yurayurateikokuさんの おぼえた日記 - 2022年10月31日(月)

How have you studied and honed your skills of the Japanese language? What advice would you give to our listeners engaging in a language ono-native to them?
Well, I spent approximately three and a half years in university mastering about 1,500 kanji. So by the end of four years, I could read and write reasonably fluently, perhaps not fast, but with some fluency. Could I speak Japanese? Well, the answer to that is no, absolutely not.
On the other hand, when I came to Japan, which was about a year later, I discovered that although I hadn’t practiced any Japanese during that year, I had still retained all of those kanji in my brain. I’d spent long enough learning them that they hadn’t disappeared.
And with that basis inside my head, once I was here, it was probably a lot easier for me to improve my Japanese than it would be for someone who hadn’t learned to read and write.
On the other hand, to become fluent verbally, you have to be in the country, I think. There are very rare cases-I have come across people who speak beautiful English without having ever been outside Japan. But they’re very few and far between. Certainly, for myself, coming and living in Tokyo was the most important thing. I think once you’re in the environment, you’re in an immersion situation, as they say.
So for anybody that’s really serious about learning English, I would say, go for at least six months, hopefully a year or more, and live in an English-speaking environment. You’ll find you’ll pick it up a lot easier than you probably think.
Hopefully, in the near future, we’ll be able to travel freely to and from other countries again. Well, Peter Barakan, thank you for joining our program. I hope that you will continue to inspire listeners and viewers by introducing great music and culture. Thank you very much.
Well, I’ll do my best. Thank you very much.
Thank you.