Just had my language school interview and now Iām nervous. He said immigration might be harder on me because Iām not in my 20s no more, so that and the fact that my diploma doesnāt match my work experience might make it more difficult to find a job after language school.
Also in nicer words, he basically said Iāll probably be lonely because thereās a good chance that Iāll be the only English speaker and Iāll be the oldest. He also definitely brought up my age more than I thought they would. Making it seem like Iām gonna pass away tomorrow fr
The fact that Iām actually following through with this is making me second guess my entire life and purpose. Iām making the right choice? I didnāt want to be surrounded by English! Am I in over my head? Will I be able to stay in Japan even if I drop everything and go there?
edit: I did sift through some WK posts on the forum that helped me but yes, currently am still spiraling.
Man, Iād completely forgotten human beings shrivel up and and blow away like tumbleweeds in the wind once they hit 30ā¦ stay safe out there!
In all seriousness though, the interviewerās fixation on your age aside, I think the second-guessing is totally normal at this stage. Itās all becoming more real! And the questions youāre asking yourself are good and important things to think about. There are a lot of pros and cons to weigh, and itās impossible to know with complete certainty what the outcome of big changes like this will be, but at the end of the day, youāre the one who will know best what the best choices are for you.
Take your time to think things through, and take it easy on yourself!
In my language school (last year) we had a lot of people who werenāt in their 20s - the oldest was in their 60s! Iām in my 20s and I was worried I would be the oldest, but that definitely wasnāt the case for me, by a long shot! Also, I found the younger ones were the worst students, lol
I had friends at that school who spoke English, but also friends who didnāt. Honestly, I credit most of my speaking skills now to my wonderful Taiwanese friend (in her 30s) and Korean friend (in his 40s) who both couldnāt speak English and I definitely donāt speak Korean or Mandarin, so learning Japanese together was really fun and honestly, really special! We got to get to know eachother slowly as our Japanese skills improved, which was so rewarding
As for getting a job; my partner has a degree that isnāt the same as his current job, went to language school with me, and is currently employed at a Japanese company (albeit in their English department). His field is competitive and my school told him finding a job here in that field would be near impossible. He had three offers.
On the other hand, my field is more niche and more in demand, but I wasnāt able to find one in time! So I went into English teaching temporarily, and then networked my way into a different field (literally got the job from a girlie I spoke to watching the new Indiana Jones movie lol), which I think is the secret for us gaijin
If you have any questions about my language school or getting a job etc, lemme know! I was SO terrified after graduation lol but everything worked out in the end
@rua ; Only reason Iām as shriveled as I am is because I forget to drink water
I was recalling the interview over again and I think he was placing importance on my age out of courteousness. He was saying how like if Iām 2 minutes late, Iāll be reprimanded the same way an 18 year old would be and more so felt like he was getting my permission in a sense to be treated not as my age. Where in my head Iām like yea, makes complete sense and I was thinking about when I studied abroad in 2018, the first day half of our group was late to the introductory class and my professor was PISSED.
I think the visa/diploma/future job chaos wasnāt on my interview bingo card, but I also couldnāt really convey some other lucrative ideas I have once I get there too like potentially starting an LLC so I donāt have to be subject to future crazy Japanese companies. But yea, youāre right. Big changes require big thoughts and at the end of the day I wonāt be happy if I donāt try.
Just need to get a solid confirmation on how much money I gotta throw at them for the visa. ^^;
@georgiapeaches ; Thatās reassuring to hear, thank you! Itās more of a lesser known language school so I feel like they might be worrying too much about trivial things. But like you said, being around people I canāt speak English with will only help me which is a big reason I also chose somewhere away from Tokyo and a place (while itās the only one in Miyazaki City) that doesnāt get a lot of English speakers per se.
Thatās crazy how your job scenario panned out but glad it ended up working out for you! A post on the WK forums I found when I was just sifting around also mentioned how they ended up getting a job from someone (Japanese) that they randomly met. It always comes back to networking
Did you just do 1 year at your language school? Mine goes up to 2 years and I do want to hit N1 (for permanent residency points), but Iām curious how far you were able to get in your time there.
I think Iāll end up going the full 2 years and give myself 1 year to prepare for after language school, maybe even grab an immigration lawyer and get everything lined up so immigration doesnāt yell at me and ship me away.
Miyazaki City looks like a wonderful place to live, I bet youāll have the best time ever! My school was in Tokyo, and I honestly still struggled to find English speakers I realised pretty fast that just because my classmate spoke English, doesnāt mean we actually have anything in common
I just did the 1 year. I studied Japanese for like 7 years by myself but I just could not get it to click so I was stuck around early N4, if Iām being generous, so I chose to start the course from scratch, which Iām glad I did because my fundamentals are now super solid lol it really helped me understand the language and I have been fine self studying since graduation!
But in that one year I went from (technically) 0 to N3 level. I took the JLPT N3 three months before graduating and failed, but I was also very ill at the time and was bed ridden for a month after I took it, so I think I would have passed otherwise
My friends who took the July exam two months post graduation took the N2, and a good chunk of them passed, but they were mainly from China/Korea/etc and had similar language advantages, but my fellow native English speakers all got to N3 level by the end.
