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Fond Memories: Nihonggo Classes at Nagoya University
28 March 2001
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Halal food photo courtesy of Persepolis Restaurant.
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When I first came to Nagoya I deeply regretted spurning the books and ignoring the teachers at my old language school, Tokyo University of Foreign Studies' Japanese Language Center for Foreign Students. When I was sent packing to Nagoya and attended my first university classes, I barely understood 10% of the lecture. And I couldn't make friends because I couldn't speak a decent line of Nihonggo. Fortunately, my Nihonggo classes at the university became something like a haven. Here I was grouped with other not-so-fluent-in-Nihonggo foreign undergrads like myself, and these classes became the few (if not the only) ones that I could honestly say I was able to cope with without giving myself a heart attack. See, as undergrads our language needs are quite different from other types of foreign students. Having to attend classes all day along with the regular Japanese students, as well as buy (and hopefully, read) the same textbooks they do and go through the same exams they take, undergrads are required to have at least intermediate level Nihonggo or better. They had to in order to survive in an all-Nihonggo environment.
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Regardless of language level, all undergraduate students, regardless of major or means of support, are "encouraged" (read: required) to attend at least one year of Japanese language classes under a special program especially meant for undergrads. There were basically three types of classes, each of them held once a week. Attendance was a must, and so, even when I was feeling under the weather or simply not in the mood, I dragged myself to the Language and Informatics building. Kanda-sensei taught us listening comprehension skills. Ozumi-sensei was in charge of teaching us how to write properly in Japanese, while Doi-sensei gave enrichment classes.
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Outside the Pakistani restaurant Kashimir in Kanayama. The whole class: students, teachers, and teaching assistants. I took this photo, and asked them to pose this way especially for this web page. =)
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And then there were my classmates. During their first year, undergrads are separated into nationally-funded scholars (Nihonggo level: intermediate) and privately-funded students (Nihonggo level: advanced). There were only 5 of the former for my batch, and so we enjoyed a lot of individualized attention. Nouxay of Laos came from the same language school as I did, and so I knew him already. He's taking up Information Engineering. Just like Suraya, a Malaysian. There were two other Malaysian girls, Ayu (Chemical Engineering) and Malis (Economics). This made up our little class, and we got to see each other three times a week for a whole year. =)
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To tell you the truth, I sometimes, no, make that often, found the language classes tedious and not all that interesting. But now that I can no longer take such classes (since they are only for freshies and sophomores), I've found out how much I miss them! No other class could give someone such careful, individualized attention. At first I thought that the constant correction of our written and spoken grammar etc. actually hampered the possiblity of spontaneous learning and stunted our efforts to communicate. However, looking back, I can now say that the constant "surveillance" they put us through was actually to our benefit. I now wish that I could have the luxury of having three good teachers to correct or check the numerous speeches I've been asked to give, the dozens of term papers I have to research on each year, and the essays I have to write because some authority told me to do so. When I was a freshperson, there was little that I would bother to have checked or corrected, but by the time I got to my junior year I really wished I still had my teachers who would give a very detailed proofreading and sometimes even rewriting of whatever stuff I needed to say or write at the moment.
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The girls in class. Hmm, I'm the only one without a head covering. I wonder what I'll look like in one? Think it'll look good on me? =)
I'm shown here holding a chicken drumstick. It was really delicious. It was my first time to eat Halal food and I loved it. We had a full course meal, from soup to salad to curry to dessert. I can hardly remember the names of the entries, but I can still taste the yummy curry!
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As of this writing, I am tied down with the unwanted job of filling up rirekisho, the Japanese equivalent for the job resume. Oh, how I wish I could see my former Nihonggo teachers three times a week and have them check every word I write! And those horrid mini-essays, asking bleah questions like "Anata ga genzai egaiteiru kyaria bijon to shibo riyu ni tsuite setsume shite kudasai" (explain-your-career-vision-and-why kind of stuff). Duh, I mean, I have no career vision. Really. And it's not a language problem. I have no career vision in any language. Sigh. My career vision is to have a job that will keep me fed and clothed, that's all. I don't wish for much. I just want a decent abode and food on the table and some money to attend the Nagoya Grand Sumo Tournament once a year...
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From left to right: Kanda-sensei, Ozumi-sensei and Doi-sensei.
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Oops, I'm straying away from the topic, which is my Nihonggo class. As I mentioned earlier, I had good teachers. One of them, Kanda-sensei, is actually a long-time sumo fan! She was the one who introduced me to the great Chiyonofuji, the greatest sumo dude to grace the face of the earth. It was from Kanda-sensei that I got my first glimpse of Chiyonofuji on videotape. Before that, I only had books and magazines to tell me just how great he was. He's been retired for nearly a decade so I had no chance to see him in action. When I asked Kanda-sensei about him, she told me all about the guy and lent me a sumo book and two videotapes of Chiyo. And these tapes were nearly a decade old! She kept them all these years. Sensei also kindly dubbed a videotape for me, so that I can have a copy of the Chiyonofuji Tribute tape for myself. When I photocopied an English dictionary of sumo terms, she very kindly wrote down the corresponding Japanese/Chinese characters for each term so that I can become familiar with them. I'll continue to be a sumo fan for a long, long time, and I'll always be grateful to Kanda-sensei for encouraging me to watch and learn about sumo and for the countless fun conversations we've had about it. Kanda-sensei, kokoro kara kansha shite imasu!
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I think Ozumi-sensei had a particularly difficult time with me, because I was lazy in doing my homework, had very bad grammar basics, and was unwilling to cooperate in class. I remember our term paper for that year, where I insisted on writing something about politics while my classmates wanted us to work on one common general topic. In the end we ended up writing about the environment, and I was very grouchy about this because, while I did care for the environment, I didn't want to write about it. Two years after the class ended, I took up an Environmental Law class in my college, the School of Law. And boy, was I glad I was forced to write that term paper on the environment two years ago! I used the less than 10-page paper as a basis and starting point for my new research, and expanded it to a 25-page term paper for the law class. I got an A for it, and I know that I wouldn't have done as well if Ozumi-sensei didn't make me do research on environmental policy and the new recycling laws during my first year in the uni. Ozumi-sensei, honto ni doumo arigatou! Taskarimashita!
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Doi-sensei gave us supplementary and enrichment classes. If there was something we didn't understand in our regular university classes, we could take our notes and recorded lecture tapes to class and she'd help us figure out what the professor was droning about. Doi-sensei also taught us things that weren't covered in our formal Nihonggo classes, such as making telephone appointments, asking a Japanese professor for a favor, as well as how to write Nengajo (traditional Japanese New Year card). We had a lot of free-wheeling talk during Doi-sensei's class. She also went the extra-mile to meet with us after class hours and answer our questions and listen to the tape-recorded lectures we took. Doi-sensei, iroiro arigato! Tanoshikatta desu.
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From L to R, Malis, Ayu, me, Suraya, TA Suzuki-san with her baby girl, TA Yamamoto-san, Nouxay, Kanda-sensei, and Ozumi-sensei. Click to enlarge photo..
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As for my classmates Nouxay, Suraya, Ayu and Malis, well, we are still in the uni, in different departments but all alike in our struggle to graduate and make something of our lives. All of us will be on our senior year this spring of 2001, and the battle is far from over. It's job hunting time! Nouxay, Suraya, Ayu and Malis, it's an uphill climb from now on, so let's continue to grit our teeth and bear it! Hope to have a get-together with all of you before we graduate!
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Related Link
Persepolis - A restaurant in Australia serving authentic Halal food. They have a nice website, too.
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