Adventures as an ALT or a CIR...

[ChisaChi]

I'm lucky that my boyfriend is pretty supportive of me going, and we've been together long enough and have a steady enough relationship to be able to survive a year apart, I think.

I keep hearing about people going to Japan on JET or other things without any Japanese and coming back without learning much either, so I'm sure you'd do fine In all the places I went to in Japan they either spoke some English or we got by with my crappy Japanese and charades. It definitely sounds like it would be a lot easier to get by and make friends with some Japanese though, and people always seemed to appreciate my bad attempt at their language all the same.

[samurai007]

Originally Posted by SSJup81

Before considering applying, I was worried about my bf too, but we broke up, so he's no longer an issue. If I'd gotten in, and we were still together, I would've felt guilty leaving him behind.

I do keep thinking about what I'd leave though and have second thoughts. Mostly, doubts in myself. "Could I really get by?" is the main thing I keep asking myself, since my Japanese is so awful. I wish I could pick it up as fast as some other people. I must be getting old.

Anywho, anrakushi good luck to you! I hope you get your letter soon saying you got in. ^_^

Like Chisachi said, you can get by. I'm one of those JETS who knew no Japanese, and while I learned some while I was there, I certainly never became fluent. But within a couple days after arriving I was going shopping by myself, and within 6 months, took a 9 day trip through western Japan without any problems (over Christmas break).

It can be surprising just how much you can understand without words, and what other clues you can pick up on. For instance, look in your cupboard and refrigerator, and imagine that none of the packages had any words on them, just the pictures, etc. How many things would you really by unable to tell what they are? I bet most of your canned foods, TV dinners, etc all have pictures on them. And of course numbers are numbers, so you can see prices of most items just fine. And you'll learn hiragana and katakana fairly quickly, which will let you sound out many words.

[anrakushi]

i agree with not worry about your japanese level, you can get by on none at all. In China, a different country but from my experience the people in this area knew far less english than where i was in Japan last year, I met a man who had been teaching english for a few years and he could only speak a few words of Chinese. He was having a great time. I could speak more chinese than him which surprised the hell out of me. On the opposite side of things i met a man at the chinese consulate in melbourne, he was from China but had been living in melbourne for 20 years and boy was his english awful. it took him quite an effort to explain to me that the east coast of China was very populated. luckily i already knew this so i can guess what he meant.

what i will say though, knowing Japanese there sure makes your life more independent. I think the worst feeling I had when i started out in Japan in 2006 was that I had suddenly lost a lot of my independence because i couldn't deal with the internet company over the phone, i couldn't see doctors without a friend helping me, and so on. but if i can say anything about japanese it would be they are very patient and will do their best to make sure you understand. so you shouldn't be concerned.

as for career, well, my future depends on me knowing Japanese as I intend to stay in Japan for a good number of years before possibly moving to Korea. so I see being in JET as a nice way to work, get paid and also have more opportunity to speak japanese than I would otherwise have working in an 英会話 (english coversation school). hopefully i can make a difference in the lives of some students along the way as well ^^ of course that is if i get in ><

thanks ssjup81 for your wishes also. people in Perth are getting notified by email as of yesterday, lucky people.

[SSJup81]

Originally Posted by ChisaChi

I'm lucky that my boyfriend is pretty supportive of me going, and we've been together long enough and have a steady enough relationship to be able to survive a year apart, I think.

What if you decided to stay on for two years, after really liking it after a year? That's what I was worried about since I'd hate to leave him behind in a general sense. My ex is very loyal, and I'm sure he would've done the same. I broke up with him because...well...I just wasn't into him much anymore. The relationship really wasn't going anyplace, even if he thought so.

I keep hearing about people going to Japan on JET or other things without any Japanese and coming back without learning much either, so I'm sure you'd do fine

Yeah, I suppose. I've heard that too, but I still find it a bit difficult to believe. How can someone go to another country for a year, surrounded by the language, and not pick up anything? Even if it's basic stuff, seems you should get something.

I think the biggest obstacle that pops into mind, is if I have to go someplace, like say...the post office (I dunno), and have trouble communicating since my Japanese is limited and how there's a possibility that the person I'm conversing with doesn't speak much English or any English. Grocery stores, markets, or restaurants I'm not worried about.

