Eigo de?

In my three years as gaijin in Japan, it's quite rare for me to talk to a Japanese who can speak English almost on a native level. When this happens, I feel like I've been freed from an skimpy cell where words are kept to their simplest forms.

In one of our visits to Shinjuku Gyoen (well, we are regulars here), I chanced upon a short yet entertaining conversation with Yoko-san. She is conversant and friendly, and she was the one who initiated the conversation (I had to admit I was hesitant at first). She had lived in New York for five years (if I am not mistaken) and have traveled around Southeast Asia except Philippines, my dear homeland. (As a backgrounder, most Japs have a not-so-good impression about the Philippines, thus shun away from Filipinas and avoid traveling there. I'll post a longer story about this, promise!)

Japs are very eager to learn the English language for various reasons, but mostly for travel and business purposes. As an EFL/ESL teacher, I have experienced teaching Japs of varied levels. The most difficult for me, and I take it as a challenge, is to teach those in the lowest levels for they tend to speak in Japanese in the class, which I don't and can't understand. The easiest are those in the upper bracket where I can freely use some difficult and/or longer words/phrases, and can easily create a lively discussion. And the most rewarding part of my "profession" is when these students go out of the class smiling and feeling satisfied with their lessons with me. This doesn't happen everyday though as some would say "musukashi" (difficult).

On my part, I make extra effort to learn Nihonggo, not only because it is a necessity to survive here, but also for me to somehow grasp what my lower-level students are trying to say to me. They are exerting so much effort to learn English, so I must put similar amount of work of understanding their language too.

And how far have I gone with my Nihonggo? All I can say is ... musukashi! ;)