Friday, October 28, 2011

Hippo Letter System

Hola! soy Gori. Minna genki(元気)? estoy meccha genki! jajaja

En Japón, vino(来) Dra. Suzanne Flynn y hicieron workshops, verdad?
Queria participar(参加)...pero bueno, nosotros(私達) también hicimos sesión interesante(興味深)! Urraah!
Hicimos “Hakken Hippo” y “Hippo Letter System”.  

La carta de Janet en Italiano con HLS.
Saben(知) lo que es “Hippo letter System”? (HLS)
Es un sistema de escrito(書)de Hippo. La inventó(発明) Sakacchan. Por HLS podemos(可能)con las personas que usan(使) Kanji. Aunque ellos(彼等) no saben(知) mucho español (por supuesto puede ser otro idioma también).  Utilizamos(利用) Alfabeto y Kanji los dos juntos(一緒). Aquí está un ejemplo(例):

O sea puedes(可能) escribir(書) en español(西), francés(仏), alemán(独), inglés(英) u otro idioma(言語) cualquiera CON los Kanjis.


"Kanji" en Kanji
¿Qué es Kanji?
El Kanji es un carácter que lo usa(使) en Asia, como Japón(日本), Corea sur(韓国), China(中国), Taiwán(台湾) y Singapur. Kanji es origen China antigua, luego(後) extendió(拡散) otro país(国). En el mundo(世界) hay 100 mil o más Kanjis, pero mayorías no usan(使). Por ejemplo(例) en Japón usan 2100 kanjis como básicos(基本).
Kanji tiene(持) significado(意味) y sonido(音). Aquí lo interesante es los cinco países(国) usan kanji y comparten(共有) significado de Kanji pero lean(読) diferente(違) sonidos. Por ejemplo: 川 que significa río, en Japón lo lean “kawa” mientras en China lo lean “chuan” y en corea lo lean “gang”. O sea lean mismo(同) kanji en sonido(音) de cada país.


Hanna, AnaSofia y Rocio.

Entonces ayer (25 de octubre)

En el sesión del martes(火曜), club Apakabar, hicimos SADA y HLS! Nosotros(私達) como 20personas escribimos(書) la carta cada quien. Nos dividimos(分) 3grupos. Cada grupo era 6 o 7personas(人). Hanna y Kurumi que son estudiante(学生) del YL de 2011-2012 nos ayudaron(手伝) mucho!! 感謝!Gracias. 




Las hojitas del ejemplo. "Tenemos 牛、馬、羊..."

En la mesa(机) de cada grupo ponemos(置)las hojitas(紙) que dice las frases(短文) de Sonoko en HLS. Y cada quien escribe(書) la carta(手紙). Viene Francés, Aleman, español e inglés. Todos(皆) son frases de Sonoko entonces si no entiendes(理解) algunas frases, puedes imaginar(創造) "Qué dice aquí...?" o puedes investigar con amigos. Porque sabes historia(話) de Sonoko. Con lápiz(鉛筆) pero fue muy Hippo.


Carta de Dany. ¡Que chido!

Y en el lunes(月曜) pasado, club Watashi no soba, hicimos SADA, Metakatsu y Hakken Hippo.
"Hakken" significa(意味) descubrimiento. Hakken Hippo es una actividad(活動) como Metakatsu pero no es igual(等). En Hakken Hippo primero(最初) decidimos(決) una frase que quieres(望) decir(言) y tambien en que idioma. Y pensamos(考) "donde(何処) dice esa frase?" luego, la investigamos juntos(一緒), y si lo encuentras, compartimos(共有). Me entiendes? por ejemplo(例),

Primera vez "Hakken Hippo" Urrah!
Yo - quiero(望) saber(知) "tengo mucha hambre" en japones(日本語).
Amigo1 - "en el deli dice(言)! muero de hambre"
Amigo2 - entonces escuchamos(聞) y buscamos(探) en esa carta.
...escuchando carta del deli unas veces...
Amigo3 - "creo(思) que la encontre, dice omakapekopeko"
Amigo1 - "yo escuche(聞) como Onakapekopeko"
Amigo2 - "Yo escuche...blablabla"

escuchamos y cantamos(歌) varias veces.
Yo - ya sabemos mas o menos que dice "muero de hambre" en japones!
Amigos3 - cantamos otra vez la carta!
luego escribimos en una hojita a la frase que encontramos.


