初めまして、私の名前は ナラーです。カンボジア人です。プノンペンに住んでいます。家族と住んでいます。家族は５人です。父と 母と 弟二人と 私です。。。。。。。。。。。。。。
Learning a new language is a fascinating experience. It's more than just about the language you are learning, but you will get to know the culture, tradition, custom and the like of that particular country. As for me, Japanese is the third language I am studying, excluding my mother tongue. (*Khmer is my native language, English my second, French my third, Japanese my fourth.)
People, especially my acquaintances, may ask why I study so many languages as I have done and am doing. Well! Frankly, the very first and only foreign language I aspired to know was English; that's why I studied English since I was a small kid. However, when I graduated from high school, I had to enter the Institute of Technology of Cambodia as an engineering student. For engineering program, French is a must, so without a doubt, I had to convince myself to accept this ugly truth. I had to study French out of rages. YET as I said, learning a new language is interesting as I came to realize that I had gained a lot of general knowledge through learning this language. I had spent 5 years learning French until I received my Engineer's degree in August 2014. Dannnnnnnngggg! I did it. French was added to my language list.
It did not end here. Two years after enrolling as an engineering students, I was invited to participate in the World Youth Meeting held in Aichi Prefecture, Japan. (*You may know it better if I say Nagoya.) I had heard that most people in Japan did not speak English, so I decided to learn basic Japanese expressions though Youtube. Holy Cow! I like speaking Japanese. The language is so so so absorbing.
When in Japan, however, I used mostly English owing to the fact that my Japanese was still basic. Actually, you don't need to worry if you don't know any Japanese provided that you are always on school campus because you can use English to communicate. BUT if you go out, you do need Japanese. Otherwise, you will have to use gestures. I experienced this while traveling in Japan for a second time in winter 2012, just a week before Xmas. I went to a supermarket at the center of Tokyo to buy some food to eat. ”いらっしゃいませ”, said a shopkeeper before bowing before me. (”いらっしゃいませ” literally means "How can I help you?") I was puzzled since I did not understand what she was trying to say. I just smiled and bowed back. And then I told her I wanted to buy some canned food. "SOME CANNED FOOD", yeah I needed some canned food, but she was like "This guy is an alien. He speaks an outside-world language". (*As her facial expressions seem so). "Never mind," I said. Thereafter, I did not speak but gesticulated. (*Funny)
I knew it clearly that I would face this great challenge again when living in Japan for a long time. Therefore, I decided to enroll in a formal, 6-month intensive Japanese class at Cambodia Japan Cooperation Center (CJCC) prior to my departure to Japan. It has been approximately 3 moths now, and I still feel I'm not ready to use Japanese yet. Hence, starting from today onward, I have to accelerate my Japanese learning. (*Maybe I can be called one of the New Year Resolution)
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