Why Japanese?

To not a lot of surprise, many people have asked me the question why I want to study Japanese. Well, a lot of reasons actually - starting with the fact that Japanese once upon a long time ago was my first language. My mother is half Japanese, and was born and raised in Tokyo, and my Grandmother is from Kyoto. My favorite childhood songs were both in Japanese and English - along with "The itsy-bitsy spider", I sang ”大きな栗の 木の下で”（おおきなくいのきのしたで）. However, due to the wonders of the human brain, I was never able to speak Japanese. I could understand it quite well, but the words could never translate into sentences.

When I came to Columbia, I knew that this was my last chance to learn Japanese in a formal, classroom setting. I'd tried many times before to teach myself, but, again, nothing was really making sense. Now, in my Senior year, I finally have enough time and space in my schedule to take Japanese - and I couldn't be more excited! In the 4 short weeks we've had of class, I'm already able to call my mom on the phone and actually have a conversation (at least half) in Japanese! My ultimate goal, both for this class, and for myself, is to be able to speak to my Grandmother in Japanese. Although she used to be fluent in English, she has forgotten English over the years, and only speaks Japanese. My Grandmother lives in Seattle now, and I visit her quite often whenever I'm back home in Washington, however the language barrier prevents me from really communicating with her. I know that both she and my mom will be so incredibly proud if I am finally able to converse with her in Japanese.

Going into the class, I was afraid that my biggest challenge would be learning how to read and write Hiragana. However, I was pleasantly surprised how easy it has been thus far reading and writing in Hiragana! While I am probably still a little slower than most reading in Hiragana, the quotidian homework and classwork have helped so much in improving this skill. Unsurprisingly, grammar is where I'm finding the most difficulty - whether it be in choosing the correct topic/object marker, or when to use だれ／なん／どなた。But I know where my faults are, and will continue to pay special attention to understanding, and correctly using these grammatical terms.