My friends who chose to do the 2 year course are all on track for the N1 by the end, and started at the bottom with me. So I would definitely expect youāll be fine to reach your goals!
I had a great time at my school and I wish I could do it all over again!
Yeah, in that context it makes sense he brought it up then. I can also understand being caught off guard with how much he mentioned it. And for his concern about visas and immegration, maybe they see a lot of prospective students who arenāt fully prepared on that front or have unrealistic expectations. Kind of nerve-wracking topics even when you arenāt in an interview!
I second the immigration thing, so many people Iāve met have no idea how it works at all someone at my school told me their plan after graduation was to āstay in Japan and wait until I find a jobā (they were politely encouraged to go home by immigration)
Iām excited to head somewhere off the beaten path. I think heās still confused why I chose Miyazaki City. Because that also came up a few times. Yea, thatās true about finding people on your wavelength. Iām not too concerned about making friends with classmates but it wouldnāt be a bad thing.
Having good fundamentals is good. Iām cramming until I ship off in April but I donāt think Iāll be placed much differently and I think thatāll just allow me to focus more on reproduction and internalizing instead of memorizing. Good to know that N1 is possible in 2 years! Wow, itās crazy how much just devoting time and being consistent can really do a 180 somersault backflip on life.
@rua ; thatās a good point too. Like Iām not seeing their side of all the people wanting to stay in Japan after language school and failing to do so. And it for sure is not a fun topic to navigate. Honestly, I should do more research to get a grip on the more ins and outs of it. Low key afraid of immigration
I think about this all the time, I was so nervous to take the leap but my life would look so different if I didnāt, and I canāt wait to see where my Japanese is a year from now!
I hit the level up on Monday so it being almost a week later feels so distant. Honestly I landed in critical territory. Iām INCHES away from full sending self-sabo mode and halting all my Japanese studying. Which is wild because I just had my first interview with language school on Thursday night. But that ended up having me spiral and I guess I just have a lot of mental resistance in accepting that? I really wanted to complete more of my textbook this week and there was so much hope on Tuesday that just face-planted into reality. I feel like iāve only stayed tethered to the studying solely from this forum and my ranting study log. itās all dwindling. itās doomed. Dā:
Anyone else on a learning blockage cycle?
Is it just me?
The listening sections in MnN are getting harder for me to focus in on. Iām listening to podcasts, music, streams, etc almost daily but the textbook audio is not at a human pace and you canāt tell me otherwise. Canāt just be me and English spoken that fast would have me fully zoned out. I donāt get how I would even attempt to pass a JLPT audio portion. I just looked online for listening examples and theyāre 5x slower than the MnN audio
PARTICLES DONāT MAKE SENSE
there i said it. i mean they do make sense but my brain thinks theyāre interchangeable and i know theyāre not but they just feel like they are sometimes, ya know
I got some beef with this textbook but the workbook is nice. I feel like it gaslights me sometimes tbh. Workbook and I get along, it scales the 2 page lessons nicely.
I have to say with WK, I really do wish when learning new kanji that similar kanji from previous levels where in itās own little tab. Breath (ęÆ) for instance I just KNOW Iām going to mix up with ę. I already have trouble with å¾ and ę in MnN and when I got č¦Ŗ last level, it messed my remembrance of ę° all the way up. Maybe itās just a me thing, but I canāt be the only one. I donāt even know if it being acknowledged in the WK learning trails timeline that it would actually help either. Itās all subjective, ya know? And more are definitely on their way. Does anyone have any learning tips on how they bypass the initial struggle? āāāā> i wrote this paragraph earlier in the week and i tried going slower for once and it actually helped. but likeā¦ Iām not always gonna.
Another quality of WK life feature I think would be cool is if when learning new kanji, when you hover over the radical composition it would highlight on the kanji itself so youād be able to see exactly how the mnemoric is supposed to take place in your head. Also that little bit more time spent on radicals/meaning/readings/examples would help in the long run because a lot of the time Iām going quicker than I probably should be.
Hopefully itās just an end of every month thing were I lag and spiral and self sabotage and Iāll be better next week? also the changing of the seasons are against me. honestly like even me going for a walk last night and today Iām just like wow Iām gonna have this summer/autumn weather vibe in Miyazaki (altho idk how my adaptation to humidity journey will be)
thatās it for this week
also i made a transparent spacer image so i can make the posts look better visually
Iāve definitely been there beforeā¦ I always just try to get what I can done and not worry too much if I have weeks where Iām not getting an optimal amount of work done. Sometimes Iām busy or stressed or depressed and itās hard to study, so I just try to make at least a little bit of progress and tell myself that itāll get better if I just keep going and get through the tough period. And so far it always has gotten better! As long as youāre not burning yourself out by trying to push yourself way too hard, I think youāll get your studying mojo back eventually!
If youāre really having a tough time, I recommend scaling back a bit and just going into maintenance mode, so that you donāt totally burn out, but try your hardest not to drop it completely.
