Lessons: Japanese for Japanese Canadians

THE ADVERTISEMENT in the community newspaper caught my eye: "Japanese For Japanese Canadians". I was just back from another trip to Japan, yet again frustrated at my inability to completely express myself in Japanese and fully comprehend newspapers, television broadcasts and conversations with relatives. How had it come to this? As one who looks (and some say acts) Japanese, Canadians and Japanese alike expect me to know how to speak Japanese--proper Japanese!

Though I was born in Japan, what little Japanese I know was learned mainly by listening to my parents speak to each other as I was growing up in Canada. My grasp of household phrases is therefore not bad, however, I am decidedly weak in vocabulary related to politics, sociology, economics and other such subjects-- topics of conversation that were never prominent at our family's dinner table. Since moving away from home for work over ten years ago, I hardly ever hear or use Japanese. As a medical professional, I am familiar with the physiological process of disuse atrophy: "If you don't use it, you lose it." Certainly my last trip to Japan was a wake-up call. Ways to maintain and improve one's Japanese exist, such as university courses and continuing education programs. However, some Japanese Canadians may be reluctant to enroll in such courses along with the general public, out of embarassment or self-consciousness.

The course offered by the Canadian Association for Japanese Language Education and the National Association of Japanese Canadians provided those who enrolled (about twenty individuals) with a supportive, informal, non-threatening environment in which they could learn spoken and written Japanese with the help of instructors, themselves Japanese Canadians. The program was flexible enough to accommodate many levels of proficiency. Beginner students had a structured curriculum, while the most advanced students were encouraged to embark on a self-study program at their own pace. Exercises included reading, writing, role playing and even singing! A cupboard rich with resource and reference materials was available to all. The students could direct the content somewhat, suggesting topics they wished to be covered. The class sizes were small, allowing the instructors to provide the students with individual attention, which was particularly helpful during the written composition unit. The instructors, most of them volunteers, were competent, enthusiastic, friendly and, above all, extremely patient. Some had studied hard to learn Japanese themselves, and served as role models for the students.

An unforseen fringe benefit of this course for me was getting to know my fellow students and instructors. Having people from many generations present helped put my life into perspective. I was struck by how the experiences of the other students of my generation were quite similar to mine. My story of a language lost or, more correctly, never learned was not unique and was in fact common, knowledge which at once comforted me on a personal level but made me sad for the community and its future. I found that I was unusual, not in having been to Japan several times, but in having been there at all. I listened in disbelief to the older students' accounts of wartime acts of discrimination suffered at the hands of fellow Canadians which would be unthinkable today. I felt gratitude towards those who had endured the bad times, yet had not lashed out in retaliation. The good reputation that Japanese Canadians enjoy today owes much to their sacrifices. I feel fortunate to have grown up in a time of relative tolerance.

In summary, the CAJLE/NAJC course "Japanese for Japanese Canadians" served its target group well and achieved its goals. Obviously, everything about the Japanese language cannot be learned in a few weeks (especially kanji!). However, most of the students if asked would report that they experienced a definite improvement in their nihongo skills over the short duration of the course. Tsugi no koosu wa itsu desu ka?