Making the Mile Marker

In the long process of acquiring another language, second or otherwise, there are many markers along the way. In spite of what the title of this post says, some of these markers are much farther apart than others. One of these markers for me is to gain and maintain a friendship with a native Japanese speaker. So far, my previous attempts have not led me passed this marker that is so important in the progression of learning a language. Some breakthroughs I've made in trying to gain a mastery of this amazing language have run me into a very thick, very painful wall. I am still trying to recover from a friend that I made when I first got here who rarely let me speak with them in Japanese. Oh well though... I've had many other experiences when my ability to speak Japanese helped out in the retail and tourism realm of my previous jobs.

The person that I have finally been able to surpass this particular marker with is a girl in my Hale who speaks Japanese with me just about every time she stops by the office and I'm working. It's really cool, and I appreciate it so much because I am actually learning a little better in translating mentally and then making a decent sounding reply. Well, this woman has really been cool. Tonight she stopped by and we just talked about everyday things like work, school and TV, of all things. It was really cool though. Granted... we slipped into Japlish (Japanese mixed with English, vice versa), but still, for about two or three minutes, I was thinking and replying in my best Japanese.

I know of a couple more people who are in similar situations where they are trying to find people to befriend who speak the language that they are studying. I am also glad and grateful of being around Judge when he tries to speak Japanese, because there I can just rely on my very Japanese, which is the foundational Japanese that I have all but forgotten. Thanks Judge. You help me keep my Japanese fresh, and thanks to the Hale 3 girl who is so excited that I speak Japanese that she spends five or so minutes speaking in the language with me.