わたしの なまえわ みゆきです（すみません）。

My name is Miyuki Miyagi and I don't speak Japanese. I am tired of the looks of disapproval (often paired with utter confusion) I get when I say that. So that is one of the reasons why I am taking Japanese 101 during my senior year. But it is not the only reason. Of course it will be nice to feel like I finally deserve my name, but mainly I just want to be able to communicate better with my dad. My father is a first-generation Japanese immigrant from Naha city in Okinawa. He came to westchester at the age of 24 to teach karate intending to return to Japan within two years. He then met my mom, a jewish college student taking his karate class, and the rest is history. After living here for about forty years, today my father is of course fluent. As of a few years ago, he is also an American citizen. Nonetheless, he is still very japanese. Having worked in karate dojos and japanese restaurants (including our own) during his entire time in this country, my father has never really become fully comfortable with English and Japanese remains his first and primary language. Indeed I was exposed to a lot of Japanese culture and language growing up as a child. While I did not go to Saturday Japanese school (mom decided on suzuki school instead), I did learn Japanese at home and with a tutor for a short period of time. I was exposed to the language and culture both at home, at my family's japanese restaurant, and in the homes of my best childhood friends who were also Japanese.

That said, I never really learned the language. Last year one of my best friends at school who was fluent in Japanese would sometimes refer to my abilities in Japanese as rainman-like. Yes, I guess I am sort of a Japanese idiot savant. Sometimes I know absolutely nothing and cannot understand even the simplest phrase. Other times I recognize a grammatically-difficult sentence from my childhood and seem to understand complex expressions. While my pronunciation and sporadic comprehension can be misleading, I do not speak or understand enough Japanese to communicate in the language. Since age 5, when Japanese people ask me whether or not I speak the language I reply,　”すこし。”

I realized last year that すこし was no longer enough for me. Trying to speak and learn the language with my Japanese-speaking friend got me interested in the language and culture again and I realized how much I wanted to finally learn about my father's country and culture. More importantly, at the age of 21, I realized how much I wanted to be able to finally communicate with him as an adult in his language. My father picked up on my heightened interest in his language and culture and now our plan is to go visit my family in Okinawa at the end of the year when I graduate. Hopefully this class will prepare me for the trip!

So far I have found much of the material in class to be relatively simple, as much of it (though certainly not all) is review. I have found it rewarding to solidify things I already knew and clear up things I thought I knew but really didn't--everything from pronunciation to the order of brush strokes on hiragana characters. While I was worried how I would cope with the commitment of a 101 language class every day, I actually find that it is consistently one of the most enjoyable parts of my day! I walk out of Japanese class every day happier than when I came in. Hearing the language makes me feel at home. And learning new words and correct pronunciations is fun!

So far the most difficult part of this class has been creating this blog! I am rather technologically challenged and I would like to figure out the formatting a bit more for next time. Can't wait to move past hiragana to learning vocab and grammar!