![\"Recipient-Profile-Graphic1\"](\"http:\/\/sites.nd.edu\/sla2014\/files\/2014\/04\/Recipient-Profile-Graphic1.jpg\")
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Name:<\/strong> Arlia Delphonse A brief personal bio:<\/strong><\/p>\n I am a rising Junior and I study Japanese language, with a supplementary major in Asian Studies. I\u2019m interested in languages and language pedagogy in general. After earning my Bachelor\u2019s degree I would like to attend graduate school (probably studying linguistics). Why this summer language abroad opportunity is important to me:<\/strong><\/p>\n I started taking the language in my sophomore year rather than my freshman year, but because Japanese is my major, I must advance as far as possible. Attending this summer program, which covers two years\u2019 worth of coursework, can help me make up for lost time. What I hope to achieve as a result of this summer study abroad experience:<\/strong><\/p>\n As I stated in my bio, my summer in Japan will be my first experience traveling outside of the United States. Yet, I am already planning to study abroad in Japan for the entire 2014-15 academic year. So an important facet of this summer experience, for me, is becoming more comfortable with Japanese language and culture so that my academic year abroad will be a little less overwhelming. I will obviously gain some language skill \u2014 hopefully two years\u2019 worth of grammar and course hours. I should also get some of the culture shock out of the way, especially pertaining to food and family life. Overall, I am happy to have this opportunity to make my transition to living in Japan smoother and more gradual.<\/p>\n My specific learning goals for language and intercultural learning this summer:<\/strong><\/p>\n 1. By the end of the summer, I will be able to recognize and read approximately 600 kanji, and to produce at least 400 of these characters. My plan for maximizing my international language learning experience:<\/strong><\/p>\n While studying in Kanazawa, I will have three major opportunities to truly experience Japanese culture and interact with native speakers outside of my main class. First, traditional arts lessons at the Ishikawa International Lounge vary from Ikebana (flower arrangement) to cooking to pottery, and may also include trips to see professionals making art (such as at a Noh theatre performance) and to sites of cultural significance. Next, I will have the chance to attend and even perform at Hyakumangoku Matsuri, one of the major cultural festivals held in Kanazawa. Reflective Journal Entry 1:<\/strong><\/p>\n Here are some thoughts from my first week in Japan:<\/p>\n In Japanese, jet lag is \u201cjisaboke.\u201d My host dad taught me that word, commenting on how groggy I was at the dinner table on Sunday night.<\/p>\n On our first day, we had a test (our placement test for language classes). The writing test was very difficult, but the speaking test wasn\u2019t too bad. During the writing test I forgot a lot of kanji (Chinese characters used in Japanese language) so I was disappointed. But I think the speaking test went well. The professor was very nice, so talking with her was fun.<\/p>\n Speaking Japanese is fun, but between jet lag and having only studied the language for one year, it\u2019s really difficult. For instance, when I left the house on Monday morning I said \u201ctadaima\u201d when I should have said \u201cittekimasu.\u201d \u201cTadaima\u201d is what you say when you get home. Also, I am always asking questions. I always ask my host mom. She and my host dad are very kind people.<\/p>\n Here are some things I\u2019ve noticed about Kanazawa; some may apply to Japan overall.<\/p>\n Everyone wears nice clothes. It seems more important to dress nicely\/attractively here.<\/p>\n Buses are convenient. In big cities in the US, this is the case, but if it\u2019s not Chicago, buses are never convenient.<\/p>\n Many people ride bicycles. (Especially children going to school.)<\/p>\n People don\u2019t eat when they are walking or when they are on the bus. In the US, people eat all the time.<\/p>\n There are a lot of vending machines. and many of them have different items. The drinks are delicious. There isn\u2019t much soda, but the drinks they have are inexpensive. (At Monday lunch, an Orangina was 120 yen or about $1.20)<\/p>\n Recycling is important. You can even recycle plastic bags! In my hometown, you can\u2019t do that.<\/p>\n Other things that are common in Japan: Sometimes in the middle of whatever I am doing \u2014 eating dinner, talking with classmates, sitting on the bus \u2014 I get really overwhelmed by culture shock and I get scared. Already, there have been a few times where I\u2019ve felt that I\u2019m not ready to be here. I could never be polite enough, I keep forgetting words or mispronouncing them, and I never know how low to bow. I know that I will learn from my mistakes, but I don\u2019t want to make mistakes in the first place! In those times when it does get so overwhelming, I tell myself to breathe because about 20 minutes later, I\u2019ll be back to thinking \u201cThis is so amazing!