Why Japanese?

 I've always liked languages, not that I speak many tho. I think it was the only thing I was good at in school, hehe. 

Most of you know I am an English teacher, I also speak Spanish and, I took French classes for many years because of school. I understand it a little but my speaking is veeeery poor. I guess I forgot most of it.

Not long ago my friends and I celebrated a year of studying Japanese. 🎉🎉 Time went by really fast! It didn't feel like a year. But something that some people constantly ask me when they find out I'm studying it is, why Japanese? Why not choosing another language that could be easy to teach and easier to learn? 

First of all because I chose to study something I wanted to learn for SO many years, and the idea of doing it with my friends made it all more attractive. I wanted to do something for me, something that I could enjoy without feeling the pressure of doing it for work.

Also, I love Japan! Yeah, we all know I like anime and Japanese food but it is more than that. I do love the country and it's culture and it is not a new thing, I've liked it since I was a girl, I even dreamed of marrying a Japanese guy (I still do sometimes, hehe). My dad actually practiced Martial Arts for many years and also likes the culture, I just took it to the next level, haha.

When I was younger, my dad gave me a sheet with the Hiragana and Katakana alphabet. I didn't really know how they worked but I remember my sister and I used to write each other letters and notes in spanish but mixing the two alphabets together. Of course most of it didn't make any sense but it helped me to kinda identify how some of the characters looked like. I'm sure we didn't even write them the right way.

I still have the Hiragana and Katakana sheet

I've been watching anime for many, many years as well as Japanese movies and listened to japanese music so, that helped me to learn basic words and their meaning. But of course, I couldn't really make a sentence.

As time went by my love for the Japanese culture continued growing, I wanted to experience and breathe it as much as possible, visiting asian restaurants, stores and going to japanese festivals and conventions.

I guess learning the language was just the last thing to do before actually going to Japan. Cuz yeah, it is a dream I've had since I was a girl and even tho I don't think it'll happen anytime soon, I'm sure I'll do it one day. I just have to!

I also think my sensei makes the learning process easy, she is super patient and makes the classes fun. I'm not gonna lie, I could be a better student! it hasn't been easy cuz of work and how busy I always am, but it is something I really enjoy. So, I'd say that is the main reason why I chose Japanese, I love it and my clases are kind of a "me time"

またね ♡

Japanese speaking workshop: Describing someone.

It's been a while since I last wrote something related to my Japanese classes. Last weekend I started a Japanese speaking workshop to actually have people to practice with and even tho it's only been a class so far, I really enjoyed it. 

For this workshop we had to prepare a short presentation about someone, it could be a person you know, a famous someone or a character. We had to describe them with the vocabulary and grammar we know so far.

I chose my husbando, Sasuke cuz I had enough information to talk about his family, his past and all that stuff.

The idea was to present the information to the class and ask questions after that, I was suuuuuper nervous at the beginning but I ended up enjoying it a lot.

And since I'm super proud of my presentation, I wanted to share it here, hehe. It may look a little basic but I really put time and effort in it. (I slept super late a day before because I did it at the last minute tho...)

On the first slide I included some basic information along with his family members.

The second talked about his days as a ninja student and a super short description of him.

And on the third one, I mentioned what he likes and dislikes to eat and his "present".

Presentations were supposed to be about 2-3 minutes long, hence the little information. Plus, I'm not that good so I couldn't get into much details yet.

Excuse me if there are some mistakes there, I'm still learning and, this is the first time I do something like this. Hehe.

I know this is a bit of a random post but, I really wanted to share it. Hehehe.

Learning Japanese!

Most people know how much I love Japan, and it is not new, I've loved it since I was a girl. It started because of anime (Sailor Moon, of course) but, it only grew as I got older. 

I always wanted to learn Japanese but for whatever reason I didn't have the chance until now. Anime helped me to learn a few words and get used to the sound of them so yeah, anime can teach you something! Haha. 

Two months ago some of my closest friends and I started taking Japanese classes. My friend Diana was the one who told us about it and we thought it'd be fun to do it together. It's as if we were back to school, but together this time. Can't believe we finished the basic course. As I'm typing these, we're about to start with the regular course in a few hours. So excited!! 🎉

And I think it is somewhat like it was back when I was a student. I am terrible with homework and I'm always behind somehow, the only difference is, I do like it this time.

I have to say that the fact that I am learning a new language as a language teacher myself makes it a lot easier for me to understand how the grammar works. And surpisingly, it's easier than I thought. Same goes to vocabulary. From important phrases and numbers to random words, I feel like we've learned a lot in a short period of time. 

What has been giving me a hard time is the writing and reading!!! OMG I'm so behind on that. I can remember a few syllables but, not enough to read in a decent way. I literally feel like a preschooler when I try to do it. Hehe.

And it's funny because even tho I always encourage my students to use a second language as much as they can and feel confident when reading or speaking, it is hard to do it myself! I understand how they feel now!! Add to that I don't have someone to constantly practice with.

I'm happy I went for it because it is something I'm doing for me to spend some time doing and learning something I really like and wanted for a long, long time. The teacher makes the classes fun and uses lots of Naruto references, which I love! 

I don't really know how good I'll become but I know I'm enjoying the process, especially because I get to share the experience with people I love. At least I can give a little self introduction now, hehe.

If there's any tip you'd like to share with me to practice or improve my skills, feel free to tell me! It's all more than welcome!

さようなら。