"Whats it like studying in Japan in Japanese?" I heard the fake blond haired girl nursing the now warm beer asked me. I took my time answering, its just I have strong feeling against anything fake; hair color, eye lashes, tan, lenses: For me its just too distractive, I always wonder why people do that to themselves: OK the only thing I get is the fake boobs nothing else. Anyway I hear myself explaining for the trillionth time the experiences I had, the difficulties and finishing it off with a few advices that I picked up along the way.
Sometimes I try to listen to myself and pretend I am another person listening to my own voice. After repeating the same things countless time I still find it weird to listen to myself. Its true, why Japan? when I could pick some other English speaking country.
The experiences and level of difficulty we students who studied/are studying in Japan went through varies from one student to another. Differs due to a lot of contributing factors like our field of study, the type of institution we attend, our sponsors and much more.
In my case I had to study Japanese intensive course for one year. That was the hardest and most boring period of the whole program. Its not really easy trying to adjust to the climate, food, culture while learning the Language. Then we have other external pressures like the other students for example. It turned out I not only learn the Japanese culture and Language but the cultures and way of dealing with people from other countries. It can get frustrating at times. First here I am missing my own people then I have to put up with behaviors I find weird and selfish. Sometimes I know that some of the students use their culture as a means to exploit you. Then kids from different family background tend to be more difficult than the Japanese language itself. You have the poor kids who are too judgemental and stingy, the over religious ones who are also judgemental, the village kid who have no social skills and the over pretentious one who tries so hard to be polite which can be annoying at times.
Learning Japanese is not always easy because in the schools you will hardly associate with Japanese only foreigners inside the institution. After I got out of that school I was relieved to be rid of all the irritating ones and kept close contact with those I accepted as friends.
Starting college was no Joke, I realize that my Japanese is not sufficient for my course. And nearly all the other foreigners studied Japanese for more than 3 years before enrolling. I had only a year of Japanese studies behind me.
However I had the advantage of being the only student who is fluent in English and I already covered more than half of the courses in the whole program. So the only thing I had to do was perfect my Japanese. I had a free and easy ride. Most of my friends had a really hard time because they major in electronics, IT and engineering. And their colleges are pretty tough on them. I was told before coming to Japan that in all colleges the key is to have a good communication with your professor. By that I don't mean you should take him to dinner or have him over for pizza. Just allowing your professor to develop good level of communication with you goes a long way. In my case I decided to do the opposite, I kept them all at a distance that way I let them know that I am stubborn and conflict will arise if I am not left alone. It worked for me, you have to understand the system to be able to manipulate it. And what I found out in Japan is that manipulating the system is not that unethical.
Because of my character I hardly hang out with my Japanese school mates. You see the thing is: I'm really not one of those people who would waste my time hanging around people I don't really find interesting. I like being straight forward and like I mentioned before I don't like anything fake or pretentious. We do talk just that I keep it to a minimum of 5 minutes before class or stick to greetings and that's that.
My major was hotel so being nice, kind, proper and greeting each other with a huge smile is a must. I hate everything about it just too much of that pretentious behaviour creeping through these old halls. However its also wise to have at least one friend and other informers, people who will gladly tell you whats going on and who is likely to have the exam papers leaked. Yes that's something I find really weird. During our examination week I entered the examination room with my foreign friend and the students were sharing the answers of the exam that we were about to sit. I was pissed because instead of doing part time jobs and collecting game cards I spend my whole weeknights and weekends studying. How the paper got leaked was another question, I complained to the board. Its not fair on a bunch of us foreign students, we studied hard to get good grades.
The rest of the students get a pass while the foreign students get their respective grades. Still its not fair but the lecturers are unwilling to set another paper.
Then the famous nomikais (eating and drinking with school mates). We had a lot of them always end up in izakayas
Graduating was the best thing that ever happened to me. My first year in and I already wanted to leave it was a nightmare. I learn absolutely nothing from that school, most of what I learn was through my part time jobs and internship. And I was under constant pressure to participate and voice my opinions on everything even do presentations. Once I was asked to read a text again that I got angry and I declined. The lecturer was furious but so was I and I explained that he doesn't understand the level of ridicule we had to put up with when we misread a kanji.