\u201d Reflective <\/strong>Journal Entry 2:<\/strong><\/p>\n Week 2: At the beginning of the week, I was not at all confident about my ability to learn Japanese. Here\u2019s something I wrote a little earlier in the week:<\/p>\n \u201cThis week has got to be the most frustrating week EVER. It\u2019s my second week of class, so I\u2019m getting settled into the routine of doing homework and such, but I feel like my Japanese is at a standstill! I haven\u2019t found many chances, outside of school-related activities or daily life with my host family, to speak Japanese. I\u2019m getting worried that I\u2019m not taking enough risks in my speaking. I\u2019m shy in the US, so what if I am too shy to properly learn another language?<\/p>\n I don\u2019t have an answer to that yet \u2014 I\u2019m hoping that I\u2019ve just hit the biggest wall of culture shock\/language-learning frustration, and that soon enough I\u2019ll feel better and my Japanese will have improved without me worrying too much.\u201d<\/p>\n But here\u2019s what has happened since then:<\/p>\n First, a little more on how I\u2019m feeling about the language-learning process: On Wednesday after class, we watched a lecture by a literature professor named Nanyan Guo. She is Chinese and lectured in English about Japanese poetry\u2026 poetry written in Japanese by an American who also spoke English, Italian, and Tamil. The writer\u2019s name is Arthur Binard, and he moved to Japan in 1990 with very little Japanese knowledge, but is now a well-renowned writer here for looking at Japanese language through a different lens. He is respectful of the culture but also very humorous, so a lot of Japanese people like his approach.<\/p>\n So, the lecturer, Professor Guo, emphasized the strengths of being a foreigner learning a new language: namely, that you notice things that native speakers take for granted, and these things \u2014 wordplay, cultural observations, new phrases \u2014 can be taken and shared with native speakers and, if the timing is right, they can be appreciated and discussed. There\u2019s even a Japanese linguist who believes that with the influx of people learning Japanese, foreigners are going to lead the way in making the language more efficient (something I also read about in a book by linguist John McWhorter; because language learners often apply regular rules to irregular verbs, etc, they reveal the ways in which the language is confusing and not user-friendly. If accepted, as often happens over time, these changes make the language more efficient. Cool stuff, eh?).<\/p>\n Overall, the lecture was very encouraging. I have a feeling that the author, Arthur Binard, is a bit of a prodigy when it comes to language, but it was cool to think about how foreigners have some cool opportunities when learning a language. I feel kind of lucky to have an outsider lens through which to learn new languages. I don\u2019t feel 100% better about my Japanese learning \u2014 I still think I\u2019m making slow progress, and I worry that I don\u2019t speak enough \u2014 but I feel a little more capable of learning the language now. It\u2019s not impossible.<\/p>\n Also, Professor Guo was just really cool. I could listen to her talk about languages all day. She works at a Japanese studies institution in Kyoto, so I think I will try to go there in the fall\/spring. Maybe I could work there someday!<\/p>\n ?????????Next, sushi!<\/p>\n For our last hour of class on Friday, all the second-years made makizushi (rolled sushi). We even had a little competition, and out of about 30 people, I came in second! Inside the sushi we put crab meat, cooked egg, cucumber, and avocado. Pretty tasty!<\/p>\n Finally, on Saturday, I went to a folk dance class with some of my classmates. We did some of the same dances we learned for last weekend\u2019s parade and also learned a new dance. Afterward, however, was the most fun: a Japanese woman who works at the cultural center stopped me and complimented me on my hair (I have a curly, curly afro), and asked if she could take a picture! Long story short, I ended up talking with a bunch of women who work or frequent the cultural center \u2014 and mostly in Japanese! It was so much fun. My head really hurt last night, but I take that as a sign that I was really using my Japanese! I will see some of these women again at the cultural center, too, so I\u2019m happy to have found new acquaintances and conversation partners. I think I have said this before: the students who I study with are very nice, but we speak English too often! I love these outside opportunities to speak Japanese.