I’ve officially moved to Japan for more than a week now. I think I should probably start writing some posts before my blog gets spider web lol.
搬來日本已經超過一個禮拜了,我想應該要開始寫些文章要不然部落格都長蜘蛛網了哈哈。
First of all, I want to talk about language, which is the biggest challenge for me at this point. I thought my Japanese speaking and listening ability is considered okay for daily conversation level. However, once I got here, I realized that it’s totally not like that.
首先,我想來談談語言這部分,因為對我來說這是現階段最大的難關,我以為自己的日常日文聽說能力是還不錯的,可是當我搬來這裡以後,我才深刻地了解到完全不是這麼回事。
The biggest problem is that I’m afraid to speak in Japanese, just like many English-learners in Taiwan are afraid to speak in English. No matter what language you’re trying to practice speaking, I guess it’s more of a mental thing rather than your actual speaking competency. When talking to a native speaker whom you just met, those who don’t speak the language that well definitely feel a sense of insecurity. I think I just have to be bold and don’t be afraid of making mistakes.
我最大的問題在於開口說日文的恐懼感,正如同台灣有很多學英文的人不敢開口說英語一樣。不管今天你想練習的是哪種語言,我覺得最大的問題是心理障礙,其次才是你本身的口語能力。面對一位剛認識的當地人,對還不熟稔當地語言的外國人來說,要開口講話一定會有種不安全感。我想我應該不要想太多,不要害怕犯錯,勇敢開口說就對了!
Also, Japanese speak extremely fast!!!Everyone speaks in a bullet-train speed!!!! (Especially for store staff and sales associates…on top of that, they speak in honorific form…) Even if I passed the N1 test and got a pretty decent grade on the listening section, I still have a hard time understanding the language. It usually take couple seconds for me to process the information (my Japanese brain is only Windows XP...). That’s why there’s always this awkward silence every time the associate finishes talking and we are like staring to each other for 3 seconds.
此外,日本人的講話速度非常快!每個人都用新幹線的速度在飆!(尤其是店員…他們還用敬語…)雖然我在日檢一級的聽力部分拿到不錯的成績,要聽懂他們在講什麼還是有點困難,我通常要花幾秒來處理聽到的資訊(我的腦內日語系統還停留在Windows XP…),所以每次店員講完話,我們都會尷尬地對看個三秒…
One day I was shopping at mylord department store in Shinjuku, one of the associates came up to me, introduced this cute sweater and asked if I wanted to try it on. I probably looked pretty confused so she had that “are you okay” look on her face. I told her that my Japanese is not very fluent and apologized. She said sorry because she thought I’m Japanese because I didn’t sound like a foreigner. I told her the honorific form is really hard to understand but every store staff is using the language so I always have a hard time understanding them when I go shopping. She said they always use honorific form when talking to a customer because it’s their way to show their respect and gratitude to the customers who pay a visit to the store. The service industry in Japan is like a total different level, even part-time workers are using proper language and very polite to the customers. Well, the conclusion is I should go shopping more often so I can get used to the language faster haha.
有一次在新宿的mylord百貨逛街時,有個店員向我介紹一件很可愛的毛衣,批哩趴啦講了一長串後問我要不要試穿,我可能看起來非常困惑所以她也一副「你還好嗎」的表情,我向她道了個歉,說我日文還不太好,她也向我道歉並說因為我聽起來沒什麼口音,所以以為我是日本人,我跟她說敬語很難,可是因為每個店員都講敬語,所以我每次出門逛街都聽不太懂,她說日本的店員一定都要要講敬語,因為這是他們對來店裡的客人所表示尊敬及感謝的一種方法。日本的服務業完全是另一種境界,就連一般工讀生對待客人也都彬彬有禮,措辭洽當。我想,結論就是…我應該要常去逛街才能更快熟悉這類用語哈哈。
希望日文能練到和左邊的安東尼一樣能出道當搞笑藝人一樣好啊!!