My Language Learning Journey - Ups & Downs - My Childhood

Reflecting my 20 years of teaching Japanese, I want to share my English learning journey from zero to a business level as a native Japanese speaker. It’s actually the same process as learning Japanese for English native speakers.

Learning English was tough for me to be honest like you might feel in learning Japanese. So, I’m sure my story and learning tips from my experience as (1) an English language learner, (2) a Japanese language teacher and (3) an applied Japanese linguist will make your Japanese learning journey much smoother!

First of all, thank you very much for learning Japanese. You are so valuable for Japan, and I really appreciate your decision to start learning Japanese, because many people don’t want to challenge it.

So, what is your life would be if you achieve your Japanese goal and reach the level you want? Your dream is my dream!

You might want to maximise your experience when you visit Japan such as interacting with Japanese people confidently.

In my case, I wanted to visit foreign countries and learn about different cultures in order to broaden my views.

Good communication is the most important for doing anything with people especially from another country. And it’s great that you’ve been studying Japanese!

I know your learning journey is not always smooth and I totally understand your feelings, because I really struggled for many years when I studied English living in Shizuoka, Japan back in 1990…

My parents were both civil servants and they are still living in the same city. They don’t speak English and we never went abroad.

Let’s start the journey from my childhood! I’ll summarise my learning tips for you at the end of the story.

🌸When I was a little girl

When I was little, there were no foreigner in Shizuoka, and I didn’t have a concept of foreign countries.

Somehow, there were cassette tapes of English songs and stories for children at home and I played them occasionally without realising it was English.

When I was watching a TV program one day, I noticed ‘This is a different language?!’ I was 5 years old. Now I know it was SESAME STREET and they spoke English.

When I was probably 6 years old, my grandfather gave me a doll with blonde hair and blue eyes in a dress I’d never seen. Now I know it was a French doll.

This was my childhood. How about you? If you had more contact with Japanese things, you were lucky!

🌸When I was a primary school girl

I enjoyed watching a TV program called世界ふしぎ発見！"Discovering the World's Mysteries!”. It was thrilling to see the pyramids in Egypt and the Nazca Lines in Peru.

I also liked 24時間テレビ－愛は地球を救う"24 Hour Television - Love Saves the Earth". It was a charity program and a 24-hour event across Japan. It showed what the world was facing such as poverty and hungry children in Africa. It is a great memory that my mother and I went to the neighbour shop to donate some money for this program.

One day, my family went to a Chinese culture event in the city. It was absolutely fascinating to have hands on experiences with the different culture! It was my first time to taste Oolong tea and I begged my parents to buy the tea set.

So, TV programs were the main contact with other countries. Obviously, I didn’t have a chance to listen to English in my city. There were no YouTube nor Netflix either.

🌸When I was a junior high school student

In Japan, learning English was compulsory from the age of 13. I started learning English but I didn’t enjoy the classes.

The grammar was too complicated, and I couldn’t memorise vocabulary well. So, I couldn’t understand anything from listening practice. And I found the dialogues on the textbooks impractical.

I even thought I would never live in another country. So, I believed that I didn’t need to learn English anyway.

I liked different countries, but I didn’t want to learn English because I couldn’t enjoy it. Were you in the same situation before you started learning Japanese? I’m jealous if you’ve started learning Japanese straight away.

🌸When I was a high school student

I still didn’t enjoy learning English until the age of 17.

However, things dramatically changed when I finally realised that I was interested in the world and I needed to study English to be able to communicate with people in the world.

My English teachers couldn’t speak English and sadly I didn’t see their passion for teaching English. However, I determined to master speaking English even though there were no English speakers around me.

Since then, I started studying all from the level from the first year of junior high school.

I finally enjoyed learning English and improved it a lot because I had a vision and saw myself as a fluent English speaker in the future!

🔑My Tips

🗝As an English learner：

Have you set a crystal clear goal of your Japanese learning journey?

If you already have goals and reasons to study Japanese, congratulations!

You are already on the right track!

It is the first ever step to see where you want to go on your journey. Your clear goal pushes you forward whatever your environment is.

🗝As a Japanese teacher

If you are using practical learning materials, that accelerate your journey too!

My students who rapidly succeed in Japanese all have their own goals, for their business and hobbies.

🗝As an applied Japanese linguist

There are the same barrier between Japanese and English languages which doesn’t exist between European languages. So, the teaching methods are different. The same learning method with French and Spani doesn’t work. Learn with materials specifically designed for learning Japanese.

Today, you are lucky to have YouTube and Apps to learn Japanese! However, most of you don’t have a chance to speak Japanese every single day.

All my students love my teaching materials I developed over 20 years because I found the way to make you enjoy learning Japanese.

I made it into online self-study Japanese course – Master Speaking Japanese, because I wanted to share my teaching materials available for you 24/7 worldwide.

A native English teacher said ‘The Master Speaking Japanese course is very practical and designed to follow easily. It’s a confidence booster!’

My mission and passion are to make you feel Japanese easy to learn and achieve your goals! The right method will make your journey smooth!

You are welcome to join the Master Speaking Japanese course from this LINK.

I’ll share how I got over tough time and improved my journey on the next story 😊

Let’s enjoy the journey together!

Arai