I would agree with Kat on studying abroad being a great opportunity that everyone should pursue, assuming there isn’t some personal complication making it unfeasible. Rarely will there ever be as ready a chance, with so many options, as when you’re in university. I mean, hey, why not? The prospect of getting to travel to and live in another country seems so amazing that I shouldn’t even have to bother selling it; being able to travel across the seas, meet new people, learn new language, try new foods, experience all sorts of culture and history you’d never find at home… Truth be told, as a white, nth generation American where n is too high a number to call to mind, it’s easy to feel as though I don’t even have much of a culture, that the United States is this modern, consumeristic, assimilating global power absent of genuine culture of its own. This widely (if vaguely) held assessment maybe isn’t quite fair, but even putting aside the age of buildings or numbers of historical artifacts, there is something inherently different about the sense of shared culture and identity you’ll find in many of the more nation-state-like countries of the world—varying in degree and precise character, of course, between each of them.
Personally, I never had any doubt that I’d study away as a college student, even as far back as elementary school. As someone who spent the better part of their childhood wishing they were British, I think I generally assumed the UK would be my destination—maybe Oxford or Cambridge or Edinburgh, if Hogwarts was off the table. I guess partially it was an ancestral decent thing, but mostly I think it was a matter of shared language and all the British books, music, TV shows and movies I loved. Perhaps the idea of me learning another language seemed too far-fetched. Later I started giving more consideration to other countries, namely in Western Europe, where I could always get by with English as I work on my German or French or Dutch or Swedish. There’s no shortage of places I’d like to go; the problem is picking one. Well, that was the problem anyway. Now I’m pretty sure that I want to spend my junior year at Waseda University, in Tokyo.
This plan would probably come as a surprise to the me of a year or two ago, who despite some interest in Japan had never placed it foremost on the list of places I wanted to go. But I chose Furman and got to go on a free, two-week trip to Japan, which was awesome, and now I may even be getting a major in Japanese Studies. So given that, and that I really want to reach a high level of foreign language fluency, this particular exchange program is hard to pass by. An entire year in the world’s largest city, at one of the nation’s most prestigious universities, with plenty of time-off to interact with locals and explore the rest of the country—maybe even take a trip to Korea. Plus one of my best friends (who’s half-Japanese) wants to go, so I’ll have benefit of having a familiar face who’s already pretty proficient. Though with only two spots available let’s hope we don’t face too much competition.
I can’t say I see myself ever moving to Japan permanently. It’s a friendly place for gaijin (foreigners), especially Americans, but not exactly known for readily accepting immigrants as full members of society. If I end up an expat it’ll still probably be somewhere in Great Britain, as I’ve always wanted. And I haven’t given up my dream of properly traveling Europe!
The Onion recently had an article, which you probably saw, about how half of the world's Japanese speakers (or something similar) are 23 year old white dudes.
ReplyDeleteHowever, most 23 year old white dudes don't strike me as the types to really jump into a language to this degree. True immersion is something that I'm not even sure I achieved in a relatively more familiar language and culture, that of Spain. I'd be interested to see how your experience is and what peculiar difficulties others have had in Japan as opposed to other countries.
I did see that... You know, I think for a long while there's been that kinda nerdy "weaboo" demographic who, as a result of an interest in Japanese pop culture and a strangely idealized view of the country, have been led to try learning the language. (Maybe as many white girls as white guys, at least in my experience.) It's an interesting phenomenon... there may not be a language that more Americans have tried to self-study in the past 20 years.
ReplyDeleteBut, of course, as you acknowledge most of those people will never get anywhere near fluency. Even some Furman students that take three years of Japanese classes and spend a whole year in Japan come back unable to read fully read newspapers or understand non-subtitled movies. Mastering a language, even one less difficult for English-speakers than Japanese, is a long, grueling process. So clearly going there isn't enough; true immersion, I imagine, takes very deliberate effort.