A huge change in my life

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Mio Hasegawa (Yonago National College of Technology)

My love for English began in junior high school, when I started to study it for the first time. Why? It is because English has brought a huge change in my life. Through it, I started to see communication in a different light and to actually enjoy it, something I could never do before. To tell the truth, I had trouble with communication, and I will explain a few reasons for this situation. One reason is the “abbreviations” young Japanese nowadays use in their conversation, expressions such as “Majide”, “Gachide”, or “KY”. I always had trouble understanding such expressions when I heard them for the first time, and I would freeze then, not knowing how to answer. The second reason was my dislike of the roundabout way of speaking. I felt so confused whenever people around me, especially girls, were using this way of allusive speaking which is not clear and direct.

It was an encounter with an ALT that made me change, and view communication from a new and different perspective. I met this ALT from Australia in my junior high school, at the opening ceremony of the second semester. Her name was Sally Davis. I talked to her many times, in my English classes, at the speech contest practice, and even during recess. When I was in the second grade, she invited me to the “World English School”. It was an event where Sally's foreign friends would teach us about their culture, language and cooking. Using the phrases and expressions I had learned in my English classes, I talked with her friends and for the first time in my life I actually had fun talking to people. I felt pleased with myself for being able to communicate in English, and I felt it was easier for me to communicate in English rather than in Japanese. I didn't understand why, so I wondered, could it be because the subjects were clearly defined? Or was it because the expressions and the opinions were more concrete?

I remember that one day I was supposed to practice together with Sally for a speech contest. I came late to the practice, and I said “I'm sorry I'm late”, but her answer was, “Mio, you have to dial the school phone number or call me, because otherwise we would be worried about you”. Rather than just acknowledge my apology, she actually admonished me, yet she was clearly explaining the reason why she was upset. This is very different from the Japanese way, where people seldom state the reason for being angry. We, Japanese, tend to say just “Don't do such a thing!” Probably, I think, we Japanese believe we can understand each other even if there is no explanation. But foreigners will explain the reasons logically, even when feelings are involved.

During the summer vacation, I worked as an intern at Tottori Experimental Station of Forestry, and this is when I found the frankness and concreteness of English expressions very useful. It is especially important when we work at an experiment or when we have a discussion with other members. If we use fuzzy expressions at work, we could spoil the experiment, and we risk being misunderstood. I found that communication was essential not only for carrying out experiments smoothly but also to create a good relationship with the other members.

Recently I am discovering that eye contact is important when talking with people. Foreigners shake hands when they meet someone to convey a heartfelt feeling. Japanese people, on the other hand, bow when they meet someone, and are rather poor at using eye contact. I thought we Japanese would communicate better if we could use eye contact more often. At school or office, when we discuss with people, we should be able to look directly into the eyes of the other person.

Now IT tools are developing more and more. We communicate through mail, Facebook, and twitter with many people. That is why I believe that now it is becoming important to learn to exchange opinions face to face, frankly and directly. Indeed, since I began to study English, I know I have learned a lot about communication. This language experience has given me a great chance, through which I gained confidence and improved my communicative skills. It was a hard path for me to tread on, but now I feel so thankful for having met Sally, and for having studied English.