I still have a long way to go before I'm bilingual. At the immersion program I did this summer, my brain was halved from operating so long in Japanese. But since the immersion program, my brain has become scrambled. It makes sense to me because I still understand, even when the languages get mixed together in my thoughts. But, in my gen-ed multiculturalism class today, I almost started asking the teacher a question in Japanese. I started writing my name in Japanese today in my math class. I translate words and phrases that occur to me first in Japanese back to English.
As humans, we are naturally biased to think that others are like us, so there are times when it seems impossible to me that another person won't understand my other language. Those moments were much more common a few months ago, but with something as fundamental as language and communication, it's still a bizarre feeling to be able to say things no one around me will understand!
English communication has become jumbled for me. It's not an easy balance to strike, and I'm wondering what your experience, if you have one, with what the transition to bilingualism (or multilingualism) has been like. Are you multi-lingual? What are your thoughts and tips on balancing your brain traffic? Let me know in the comments!
The feeling of language
My conversation partner talked to me about how he has to get the "feeling" of words. He was specifically referencing the English verb, "to get." After he brought it up, I realized how many oodles of different meanings that word has. So he said he has to get a feeling for each one.
This has started a conversation in my head. I've learned French and Spanish before, but it was always very academically, by rote, and with an "A+B=C" mentality. Maybe it's just because Japanese works so differently from English, or maybe I just have a new approach to learning foreign languages now, but he is totally right. It is so much easier to associate a feeling with a word than the actual definition.
What this has translated to for me (no pun intended) is learning by feeling. I may never have learned this had I not confronted a culture so different from my own. In Spanish, for instance, it's pretty easy to say "stupid" and "estupido" are the same thing. But if you think about it, nothing ever directly translates. Yeah, the two words are nearly identical, but they don't use it the same way we do. I doubt that, in Mexico, they're calling Miley Cyrus or failing a test "estupida" like we would in America. Japanese, to me, is a very artistic language. They speak in concepts and short forms, and I think they leave a lot of room for concepts and artistic interpretation. We can't speak Japanese like we speak English. And some things you just can't translate. "Yoroshiku onegaishimasu" is usually translated as "please take care of me" or "nice to meet you," but the meaning goes further beyond that is a phrase you just have to absorb the feeling of after hearing it numerous times.
If you allow yourself to learn in this way, even if you can't directly translate everything in your head into English, you still know what the meaning is. And anyway, the goal shouldn't be to translate everything into English--the goal should be to understand. For instance, there's a line in a Kana Nishino song I like that goes 「遠い君を見えない君を想い続けて」, which I've roughly translated to mean "You're so distant I can't see you. You can't see my love carrying on." I see 「続けて」pretty often, and, although I don't usually remember the meaning of it, I remember that line and have some idea about persevering, about pushing through, and that feeling is what helps me to understand new material.
I hope this inspires you to let go a little and to learn Japanese how you learned English: from trying to understand, not from definitions.
This has started a conversation in my head. I've learned French and Spanish before, but it was always very academically, by rote, and with an "A+B=C" mentality. Maybe it's just because Japanese works so differently from English, or maybe I just have a new approach to learning foreign languages now, but he is totally right. It is so much easier to associate a feeling with a word than the actual definition.
What this has translated to for me (no pun intended) is learning by feeling. I may never have learned this had I not confronted a culture so different from my own. In Spanish, for instance, it's pretty easy to say "stupid" and "estupido" are the same thing. But if you think about it, nothing ever directly translates. Yeah, the two words are nearly identical, but they don't use it the same way we do. I doubt that, in Mexico, they're calling Miley Cyrus or failing a test "estupida" like we would in America. Japanese, to me, is a very artistic language. They speak in concepts and short forms, and I think they leave a lot of room for concepts and artistic interpretation. We can't speak Japanese like we speak English. And some things you just can't translate. "Yoroshiku onegaishimasu" is usually translated as "please take care of me" or "nice to meet you," but the meaning goes further beyond that is a phrase you just have to absorb the feeling of after hearing it numerous times.
