Both as a writer (well, as a wannabe writer) and as a learner of a language, I find myself thinking about what exactly a word is, and what it does, and how it affects things. It struck me very recently that oftentimes when I learn a new word in Japanese, it opens up an entire new world for me. I keep hearing the word everywhere, and suddenly I’ve attained another level of understanding. Out of a single word. Words can be used for a lot of things, and this mundane fact seems as fresh and new as today’s news.

I think it’s part of what makes learning a second (or in my case third) language possible at all. If it was just a matter of munching up words into your brain without them actually being connected as intimately as they are, it would be impossible.

If learning new words was all I did, I’m assured that I’d forget the words over and over because they weren’t reinforced. Speaking and listening reinforces — cements — the words I’ve heard, over and over and over and over again, to where I can hear a mere fraction of the word, or I can hear a part of the word, and instantly recognize it for what it is. How long did it take you to read this sentence? A second? Two? It had ten separate words in it. Ten words whose meaning a complete stranger to English would have to learn, individually, and memorize. How many words does the English language have again?

This isn’t very revolutionary, really. It’s just that I decided very early on to write about how my view on these things changes. Learning Japanese is extremely hard in the beginning, but gets easier the further you go. Right now I’m at a stage where I’m comfortably absorbing new stuff every day. I still have a lot to do, though. I’m more or less illiterate in terms of writing in Japanese, but I am getting rather good at reading it (relatively speaking).

This is also the point in time when I’ve been at it for a year. Last August I started on this journey and so far I’m not regretting it one bit. In fact, I’m filled with inspiration about what is to come on this particular venture. As I am going to Japan in a few years to study “for real”, I’ve been slacking lately. I’ve had times when I studied for 5-6 hours a day, and times, like now, when I just learn stuff because I stumble over it without actually looking, and times when I’ve been ignoring it for days at a time. A person who’s dedicated to Japanese would have most likely gotten a lot farther in 12 months than I have, but hey, I’ve got a game to run, a job to keep, and a life to live. Balance in everything, right?