I arrived at school on the early side today so I was able to talk to my classmates. Remember that these are people who have been at Yamasa for, in general, 3 terms, and the general consensus seemed to be that the pace slows down after a few semesters and they’re not so happy with the current pace so won’t be continuing. This is something that Declan warned us about at orientation: it’s much more difficult to see progress at an intermediate stage than it is at a basic stage. I agree with this and I feel that I learned a lot today, and have a lot to study (vocabulary, etc). Learning 5 basic things gives much more coverage of the language than 5 small things, so I suppose learning at the same pace does not mean that you progress through the language at the same pace. To be honest, being in Japan, doing my best to interact with native-speakers in any way I can, and going to a language school at the same time is plenty for me, but I can easily understand the frustrations of other students. Unfortunately, the only solution is to go to private lessons instead of group lessons, which isn’t exactly the cheapest solution. I asked “what do people do here on the weekends?” and after the class laughed at me, I was informed that I’ll be needing a girlfriend because that’s the only way people here spend their time. So far, 2 people in my class are married (that I know of). It’s likely that more are. These people are in their early twenties and are married to natives/Yamasa students. Every single person I’ve spoken to has made some reference to a Japanese or Yamasa partner so far. It’s actually pretty scary! I was told that there’s usually a zerg-rush period of 2 weeks where everyone’s desperately trying to find someone. I think this is at the end of term so people won’t be lonely during the break until the next term. I was told of a french guy who met a girl online before he came and therefore had a girlfriend 2 days after arrival. She lives in Tokyo but comes down every single weekend to see him!
High five for Pierre!
I had an interesting conversation about accommodation with an American guy named Scott today. He had been in homestay before and had a very bad experience, so went with an apartment, but found that he wasn’t making much progress as his interaction with natives was suddenly reduced by an enormous degree. This I understand. He then decided to give the homestay a go provided that he got a good family and he’s in a great one now and really enjoying himself there, and learning a lot. He’s gone to an interview for the Kodo school on an island near Niigata today (Kodo is a traditional taiko drumming group, of which I own a CD!). Hopefully I can see him in concert in 4 years or so when he’s done training.