<\/p>\n Also, I love that I was so lucky to get this attention because of my hair! I had been feeling a little self-conscious about it, because I would catch people on the street staring and they seemed to think I looked really, really weird. It was nice to hear compliments (of course) and to be able to start a positive conversation, all because of my hair. That\u2019s what I call a good hair day (ba-dum-tsss).<\/p>\n Overall, this week was very busy, and I had some ups and downs about how I\u2019m doing, learning the language (I get that test back tomorrow, I think\u2026). But in the end I am so happy to be here, and I am making sure to relax and have fun, and not stress *too* much about grades.<\/p>\n Reflective <\/strong>Journal Entry 3:<\/strong><\/p>\n Weeks 3\/4: I\u2019ve been a bit pouty for the past week . Part of it was an exam looming over my head. 3 hours of pain, finally over! It\u2019s nice to breathe again. But, I think it was more than that. I talked to another student today and turns out that homesickness is pretty common around this time \u2014 as of tomorrow, I will have been in Japan for one month!<\/p>\n This past week I also had an unfortunate experience in which I was reminded a bit too well that I am a foreigner. It was nothing serious \u2014 I was not physically harmed. It just made me shaky. Some woman I didn\u2019t know touched my arm in the department store, because my skin looks different. Not a huge deal, I\u2019ve heard of it happening to other foreigners before, but it made me feel kinda bad. I know that I am an outsider, and I am okay with that, but it made me think of some of the racial microaggressions I have experienced in the United States for being mixed or for being black. It made me sad, because I often joke about how much I look like a foreigner, even though there are Japanese people who look a little like me: mixed Japanese people, as well as immigrants. So, little jokes, as well as experiences like the one that I had in the department store, reinforce these ideas that foreigners or people who look different cannot make Japan their home in the way that Japanese people or people who pass as Japanese can. Again, there are similar problems in the United States.<\/p>\n Anyway, long story short: after being so forwardly branded as a foreigner, I feel like I have regressed a little in my Japanese skills. I still have the knowledge in my head, but I am more cautious and nervous about speaking. Homesickness hasn\u2019t helped that.<\/p>\n To combat these combined discomforts, homesickness in particular, I\u2019ve made a list of some of my favorite things about Japan:<\/p>\n Gyoza: Originally a Chinese dish, these pan-fried dumplings are so delicious! The ones in Notre Dame\u2019s cafeteria cannot compare. Even the ones from the supermarket bento section are good\u2026<\/p>\n Inarizushi: Rice wrapped in fried tofu makes a nice, sweet sushi.<\/p>\n Sashimi: Raw fish. I can\u2019t eat all of it \u2014 for instance, I don\u2019t really like the texture of raw cod \u2014 but most of the raw fish I\u2019ve tried, I\u2019ve liked.<\/p>\n Fish in general: My host family was worried that they were feeding me too much fish and that I wanted to eat meat. While I do like meat, I actually eat a lot of fish when I\u2019m at home, so the Japanese diet is not so different to me.<\/p>\n Cheap Orangina: This French juice\/soda drink is all over Kanazawa. Even in vending machines!!! And it\u2019s actually affordable!!! It\u2019s SO EXPENSIVE IN THE U.S., ARGHHH! I must drink as much of it as I can while I am here.<\/p>\n Cheap manga (comic books): Of course, what\u2019s produced in Japan is gonna be cheaper in Japan than in the U.S. I\u2019ve read one series, Fruits Basket, in English, so I hope that it will not be too much of a challenge to read in Japanese. There are furigana (letters from the syllabary system) next to all of the kanji (borrowed Chinese characters), so the main challenge will be learning new vocabulary.<\/p>\n Erasable pens: Erasable pens that actually erase. Apparently there are highlighters, too.<\/p>\n No jaywalking: Not that I find jaywalking to be an unforgivable crime, but I get anxious in the US when I don\u2019t jaywalk, because I worry that everyone thinks I\u2019m a nerd for waiting for the light. Here, almost everyone waits for the light, and jaywalking is weird.<\/p>\n I\u2019ll keep finding new things I like as I enter the second \u201csemester\u201d of my summer!<\/p>\n Reflective <\/strong>Journal Entry 4:<\/strong><\/p>\n Week 5\/6: Anyway, I have done a lot of fun stuff since I last posted! Next, last week Friday I went to the local university for the international studies club casual talk event. I met the Haitian girl again and made some new Japanese friends, too. Experiences like these make me feel so much more confident in my Japanese skills. Also, it was nice to finally hang out with Japanese people my age in a casual setting \u2014 we had visited the university before, but had to participate in a formal discussion, which didn\u2019t leave much time for sharing funny stories or talking about our own interests.