Okay so everyone learns at least a few words of a foreign language in their life. In middle school it was mandatory to take Spanish but I could not grasp it. My friends tried teaching me French and once again I could not get a hold of the language. Finally when I was registering for high school I noticed my school offered Japanese. On a whim I signed up for it and was lucky enough to get into the class. I instantly fell in love with the language.
Even though it is ranked as one of the hardest languages to learn I picked up on it almost instantly. I was even helping my class mates that sat around me. Of course Level 1 was much easier than the other levels because 先生 (the teacher) would speak Japanese only when she was teaching us vocabulary. In Level 2 先生 started to talk to us in Japanese but would still mostly comunicate in English. Level 3 was when she really started to talk to us in Japanese. The only time she spoke English was when we got completely lost. Level 4 was pure Japanese all the time. Normally I was looked to for the translation of what she said. And this year, Level 5, 先生 has an assistent 花 who is teaching us and she speaks mostly in Japanese because she is still getting used to using English. (Oh funny side note. I am the ONLY Level 5 but there are 3-4 Level 4 and 2 Level 3 kids all in one class.)
I am going to clear the stereotype that Japanese teachers are strict. 先生 is not strict in the least. She is a sweet lady who cares about everyone in her classes. Yes she does get angry and will chew you out when you have done something wrong far too many times but she is not the strict "you have to do this this way or you fail" kind of teacher.
Now just for giggles I leave you with the Hiragana and Katakana charts (two of their three writing systems)
わ ら や ま は な た さ か あ ワ ラ ヤ マ ハ ナ タ サ カ ア
り み ひ に ち し き い リ ミ ヒ ニ チ シ キ イ
る ゆ む ふ ぬ つ す く う ル ユ ム フ ヌ ツ ス ク ウ
れ め へ ね て せ け え レ メ ヘ ネ テ セ ケ エ
を ろ よ も ほ の と そ こ お ヲ ロ ヨ モ ホ ノ ト ソ コ オ
ん ン
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