Watching Japanese TV Every Day for a Month (Or, What to Do When Things Don't Go To Plan)
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In my second year of university, when I should have been revising for my Japanese exam, I borrowed the Studio Ghibli film Princess Mononoke (もののけ姫 Mononoke-hime) from a friend and watched that instead.
It was way too fast for me, and I didn’t understand anything. I think I literally caught about two words. It definitely didn’t help with my exam. If anything it just left me feeling a bit discouraged.
I should have watched Mononoke with subtitles. Or, probably, I should have watched something easier.
I gave up on watching Japanese films for a while after that. But later on, I discovered Japanese TV, and found it a fun and interesting way to develop my listening skills. As one of my monthly challenges this year, I decided to watch Japanese TV every day for a month.
I thought this would be easy – I already watch quite a lot of Japanese TV. But just like my exam “revision”, it didn’t exactly go to plan…
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Like many people in the UK, I studied French in school. I liked French. I thought it was really fun to speak another language, to talk with people, and to try and listen to what was going on in a new country. (Still do!)
When I was 14 we went on a school exchange to the city of Reims, in northeastern France. I was paired with a boy, which I’m sure some 14-year-olds would find very exciting but which I found unbearably awkward. He was very sweet and we completely ignored each other.
That was nearly 20 years ago, and I didn’t learn or use any more French until, at some point in lockdown, I decided on a whim to take some one-to-one lessons with online teachers. Here are some things I learned about French, about language learning, and about myself.