Learning Japanese

November 19, 2006

I went to my first Japanese class today. It was offered at the Kakegawa city hall and was a great experience. Now I see how Japanese teachers perform. Perhaps I will adopt a few pointers from them. Unfortunately, it was the last day of the Japanese school for foreigners. A new term will start up in January. I went to the kanji class and tried to remember and absorb all the characters that were being inundated upon me. Now, I see why everyone says it is so difficult. You learn a character and then there are all these references of how it is used in conjunction with other characters. A bombardment of information, but very valuable. I purchased some worksheets so that I can practice on my own. The class was full of Brazilians and there were some Japanese Brazilians, fully Japanese with Japanese last names, but Brazilian. They could speak some Japanese, but not a lot – just like me! I would have loved to have a discussion with them about Japanese descendents living in Brazil and ask some questions about taiko in Brazil.
Hmmmm. An interjection from the TV has caught my attention.. What is it? A commercial about a Shizuoka onsen set against the backdrop of Brazilian samba music. Interesting.