That's just one of the things I dislike among my fellow Japanese school mates, they just assumed that because we are there studying with them and conversing in Japanese we know all the Kanji or all the aspect of the Japanese culture. On the other hand they are very helpful always giving us notes and writing furigana (Japanese reading aid) for us.
There are times I wonder why Japan? But most of the time I never regretted studying in Japan. I notice that Ive grown a lot and just being in Japan is educational enough. There is just so many things to learn from the Japanese and their culture. Foreigners tend to waste their time by fighting the Japanese culture, criticising the system and so forth. But in my case I accepted it the day I arrived and it made my life so easy. I adjusted well into their society and I do question some aspect of the Japanese culture, their curriculum system but I know that its a waste to hate it or try to change it.
I had this friend who attends an English university and he would complain 24/7 about his reports and projects. I would sit there and think: What an Idiot! He was lucky enough to be studying in an English University in Japan and yet he complains. I told myself over and over again if I'm in an English University after going through the Japanese school system you wont hear a single complaint coming from me. After studying in a foreign language I know I'm tough enough to handle anything.
Language alone already creates a huge barrier a report that would take you 10 minutes in your mother tongue will take you even days in a foreign language. And that's where most of us have difficulty in just the reports. In lectures I understand everything just when it comes to writing I would need at least a day to have a perfect report paper.
But like most things in life its all about the right behaviour and attitude. By graduation we were left with less than 10 foreign students, the rest quit to pursue something else. The schools are not designed to cater for foreign students but at the end of the day its a personal choice you either beat it or quit.
The rest of the students get a pass while the foreign students get their respective grades. Still its not fair but the lecturers are unwilling to set another paper.
Then the famous nomikais (eating and drinking with school mates). We had a lot of them always end up in izakayas
Graduating was the best thing that ever happened to me. My first year in and I already wanted to leave it was a nightmare. I learn absolutely nothing from that school, most of what I learn was through my part time jobs and internship. And I was under constant pressure to participate and voice my opinions on everything even do presentations. Once I was asked to read a text again that I got angry and I declined. The lecturer was furious but so was I and I explained that he doesn't understand the level of ridicule we had to put up with when we misread a kanji.
That's just one of the things I dislike among my fellow Japanese school mates, they just assumed that because we are there studying with them and conversing in Japanese we know all the Kanji or all the aspect of the Japanese culture. On the other hand they are very helpful always giving us notes and writing furigana (Japanese reading aid) for us.
There are times I wonder why Japan? But most of the time I never regretted studying in Japan. I notice that Ive grown a lot and just being in Japan is educational enough. There is just so many things to learn from the Japanese and their culture. Foreigners tend to waste their time by fighting the Japanese culture, criticising the system and so forth. But in my case I accepted it the day I arrived and it made my life so easy. I adjusted well into their society and I do question some aspect of the Japanese culture, their curriculum system but I know that its a waste to hate it or try to change it.
I had this friend who attends an English university and he would complain 24/7 about his reports and projects. I would sit there and think: What an Idiot! He was lucky enough to be studying in an English University in Japan and yet he complains. I told myself over and over again if I'm in an English University after going through the Japanese school system you wont hear a single complaint coming from me. After studying in a foreign language I know I'm tough enough to handle anything.
Language alone already creates a huge barrier a report that would take you 10 minutes in your mother tongue will take you even days in a foreign language. And that's where most of us have difficulty in just the reports. In lectures I understand everything just when it comes to writing I would need at least a day to have a perfect report paper.
But like most things in life its all about the right behaviour and attitude. By graduation we were left with less than 10 foreign students, the rest quit to pursue something else. The schools are not designed to cater for foreign students but at the end of the day its a personal choice you either beat it or quit.
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