I really recommend these two userscripts for helping you differentiate similar kanji:
å¾ and ę caused me a bit of trouble at first, too. The trick for me was learning to focus on the left radical, which is the semantic component for these. For ę in particular, the finger radical is a great help for remembering that it means hold! And the loiter radical in å¾ makes sense for āwaitā!
The phonetic component åÆŗ is a bit less helpful for this set, because the ć only works for ę, but learning it did end up helping me out a lot when I encountered å³ (non-WK kanji meaning ātower, soarā) in the word åÆ¾å³ (confrontation; standing facing each other). And hey, mountain is a pretty fun component! I can work with that in my memory (and in fact, two mountains standing facing each other is a valid use of åƾå³).
My recommendation when you find yourself confusing two kanji is to look at them side by side (the niai script is fantastic for this, especially since you can add your own kanji to it) and identify the differences. Then learn to look for that difference when you see those kanji, and find some way to center that difference in your mnemonic for that item, so youāll look at ę and automatically go āOh! Fingers! It must be hold!ā. Most kanji kind of follow a sort of formula in terms of how the components are put together, and youāll get a feel for that over time, and will learn what information to focus on when looking at a kanji thatāll let you quickly and easily identify it.
I often find that the ones that have a very straightforward phonetic and semantic component are the easiest for me, and the ones that sort of break the rules trip me up. Thankfully, in this case knowing a lot of kanji already can actually be a big help for learning new ones outside of WKās system. I recently encountered å« in the word å«å¦¬ (ājealous, envyā), and I was like "hang on, doesnāt that have a ē¾ in there? And sure enough, ē¾ is the phonetic component, and å« has the exact same reading!
So instead of being annoyances, these component differences can actually be really, really nifty to help you memorize new kanji quickly and retain the information over time. But yeah, sometimes you do have to take the extra time to examine something a little closer .
Itās definitely hard when the rough patches come up, and in the course of any long term endeavor like learning a language youāll definitely go through those periods. But Iāll second this as super super good advice.
As long as you donāt drop it completely, eventually the slump will end and youāll have the energy to work hard on stuff again! Just do what you have the energy to do, even if thatās only the tiniest of tiny bites each day.
honestly, so true. but eventually theyāll click, especially once you start reading more
Yea youāre definitely right. Iāve just consciously noticed a general pullback from Japanese literally like an hour ago. I think itās an overlap of overstimulation while trying to manage an onset of new hyperfixations. So just balancing out those terms on a personal level. Honestly this blog where I just take a mental dump is also freeing in that sense and helps me sort. I think reminding myself that just maintaining a base level of consistency is WAY better than a complete cut off because thatās what Iāve always done in the past and I know that outcomeā¦ this setup is technically a counterattack and all my combined past outcomes to get over the hurdle. Definitely a journey and thanks for reminding me to scale back if need be.
Those scripts look really helpful! Iāve only ever added one (dark mode) years ago so I have to relook into that when I have the capacity. But yea, making mental notes on the differentials will be helpful and having them visually there can help me compartmentalize.
officially signed into maintenance mode and itās not looking good. i fully am in the midst of crashing and burning but iām going to try to salvage it this week. i mean itās tuesday and i havenāt done WK since saturday and maybe, just maybe, i can get back in the swing of things. i also have delayed posting this for a couple days now because iām becoming so detached from my japanese studying.
also donāt have much to say? i havenāt cleared out my WK reviews for like 5 days now, theyāve slowly been piling up more and more. i should finish level 12 this week if i can bang out the reviews today and tomorrow though. iāve noticed my immersion levels are down and iām not āthinkingā much in japanese because of it so i feel like thatās definitely hindering retention. iām going to try and get through the mid MnN test/review thing because i had started it with the particles and got so many wrong that i havenāt made any progress since. maybe that hurdle, along with a new game Iāve been playing, along with the season change, paired with throwing all my good habits out the window in lieu of bad ones have just stockpiled up.
i did finish the first volume of ćć¤ć°ćØ which is fun. itās a cute read, not something i honestly would read if i was fluent in the language though but the illiterate canāt be choosers i suppose. lol. i think Iām going to start with vol 2 this week since itās not has cumbersome as a full length book and there are some visual cues which are nice.
i finally started using my daily planner again so there is hope. Iām going to actually read some of my first entries i wrote here to help me get re-inspired about everything.
i tanked. itās doomed. i need motivation somehow. been loosely keeping track of the past what? 3 weeks? i really fell off, but maybe surely hopefully this week i get back on track?
oh dear, take care of yourself! maybe itās time to reconnect with those things that you already know enthuse you and bring joy, and have a short break from some of the deliberate learning activities? and in other areas of life? I know for me it works better to push in phases and have slower phases where I just take stock and regroup
Iām not a water-hater but if I didnāt have those giant jugs of Pocari Sweat and ćµć«ćć£ć©ć¤ć in the summers I donāt think Iād survive.
I really wanted to complete more of my textbook this week and there was so much hope on Tuesday that just face-planted into reality. I feel like iāve only stayed tethered to the studying solely from this forum and my ranting study log. itās all dwindling. itās doomed. Dā:
but eventually theyāll click, especially once you start reading more
