Hi to everyone here!
I’m a forty-something mom of two teens who has finally decided to quit mucking around and finally, truly, learn Japanese. I’m half, with my mom being born and raised in Japan. We lived in Yokohama until I just turned 5, then moved to a military base in California. The kindergarten teacher told my parents she thought I was retarded, and they had to tell her that I was still learning English. Unfortunately, my mom didn’t continue speaking full Japanese at home and I forgot almost all of it, and my older sisters were not fluent.

The only Japanese my mom used at home was short phrases, and usually somewhat vulgar, or at least way too impolite to use with strangers. Japanese was not offered at my high school and while I did take one continuing education class at the local community college, I just wasn’t ready for it I guess. I’ve spent the last 20 years learning a little bit here and there (music, anime, my mom), but was never in a real hurry. My mother is not always a good resource because she can’t explain to me why or how something in the language works.

Now my mother is in her 80′s and her health is not good. She is the only communication link we have to our family in Japan, so I’m finally feeling the heat to learn. I’ve been lightly self-teaching for about a year, but I’ve wasted so much time! The final straw was the death of my sister in 2012. My mother never told her family that my sister had cancer, and she never told them that she passed away. She refuses to talk about it and wouldn’t contact them even with our urging. I finally wrote a letter and had to have it professionally translated. I sent it along with photos of our family members and a short personal note that I bumbled together in hiragana.

So, my main reason for finally learning Japanese is to be able to keep in touch with all of our family members in Japan. I’m hoping that Textfugu will help me by providing a solid base, so I can take all the scattered Japanese I’ve learned so far and glue it all together! :)