A college student recently wrote to me asking for career advice, but since she mentioned that she would soon be studying abroad, I ended up giving her exchange student advice instead. As a former exchange student at Tsuda College (now Tsuda University), I have a lot of opinions on that topic!
First of all, to all the college students out there: If you’re considering studying abroad, definitely do it. It’s one of the best things you can do for yourself if you’re a language person, a communication person, a political science person, or any person who wants a challenge.
And now for my study abroad advice…
First of all, get clear on your goal. Why are you studying abroad?
Let’s say you’re going to study in Japan. What’s your #1 goal for what you want to get out of your time in Japan? Language fluency? Cultural literacy? Having fun away from home? Get absolutely clear on this.
It’s totally fine if this goal changes after you get there, but you can’t work toward a goal you don’t even have. So pick your #1, and it’s not a bad idea to pick a #2 as well. You may find that #1 and #2 flip later, and that’s fine. The point is to know enough about what you’re trying to do that you can make smart choices during the crucial early days there.
If Your Goal Is Language Fluency
Here are some great habits for language fluency:
1. Avoid the habit of hanging out ONLY with other exchange students.
Other exchange students are great, and I’m not saying don’t make friends with them! I’m saying you also need to be having lots of conversations in Japanese with Japanese people. So you need to intentionally put yourself in situations where that can happen.
2. Join a circle/club at your college.
In a way, this is a technique for accomplishing #1. A circle, club, or team means built-in people to talk to!
This is especially important if you’ll be studying abroad in Japan, where clubs and after-school activities are a huge part of the culture.
Make sure you go to any events at the beginning of the term where the clubs are recruiting new members. Sign up for one that you think you’ll enjoy, or at least one that you aren’t given an actual panic attack by the thought of. A little fear is normal—I was scared, too. Picking the least scary one is a totally valid way to make this choice. But by joining a club, you’re aligning yourself with a group of people that you can talk to x times a week, go to parties with sometimes, and say hello to when you see them on campus.
Personally, I brought my flute to Japan with me and joined the Hitotsubashi-Tsuda Wind Orchestra (一橋大学津田塾大学吹奏楽団). I was the only exchange student in the whole club. I got to make music while also learning the Japanese words for making music, which wasn’t exactly a topic my textbooks covered.
If you play basketball, maybe you try out for the basketball club. If you’re interested in trying pottery, maybe you join the pottery club. The point is to be in the group. That’s the cake. The activity the group is centered around is the icing on the cake. And if it turns out the club members are unkind and the cake doesn’t taste good, you can always leave.
If you miss club signups, you can try looking for civic volunteer opportunities in the area. Some businesses, schools, or groups in the city are probably looking for exchange students to come speak about their home countries. That’s an opportunity for you to meet community members and interact with them in Japanese (hashing out logistics, etc.) even if the actual volunteer work is in English.
3. Read and watch media in the local language.
Read lots of manga (or online comics, or whatever) in Japanese while you’re there. At a used bookstore like Book Off, there is often a section where you can buy manga that’s not in perfect condition for dirt cheap. Book Off had a 100 yen section while I lived in Tokyo. This is how you learn speech patterns that aren’t in your textbooks.
Maybe you also find a TV show or YouTube show to watch. Back in 2002, I tried to tune in to one or two shows a week on TV.
4. Don’t Neglect Your Japanese Textbooks
Just remember that you don’t want to rely ONLY on immersion. Immersion is crucial, and you’re going to be doing it, but it works best when you study grammar along with your immersion.
My suggestion to read lots of manga (or novels, if you want, but manga is easier when you’re starting out) is based along the same lines. The principle here is that everything works together synergistically when you’re learning a language. Textbooks make immersion work better. Immersion makes textbooks work better. Reading and writing make listening better. Listening makes reading and writing better. They’re all different weapons in the arsenal.
5. When you’re signing up for classes, pick at least one class where you already know the material.
This class needs to be in the local language, not in your native language. Pick something where you expect the new-to-you material to be minimal or easy to grasp. The reason you’re taking it is not to learn the material. The reason you’re taking it is to learn to the language as it applies to that material.
What I did was take Linguistics 101, the intro course to a major I was already halfway through back in the US. That meant that during Linguistics 101 classes at Tsuda, I could give my whole brain to learning Japanese. When the concepts themselves aren’t new, you’re free to focus in a different way. I wasn’t learning linguistics via Japanese; I was learning Japanese via linguistics. I also got to pick up the key vocabulary of my major, which you don’t normally do in a Japanese class.
If Your Goal Is to Be a Translator
1. Practice the Material
If you want to localize media, you need to get good at reading/watching media, and you can only do that by practicing. So you in particular need to do #3 above.
You also need to do #5, to begin building vocabulary in a specialty. If you have a science background and you want to translate patents, for example, maybe you pick Engineering 101 or Chemistry 101. You’re not taking those classes to learn engineering and chemistry; you’re taking those classes to learn how to talk or write about engineering and chemistry.
2. Practice the Craft
Then, if you think you want to translate x type of thing, practice doing it. That’s how you learn whether you really like it. Trust me, you want to know whether you like it before you decide to make it a career. And getting good at anything takes practice.
Even if it takes you a whole month to translate one chapter of some manga you’re reading and the result is mediocre, you learn a ton in the process. When I was at Tsuda, I used to sit in the library and slowly translate bits of Ruroni Kenshin to see if I could do it.
Final Important Reminder…
Don’t forget to have fun. You can learn Japanese while you’re having fun. You’ll be in Japan, so you can learn Japanese doing basically anything.