When learning about a culture different to mine I think it's good to keep some things in mind to combat any kind of misunderstandings. For me I think it would be good to try and make observations if someone says or does something that's personal, cultural, and universal. That would likely make a lot of room to help aid with culture shock. I think I should also be a lot more mindful of myself because American culture is quite different from Japanese. Japanese culture being of course a lot more conservative and reserved. I feel like reading local newspaper would be good too to keep up with current events and what could possibly be affecting the local people and possibly even myself. I also have a problem with oversharing as I'm used to the people all around me what's happening as I'm very open. I think that I have to really watch that to avoid any discomfort. Especially when making friends, it would be good to set boundaries and see what others are okay with and not okay with. I also plan to ask tips on what kind of behavior isn't good around the general population, and to immediately let me know if I do something socially not acceptable as it's never my intention to be rude. When I go to Japan, I think joining a club would be good too to somehow intergrate better into my local communities. There would definitely be a lot to learn from there.
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Growing up I had to learn Korean just through my parents, but it wasn't enough to help me be fluent. I didn't know how to read and write Hangeul, so I had to teach myself when I was about 16 years old. It wasn't very challenging as it's similar to English in the sense that it's phonetic.
Learning Japanese though is more challenging as there are characters that symbolize an idea and can have many different readings. I think the best thing for me to do is just constantly apply Kanji whenever and wherever I can when I'm writing. I've learned from my translation and interpretation class with Sekine sensei that learning radicals would be very useful too as those themselves represent an idea as well. For example, 海 has the 'sui' radical which represents water. It's a common radical as well. As for listening, I mainly listen to Japanese music and watch a lot of anime. I am constantly trying to repeat back to myself what they're saying to see if I can understand a native person coherently as well as pick up on any words I know. I find myself not knowing a lot of vocabulary though, so I picked up some Japanese workbooks to help myself out when I'm not in school and not busy. I feel as if I was lucky with my own Korean cultural background. It not only enabled an easier time learning the Japanese language, but also aided me with an understanding towards Japanese culture. Something I was already familiar with was how important respect is towards others. Speaking formally and using some formal social cues are examples of that. Of course though there's an immense list of social cues, for example I know that age is very important to Korean people, but asking for age in Japan could be rude. I think one of my biggest struggles will be understanding body language. For this, I feel as if I have to be careful and observant as to what people are physically doing and ask others for a better understanding on what I can catch.
I've been to Japan twice now though before entering college, so I can get the gist of what to do and what not to do. I think while moving forward, one strategy that I'll keep in mind would be logging my experiences more so that I can reflect on them in depth when I am able to. Short term goals:
- Travel to Hokkaido - Visit shrines - Experience Tanabata - Experience a visit to an onsen - Visit Fushimi Inari Taisha I should be able to manage my time and plan ahead of time when I want to go to these places and festivals. Long term goals: - Make life long connections with other people - Gain confidence in reading, writisng, and speaking in Japanese - Be able to work and live in Japan I'll be sure to reach out to people and make friends. With those friends I will converse with them even long after going back home. While speaking, hopefully we will be able to better each others language profficiency. As for working and living in Japan, I will keep those people close to me and apply to programs like JET. |