become fluent in japanese

Its been over a year, and I have had to drop my classes back from three times a week to once a week, but at least I still meet with my language partner once a week. The reason I had to cut back is that I am looking for a part time job, and until I know what my schedule is going to be I won’t be able to up my class time..I hope that I can continue to learn, its just that I don’t want to forget a thing, which is easy to do when your away too long.. but I have gotten a notebook and write everything I learn in it..with hopes that when I need it, I can go back and study it. Frustrating though.. but I feel more confident about learning it than before. Thats a good thing!!

Nihongo ga Jozu ni naritai desu.
Nihongo o sukoshi hanashimasu.
Kanji to hiragana to katagana wa muzukashii desu.
Demo Hirgana to katagana to Kanji omoshiroi desu.
Watashi wa nihongo ga suki desu.
Ima renshu shite iru tokoro desu.
Jozu ni dekiru yo ni yoku renshu shimasu.

I have never been so passionate about learning a language in all my life. I was force fed Spanish and French in high school and hated it. Then one day I tripped upon Japanese culture. I love the movies, I love the anime, I love the Japanese popular music, (over 1000 songs in Japanese on my Ipod now)I love the history, I love and collect Japanese swords. I collect Anime figures..so of course the next best thing was to take up the language.

I enrolled back in November of last year with Aisei Language school in San Francisco and I am so glad I did. I think, had I gone to City College I would probably have become frustrated, however most people told me to go to city college you would have had to had Japanese in high school, and my high school never offered it. But, now…I love learning this language. I love my teachers…(Yuu san, Masa san- Domo Arigato Gozaimasu) and now I even have a “language Partner”, a young lady from Tokyo who has moved to San Francisco to learn English. We are helping each other and its great.(Eiko san:Domo Arigato Gozaimasu!)

I know the one thing holding me back, at this point is that I need to start learning Hiragana, Katagana and Kanji…and I am sure I will become more proficient. Right now, I just love learning new words, and being able to pronounce them, and hopefully by next year when I fly to Japan with my girlfriend (who is not Japanese-though everyone asks me that..) I will have some working knowledge of the language and can say more than just Please and Thank you (not that those two words are not important, they certainly are in the Japanese language. Imagine, a whole language based on forms of politeness..)

I am truly loving this experience and
hopefully I will become better soon!