SADA con muchisimas ganas :)
Asi es Hakken Hippo. Estuvo bien nice, reimos(笑) y cantamos(歌) muchisisisimo(超). Fue primera vez pero me gusto mucho. Tambien fue muy hippo, porque nos divertimos(楽) mucho pero mucho! ¿Alguien saben(知) que "Yuppi!!" en Ruso(露)? Es Urraaah!! viene la de Taking picture. Nos dio(与) tanta risa(笑)...jajaja  Asi que nosotros estamos experimentando(実験) nueva(新) cosa. Cada actividad me dio buena experiencia(経験).

¡Vamos a disfrutar LEX (Language EXperience EXperiment EXchange)! Byebye.


P:D. Este domingo me regreso a TEXAS!!

Wednesday, October 19, 2011

Dr. Suzanne Flynn's Visit

This week Dr. Suzanne Flynn is visiting LEX/Hippo in Japan so we have been busy in the office preparing for the various lectures and workshops that she has been involved in. Dr. Flynn is a professor of linguistics and language acquisition at MIT in Boston and also a member of the LEX America Board of Directors. Yesterday she gave a public lecture which was attended by many Hippo members on raising multilingual children (and becoming multilingual adults as well). The session also included a lecture by Dr. Sakai, a Japanese brain researcher on language and the brain, followed by a question and answer session.


I was one of the MCs, along with 3 other interns, and introduced myself and facilitated parts of the session in English, Spanish and a little Japanese. One of the new things I learned was how to thank a speaker and solicit a round of applause from a Japanese audience: "Sakai sensei arigato gozaimashita, mo ichido hakushuo onegai shimasu." (It worked, everyone clapped!)

Unfortunately, I couldn't understand any of Dr. Sakai's lecture in Japanese, even though I wanted to, so I will focus on Dr. Flynn's, which I did understand. In this lecture she outlined 10 principals of language acquisition that sum up her years of research and also embody the Hippo philosophy of language learning. It was interesting to think about her points as they apply to the way that I am learning Japanese right now. One of the things that came up in the question and answer session was how speaking a different language can change one's perception of self-identity, as many of the year-long exchange students have expressed.

I felt a little like this when I was in Mexico, that there was a Stephanie who spoke English and was a university student in Madison, Wisconsin and a little bit different 'Estefani' or 'la güera' (the blond girl) as I was often referred to cariñosamente in Mexico, who spoke (rather broken) Spanish. I think this was because a lot of your self-identity has to do with how you express yourself and interact with others. In Spanish, I wasn't able to express things like sarcasm or wit in the same way that I could in English, so the way that I communicated and interacted with people was a little different. I was a lot more direct and concise and probably smiled and laughed a lot more when I couldn't respond well in words. I still get a little frustrated sometimes when I am trying to express a very complex idea in Spanish, but someone in Japan told me the other day that when I have a conversation with someone in Spanish I get really excited and expressive. I hadn't really thought about this but I know that the tone and rhythm of my voice changes, and maybe that expression is embedded within the language itself, or maybe it's just because I love speaking in Spanish.

Dr. Flynn's response was that this is because language is more than simply words and grammar, and contains a lot of cultural expression as well; especially when someone acquires a language in a natural immersion environment, it's very strongly connected to the culture and people that the language comes from. My own experience supports this completely. Dr. Flynn also mentioned body language, which is intertwined with spoken words when communicating in a certain language. In Japan I have noticed that I automatically bow slightly or nod my head forward when I say things like "hai", "arigato", "yoroshiku onegai shimasu", just like native Japanese people do. I was never taught to do this, but it seems to me that the body motion is almost a part of the word itself, just like the sounds that come from one's mouth, and it comes naturally.

