this trip will help improve my Japanese, which I thank them for. However, as I previously mentioned, I am Thai, which makes my complexion a bit darker. I’ve been called racist things in England, but I’ve never been bullied for it in school since it’s a pretty enclosed community. I heard that bullying and racial discrimination in Japan is pretty bad, so I’m scared of that. In addition, I’m horrible at Japanese, so I’d make an easy target for discrimination. I know not all Japanese people are racist, but I’m afraid of encountering the wrong people.
If it makes it better, I’ve been mistaken for a native Japanese person multiple times in Japan, but I’m afraid that my Japanese skills will make my race become a problem as well.
I just don’t know what to do. Does anyone have any advice, experiences? Please help me! Thank you all for reading!
(PS: I apologize if this is the wrong sub to post in. I am unaware of any other places to post in, and I am relatively unused to posting as well because I usually browse!)
4 comments
This is a copy of your post for archive/search purposes.
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**My parents have signed me up for a student exchange program in Japan. My Japanese is horrible and I’m afraid of bullying-what should I do?**
I’m a 14 years old girl from Thailand, but am currently studying abroad in England as well. During the summer, my parents have decided to put me on an exchange student program to Japan.
While I would love to study there, my Japanese is extremely horrible. I still have no idea how I passed N5, and I will be doing N3 during the start of summer break, and afterwards I will be on the exchange program.
I started learning Japanese when I was around 8-9, I think… I take one class per week. That being said, no one around me spoke Japanese with me, not even my teacher(s). I’ve never participated in a conversation using Japanese for long than one minute, I believe. As such, I have never placed much focus on Japanese, and did not revise them a lot when I was a kid. I was not immersed within the language in contrast to English, which I was sent to an international school for. So, I was unable to have a decent knowledge on Japanese. While I do study hard on Japanese know, it is difficult to manage three languages at once- English, Japanese, and French. So, unlike French and English which has impact on my school grades, I was unable to prioritize Japanese as much due to it being an extra-curricular. This makes it so that my Japanese vocabulary, grammar, and reading (kanji) is extremely limited. I can understand conversations to a certain extent, but I wouldn’t say it’s “moderate”, maybe a bit less than that. My speaking is extremely bad because I have never had anyone to speak to- of course, there is the internet, but I have only started to realize that now. The problem is that while I can write and read to a certain extent, I am unable to form sentences instantly due to the complexity of the grammar and just my lack of vocabulary in general.
My parents aren’t going to change this decision and I will have to go. I know that this trip will help improve my Japanese, which I thank them for. However, as I previously mentioned, I am Thai, which makes my complexion a bit darker. I’ve been called racist things in England, but I’ve never been bullied for it in school since it’s a pretty enclosed community. I heard that bullying and racial discrimination in Japan is pretty bad, so I’m scared of that. In addition, I’m horrible at Japanese, so I’d make an easy target for discrimination. I know not all Japanese people are racist, but I’m afraid of encountering the wrong people.
If it makes it better, I’ve been mistaken for a native Japanese person multiple times in Japan, but I’m afraid that my Japanese skills will make my race become a problem as well.
I just don’t know what to do. Does anyone have any advice, experiences? Please help me! Thank you all for reading!
(PS: I apologize if this is the wrong sub to post in. I am unaware of any other places to post in, and I am relatively unused to posting as well because I usually browse!)
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For anyone wondering, yes I did copy-and-paste. I was on the wrong sub (r/Japan) so I copied it over here!
Exchange programs usually don’t require you to speak Japanese. Talk to your program coordinator about your concerns regarding bullying. Schools that have a student exchange program are used to having foreign students.
Exchange programmes do not expect you to speak much Japanese, so please do not worry about that. These programmes have two objectives:
1) Improve the participant’s Japanese
2) Immerse them in Japanese culture
They tend to not be very rigorous on the academic side, which is something that might come back to bite you since it sounds like your parents are very invested in your schooling.