Hi all, I am a Basketball player living in the UK and am planning on transferring and have been accepted to a Japanese High School in order to play on their team. I am half Japanese and can speak the language fluently however I lack the ability to read and write kanji and only understand basic elementary school level. Is it realistic that I will be able to adjust by studying for the next 10 months and any advice on what I can do to learn the language at the fastest rate. Thanks.
by RKBro10
5 comments
While speaking ability is an advantage, youre asking if you can overcome the gap in 10 months that takes Japanese high schoolers 10+ years to get to the government defined writing and reading level? I would assume probably not.
However doesnt seem like you have much of a choice, WaniKani gatekeeps your progress a bit and at the absolute fastest pace you can get to probably like a middle school kanji reading level by your deadline but beyond that (not to mention writing) is a whole other story.
Alternative is Heisigs Remembering the Kanji book. Whatever you pick you will have to commit to it and start ASAP.
> Is it realistic that I will be able to adjust by studying for the next 10 months and any advice on what I can do to learn the language at the fastest rate.
It’s very difficult, but it can be done. You need to dedicate a considerable part of your life to studying, and most resources aren’t geared towards heritage learners like yourself. You should search for some experienced tutors who can adjust their curriculum to your needs.
This is really more of a question for the Japanese language learning sub though.
Do your best. It depends on the school, but if you are good at athletics, they will graduate you even if you can’t really do anything academically.
Have a chat with your Japanese parent. Surely they can give you an idea ?
I used to work in a Japanese Junior High School. We had one student who had a chronic illness and was in and out of the hospital so much he was unable to attend school regularly for most of his life. In his 2nd year of JHS (age 13) his condition improved and he was able to start attending school full time.
Due to his prior lack of education he was really behind in every subject. We was taught separately from the other students so we could try to catch him up as quickly as possible. The Japanese teacher kept a progress chart on the wall of his classroom so I was able to see his progress with kanji. In the 2 years he was attending class full time, he managed to go from only knowing Elementary/Primary School 1st year (age 6) level kanji to knowing up to JHS 1st year (age 12) kanji.
So a native speaking teenager living in Japan, studying Japanese full time, receiving private lessons from professional teachers, was able to cover all of the ES kanji and some of the JHS kanji in 2 years. Given that, I think it’s very unlikely that you’ll manage to cover all of the ES kanji and all of the JHS kanji in 10 months while living abroad and self studying Japanese on top of your regular coursework