<\/p>\n These experiences have also helped me feel more positive about relations with foreigners in Japan. For every person who treats me strangely \u2014 staring too long, or touching my arm \u2014 there are so many more open minded people who are happy to talk to anyone who is learning Japanese.<\/p>\n Further, all of these events \u2014 learning about culture or just hanging out and speaking Japanese \u2014 make me really remember why I started studying the language. My study program here has gotten very difficult, to the point that I don\u2019t enjoy studying for class, but when I think about the language in reflecting on my experiences outside of class, I feel motivated again. This language is beautiful, and I am so excited to have the opportunity to keep getting better and better at Japanese.<\/p>\n I also recently went on a trip to Noto peninsula, where I saw, among other things, a Buddhist temple, a Shinto shrine, and the beach. I also got to experience onsen, the baths! I loved the onsen\u2013 I have never felt so relaxed in my life. Plus, afterward we got to wear yukata (summer kimono) and everyone looked so pretty! I definitely want to go to an onsen again\u2026 maybe next semester.<\/p>\n Reflective <\/strong>Journal Entry 5:<\/strong><\/p>\n Week 7: One week left!<\/p>\n Welp, time has flown by. I can\u2019t believe I\u2019m going home on Saturday. I\u2019ll be sad to leave my host family, my new friends, and Kanazawa\u2026 but luckily, I\u2019ll be back in Japan in September, meeting my new host family and more new friends!<\/p>\n FIRST: Big news \u2014 my language program had a speech contest, with preliminary rounds for each class level (2, 2.5, and 3) and a final round for the top 6 second years, top 2 2.5-years, and top 2 third years. I qualified for finals as number 5 in my class\u2026. and came in 3rd place in the final contest! I wrote a speech about mixed race people in Japan. It was fun to write, and although I was nervous I had a great time performing it. Plus, as I am a mixed person, I was happy to get to tell people about mixed race people in general! Some other mixed folks came up to me after the speech and said that they liked my speech, so I think I did alright!<\/p>\n Now, back to touristy events: Then, this weekend I went to Pokemon: The Movie XY with some friends. It was a lot of fun \u2014 I played the Pokemon games and watched the anime a lot when I was little \u2014 and I was surprised at how much dialogue I understood! Aside from the Pokemon noises, I mean (the Pokemon don\u2019t say words, but their human trainers do). It was also good practice for the upcoming exam, because one of the characters was a princess and was therefore addressed with keigo, or formal\/honorific language. Keigo is used by shopkeepers, waiters, and businesspeople throughout Japan, but most people don\u2019t know how to use keigo properly until they start job training. It\u2019s really hard to understand as an exchange student! But, usually people realize that you don\u2019t understand more formal Japanese and switch to simpler, polite language.<\/p>\n Overall, it\u2019s been a fun week. There aren\u2019t any places that I feel like I absolutely must go to before returning home. I got to most of those places earlier in my trip. So, now I have plenty of time to study for my final exam!<\/p>\n Reflective <\/strong>Journal Entry 6:<\/strong><\/p>\n Week 8: Owari! The End.<\/p>\n It\u2019s not over, who am I kidding? I\u2019ll be back in Japan in September. But my summer program, Princeton in Ishikawa, is over! Wow!<\/p>\n Walking out of the 3 hour final exam was a wonderful experience. I can\u2019t believe that I finished so much Japanese language coursework in one summer. I don\u2019t know if I have even processed all of the new grammar yet \u2014 we moved so fast! \u2014 but I\u2019m proud that I survived, and even got some sleep. And, judging by how I keep accidentally saying Japanese words when speaking to my American parents since I\u2019ve returned home, I\u2019ve made some decent language acquisition gains, as well.<\/p>\n And while I am lucky in that I get to return to Japan in the fall, it was sad to say goodbye to my friends and classmates.<\/p>\n On the last day, instead of going to class, we had a short graduation ceremony and then a farewell party with the professors and host families. Each class had to perform for the crowd, so my class sang a song called \u201cSukiyaki\u201d or \u201cUe wo muite arukou,\u201d meaning \u201cI look up as I walk.\u201d It\u2019s a very famous old song in Japan, and it\u2019s a little sad, but it has a nice lil\u2019 beat and is not too difficult to sing.