The Moment of Fluency

Hi guys.

I had an important realization today.

I have the great fortune of working with people from all over the world on a daily basis. As an actor, this has been most excellent research. And as a student of Japanese, this has been great to challenge myself to try and communicate when Japanese guests come into my office.

We had some guests in my department today who had lost a bag. It had cash, their passports, and a whole bunch else. I wasn't the one directly helping them, so I just eavesdropped to hear them talk in Japanese. After my coworker walked away after helping them, they seemed unclear, so I asked them (in English) if they understood. They just stared a little. So I asked, ”わかりました？” One of them said, ”えぇぇぇぇぇぇ？” (I love when they do that). So, even though, I hardly spoke any more Japanese with them (they luckily spoke much more English than I do Japanese), I still feel I established a connection they were grateful for.

Anyway, the point is this: after this conversation, I was feeling upset I couldn't help them more in Japanese. And I started realizing that I dream about this finite point in the future when I'll suddenly be able to speak fluently with no problems... and it occurred to me how ridiculous that is. There is no time when, suddenly, a switch gets flipped and I can magically communicate with no flaws. And what it came down to is that it's these experiences, these short times when I force myself to say even just a few words, that are going to culminate in my overall comprehension of the language, eventually.

That was a tough realization. And I think that this magical point in the future is a trap lots of us fall into without realizing it. And that same magic point in the future is often, subconsciously, why we feel frustrated things aren't moving: because we're relying on this switch to be flipped one day. But anything worth learning is worth working hard for and learning well. And what better pursuit could there be than language? There's a quote, that when you speak to a man in his second language, you're speaking to his brain; when you speak to a man in his mother tongue, you're speaking to his heart. There truly is no other way to really communicate some things unless you're speaking the same language. And it's beautiful.

And that's the thought for today.