If you allow yourself to learn in this way, even if you can't directly translate everything in your head into English, you still know what the meaning is. And anyway, the goal shouldn't be to translate everything into English--the goal should be to understand. For instance, there's a line in a Kana Nishino song I like that goes 「遠い君を見えない君を想い続けて」, which I've roughly translated to mean "You're so distant I can't see you. You can't see my love carrying on." I see 「続けて」pretty often, and, although I don't usually remember the meaning of it, I remember that line and have some idea about persevering, about pushing through, and that feeling is what helps me to understand new material.
I hope this inspires you to let go a little and to learn Japanese how you learned English: from trying to understand, not from definitions.
No Training Wheels
I'm currently studying at a Japanese immersion program. I'm now in the 4th week of it, and am doing a little language escape by writing this blog. Please forgive me, but I have a good reason.
I want to talk about the magic of riding without training wheels. When it comes to language, immersion is the most natural way for us to learn. It's the way we learned English, so why have we come to favor learning just in a classroom? To be sure, the classroom has its merits and shouldn't be downplayed, but I can speak from experience that "students" of language are often scholarly gifted in the language, but when it comes to actually using it to communicate, they're practically incapable.
Like I said, I've been here about three weeks now, and I've had a few instances of riding without training wheels. The experiences are exhilarating, and I'd recommend the feeling to anybody. During class and mealtimes, I'm surrounded by teachers who are aware of my immersion, so I'm sure they speak very differently from how they would if they were with natives. Therefore, when we have guests and I have chance to meet with them, I'm really on my own. It's a pretty sublime feeling to know that I am communicating with people as a result of all this work and study I've been doing.
My point in writing this post, I guess, is to encourage you to take risks. If you want to learn a language, don't just do the easy stuff (learning by rote, but never using). Go on conversationexchange.com and find a penpal. Find someone to get coffee with. Make videos to test out your language skill. Go to the country and resolve not to speak your mother tongue (except for occasionally talking to family and friends, and other reasonable accommodations). Push yourself. You obviously want to speak it, so don't just settle for coasting somewhere in the gray area of not really assimilating the information. You can do it!
If your fear is being embarrassed, it's a fear you'll have to overcome because you will be embarrassed from time to time. But native speakers of the language are, by and large, very supportive, encouraging, and enthusiastic toward people trying to learn. Maybe, instead of saying a fruit, you said a sexual body part. Maybe you invited someone to a parking garage when you wanted to tell them not to go there. There will be miscommunications, but I challenge you to remember a time when you were a child and you miscommunicated. We all did it, and we all got over it. You can do it!
Do something everyday to use your new skills and you will thank yourself for it. And then comment here and tell me about it!
I want to talk about the magic of riding without training wheels. When it comes to language, immersion is the most natural way for us to learn. It's the way we learned English, so why have we come to favor learning just in a classroom? To be sure, the classroom has its merits and shouldn't be downplayed, but I can speak from experience that "students" of language are often scholarly gifted in the language, but when it comes to actually using it to communicate, they're practically incapable.
Like I said, I've been here about three weeks now, and I've had a few instances of riding without training wheels. The experiences are exhilarating, and I'd recommend the feeling to anybody. During class and mealtimes, I'm surrounded by teachers who are aware of my immersion, so I'm sure they speak very differently from how they would if they were with natives. Therefore, when we have guests and I have chance to meet with them, I'm really on my own. It's a pretty sublime feeling to know that I am communicating with people as a result of all this work and study I've been doing.
My point in writing this post, I guess, is to encourage you to take risks. If you want to learn a language, don't just do the easy stuff (learning by rote, but never using). Go on conversationexchange.com and find a penpal. Find someone to get coffee with. Make videos to test out your language skill. Go to the country and resolve not to speak your mother tongue (except for occasionally talking to family and friends, and other reasonable accommodations). Push yourself. You obviously want to speak it, so don't just settle for coasting somewhere in the gray area of not really assimilating the information. You can do it!
If your fear is being embarrassed, it's a fear you'll have to overcome because you will be embarrassed from time to time. But native speakers of the language are, by and large, very supportive, encouraging, and enthusiastic toward people trying to learn. Maybe, instead of saying a fruit, you said a sexual body part. Maybe you invited someone to a parking garage when you wanted to tell them not to go there. There will be miscommunications, but I challenge you to remember a time when you were a child and you miscommunicated. We all did it, and we all got over it. You can do it!
Do something everyday to use your new skills and you will thank yourself for it. And then comment here and tell me about it!
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