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Hello! My name is Kathy, and I’m using Textfugu repair my shaky Japanese foundation.
I’ve actually been studying Japanese since my first year of college back in fall of 2011 (!!! how did that happen??), and successfully completed a minor in the language and lived in Japan for a year as an exchange student doing the Intensive Japanese Language portion of Ritsumeikan University’s Study in Kyoto program.
You’d think I’d be pretty good at Japanese after all of that, except I’m…not. At all.
I mean, I’m okay. Really, on any given component of the language, I’d rate myself somewhere on the scale of kinda-sorta-okayish to a solid okay. Except for the kana, which I know by heart. But I’m nowhere near where I should be.
My big problem was always that I simply couldn’t learn at the pace of the class. I’m a perfectionist, so being behind made me feel like a failure, which made me feel like all my efforts were pointless because they would never be good enough to make me the best, which put me even more behind – basically, everything was a huge struggle, and even though I (barely) got through it with decent/passing grades my learning suffered. I knew a lot but never solidified that knowledge, and therefore never gained the confidence I needed to advance like my classmates did.
Now I’m free of the grind and pressure of classes, tests, and grades, and I can do what I actually wanted to do in the first place – learn.
So even though I already know 95% of the content in Textfugu, working through it is allowing me to build healthy self-study habits (much better than I had in the past, though the experience helps!) and to take my time solidifying concepts without the nagging pressure of knowing that if I don’t learn everything by Friday I’m screwed. I’m already almost done with Season 2, and loving every second of it! (though I’m kind of shocked that the book hasn’t gone over Katakana yet. Why wait so long?) Admittedly I’m already a bit nervous about trying to figure out where to go to continue my studies after finishing (because, in all honesty, EtoEto appears to still be several years away from even a beta release), but I’ll cross that bridge when I come to it.
Anyway, it’s nice to meet you all, and I’ll try to check on the forums every now and then!
Welcome! How was Ritsumeikan?
I was tempted to do it myself, but I could never simultaneously find both the time to do it and the money to afford it.
Ritsumeikan was amazing. My time spent studying abroad was truly one of the best experiences of my life. Even though I ran into a lot of unexpected financial difficulties and other hardships when I returned (a lot of which fell on the fact that my university seemed to have no idea how to handle my transition back home, even though they dealt with hundreds of their students participating in exchange programs every year), I wouldn’t trade that experience for anything. If you ever have the chance to spend an extended period of time in Japan you should absolutely go for it.
I’ve spent two weeks, six years ago. Really would like to go back, even if it’s just for another brief holiday.
Actually, the Tohoku Region tourism types are offering someone a million yen to travel around southern Miyagi Prefecture for a month next February (and post articles and videos about it on the internet). I’m really tempted to apply, except that I can’t afford to take all of February off work (or rather, my work can’t afford for me to take the month off – it’s the busiest time of year).
Oh man, that sounds like fun! I wish I could do that, but I wouldn’t be able to take time off from my job, either. ;;
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