MLO 5: CULTURAL INTERNALIZATION AND LANGUAGE IMMERSION
5.1 Students demonstrate that they have actively immersed themselves in authentic Japanese cultural and linguistic environments and have internalized the language and cultural experience, from which they have developed a personal understanding and new perspectives of the community.
Reflective Narrative
5.1
I was able to achieve this immersion from my study abroad in Japan from 2014-2015. I learned so much about myself, the country and the world in a short amount of time. I became completely surrounded by the culture and language that I could get around places with ease, I had no problem functioning in the city of Tokyo on a regular basis. My family and friends both visited me during my stay and I was able to guide them through Japan with no problem. While I guided them I was also able to help them avoid making people feel too uncomfortable by being too loud for example. My friends and family had no experience learning the Japanese language so I played the role of translator for my visitors.
While studying the language abroad I was incredibly scared and frustrated at times. Not being able to understand my Sensei and their instructions, getting lost due to being lost in translation however I was able to grow from that ,learn and move forward. I felt that I grew tremendously from the classes and traveling within the country. Outside of class I had many friends who showed me the way to festivals or cities so that I could experience them to the fullest.
I found that learning the language and the culture were more inter-twined than I originally thought. The more I learned about the festivals, history and even food through my experiences abroad I realized the direct connecting it had with fully understanding the ins and outs of dialogue. Conversations began to make more sense when I was able to see where the people came from, understand the references being used in them frequently.
You can find part of my journey Documented here: 1