Tug-of-War

I chose to study 日本語 because it sounded like a very beautiful language. In the neighboring Asian countries, being able to speak Japanese is a huge plus in both business and casual settings.  Although I was never the type to read manga or watch anime, which is what often introduces people into the Japanese culture, the virtues that the country valued attracted me.  I remember watching a show featuring a group of elementary school students who were part of the school tug-of-war team. They practiced for hours on end until their hands were blistered and near bleeding.  When they failed to win the championship, they gritted their teeth as tears ran down their young faces. Their wholehearted determination in something as seemingly trivial as tug-of-war expressed an attitude that touched me deeply. If I could bring myself to face every challenge in life with such a conviction, I am certain that I could travel far.

This class has been a blast so far, and I am so excited to be able to make many new 友たち while studying the language.  It will be fun to gradually widen my vocabulary and be able to practice conversation with everyone as a group.  

Japanese is not completely new to me, but because my grammar was awful, I wanted to focus on establishing a strong foundation so that I can speak and write it in a more professional manner. As with most people who know traditional Chinese characters, I could understand the general topic and direction of an article just from the nouns/adjectives/verbs that are in Kanji, but I have a hard time writing them out on my own. 

I’ve been reading a book by 春樹村上 translated to English.  The prose is beautiful in and of itself, but it is evident that the dialogue lost much of its meaning through the translation.  My ultimate goal would be to be able to read an entire Murakami book in Japanese by the end of college. 

But until then, I’m stuck with English and occasional italicized Japanese words with explanations following closely behind.