I’m (finally) learning Japanese!

こんにちは!

Our love for anything related to Japan is not a secret, we have been super lucky to travel three times to the Nippon country, Terrace house is our n.1 guilty pleasure and we probably eat more Japanese food than Spanish. But there was something we have never dare to tackle, the language.

It is true that I've tried a couple times to learn Hiragana (one of the three alphabets they use) in order to be able to read some labels or signs when travelling, but always a few months later I have started to forget some of the characters. Of course, we also already knew some basic words, but we have never properly started to study Japanese and I have never actually been able to complete a full sentence.

My mom brought home these natural autumn leaves which she picked up herself from the woods to use as decoration in our home, so I thought they would make a lovely prop for the pictures.

Our sensei uses kawaii stamps to review our homework, cutest!

A few months ago a very reputed Japanese-only academy in Barcelona called Japonia moved to our neighborhood looking for a bigger space, and we read it as the definite signal for us to finally enrol a beginners course. So we did! We are Japanese A1 students from the end of September and have been enjoying it lots so far!.

Our sensei Nanami-san is the nicest, she comes from Haneda, near Tokyo, and our class has a total of 9 students (counting us both). We have chosen the easy course, meaning we only go once a week and the class is 1h30 minutes long. This is a wise choice for us because otherwise, we have so many things going on already in our weeks, that it would feel too overwhelming. This pace give us enough time to do the next-week homework and do some lesson reviewing in order to consolidate new knowledge.

Sweater weather

Finally, the cold temperatures are enough so I can wear this gorgeous winter sweater! It's currently the favorite in my wardrobe, it is warm, cozy, with the sweetest collar and embroidered details. It also has a look that reminds me of the holiday season, although it's not clearly on Santa theme, so I'm planning on wearing it a lot.

White embroidered sweater c/o King Louie

So far we have learnt more than I have imagined we would, we are already able to construct simple sentences with the verb "to be" like for instance "Kochira wa otearai desu" (that translates as "here's the bathroom" helpful, right?) and have studied some adverbs that allow us to ask questions with "who" or "what". We have already moved from the Hiragana alphabet and all our notes must be taken in those characters (wow!) and are currently combining learning Katakana (the second alphabet, which is used for foreign words) with more grammar.

It's so refreshing to be studying a language again! And very different from anything else we do, so although an evening Friday class may sound exhausting, it is not, we enjoy ourselves and appreciate that change in our work routines. My current course ends at the end of January, but we have both decided that we will move to the A2 course too, we are ready for the challenge!

Which languages do you know? Do you find it difficult to learn a new language or does it comes natural in you? Have you ever learnt Japanese?