Seriously.
Reading, writing and speaking in Japanese IS not easy. When we used to go to Japan together, mom would caution me to speak in English unless I was with family. They already know my Japanese is often funny, inventive or ???
I actually grew up speaking Japanese until I was in the 1st grade because we lived in the middle of a sugar cane field in a large plantation house with my grandparents with no neighbors until I was in the 1st grade. I have a report card where my teacher commented that I was finally speaking English more fluently. Mom always spoke to me in Japanese and expected me to answer in Japanese. Why she didn't require my baby brother to do the same is a puzzle to me.
So why am I thinking about all this?
Mom is now struggling with dementia so we are having to do more and more things for her. We take care of all her needs. We have to make her oatmeal breakfast because we can't trust her with the stove.
She was dumbfounded. She just couldn't understand what I was trying to tell her to do.
I finally pointed to the kettle and told her "water" in English.
"Oh" she said. "That's not mizu. That's oyu!"
😬 Riiiight.... (I actually did know that.)
Mizu is cold water. Oyu is hot water. But sheesh... It's water, for goodness sakes!
Art was standing across the table with a bit of a (I swear it was) smirk. Art does not speak Japanese. He just knows a few words. 🙄 "I knew that one," he said... barely suppressing a laugh.
I looked up what the hardest languages were to learn. Would you believe Japanese always comes up as one of the top 10 hardest to learn languages in the world for English speakers?
I got this from Dictionary.com.
According to the U.S. State Department, the easiest to learn are the Germanic languages like German and Swedish or the Romance languages like Spanish and Italian.
The five languages in the hardest category were:
- Japanese
- Mandarin Chinese
- Cantonese
- Korean
- Arabic
Why Japanese?
It's got two alphabet categories in Hiragana and Katakana. And then there are the gazillion kanji (characters).
On top of that there's a language change in the way you speak to people who are at a higher level than you, to friends, and how you address someone below you like a dog, underling, child... whatever.
Also, unlike English, the verb goes at the end. Arrghh! And so on and so forth. Here's an example:
He went to the store.
Kare wa sono mise ni ikimashita. (He that store went.)
So OK...
See what I mean? It's hard.
However, this morning. I did remember to say "oyu" so noooo problem.... 😏
Sigh...
Most of us have a hard enough time with English. 😊
ReplyDeleteI took French in school but never did very well. Upon retirement I thought that I should learn the language better. But by then my hearing wasn't great and discriminating words was too much, so I quickly gave up.
I can't imagine trying to learn Japanese. I'm using Duolingo to try to learn some German before we head to Switzerland. It's not easy either but at least it's the same alphabet. I studied French from 4th grade through high school but can I speak or read it now? No.
ReplyDeleteYou are doing well by your mom letting her age in place.
Very trying for you. I learnt French for years - even took it to degree level - cannot speak it unless I really, really have to , but there's no call for it in my neck of the woods!
ReplyDeleteWhen you asked the question about hardest language to learn I knew you’d say Japanese. But as they say - needs must so I'll give you full marks for trying (or trying to remember)
ReplyDeleteMy ‘school girl’ French didn’t get us far in France. The French are renowned for not letting on they speak English but some did - to put me out of my misery. One said ‘thank you for trying but I think English will help’.
Being married to a non native English speaker, we had high hopes of bringing up our children speaking both languages fluently. We started out that way but found that it was delaying our eldest child's progress in school and we were advised to switch to a single language until things straightened out. For better or worse, we did and she did straighten out and is graduating next week at the top of her class of 300 students. But she doesn't speak Tagalog at all. She, her sister and I all know a lot of words and a few phrases in Tagalog, but I think we've all given up hope that any of us will speak it fluently. I think it is just the price we pay when families immigrate to new countries. The old language eventually dies out.
ReplyDeleteWhen I was attending boarding school ( high school but away from home) I took French. French students had to sit at a special French table for meals headed by one of the French teachers. We all spoke nothing but French.. that greatly improved our French vocabulary etc! My grand daughter is minoring in Spanish in college and she finds talking with her coworkers in the kitchen restaurant where she works part time...( Some speak nothing but Spanish)... has helped her alot!
ReplyDeleteSo interesting Kay. I just learned Tokyo is the largest city in the world
ReplyDeleteMy kid's Dad's family came here from Norway when he was in high school. I took Norwegian so I could speak better with my MIL. She asked me to stop as she was trying to learn English. Norwegian has two official written versions nynorsk (new Norwegian) and Bokmal. I failed to become proficient enough to tell the difference. But it did allow me and MIL to make our way through conversations. Her English improved while my Norwegian flopped around.
ReplyDeleteMy Italian grandparents were considered "dumb" since they didn't speak any English going into school. For that reason, they didn't teach their own children their native language-which was a shame. Japanese is difficult because of the alphabets and different levels of formality; French is tough because of its pronunciation. I think Japanese is more regular in that regard?
