Survival Japanese

The Airmen and Family Readiness Center offers several free classes that help families here learn about the culture and better settle in to life here in Misawa. I never took advantage of any of them because we had a pretty tight network of people in our squadron who always answered all of my questions and helped me in any way I needed. However, I never really made an effort to learn much Japanese. The people here make it far too easy to get by knowing nothing more than how to say "hello," "excuse me," and "yes."

But a new friend of mine named Krisitin who just PCSed into our squadron has really been enjoying these classes. She asked if I'd be interested in going with her to the four week survival Japanese class. Initially I agreed to go with her because it was an opportunity to hang out with her. But I really enjoyed the class. Japanese is NOT an easy language to learn. But instead of spending weeks trying to process the grammar and learning to read all of the characters (something I should eventually attempt) they cut straight to what is most practical and taught us several phrases that we might actually use while out and about.

The first week covered the difference between their three forms of writing, how to pronounce their vowels, etc. and the basics of introducing ourselves. The second week we went over numbers and shopping terminology, which came in handy right away. Lesson three was on foods and phrases to use in restaurants. Then the final week we talked about asking for directions and how to communicate what's wrong with you in an emergency.

I'm working on trying to memorize it all. I'm normally terrible at memorization. At least when it come to memorizing something in English, you can remember the meaning if not the exact wording. But with these Japanese words, it's all just random letters and syllables and there is no easy way to link a word with its meaning except through memorization and practice. It will be worth it though!

In some ways I think Kristin's invitation to take this class at this time was a divine appointment because soon after I started taking the class, we started planning a youth mission trip to help with tsunami relief. So it was important for me to learn as much Japanese as possible! I still didn't know nearly enough on this trip last week, but at least I had all the phrases I needed if something happened. With practice, I hope to be able to really interact with the people I meet!