In all the places I went to in Japan they either spoke some English or we got by with my crappy Japanese and charades. It definitely sounds like it would be a lot easier to get by and make friends with some Japanese though, and people always seemed to appreciate my bad attempt at their language all the same.

That's pretty cool. What part did you go to, by the way?

Originally Posted by samurai007

Like Chisachi said, you can get by. I'm one of those JETS who knew no Japanese, and while I learned some while I was there, I certainly never became fluent. But within a couple days after arriving I was going shopping by myself, and within 6 months, took a 9 day trip through western Japan without any problems (over Christmas break).

Wow, you're good! I don't think I could do that right off like that. If I get into JET, I hope to be as lucky. I think I really need to be around the language more than what I am to really get a good grasp on it.

It can be surprising just how much you can understand without words, and what other clues you can pick up on. For instance, look in your cupboard and refrigerator, and imagine that none of the packages had any words on them, just the pictures, etc. How many things would you really by unable to tell what they are? I bet most of your canned foods, TV dinners, etc all have pictures on them. And of course numbers are numbers, so you can see prices of most items just fine. And you'll learn hiragana and katakana fairly quickly, which will let you sound out many words.

I already have a heads up on that. I already know Hiragana and Katakana....although I'm weaker when it comes to Katakana. My writing of it is horrible, though. I need practice with that, especially with my Katakana.

Anywho, I'm not really worried about grocery shopping and such. There's a mart that my cousin and I go to at times, and since it's an Asian mart, everything there is an import. Some things we can't figure out (it might use Kanji or is either Chinese or Vietnamese or Korean, etc.), but we get the gist by the picture on the front. It's also a nice way to practice my reading of Katakana for some of the products.

Originally Posted by anrakushi

i agree with not worry about your japanese level, you can get by on none at all. In China, a different country but from my experience the people in this area knew far less english than where i was in Japan last year, I met a man who had been teaching english for a few years and he could only speak a few words of Chinese. He was having a great time. I could speak more chinese than him which surprised the hell out of me. On the opposite side of things i met a man at the chinese consulate in melbourne, he was from China but had been living in melbourne for 20 years and boy was his english awful. it took him quite an effort to explain to me that the east coast of China was very populated. luckily i already knew this so i can guess what he meant.

That's very interesting. My older cousin is teaching English in Thailand. He headed over there last year. I keep forgetting to ask my aunt for his e-mail address to see how he's truly managing with the language barrier.

what i will say though, knowing Japanese there sure makes your life more independent. I think the worst feeling I had when i started out in Japan in 2006 was that I had suddenly lost a lot of my independence because i couldn't deal with the internet company over the phone, i couldn't see doctors without a friend helping me, and so on. but if i can say anything about japanese it would be they are very patient and will do their best to make sure you understand. so you shouldn't be concerned.

Whoa, see, now that's what I was thinking of! Situations like the ones you mentioned. That's what I'm worried about. What if something comes up, and no one is around to help me, that type of thing.

as for career, well, my future depends on me knowing Japanese as I intend to stay in Japan for a good number of years before possibly moving to Korea. so I see being in JET as a nice way to work, get paid and also have more opportunity to speak japanese than I would otherwise have working in an 英会話 (english coversation school). hopefully i can make a difference in the lives of some students along the way as well ^^ of course that is if i get in ><

Out of curiosity, are you planning on going to North Korea or South Korea?

thanks ssjup81 for your wishes also. people in Perth are getting notified by email as of yesterday, lucky people.

Don't forget to inform us, but I'm sure you will.

[ChisaChi]

I think I'll be satisfied with a year, although staying longer would definitely benefit my Japanese skills more. I wouldn't want to leave everything else behind for any longer than that though.

I think you would have to either be completely disinterested or in a very urban area where you can always find English speakers to hang with to not pick up anything. But yeah, more important situations like talking to a doctor would be pretty hard and frustrating...