ReplyDeleteHi Kay,
ReplyDeleteHaving worked in several Japanese owned restaurants, i did learn that there are "several" Japanese dialects, depending on where you are from....so something you may say in one dialect may actually be considered "pidgin" and of a lower class to those who lived elsewhere. SOOO....i always spoke in English ;-{
How many languages do you speak? Guess I’m nosey! Galla Creek
ReplyDeleteKay of Musings: I just speak English and very bad Japanese. My brother doesn’t think I should use Hawaiian pidgin which I did when I was much younger.
DeleteI believe learning Japanese must be hard. All those characters!
ReplyDeleteTaking care of your mother is getting more and more complicated. I admire what you and Art are doing.
I know your struggle so well. My mom was mostly English to me and Japanese and I unfortunately lost my language skills when we moved here. It is very difficult because of the verb thing and by the time I can think of a reply the conversation has moved on. Plus like English all the present and past tense, so there's a lot of thinking going on which is not good for conversation. Plus I am limited to conversational Japanese. When it diverts to something else like a lady was telling me about her church in Japanese I was clueless. I don't recognize any of the words she used I got the gist of what she was saying but exactly what she was saying no idea. Plus response in Japanese is different from English we will say okay, right all the facial expressions are so different too. I noticed that when my mom was heavily into the dementia she lost all ability to read kanji. She will tell me it depends on the symbols but I realized she no longer knew the symbols for it. Also her verbal responses declined where she didn't even talk at all for days. I don't know how fast or slow your mom will go but eventually it all ends up in the same place. Right now enjoy that she is mobile and can do the bathroom stuff. But as they revert to literally a baby it gets really tough. When I thought it couldn't get worse it did. And sadly when it got better was when there was death. But you are very blessed that you have a husband and a brother because just the physical aspect of it is very hard. Doesn't hurt right now to start looking into eventual caretaker ship for the future instead of scrambling at the last minute.
ReplyDeleteKay of Musings: Are you BB? I’m so sorry for your difficulties with your mom. I’ve been hearing a lot of stories about other friend’s and relatives’s experiences and worry about what the next stage will be. I feel so sorry for mom. It frustrates her when she can’t remember a kanji. She’d always had a brilliant memory.
DeleteI know you were secretly thrilled mom could correct you. I had a friend in college who married a Japanese man. He told her not to bother to learn the Japanese characters because it would be too hard. I have wondered how they fared. You know I would have tried to learn the characters just to prove to him I could do it. lol
ReplyDeleteI thought same thing, Moms brain was working pretty good! Dee
DeleteI speak weird Japanese - making up words and the order of words. So I just stick with English in Japan except for Aligatoo!
ReplyDeleteOccasional misunderstandings notwithstanding, it's wonderful you still have mom.
ReplyDeletePretty hard to deal with the irrational. I guess language and expressions from long ago stick with your Mom. However, my dad's first language was German . At the end of his life he's forgotten all the German. He didn't use it so forgot it. so use your Japanese.
ReplyDeleteI recently watched Shogun which has a lot of Japanese, and I really enjoyed listening to the language. It may be hard to learn, but it's a beautiful language.
ReplyDeleteTwo of my sons speak Japanese, and I love to hear it. It's amazing when a native English speaker can master such a difficult language.
ReplyDeleteKay of Musings: Wow! I am so impressed! I know they probably speak it better than me.
DeleteDid you know that written classical Latin puts the verb last in the sentence "Arma virumquo cano, " translates literally to " Of weapons and men I sing," Interestingly, spoken Latin became Italian which is positional. I wonder if in speaking in Japanese as opposed to writing it or making a formal statement, the structure stays the same.
ReplyDeleteI hear you on the difficulties of language learning - I taught ESL and it is hard enough. I love it that your mother caught you out --- she is still feisty and that is wonderful.
Kay of Musings: I had 2 years of Latin in high school and gosh…. That was enough! Learning a foreign language is definitely not my forte. Sigh…
DeleteI actually studied Japanese the University level and could only handle two semesters!
ReplyDeleteKay of Musings: Me too, Cloudia and that was enough for me. I just couldn’t remember all the kanjis.
ReplyDeleteI watched a documentary last night, Omoiyari, about Japanese internment camps, and what it is to be Japanese American in today's country. The racism is sad. And yet even though we can see plainly the injury done by it, it is still prevalent today, even though the sharpest edge to it seems to be at the throat of different populations. But I saw the same thing that I love about your blog: the ties of family, the respect between generations, the sense of community.
ReplyDeleteLanguage is tough for a non-native speaker. My grandie, Aster, used to correct my pronunciation. They are bilingual.
ReplyDeleteI hear Japanese is the fastest spoken language, Spanish is 2
ReplyDeleteSeriously learning Spanish now because my job has a lot of Hispanic contractors and I get paid more once I'm fluent
Spanish is easy to read but so hard to hear.
I learnt French at school, I can still remember a few words!
ReplyDeleteOne of our Grandsons is learning German and a Grand-daughter is learning Spanish.
All the best Jan