I’d think that you’d have to be aggressively insular and anti-social to achieve this. I lived in Japan for three years and learned more taking the trains to school than I did in Japanese class. Immersion is an incredibly successful way of learning a foreign language.
Yeah same, I haven’t been taking any formals classes (yet), and have just barely touched the Human Japanese course on my iphone but I’ve picked up a lot of useful catch phrases from my friends.
(however my gaijin friends mostly speak Japanese, having been here a few years)
You’re touching on some of the more serious stuff here. Getting a bad haircut is one thing. Not paying your tax (because you had no idea the tax was due, let alone how to file and how to pay) is more serious.
There are plenty of Japanese accounting firms that specialise in dealing with expats and have bilingual staff and yes it’s pretty much compulsory to use one if you are self employed. If you work for a company, they will deduct your tax and National health insurance before you get your pay so it’s taken care of. City ward tax is the one that might catch you out, but you don’t pay that your first year as it’s based on the previous years income, and hopefully by year 2 you can have have that worked out.
My friend has taught English in Japan for about 15 years and speaks hardly any Japanese at all. I really don’t understand how this can happen.
That said, do you have an iPhone? I knew that there was a sign translator for android, but unfortunately, Google Goggles does not support Japanese yet. However, there is this iPhone app which translates Japanese signs to English.
Indeed.
As others have pointed out, thousands and thousands of people get by “just fine” in Japan without speaking much or reading any Japanese. Many of them have a great time and stay for years if not life.
I’ve been here thirteen years now and I am perfectly fluent. It’s been years since the last time language has been even a minor hurdle for me. When I look at my life and compare it to the experience of my less-than-fluent and illiterate friends, I definitely notice huge differences. Whether those differences matter to you will decide if you can make it.
When you are illiterate, you are always dependant on someone. You are a child. Find yourself with a complicated health problem? Better bring someone with you to the doctor. Need to fill out official paperwork because you’re getting married, had a kid, need to pay tax? Better find someone to help you out.
Of course, there are doctors, dentists, accountants and hairdressers who are fluent in English and who cater to the English community, but they’re a minority. Being limited in your choices is living in a bubble.
You meet lots of friendly people, and sure, going to the local bar and striking a conversation with a stranger (easier than you’d think) isn’t like living in a bubble, but you’ll find after a while that many of these conversations boil down to “in my country things are like this, and in Japan they’re like this,” which is a lot like two bubbles bumping into each other. Unless you are fluent and literate, you will never be able to immerse yourself in the culture, which means that your point of view will always that of an outsider. Again, you will depend on someone else to translate, filter and feed you the culture.
Now, to be fair, this only probably really matters if your long term stays leans towards a permanent stay. Even with good predispositions for learning languages, a good attitude and a good environment, it will take you at least a few years to break the bubble.
The question, then is how you can make this bubble as comfortable as possible. The key, I think, is to prepare yourself (read up on what you should expect, use a phrase book/app at first), keep a positive attitude and don’t worry too much, and probably most important find good people to surround you.