The following is the English version of an article in interview format published in March 1st, 2007 edition of the Japanese Language Educational Journal. In that article I talked about my personal experience coming to Japan on the JET program and learning Japanese from almost zero at that time. In that article I also talked briefly about learning kanji using James Heisig’s Remembering the Kanji books.
How Foreigners Study Japanese #1
Karl Rosvold
He’s developing kanji learning software for students from non-kanji backgrounds
Profile
1970 Born in New York
1972-1982 Lived in Europe for father’s work (10 years)
1982 Returned to America. Moved to Detroit
1992 B.S., University of Michigan (Mathematics)
1993 First time to Japan, started studying Japanese, worked successively as Assistant English Teacher at Mukaihara Senior High School, Hiroshima Prefecture, Miyajima Town Hall, and Mitsubishi Heavy Industries, six years total in Hiroshima.
1998 Passed Level 1 of JLPT
1999-2006 Returned to United States
Lectured Japanese at University, interpreted, worked at Japanese Consulate
2006, April – Second stay in Japan. Studied Japanese, Japanese Linguistics and Japanese Pedagogy at Keio University. Dream is to develop and popularize a curriculum for studying kanji for students from non-kanji backgrounds
I first became interested in Japan when I spent six weeks at the University of Hawaii’s summer session. On that trip to Hawaii I made Japanese friends and ate sushi for the first time. I also picked up the book The Japanese Today by Edwin Reischauer, the former ambassador to Japan. It made me think about many things I had never experienced while living in the United States. I started to study Japanese a few months before I first came to Japan, so that makes it 13 years so far. These days I have no difficulties with Japanese for day-to-day living. Please allow me to tell you about this one foreigner’s experience studying Japanese.
Coming to Japan as a High School AET (Assistant English Teacher)
A year after graduating college, I came to Japan on the JET program sponsored by Japan’s Ministries of Education and Foreign Affairs. I came to teach English at a small-town high school, an hour and a half from Hiroshima by single track diesel train. Working as an English teacher, I studied Japanese on my own to make my life in Japan more convenient.
I had three main reasons for studying Japanese.
First, when I arrived in Japan, I couldn’t speak or read Japanese, and that made life here very inconvenient. My Japanese English teacher colleagues helped me in many ways, but I needed to study Japanese to be more independent in my daily life.
Next, I figured that knowing Japanese would be helpful when looking for a job when I returned home to the United States.
Finally, I met all sorts of people during my stay in Japan, from my colleagues at school to Buddhist monks to great-grandmothers. I thought that if I could speak Japanese, I could have interesting conversations with all of these people, regardless of each person’s English ability. Because I am curious by nature, for me these conversations have been one of the true joys of living in a foreign country.
Trying to become independent in daily life
I knew almost no Japanese when I first arrived in Japan. On someone’s recommendation I started studying kanji using James Heisig’s book, Remembering the Kanji I. I had studied the writing and English keywords for about 500 characters before arriving in Japan, so when I arrived I knew that the character 赤 meant “red” but didn’t know how to say it in Japanese.
Goal setting is important
I bought lots of Japanese textbooks in Japan. Most of them were preparation materials for the Japanese Language Proficiency Test. I set passing the JLPT as my study goal. Because my main purpose for coming to Japan was to teach English, not to study Japanese, I had to set my own study goals and take responsibility for what to study myself. I don’t think I would have kept studying if I didn’t have the goal of passing level 1 of the JLPT. When people ask me, I always say that the most difficult part of studying Japanese was “figuring out what to study next.”
Curiosity and the People around me kept me going
I was blessed with a great environment for learning Japanese. What I studied in textbooks at home one day I tried using at the office the next. At work, I was never without my electronic dictionary. After I learned some basic Japanese I was able to make many Japanese friends. By asking my friends to correct my Japanese I was able to learn proper Japanese as a natural part of my daily activities.
Opportunities for studying in daily life
I also took advantage of volunteer Japanese classes at the community center in the next town over and at the Hiroshima International Center. I even studied Japanese by watching TV by recording anime and Japanese dramas. When I played them back, if I came across a word or expression I didn’t know, I stopped the tape, looked up the word in my electronic dictionary and wrote it down in a notebook. Studying in this way was fun, so it didn’t seem like a chore at all.
Passing Level 1 of the JLPT
It was five years from when I first arrived in Japan in 1993 to when I finally passed JLPT level 1 in 1998. Having a measurable goal allowed me to quantify my progress as I went along. I think that is why having a specific, measurable goal is so important. Moreover, a person who passes a test like this can show those results to others as an objective measure of his or her Japanese ability.
Studying Kanji is Critical
I’d like to offer some advice for those just starting their Japanese studies. First of all, realize that the road to Japanese mastery is a long one. Figure out what sort of Japanese communication is important to you, and set appropriate goals. Then work hard to achieve those goals. Unfortunately you cannot become good at Japanese just by living in Japan, so I suggest you use a textbook and practice what you learned with the Japanese people around you. That will help reinforce what you studied.
The earlier you start studying the faster you can reinforce your learning in your everyday activities. Once you gain a solid foundation in basic Japanese it will be easier to learn new words and phrases as a natural part of your daily routine.
There are many ways you can study Japanese. Electronic dictionaries are especially handy, so by being able to use them well you will be able to speed up your acquisition of new vocabulary. For kanji too, the earlier you start to study them, the sooner you will be able to review and reinforce what you have learned simply by looking at signs and billboards around town.
Why I want to improve kanji education for foreigners
By studying Japanese I have been able to have so many more great experiences in Japan than if I would have had without knowing Japanese. I thing international communication has never been more important for Japanese than it is now. Of course it is important for Japanese people to study foreign languages, but it is also very important for foreigners to study Japanese, too.
It seems that there are almost no students from non-kanji backgrounds who achieve a high degree of Japanese mastery, and I think the biggest reason for this is the Japanese writing system – that is to say, kanji.
While they both study kanji, adult foreigners and Japanese school children have different amounts of time available for them to study and different life experiences, so I think we must admit that it is possible that the best way for them to study kanji may also be different.
Rather than studying kanji one-by-one in isolation, I think it is necessary to study the characteristics of kanji as a system. If a student learns kanji, well learning difficult academic vocabulary will be much easier too, and systematic knowledge of kanji will also help keep students from forgetting the kanji they have learned. It is for all these reasons that I plan to continue my research on kanji education.
