I don't know if y'all know this, but in Japan there is a government-created list of all the kanji one must know to read the newspaper (you can get it as a wall scroll and everything). The list is comprised of the 1,945 kanji students learn in elementary and junior high school. Everything not on that list, and therefore not considered a 'practical' kanji, must be accompanied by phonetic readings. In order to pass the JLPT at Level 1 (the highest level), one must know an additional 90 or so kanji that are not considered practical. Because you have to know all sorts of ridiculousness to pass that stupid test. I could, at this point, breeze through the JLPT at Level 4, and probably get through Level 3. I don't know enough kanji to get any farther, even though technically I've studied enough hours to qualify for the Level 2 exam.
Japanese is hardcore.
Anyway, the point of this little mini-lecture about how many kanji one needs to know to be considered literate in Japanese is that, well, I want to be literate in Japanese. In fact, I'm starting to consider applying for the graduate program in international relations at TIU (you know, that one school I spent four months at and blogged about... yeah, that one) after I graduate. Actually, I'd be applying in the winter after I graduate, because the Japanese school year starts in March, so I'd be chilling in Seattle for a few months first. Anyway, despite TIU being international and all that, there is exactly one American attending the university as a regular student (I know this because I've met her, and she has a web comic¹), which means getting in as a 白人² from アメリカ will be a challenge. If I were Chinese or South Korean? 構わない³ Coming at it as an American is a little more difficult.
And, you know, I'll need to be fluent in Japanese.
That's kind of the big problem, actually. I can figure out the practicalities. I'm smart and capable, I've been to Japan, and I know people in Kawagoe who could help me out. But if my Japanese isn't strong enough, it won't matter because I couldn't get through the program anyway.
Then there's that thing about me probably not having a Japanese class next year (thanks, bio 110), which means I'll have to continue studying on my own.
You know what this means? It's time for me to practice some serious self-discipline and spend the next year and a half or so learning as much Japanese as I possibly can while living in the States and finishing an English degree. I have textbooks (four of them, actually), I have dictionaries, I have a kanji study book and I have the internet. I also have a host family in Japan who I need to write to more frequently, anyway.
But, as the title says: a little daunting.
¹ Gai-Gin.com
² はくじん: hakujin: white person
³ かまわない: kamawanai: no problem
3 コメント:
I didn't know one could put footnotes on a blog.
I feel like you can do this. It'll be really hard, but you can do it. The most important thing is to find someone else who speaks it. You could even put up flyers on campus saying you'll take someone to coffee or whatever if they speak Japanese with you. Also, you should order fiction in Japanese off the internet. And spend lots of time reading websites. And write out a schedule of goals for next year, and when you're going to meet them by.
Yeah. You just gotta be really disciplined.
Well, they're not really footnotes, just superscripts and some html to make a horizontal rule and small text. I thought it looked better, okay?
Putting my silly formatting aside, I think you're right - as long as I find someone to speak with regularly, it'll be okay. Fortunately, my roommate studies it (and was in Japan with me) and Willamette has TIUA, which means there are roughly 150 Japanese people here at any given time, excluding January and half of February.
Writing goals is a good suggestion, too. Thanks!
Yeah, at least you've got some good resources. You COULD be on the East Coast, where people and don't even know what wasabi or nori is and call all Asians "Chinese" or even "Oriental". It's a sorry state of affairs. I'm, like, an expert on Japan compared to these fools. Which is sad.
The footnotes were cool. I was just amazed to see them, is all.
Post a Comment