<\/p>\n After that, we enjoyed some other student performances including violin, a cappella, and dance, and we watched a slide show and teased each other about how we looked in pictures. It was then that I realized just how many great people I got to meet this summer. Will we all keep in touch? No, I wish we could. But, I am so happy to have met everyone. I came into this program nervous as the only student from my school, and I left having made some real friends.<\/p>\n On this trip, I learned a lot about Japan and Japanese language, of course, and I learned a lot about my interests and what I want to do with my life. I\u2019ve been interested in travel for a while, but this, my first trip out of the United States, really confirms my interest. I will do my best to find\/create a job that allows me to travel, speak my Japanese, and learn more languages, too. Best of all, on this point, is that now I am confident in my ability to take care of myself when I am far from home (college is a big step, but stepping into Narita Airport felt a little bigger). I also dealt with emotions surrounding being a foreigner in a new country, and learned how to work through these feelings.<\/p>\n I learned a lot about how to make friends, too. I am very introverted so 50 new people to meet and work with was quite an adventure!<\/p>\n In the end, I am so thankful to have gotten to go to Kanazawa for the summer. From language skills to people skills, I learned so much, and I feel prepared to take on a year of study abroad in Japan. Thank you.<\/p>\n Reflection on my language learning and intercultural gains:<\/strong> Reflection on my summer language abroad experience overall:<\/strong> How I plan to use my language and intercultural competencies in the future:<\/strong> Name: Arlia Delphonse E-mail: adelphon@nd.edu Location of Study: Kanazawa, Ishikawa Prefecture Program of Study: Princeton in Ishikawa Sponsors: Liu Family A brief personal bio: I am a rising Junior and I study Japanese language, with a supplementary major in Asian … Continue reading
\nE-mail: <\/strong>adelphon@nd.edu
\nLocation of Study:<\/strong> Kanazawa, Ishikawa Prefecture
\nProgram of Study:<\/strong> Princeton in Ishikawa
\nSponsors:<\/strong> Liu Family<\/p>\n![\"Pre-Departure-Profile-Graphic\"](\"http:\/\/sites.nd.edu\/sla2014\/files\/2014\/04\/Pre-Departure-Profile-Graphic.jpg\")
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\nI like reading and writing, so I am constantly engaged in finding and making stories.
\nMy trip to Japan will be my first time abroad \u2014 an important milestone in anyone\u2019s life! I\u2019m excited to see how I grow from this experience as a person.<\/p>\n
\nA stronger foundation in Japanese will also help me reach my career goals. I am interested in working at a US Embassy and\/or attending graduate school in Japan. Or, perhaps I might teach English in Japan prior to returning to the US to teach Japanese.
\nWhile I need language proficiency in order to live and study or work in Japan, I will also need cultural proficiency, an understanding of Japanese culture that cannot be gained from classroom experience alone. I need immersion experience in Japan so that I can grow to understand the nuances of Japanese etiquette and social behaviors that differ from my American ones. With that knowledge, I will be a much better candidate for for embassy work and a more qualified English teacher, able to explain differences between Japanese and American culture, and, more importantly, able to gain my students\u2019 trust and respect because I can operate within their culture.<\/p>\n
\n2. By the end of the summer, I will have experienced various communication situations that are necessary to becoming comfortable with elementary Japanese (including, but not limited to, shopping, going to the bus\/train station, and asking for directions).
\n3. By the end of the summer, I will be prepared to test into Fourth Year Japanese when I begin to study at Nanzan University in Nagoya, Japan, in the fall.<\/p>\n
\nBut overall, the best opportunity that I have to engage with the community is through getting to know my host family. I plan to actively participate in family meals by listening intently and speaking when I can. I would like to attend events with my family and even run errands to the grocery store or around town. I will make a special effort to spend time with any children in the family by playing games and going places with them, as well as joining them in hobbies that they enjoy (sports, for instance).<\/p>\n![\"In-Country-Graphic\"](\"http:\/\/sites.nd.edu\/sla2014\/files\/2014\/04\/In-Country-Graphic.jpg\")
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\n– Wearing slippers in the house, never wearing your shoes into the house
\n-Fancy toilets. When I got to Narita Airport in Tokyo, I thought of them as \u2018rocket ship toilets\u2019 because they have a ton of complicated-looking buttons.