す-ちゃん

Wednesday, October 12, 2011

Learning Like A Baby

The Hippo philosophy is to acquire languages naturally, through immersion. I didn’t study Japanese before coming to Japan, except looking at a few books about the basic structure of the language out of curiosity, so the way that I’m learning is by listening, observing, and repeating.  As Yo Sakakibara, the founder of Hippo writes, the Hippo experience is “one of adults experiencing what it is to be a baby,” and this is exactly what I’m doing. I had known this before coming to Japan but it’s really different to experience it first hand. Not only am I learning in the way that a child learns, but I am acquiring language in the same pattern that a child does. The first words that a little kid learns are things like: mom, dad, hi, bye, hot, cold, happy, tired, you, me, want, like, go, eat, this, that, what, where. This is also pretty much the first set of vocabulary that I've acquired in Japanese, without even meaning to.  It made me realize that these are some of the first words that a child (or an adult immersed in a foreign language environment) acquires, not because they are the easiest, but because they are the most necessary, useful, and frequently heard.

I’m actually amazed at how much can be conveyed and understood with just a few words, and how even learning one new word allows me to express a whole range of new ideas. For example, the other day I learned that the ending –tai means to want. By applying this to the things I could already express like, “I eat”, “I go”, etc., I can now say “I want to eat this or that”, “I want to go there”, ect. Perhaps my sentences are not grammatically correct, but I can express the idea, and this is what is important.

“Kore-wa Nihongo-de nan-to i-imasu ka?
 
Words learned at the dining room table
I try to use the simple phrases I am learning in Japanese as much as possible with my host family when we are eating or doing things around the house so I practice and remember them, and they are very patient with me. One of the first things I learned from my host mom was how to say “Kore-wa Nihongo-de nan-to i-imasu ka? (How do you say this in Japanese?),” which is one of the most useful phrases as you begin to discover the world around you in a new language, just like a little kid learning to talk for the first time.

The Hippo office is also a really great learning environment. Since we have 5 interns from different countries, it’s naturally a multi-lingual environment and we are all learning together and from each other. Yufu-chan always says things first in Japanese and then English or Spanish if I don’t understand. This is helpful because even if I might not understand something in Japanese at first, every time I hear it, it becomes more recognizable and I understand more. Miyuki-chan went with me on the subway one day and I was pointing out to her the Japanese kanji that I was beginning to recognize in the station. She was just as excited about and interested in the way that I was learning as I was. She said I was just like a little kid, excitedly stopping along the way to point out something that I could understand. That’s how I felt too! Now every time I see her at the office she asks me what new thing I have learned and I can proudly show her my notebook with some new name or kanji I have discovered the meaning of. 

Kanji I have learned from the subway station

す-ちゃん

がんばろう 東北 WS Ganbaro Tohoku!!!


こんにちは!みんな!
Hola a todos!
Les voy a contar sobre mi experiencia en la ciudad de Morioka (盛岡), el fin de semana pasado.
Pero antes vamos a recordar algo no muy agradable...

Parte mas afectada por el terremoto (sombra naranja)
El dia 11 de marzo del 2011「2011年3月11日」, la region de Tōhoku en Japon fue sacudida por uno de los terremotos「」 地震」Mas potentes del mundo hasta la fecha, como ya todos sabemos causo gran destruccion en gran parte de Japon, lo peor, obviamente, fue que muchas personas perdieron todas sus pertenencias e incluso a su familia 「家族」.
Bien pues muchas personas「人」 de Japon日本 y del mundo mostraron su apoyo a Japon de diversas formas y hace unos dias yo tube el gusto de ayudar y dar animos en persona a compañeros de Hippo de esa zona.
Escuchamos 聞く relatos muy tristes de socios que habitaban 『すんでいました」en las zonas afectadas, sin embargo vemos como poco a poco 『すこしずつすこし」van saliendo adelante, aunque no ha sido nada facil.
Familia Atsuji阿閉

