I’ve mostly not been using japanese in the last two years, and as a result I was quite worried about going back to the land of the rising sun… especially for my reading skills, considering it’s nearly impossible to remember 漢字 (kanji) without actually using them.
Well, turns out I was half wrong (could have said half right, but since I’m a pessimist…). I do remember quite well the language itself, but I really lost a lot of my reading capability (wasn’t that good to begin with anyway…).
Spoken japanese is however coming back to me, sometimes in tiny little bits, sometimes in a flow, so to speak.
Having lunch in a very nice little restaurant two steps away from the Senso-ji temple, I was listening (totally involuntarily, I swear!) a conversation between a loyal customer and the owners and realized I understood it all.
Actually, I realized they are also friends due to the nature of the conversation they had, which saw another client as a participant. Small places like that tend to have a very devoted clientele, and you can see something not so common in a big city like Tokyo, the good old friendship.
Being a 外人 (gaijin) in Tokyo (or anywhere in Japan) you may be quite often the target of some small talk between locals who think you don’t understand them at all. Language can be a truly sturdy barrier, but if you can break through it, true understanding becomes a possibility.
In my opinion, language is the best vehicle to the understanding of the culture. Without it, I dare say, such understanding is not really possible… especially when it comes to those full of tradition like the japanese one.
Some of the funniest moments in my visits to this country have been the result of me showing I actually understood what the local said about me, or some locals noticing I surprisingly understood them. Japanese people will always compliment your japanese… they did so when I only could ask the price or say thanks, and they do now that (thank god) I do know a few more words… obviously you need to reply with something like “まだまだダメなんですけど” (mada mada dame nan desu kedo, something like not really good yet), cause you shall never boast!
