Lesson Learned

After 30 classes, my Japanese for Beginners class is complete.  It has been a whirlwind of information.  There were classes that I felt on top of the lesson and walked away with confidence.  There were also classes where I sat confused and overwhelmed by the grammar and vocabulary.  At some point, I decided I just needed to sit through the remainder of the classes and just not quit.

In 30 classes, we went through 24 lessons in our textbook.  Plus we either learned two written alphabets (hiragana and katakana).  The pace was mind blowing at times.  For every lesson we had vocabulary to memorize, grammar points to understand, and up to 5 pages of homework.  It was a lot to handle.  So when there were days that I understood what was going on, I felt so proud.

During today's class, I received a certificate of completion.  It made me laugh, because I believe that if I was tested on the materials I would have failed miserably.  But it is the Japanese way.  People don't fail here.  It doesn't matter how horribly you do in school, you are passed on until the 9th grade.  At the end of 9th grade, you must take an exam (similar to the SAT or ACTs).  These scores will tell the student if they can get into high school or not.  Those that "pass" can apply to high schools that match their scores (94% of students in 2005 got into high school), while those that don't go tend to find jobs in manual labor.

Luckily, I can take the class again starting in September.  It isn't for anyone else other than myself.  I really want to be able to have conversations with people and not have to rely so heavily on my family.  I am working on breaking 15 years of bad habits created by survival mode.  I have already signed up for the next class.  So between now and September, I will continue to study.  I will continue to try to improve.