Hippo es una gran familia「ヒッポは大家族です」 y como familia nos apoyamos, es por eso que se realizo el workshop ”がんばろう東北” Gambarō Tōhoku (Animo Tohoku), la sede no pudo ser Sendai『仙台」, porque aun no hay lugares donde realizar eventos para mucha gente, asi que se realizo en Morioka, una ciudad cercana. El workshop fue el lunes『月曜日」 pero「しかし」 yo『僕」 llegueつく a Morioka desde el Sabado『土曜日」 y fue una gran experiencia, Mi host family fue la familia Atsuji 阿閉 Mama母 Kyoko, Papa 父Hiroaki, hermanito弟 Rin de 10 anios, y 2 hermanitas 妹Haruka de 13 y la pequeña Kai-Chan de 6. Excelentes personas muuuy amables mi mama muy trabajadora, ella trabaja en cosas relacionadas con agricultura, mi papa suuper buena onda, hasta nos preparaba el desayuno「あさごはん」 y mis hermanitos me ayudaban mucho y pasaban tiempo conmigo, en especial Kai-Chan que no se me separaba ni un momento, jugabamos mucho y me ayudaba a leer, asi que yo le decia Kai-chan sensei, かいちゃん先生 ella estaba muy contenta『嬉しい」 porque me enseñaba nuevas palabras. La casa de mi host family era genial! una casa estilo tradicional japones, con un gran jardin, ademas mi cuarto era todo de tatami y era una casa muy grande, la cuidad de Morioka『盛岡は大好き」 me gusto muchisimo, es muyy tranquila y es pequeña, como Chihuahua, ademas la gente es muy amable y educada.

Phan from Thailand
El sabado tuvimos actividad de Hippo, estubimos preparando cosas para el Workshop, El domingo hubo una conferencia y por la tarde una fiesta, donde pude ver de nuevo a mi amigo Jiro, el estubo en Chihuahua el año pasado y este año regreso a Kyoto Japon, ademas conoci a mucha gente nueva como a Phan, el es de Tailandia y ahora esta en Japon estudiando la preparatoria. Fue muy divertido.! y finalmente el lunes fue el worshop de Gambarou Tohoku, donde se compartieron muchas experiencias y todos juntos disfrutamos, al mismo tiempo que dimos animos a la gente del norte de Japon.

