留学ができなかった！Doing Third Year outside of Japan

By Kieran Bryan（日本語：約970字　English approx. 850 words)

二年生のみなさん、こんにちは！私はキーランです。

私は、留学がキャンセルされたので、日本に行かないでイギリスに日本語を勉強した 。😢

コロナがまだあるので、二年生も留学ができないかもしれないね。二年生のみなさんが日本に行けるように願っている。🙏

I hope you can all go to Japan…but if you can’t go, don’t panic! There are lots of ways to learn Japanese and Japanese culture from home. じゃ、日本に行かないでも日本語を勉強する方法を学ぼう！

家に日本語を？！

そう、家に勉強をするのが難しいね。日本語の勉強に集中することができないし、家では勉強より楽しいこともあるし、まじめに勉強することができない時があると思う。

そして、イギリスはイギリスなので、日本語があまり聞こえない言語だ。だから日本語を学ぶために、がんばって日本語を見つけなければならない。

I get distracted and play games, and sometimes I procrastinate from doing my assessments by baking cakes 🍰. I always have to make an effort to read and hear Japanese – you probably won’t encounter Japanese speakers when walking the dog in a village in England. And it has been hard to structure my Japanese study, because I don’t have classes as much as in first and second year…

So today I’ll share what I did to learn Japanese from home. I hope it helps!

ポイント1 - 楽しい日本語を見つけよう！

まずは、楽しい日本語のネタを見つけて、その日本語を聞いたり、読んだりしてください。日本語の勉強を楽しくすることができるよ。

私はゲームが好きなので、日本語でゲームをした…ゲームが日本のゲームなので、日本語だけじゃなくて、日本の歴史についても学べた。

そしてゲームをしながらポッドキャストを聞くのがすきだ。ゲームもポッドキャストもおもしろいので、とても勉強しやすい!

There are so many ways to mix Japanese in with your hobbies, and even find new hobbies through Japanese.

The meaning of third year is to learn Japanese by having fun and experiencing Japan – so try to find interesting Japanese material wherever you can. （写真のゲームは『仁王(におう)』だ！）

Here are some low-effort, fun methods for learning Japanese:

- The British Film Institute’s ‘BFI Player’ lets subscribers watch lots of Japanese films. I enjoyed ‘Kwaidan’ (怪談), which is about ghost stories

- Netflix has drama and anime. I like to watch scenes with English subtitles, then rewatch them with Japanese subtitles, and then with no subtitles

- Find interesting podcasts. I recommend ‘秋元才加とJOYのWeekly Japan’ – many people use it to learn Japanese!

ポイント！Find fun and interesting things you might like to do in Japanese. This will help you keep studying even when it’s hard to study when living at home.

ネットフリックスを勉強のために使うと思わなかった…

ポイント2 – 様々な日本語を学ぼう

学生は日本に行くと新しい経験をして、様々な単語と話し方を学ぶことができるね。だから、もし日本に行かなければ、新しい単語と話し方を学ぶために様々な日本語を聞いたり読んだりした方がいい。たとえば、アニメだけじゃなくて、映画(えいが)もドラマもみてみないか。また、教科書のテキストだけじゃなくて、ニュースの記事も小説（novel）も読んでみないか。

It’s easier to learn vocabulary, and understand Japanese as a whole, if you experience Japanese being used in a variety of ways. Every once in a while, stop and think – is your language repertoire broad? For example, if you’ve done lots of listening exercises, try watching a film or a drama; if you’ve been reading a book, why not try a different genre? Try brainstorming different types of reading and listening you might like to do!

ポイント！Find a variety of types of Japanese. If you can’t go to Japan, it’s easy to develop language learning habits which might limit the range of your Japanese abilities.

ポイント3 – どのターゲットを決めたらいいのか – Or, ‘when in doubt, try JLPT!'

For me, the hardest part of doing third year at home was structuring my Japanese study. When I stopped taking online Japanese classes from ICU, I had to plan my learning. If you encounter a similar situation, I recommend you study for the JLPT exams. N2 is a good target, because that’s the target level for our university’s Japanese Language 3 course.

After you finish Tobira, try the 『新完全マスター』grammar series. You can find some in the university library, and you can buy them online. The N2 and N1 books have more than enough grammar to help you in the JLPT!

ポイント！If you don’t go to Japan, you might feel directionless – at first, I was unsure how to structure my Japanese study. If you’re unsure, try studying for the JLPT exams, and find direction from there. There are lots of resources targeting the JLPT exams. Try to brush up Tobira on and then move onto N2 materials.

これは『新完全マスター』の教科書。難しそうな文法だね。でも、本当にいい教科書だ。

ポイント4 – どうやって日本文化を勉強したらいいのか？How can I learn Japanese culture if I can’t go to Japan?

日本に留学をする人は、毎日日本人と話すし、日本に博物館などに行けるし、日本文化を経験することができるね。留学ができなければその経験があまりないと思う…

でも、日本に行かないでも日本文化を勉強することができるよ。

「文化」には、二つのタイプがあると思う。そのタイプは日常文化と伝統文化だ。日常文化とは、毎日経験する文化のことだ。たとえば、家に入る時にくつをぬいだり、「おじゃましまし！」と言ったりする。Everyday culture is what you use to be polite and get along with others in Japan, such as when you take off your shoes and greet somebody when you enter their house. 一方、伝統(でんとう)タイプ (traditional type) の文化は、歴史や文芸 (arts)のことだ。

もし日本に行けなければ、日常文化を学ぶことは難しいと思う。でも、伝統文化は、学べるよ。I don’t think there’s much that can be done to learn everyday Japanese culture if you can’t go to Japan, but you can still learn about traditional culture!

I found it useful to find a few topics of Japanese culture and focus on them. That way, I could use those topics as a way to learn more about Japan. Our university’s ‘Japanese Studies on the Year Abroad’ and ‘Dissertation Preparation’ courses give us lots of freedom to explore what we find interesting, so why not find a special topic that you like? For example, if you like learning about religion, you can pick the essays on Japanese religion and Buddhism. That way, you can learn lots about how Japanese people think about religion.

I know it’s not perfect – it’s hard to engage with Japanese culture when you’re not there – but just do your best to keep learning about Japan, and you’ll understand more and more with time. And the more you learn about Japan, the better you can do in fourth year!

ポイント！While you may miss out on the day-to-day culture of Japanese life, you can learn lots about Japan by studying things you can learn about from home, such as Japanese arts or history. Find something you’re interested in, and focus on that. As you do this, you should come to understand Japanese culture more.

Some last words…

For me, the hardest parts of studying at home are that it’s difficult to concentrate properly, and I feel discouraged a lot. My best advice is:

Put one foot forward at a time. Some Japanese is better than no Japanese. When you can study seriously, do; when you can’t study seriously, find a fun, low-effort form of Japanese instead.

Have fun, and do your best!