これは、私の日本語を勉強しているについて書こう．．
Here I will tell you a little bit about my background in Japanese, and where and how I became interested in the language.
Ever since I was about five years old my family have been hosting Japanese students in our homes, my parents had a friend that worked in a language school in the city (Auckland) so it will all organised through her- for those who are unfamiliar, this means that a Japanese student who is studying English in Japan comes on exchange to New Zealand, and stays in an English speaking house.
When they would come, they would stay for about 2 weeks, and during that time they would teach me bits and pieces of Japanese.
I was quite an outgoing child, and very eager to learn. They taught me simple things, like how to say, hello, goodbye, count to 10 and say 'I understand'.（わかります）
They taught me a bit about Japanese culture as well, showing me pictures of their family and friends in Japan, their hometown, and teaching me the Japanese art of Origami‘おりがみ’ (even giving me a book on Origami, which I still have to this day).
All of these little things sparked off my interest for Japanese. When I got to intermediate school, I had so many options of which language I wanted to study, but no Japanese. So I began to experiment with different languages- Spanish and Maori in my first year, and Korean in my second.
I found it very interesting to learn languages, and really enjoyed the experience of learning about another culture.. I even borrowed tapes and books from the library to try and teach myself French in my spare time.
When I finally got to high school, I discovered that they offered Japanese as a class I could take, so I chose it.
It was a trial at first, you would choose a class for 6 months and see if you liked it, and if you did you could continue with it the next year.
So I completed the six months and loved it. Especially learning how to write using a COMPLETELY alphabet and a characters.
For the next six months of that year I had to choose another class- I chose German.
Lets just say, it was a very hard six months. I didn't enjoy it at all, and that's no disrespect to German's or the language, but just to put it simply- I couldn't pronounce anything!
The next year I went back to Japanese and continued with it for the rest of my high school years (completing NCEA Level 3 in Japanese).
During that time I had the opportunity to go on exchange to Japan for 2 weeks, and stay with a Japanese family. This was organised through the Waitakere City Council.
It was an amazing trip! We (our group) flew into Osaka, and stayed with families in a small city called Kakogawa- which is about an hour and a half from Kyoto.
Each day we were doing different activities, going to Himeji, Kobe, Kyoto and Hiroshima. It was a trip I'll never forget, and this also developed my interest for travel, as this was the first time I had ever travelled anywhere WITHOUT my family.
I learnt so much about the history of Japan from that trip, going to different shrines and temples, visiting what's left from the bomb that was dropped on Hiroshima- it was such an eye opening experience.
When I came back, it was around August- and with my recent trip to Japan, and also being a member of Amnesty International, I made a speech to the Waitakere City Council about my trip, and then on Hiroshima Peace Day, made a speech to a full school assembly about what I experienced, and the significance of the day.
After that speech, the Mayor of Waitakere City - Bob Harvey, approached me and asked if I would like to join him on a trip he would be making to Japan the following year for the memorial day. Immediately I said YES, however the following year the trip was cancelled, due to other committments the Mayor had.
When I graduated from high school, I came top of my class in Japanese, and was awarded a scholarship. As this point I was very unsure about what I wanted to do in life ( I still am a little), and didn't want to think about going to university for another 3 years. So I used the scholarship to complete a one month intensive Certificate in English Language Teaching to Adults at Unitec.
Shortly after I decided I needed a change, and moved to Sydney, Australia.
Throughout my time in Sydney, I was working at a marketing company, called Harte-Hanks. I met a man by the name of Riki there, who was from Okinawa, Japan. I told him of my Japanese studies, and my interest in Japan, and he offered to help me with my Japanese while I was living in Australia. So every now and then he would give me a topic, and I would write him a short piece for him to mark, and he would return it to me the next day with his comments and corrections.
It was after doing this for a while that I decided I wanted to start seriously learning Japanese again, I enrolled in the Bachelor of Arts-Japanese course, and booked a one way ticket back to Auckland.
Learning Japanese now on a daily basis is perfect for me, and compared to 3 times a week classes in high school, I am learning new things and expanding my knowledge of the language a lot more rapidly.
Images courtesy of http://www.jccc.on.ca/JCCC_Images/origami4.jpg
http://lh5.ggpht.com/_JCCInva_xvA/R39FIQAAY4I/AAAAAAAAAo4/7aCkbptLD0M/060+Flight+from+Auckland+to+Sydney.jpg
http://www.ilpsuccess.co.nz/images/aut_logo.jpg