Human language
Aun no hablo muy bien Japones 日本語 pero no importa porque en Hippo yo aprendi el lenguaje humano y pude comunicarme muy bien con todos y entender muchas cosas. Yo quiero seguir aprendiendo muchos idiomas para poder hablar muchisimo con mis amigos de todo el mundo y poder ayudar cuando se necesite, por eso es importante el lenguaje para animar y ayudar.
Hello!!
I will tell you about mu experience in Morioka, the last week. But befor that, let`s remember some things.
On march 11of 2011 the Tohoku area in Japan was shaken by a big earthquake and tsunami. A lot of people lost all their things and maybe their family. People from all over the world showed support and prayed for Japan. And a few days ago i was able to give a little help in person on the "Ganbaro Tohoku Workshop".
In the workshop we heard very sad stories told by the members that used to live in the damaged zones, but we can see how little by little they are moving forward.
Hippo is a big family an because of this we all support each other, this was the purpose the "Ganbaro Workshop" (ganbaro its means something like "encourage" or "let`s go"), the workshop could not be held in Sendai (the most affected zone) becouse, there is not an area for big events yet, so the workshop was in Morioka, a nearby city.
Haruka, Rin y Kai-Chan
The event was held last monday but i arrived in Morioka on saturday and it was a great experience.
My host family was the Atsuji family: my mom Kyoko, father Hiroaki, little brother Rin (10 years old) and two sisters Haruka (13) and Kai-Chan (6) they are excellent persons. My mother is a very active person she works for a agriculture company and my father is really cool and he cooked breakfast once!
Mi little brother and sisters helped me so much and spent time with me, especially my sister Kai-Chan, she was always with me and together we played games (like "loteria") and also she helped me to read so i called her "Kai-chan Sensei" she was very happy because she could teach me new words.
The house was so great with a traditional japanese style and a big garden, the floor of my room was made of "tatami" an it was a big house, i really like the city of Morioka, its very quiet and small (like Chihuahua) and the citizens are very educated and friendly.
My name in Thai
On the saturday there was a Hippo activity getting ready for the WS. On sunday i went to a conference and in the evening to a party where i could see my friend Jiro, he was in Chihuahua the last year and this year he came back to Japan,, also i met many people, for example Phan, he is from Thailand and now he is studying in the high school in Japan. It was so fun!, and finally monday was the "Gambaro Workshop" where many hippo members shared experiences and we all had fun and showed support for the people of northern Japan.
I can not speak japanese very well yet, but it doesn`t matter because in Hippo i learned the human language and i could comunicate very well with everybody and understand many things.
I want to go on learning languages in order to be able to speak a lot with my friends around the world and to help when it is necesary. This is why language is important it allows you to show support and to help.


Tino
ティノより

Tuesday, October 11, 2011

Ichigo Ichie - 一期一会

¡Hola! ¿Cómo están todos? 
Soy Gori. Bueno, mi nombre real es Yuki Aratani. Pero me gusta que me digan Gori. Ya escribí otro día sobre mí y por qué vine México etc. Y ahora estoy en Chihuahua. Y trabajando en la oficina de Chihuahua con Nayiba (mi mama) y Lairen. Son muy amables y trabajan muchísimo igual que la oficina de México DF! Pues creo que la oficina de Japón también, ¿verdad los JEPs? Así que yo también tengo mucho trabajo. Quiero más tiempo. Quiero un día seria 30horas. Para dormir más jajaja Bueno, Ya pasó 6meses aquí México. Ahora quiero compartir mi experiencia y también quiero que me digas tu impresión de mi historia.

Un día cocinamos el Okonomiyaki estilo Hiroshima. El okonomiyaki es origen Osaka. Y estilo de Hiroshima tiene la Yakisoba (como la pasta). Yo no cocino mucho como hamburguesa, Ramen, quesadilla etc. así que poco a poco aprendiendo cocinar también. Eso también experimento. Pero comimos rico! Bueno, yo comí rico jajaja  Me gusta mucho mi familia y mi casa. Pero mi casa es poca rara. Porque tenemos todas cosas para hacer el Okonomiyaki, hasta el Katsuo bushi! Estaba asombrado. Pues mi casa de DF también tenemos todo. La próxima vez, voy a intentar cocinar el Oyako don (pollo con huevo en arroz). Y yo y Mama siempre hablamos en la noche, sobre Hippo. Eso me ayuda mucho para saber "Qué es Hippo"



Fui feria del libro con mis amigos de Hippo. Ya fui 3veces ahí. Y encontramos los libros de Torakare, o sea “¿Qué es la mecánica cuántica?” y “Aventuras con Fourier”. Ya somos famosos. De hecho ahorita unos chavos vienen a Hippo por los libros de Torakare. Pero uno de estos dice “Yo Sakakibura…” se equivocaron. Bueno, lo importa es dentro. Todavía no he leído todos pero estos libros son muy interesantes. En Japón, temporada de otoño dicen "Dokusho no Aki" (leer mucho en otoño) así que vamos a leer!  