I went to all the tourist areas and big cities (Tokyo, Osaka, Kyoto, Nara, Hiroshima, Hakone), so the level of English was probably a lot higher than in other places. People were very patient with my disjointed Japanese words though (my grammar is a bit terrible) and didn't have much trouble. Then again they're probably a lot more used to clueless tourists than the more rural areas that JET will send you to.

My theory is that if other people with zero Japanese skills can do it, then I sure can I'm under the impression that you have a supervisor or someone to ask questions from if you get really stuck, right?

[anrakushi]

SSJup81 - While as an Australian, I can, with a fair bit of red tape, get into Noth Korea I am only allowed to be there as a tourist and from my understanding from people who have travelled there before, i would never be without a guide even if i wanted to be. I'm very interested in North Korea but it is just not realistic to plan to be there. South Korea is predicted to become possibly the second richest country on a per capita basis, their economy is set to become stronger and stronger. not the same can be said for Japan unfortunately.

As for communicating, one thing i found difficult was that Japanese didn't tend to understand, and im generalising here from my experience, how to slow down their speaking. this can make things difficult. but you do adapt to it and those who are familiar with dealing with non-japanese are generally more likely to slow down, use easier japanese etc.

I remember the internet company used to call me early on when i was in Japan and they would use 敬語 (keigo) which is the very polite, honourific language. of course at that point in my studies of Japanese i had not learnt that and even though they were saying simple things I couldn't understand them. i kept saying to them that I couldn't understand but she just kept saying the same thing in 敬語 to me as if repeating it will magically make me understand. luckily there was also a guy who worked at the company and he was great, he would talk to us (fellow students) in slower conversational japanese and we could understand what was going on.

I've gone through my initiation of living in Japan so now i'm ready for some hardcore countryside. I'm hoping they place me in a nice small town if i get in ^^ Where i live now in australia all i can see out my window is a field for grazing animals and then the mountains behind that covered in good old aussie bush.

as for living in the country and not learning much Japanese, that is dead easy depending where you live. hell i managed to find soo many australians around osaka and i wasn't even living in that city. it just depends how willing you are to get out of your comfort zone.

[samurai007]

Yes, every JET has a supervisor. Some will be more helpful than others, though. Mine was very helpful on the day I first arrived in the prefecture. He picked me up at the Kansai airport, drove me 90 minutes to the town, showed me the apartment, police station, train station, post office, bank (where he helped me set up an account), and school, took me shopping for a few basic things, and took me out to dinner that night where he introduced me to the Vice Principal. But then he pretty much vanished until school started, leaving me to the VP (who was a great guy and spoke better English than my supervisor, but was busy with his own job). (I don't mean to downplay the help he gave me, it really helped get me started, but it was a whirlwind of activity, like "here's this, this, this, this, and this, ok, you're set, bye!" Or maybe it just seemed like that, having just come to Japan for the 1st time.)

He helped me learn some Japanese in the summer before school started, but after school I was pretty much on my own. I would get on my bike and just start riding, exploring the town, getting a feel for the place, etc. I found all kinds of places on my own, from other supermarkets to the video rental store to a wide variety of restaurants. Not having a car was a pain at times, but I got by... when I bought a nice stereo/cd system, the store clerks tied all of it to my bike (seat, handlebars, etc... with the boxes, it was pretty large) and I walked the bike home, 45 minutes, uphill, pushing the stereo-laden bike on a sweltering summer evening. But I got it home!

[anrakushi]

Just to update, I got my letter today and I've been accepted into the program. I'll be back in Japan at the end of July for training. looking forward to it ^^
depending on my placement, i might make a trip back to kansai region to see everyone before then. i miss people back there >< hopefully my preference of hyogo prefecture will be given, but not getting my hopes up.

i'll be happy to answer questions on the process as i get over there and things start happening if you guys get curious.

[ChisaChi]

Congratulations! I've heard that Hyogo has more Aussies than any other prefecture, so you might be lucky... it has a sister state thing with WA, so I'm hoping to end up there too when I apply.

Well done!

[anrakushi]

thanks
really? i thought saitama was first, but that might have been 2 years ago now, haha. i've been waiting to apply for this for some time.

my preference outside of the kansai region is to be placed in miyazaki, it has some great surf there and surfing was something i dearly missed during the year i was in Japan.