Those were the words our new boss said to Ella when they first met, in reference to most foreigners’ total lack of knowledge of the Japanese alphabets or spoken language.

And after nearly a month here, I gotta admit it’s pretty spot on as a statement of how it feels to try and lead a working life in Japan with little knowledge of the language, both written and spoken.

We did a ten week beginner course of Japanese a few months before coming out - which has helped not to feel totally lost and dumbfound when we got here. But it’s a long way from being able to feel like you can get by in any shape or form. 99% of written or spoken Japanese is beyond me at the moment, and my brain isn’t in the best frame of mind to be taking a lot of things in while I still get to grips with living here, doing a totally new job and generally settling in.

The most frustating thing for me has got to be the inability to do a lot of the little things in life without having to give it more thought than you normally would. Whatever you need to do is going to require some thought as to how you’re going to make yourself understood. As much as Japan has opened itself in the last decade to foreigners, especially English speakers, there still isn’t a lot of spoken English in most places, shops, train stations etc… Written English is a little more common in train stations and restaurants but probably not much more.
I tried to get a lighter the other day - luckily that’s easy to mime. However I managed to get a mouth ulcer (I know the kind of details you really need to know) and that is far from easy to mime… I went to the pharmacy, and did my best to try and explain, and ended up with some cream that numbed my gums but did nothing for my ulcer. I had to get the staff at my school to write me a sentence to use and then I still ended up having to choose from a range of products and questions from the pharmacist.

Other things like food are fairly easy too - the lifeline sentences being either ‘kore wa o kudassai’ (can I have this please? while pointing to a picture or menu item) or ‘kore wa nan desu ka?’ (what is this?). You just have to hope the answer isn’t more than a few words. Still trying to venture into what look like the more interesting food spots where you know a/no one will speak a word of English and b/you’ll get funny looks for trying to blag it, takes a bit of courage. Having got over my fears and done it a few times, it’s become easier but you still run the risk of encountering that barrage of questions or statements that will leave you feel slightly weird, out of place and wondering what to do next.

And then you have trains and station announcements - I really wished I knew what delayed is (not that it happens that often here), or what half the things on train screens or station platforms mean.

On one hand this language barrier reminds you that you’re an outsider - not the nicest feeling when you’re trying to make yourself feel a bit more at home. On the other hand it’s a nice feeling too - a feeling of adventure and general ‘what the hell’-ness. Let’s try it even though I have no clue what it does/say/is/tastes like etc…

I can see how easy it is to feel home sick when you uproot to live here - but that spirit of adventure, of fun is one of the most amazing feelings. Maybe it’s because I’ve been lucky enough to grow up in different countries and so I know a little about the feeling - and being older you feel more confident about taking risks, about trying it for the sake of it. And the feeling you get when you figure something out or get it right is great.

Yeah there are some funny looks - Japan is a fairly inward society, with a long history of seclusion from the rest of the world, and this is reflected in how you’re sometimes treated or looked at as a gaijin. But there are also a lot of people willing to give you a chance or make an effort. I’ve found people being helpful, welcoming and generally trying to communicate and make me feel at home in the unlikeliest of places so far - tiny little food spots where I’d never thought it’d happen or small shops and out of the way stations.

And I see it in the students I teach too. A lot of them want to learn English to communicate with foreigners - and a lot of foreigners want just the same thing.

It’s all part of the fun and experience - and we’ll get there. Sometimes though it’s so frustrating, but that’s when you got to try harder I guess.

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written by Laurent