\n-Everyone is on time or early. I have taken the bus three times so far, and each time it came right on the dot (at 3:56 or at 11:23).<\/p>\n
\nWhat\u2019s toughest about speaking is being polite and softening your words. For example, while I could grammatically say \u201cI want this,\u201d it sounds rather blunt. And although I know how to soften that phrase, when I am talking with someone I panic and want to speak faster, so I end up sounding so blunt! I hope that people are understanding since I am learning, but I need to stop worrying about trying to speak quickly.<\/p>\n
\nWow, the second semester of this program has been absolutely insane. I have been studying so much kanji and grammar that I hardly remember one lesson before we move on to the next. It has been frustrating \u2014 most of us, at this point, wish that we could stay in Japan without having to go to class or do homework.<\/p>\n
\nFirst, one weekend I went to the Noh Museum with my friend. We got to try on a Noh costume and walk around a bit. It is really hard to see through the mask, so walking isn\u2019t easy.
\nThat same weekend, I went to the Kanazawa International Friendship Festival, which had food an exhibits from countries around the world. Many people asked to take pictures with me and my fabulous hair, and I even met another international student with Haitian parents!!! One Japanese woman came up to us and another Caribbean girl to ask how to do her mixed daughter\u2019s hair. It was a fun bonding experience\u00a0![\":)\"](\"http:\/\/sites.nd.edu\/sla2014\/wp-includes\/images\/smilies\/icon_smile.gif\"){kind=icon}
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\nLast week Sunday, I went with some friends to Shirakawa, a small town in Gifu prefecture known for its weather-resistant but handmade roofs. The town is surrounded by mountains, and although it was raining all day, it was beautiful. With all the foliage and the mist from the rain, I kept thinking of the \u201cMisty Mountain Song\u201d from The Hobbit.<\/p>\n![\"Reentry-Profile-Graphic\"](\"http:\/\/sites.nd.edu\/sla2014\/files\/2014\/04\/Reentry-Profile-Graphic.jpg\")
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\nSince 2 months is not a long time, I was surprised that, upon returning home from my summer language abroad experience, I found myself missing speaking Japanese. I was even using Japanese words by accident in English conversation because now Japanese comes quickly to my head. I\u2019m far from fluent, but I\u2019m able to respond to simple questions without having to think in English then translate to Japanese.
\nI also learned a lot about mannerisms while in Japan. For example, it is kind of hard to explain when it is proper to bow, and how low to bow, but after being in real-life bowing situations, I know a bit more about what to do when. I don\u2019t think I\u2019ll ever be perfect at it, but I\u2019m definitely better at it than before.<\/p>\n
\nMy summer language abroad experience was my first time leaving the United States, so it came with some special anxieties. I worried about missing my flights to Japan, about taking the wrong bus from the airport, about getting lost in Kanazawa, about making friends, about being polite, etc. Most of these worries never became a reality (or at least never hindered my experience). And from what anxieties, as well as triumphs, I experienced, I learned that I am a strong and capable person.
\nFurthermore, while I had worried that somehow I would go to Japan but not improve in Japanese at all, I learned that that is nearly impossible. For one thing, between attending daily class, staying with a host family, and exploring Kanazawa, I would have had to make an effort to only hang out with students from my program to speak English. But from reflecting on my time in Kanazawa now that I am one week into my study abroad experience in Nagoya, I realized just how much Japanese I acquired, and I learned that the human brain is made for language use and acquisition.
\nPart of what guides this acquisition is the human need for (and appreciation of) interaction. Of course I worried about my relationship with my host family and about approaching other native speakers, but it was not impossibly difficult. Instead of avoiding speaking opportunities, I found myself looking for more and more opportunities every day. I went to organized conversation tables and talked to store owners whenever I could. I talked to people at the bus stop and at museums. My goal in talking to people was not always to improve my Japanese \u2014 it was just to have even a momentary connection, or to get an answer to a question \u2014 but through this regular practical use of the language, I acquired it.<\/p>\n
\nOne thing that immersion experience gave me was a better understanding of what makes a good translation. Literally translating phrases usually doesn\u2019t work simply because of grammar, but I think connotation plays a larger role in making or breaking translations. While rearranging grammatical structures can be done with a textbook, translating connotation is best gained through experience using the language with native speakers, normal people. A good translation sounds natural, taking the connotation\/associated feelings of a phrase in one language and finding a phrase in another language with corresponding connotation\/associated feelings.
\nAfter direct experience with good translation as well as awkward translation, I think that I would enjoy a career as a translator. Like many students studying Japanese I read Japanese comics (manga), and I would jump at the chance of a job translating manga into English. I\u2019m also interested in attending graduate school, possibly abroad, and in academia the more languages you speak, the better. With my growing Japanese skills, I can access more scholarly sources and participate in more conversations.
\nWhatever career path I choose, I know that my summer language abroad experience will have contributed to my success.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"