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May 1990: Language classes
For the most part, while I lived in Kyoto, I tried to hide that I was part America. In part, this was a reaction to the polarization that I saw in the American compound where I lived and, in part, it was due to my desire to fit in with everybody else in the city. For the most part, this was easy. I looked fully Japanese, spoke fluent Japanese, and had been raised in Japan so I knew how things were supposed to go. However, it wasn't always so easy. Especially when it came to anything in school that related to America. I which case I knew a lot more than anybody else did except, of course, which things I shouldn't have let on that I knew. I occasionally said "I" or "we" when I should have said they, and once, in geography class, I let slip that I knew every state and every capital, which even my geography teacher didn't know. Then there was the issue of being able to speak English When I began school in Kyoto I hide that I could speak fluent English from my classmates as a way of hiding that I was any different from the rest of them, and it wasn’t until we began to learn English in any depth that my teachers realized that I could speak it as well as they could, sometimes better, even though I was only a child. When we first started English classes, it was easy to hide the fact that I was fluent. I simply sat in class and recited the right words along with everybody else, taking care, of course, never to pronounce things too perfectly. However, when things became more advanced, it was more difficult to hide my knowledge. Particularly as I hadn't quite grasped exactly how hard it was for everybody else to learn English. In short, I got things right first time far too often. One day, after a particularly advanced class on verbs, my teacher took not of the fact that I could conjugate verb faster than he could think of verbs for me to conjugate, he stopped me after the bell and asked a "Do you have a private English tutor?" (This was before the days when there was a Nova in every train station,). "No", I said, "I don’t need one. I just picked it up". This might sound rather a simple question, but when it was asked at native spead, in English, and to a boy who should still be saying, "These is five led appres" and "Take the filst load to the light and go straight on" or as is more likely "Solly, I am no understand, please speak more slow", "No, I don’t need one. I just picked it up" came as a bit of a surprise to my teacher, especially as I'd completely forgotten where I was and had spoken with a pure New York accent (courtesy of my Mother, who was schooled there). I didn’t lie to my teacher, largely because I had had a strict and traditional upbringing and didn’t know how to lie, especially not to a teacher, but I didn’t tell him that I was half American either. Instead I mumbled a bad excuse about watching lots of foreign movies and ran for it. The teacher, didn't press things, and he never spoke to me about the incident again, but he did speak to somebody higher up. Thus, with near immediate effect I was transfered internally to a senior English class (which is a far rarer happening in Japanese school than it is in American school), where I was introduced to near college level English, and I was given special permission to learn Chinese during my normal English slot. Which was a challenge that I thoroughly enjoyed. |
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Tony / Website (25.5.07 08:34) Hi there, Akito, Just a quick note to say I've never read a more interesting blog. Youre experiences are fascinating and I can relate to alot of what youve said from my own experiences here in Japan. Dont get me wrong, im not in any way Japanese, but Ive given talks with students who looked slightly western only to find out that they spoke fluent English. This made the whole routine of the kids asking me what films I liked kinda mundane for her. Im sure you can relate. Anyway, the post regarding guns in America was also enthralling, I would love to quote some of your experiences on my own blog sometime. Would this be ok. Hope alls well and keep writing this awesome blog. Tony |