                   En US Customs and Border Protectionen / El paso (TEXAS) - Juares (México) fui a el paso para sacar nuevo permiso de México. Todo el tiempo de ese día usé para sacar mi permiso. Ahi muchas personas me preocuparon. Doumo Arigatou. Me gusta mucho cultura México de que habla con todos aunque es desconocido. Ahi conocimos (foto) porque esperabamos muchisimo tiempo. Mi papa miguel me ayudo mucho. Y ya tengo permiso de México. Por fin...jajaja


 Y sobre el idioma. Me interesa muchísimo el humano como aprende el lenguaje. Ahora ya pasó 6meses desde que llegué aquí en México. Y me siento siempre, “escuchar y entender crecen más rápido que hablar” y tambien “hablar y escuchar crecen juntos”  yo pienso que si no hablo, la posibilidad de escuchar no se va a crecer. Al raves también, si no escucho, la posibilidad de hablar no se va a crecer. Por eso Metakatsu es muy importante para hablar. Porque podemos hacer los dos.Y los bebes hacen escuchar y hablar, no? aunque no habla bien.

Sin embargo hay más importante para hablar el lenguaje del humano. Eso es la persona. Si tienes la persona que quieres hablar. Tu lenguaje se va a crecer muy rápido. Porque nosotros hablamos para entendernos, comunicarnos, ¿verdad? O sea el idioma existe para comunicarnos. Si nada más estudias, yo pienso que tu lenguaje no se va a crecer. Porque el idioma está entre de las personas. 

 Y para hablar y entender necesitamos escuchar las materiales, pues también puede ser las novelas, las películas, las programas de Televisión etc. en varios idiomas, gracias a internet, podemos tener medio ambiente de varios idiomas más fácil que antes. Si no escuchamos el idioma, no podemos tener sonido del idioma porque vivimos en medio ambiente del español no como la de India que tiene medio ambiente de varios idiomas. Yo pienso que si puedes aprender las palabras por la persona, libro o internet como escuela. Pero eso es nada más la palabra. El sonido, la onda es lo más importante para hablar el idioma. ¿Por qué?  De verdad, no sé ¿por qué? Pero por las experiencias de socios de Hippo incluyendo mía, podemos decir “Sonido del idioma es muy importante para hablar y entender idioma”
 Yo conocía un estudiante mexicano que estudiaba japonés 2años en el D.F. pero me gusta más japonés de Hippo como canta y habla ustedes. Tienes onda de japonés, sonido de japonés. Me da gusto escucharlo.

bueno, pero ya saviamos que lo más importante es "Corazón Abierto" "Kokoro wo Hiraite" "Open your heart"  Eso es estilo de Hippo verdad?

Hay un dicho de Japonés me gusta mucho.
Ichigo ichie : 一期一会 (Dice ichigo pero no es la fresa jajaja)
Significa “Cada momento es única, y nunca repetirá, por eso cada oportunidad es importante para ti”
Me queda solo 100dias más o menos. Disfruto cada momento con muchas ganas!
Viva México! Viva Hippo!  Byebye.

Gori Yuki Aratani

Sunday, October 9, 2011

Learning 日本語

Every day I'm learning a little more Japanese. Not in a class but from everything around me. Rather than sitting in a classroom, I sit at the dinner table with my host family or at my desk at work. My best teachers aren't licensed professionals but 12 year old kids. My homework is trying to figure out what a sign says when I'm trying to get somewhere or understand what my coworkers are talking about during lunch. And my tests are when I have to order at a restaurant or ask someone how to find the right train in the subway station.
 
This way of learning is never boring! It's always an adventure, though it's not always easy. Sometimes it can be really frustrating not being able to follow a conversation or understand what someone is trying to ask me or express something I want to say in Japanese.  But I have to remind myself that I started learning Japanese when I arrived here, only three months ago, so that makes me a three-month old in terms of Japanese. When I think of it that way and focus on what I do know and understand rather than what I don't, I think I am doing pretty well. I'm even beginning to become literate! 
My first piece of Japanese literature... you have to start somewhere!



