Anyway, I re-watched Lost in Translation tonight (I somehow stumbled upon the article for the movie on wikipedia from searching for the names of songs in Taiko no Tatsujin). It's strange how much I recognized pop-culturally from the movie and how much of the Japanese that was spoken in the movie I was able to pick up. Well, given that it has been since 3 year Japanese in high school that I actually watched the movie, it has definitely been an improvement. After watching it, it made me realize about many different things and re-sparked feelings I had when I first came to Japan nearly 4 months ago. I remember that I definitely had more knowledge in Japanese language and culture than Bill Murray and Scarlett Johannson, but some of the feelings felt were similar. I couldn't understand anything that was spoken to me when I first came here. During the student orientation, I felt like I was being led around on a leash. I remember dreading or joking about my "broken Japanese" any time having to give a "Jishokai" (a self-introduction) because chances are from my early experiences trying to speak Japanese were horrible I couldn't make myself look intelligible. Textbook Japanese is not usually used, and I have a bad habit of forgetting vocab sometimes. I understood many customs already, but some I either forgot or were new--I forgot some etiquette when me and Rin went to the Onsen and I was surprised and amused when I was asked by a employee to take off my shoes before entering a dressing room at Sano Outlet mall. I used to get annoyed when people would encounter me and say "hi" or some other phrase, as the only English they knew. I thought they assumed I couldn't speak any Japanese. When I first came here, there were many situations where I was forced to use only English. I wanted to speak Japanese, but couldn't. I even had one person say to me "Please only speak in English" to me. I was shocked and somewhat upset at the time.
But, now is definitely something different has come about. I noticed it around late June but even closer in early June. I started to use dual audio (my explanation for bilingualism). I more and more got used to normal speaking rate and how an average Japanese person speaks. I picked up more vocabulary. And by getting in more and more "Japanese only" situations, I was reinforcing the vocab I knew and I was studying for JLPT. I purposely put myself in the situations because I wanted to relate and meet new people, and make friends, but also improve my Japanese. The point I started realizing that I was getting better was when I translated several of the Hawaiian exchange student's request at karaoke. I didn't want it to sound too completely rude, and I felt it somewhat did, but it eventually got the situation under control for everyone. But, before this moment, I was realizing more and more I was able to hold conversations with people better and on my own than I previously had. I eventually stopped carrying my electronic dictionary everywhere (first my DS, then the electric I bought to replace it). I became more dependent on myself and using the explanations of others to explain words and concepts. I still use my dictionaries if I want to look up a particular word to say in Japanese, but usually I rarely use it in most situations. From the start, I watched a lot of Japanese TV. I read a lot of manga I bought without a dictionary, and even if I couldn't understand the meaning of a word or what it meant, from the action going on and the expressions on peoples' faces, I could understand a lot more than just the words (Fred Gallagher from Megatokyo suggested the same thing, but with anime). It feels weird to start becoming more and more bilingual. As usual, the more you avoid and stop using your native language, the more you lose of it. My losing of English has been more gradual at best as my extents on the internet reinforce what I am losing. But, honestly it has happened in my speech sometimes. I also notice a lot more in my spelling. I told Hiro the other day Sweden was spelled "Sweeden", but after looking it up in katakana in a katakana dictionary, I discovered I had an extra e. Another really cool thing is that you can go back and forth between languages pretty decently easily once the seeds of bilingualism are planted. One minute you're speaking to your English speaking friend and then you meet a Japanese friend of yours and you start speaking in Japanese. It's really cool, and I wish I could do it in more languages. But, the "use it or lose it" way are brain tends to be as we get older makes it harder to do so. But, immersion is the best way to get into and learn a foreign language. But, it also takes more and more to abandon your language. I am more and more thinking in Japanese, but there's also times whether or not I don't know what language I am thinking in, I am just speaking what's on the tip of my mind. And that's where I want my ability to be.
So, I could tell you how to get decent bilingual in Japanese, but it really depends on your own way of how you think and your ability at the language when you arrive. I wanted to meet new people and make friends and test and continue to grow in my language ability, but your goals might be different, or you might have your own problems to deal with. But, at the same time, I use "dual audio" rather than bilingualism to represent where I am at (yeah, I used bilingual more in my post than dual audio, so go sue me). It takes years to reach what I truly feel where bilingual would be. But, I should be decently fluent by the time I leave here. And that's one of my hopes at the end of this program here.
Anyway, on another topic, I got sideswiped by a car today (more or less she hit me slowly from the side as I passed, but she was already slowing down which caused my balance to buckle and fall in slow motion) and landed on my right palm, which hurts only a little now, but hurt like a bitch earlier. With two in the past, I know how broken bones feel, but I felt that this feels more like how you legs would feel if you jumped off a two story building and landed exactly on your feet. That force pitch or force impact stings for a while. I should be okay, but if the pain is dull and lasts for more than a week, I'll go to a doctor. I am typing just fine right now, so it should be nothing to really worry about.
And wow, and earthquake is occuring right as I am typing this. It feels like a 3.0 on the Richter scale here in Oyama. Oh wow, it was a 6.8 in the northern part of Japan.
And here's a picture:
"This is a statue guardian in Toshougu in Nikko"
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