Can you guess what this says? It's probably easier than you think. I recognized these characters but couldn't remember exactly which sounds they stand for. I knew that the first character sounds like "ko" and the second was either "ah" or "oh". This is a picture of a koala, and there is no "l" sound in Japanese so that means it must be "ko ah RA!" Now you can read three hiragana characters!

One of my host sister's friends, Karen-chan, has English class at school and sometimes comes over so I can help her with her homework. It's really great because I think I learn as much in Japanese as she does in English. I try to understand what the directions say in Japanese in order to help her decide how the sentences need to be written in English, so we are both figuring it out at the same time. She's a really good teacher because she's patient and helps me read the Japanese sentences slowly. When I don't understand a word in Japanese she tries to tell me the English word, and when she doesn't understand and English word I try to find the word in Japanese. When we can't, we look it up in the dictionary and then we've both learned something new!
Karen-chan and her brother Go-chan
Karen-chan's English homework and my Japanese notes
Karen-chan teaching me how to write hiragana and kanji characters

Saturday, October 8, 2011

A New Home in Japan

I’ve now been in Japan a few weeks and I’m getting settled into everything here. I live with my host mom, Toshiko, host dad, Hideharu, and host sister Asuka in Wako-shi, in Saitama prefecture. My host dad is in the military so we live in an apartment complex near a military base. It’s a really nice area since it’s near a big park, there are lots of trees, and on a good day we can see Mt. Fuji from the balcony!

Before I arrived in Japan, I saw on my host family’s application that they had a pet squirrel, which I thought was most likely a slight mistranslation for hamster, however when I arrived I was surprised to find that ‘squirrel’ was indeed a fairly accurate translation. He is actually a chipmunk and his name is Cha-Cha. My host mom explained that in Japanese the word for the color
Our pet, Cha-Cha
brown is Cha-iro, so Cha-Cha means something like Brownie. Now I will always remember how to say brown in Japanese.

My host family helps me a lot and is patient with me as I’m learning how things work. Part of my host dad’s job is working as an English translator, so he is able to explain more complicated things to me in English. He's been all around the world with the military
Ice skating with my host mom and sister
and has lots of photos and stories. My host mom also speaks English and has been to Wisconsin several times since she has a friend who lives there! She often says things in Japanese though, which is really good for me as I’m beginning to learn the language, and she always answers my questions and teaches me new words. The more times I hear something, the easier it is to recognize and understand the next time. My host sister Asuka is almost 11 years old and her favorite things are playing soccer andwatching Pokemon. She doesn’t speak as much English as my host parents so this makes me want to learn more Japanese so that I can talk more with her. 

My host dad eating onigiri for lunch
Being in Japan makes me really want to be able to communicate in Japanese, even though I came here knowing almost nothing. Though at first is seemed a little overwhelming, learning Japanese has become kind of a new hobby for me. When you stop worrying about how hard it seems or everything you can’t understand yet and focus on the things you can recognize or express, it’s interesting and rewarding, kind of like a puzzle that I’m figuring out little by little. Every day I am learning new things from everything around me. It’s great to be in the kind of encouraging environment that exists in the Hippo Family Clubs, the Hippo office, and my host family. It makes it easy to learn new things when you are not afraid to ask questions or make mistakes and there are so many people willing to help you who are excited about the progress you are making. I think this is one of the really great things about Hippo. 

Hippo 30th Anniversary Workshop
A few days after I arrived, there was a big workshop and party for the Hippo 30th Anniversary. There were about 700 people at the workshop and when I got there I learned that I was to go on the stage and introduce myself to everyone in Japanese! I was nervous because I don’t know very much Japanese yet at all, but I knew how to introduce myself from the Hippo Family Club activities that I attended in Mexico last summer and I repeated it over and over to myself before I went on stage. I’m sure what I said wasn’t perfect, but the important thing is that everyone understood what I was trying to communicate and it was really amazing to see 700 people smiling back at me and applauding!
View from our apartment

-Stephanie (すちゃん)