Learning a Language

I have been learning Dutch for the past three months.

I have not taken lessons to learn something new for a long time, a rare thing for me to do. I was extremely excited at the beginning but had failed completely by the third lesson. It was quite humbling to show my incompetence at my age, detrimental to my mind, body and dignity, though it did not go as far as to destroy my honor.

It was not the teacher's fault. I simply could not speak nor utter any words.

Even though I tried to arrange the words that I knew, the teacher did not even smile at me today. I wished he could have been more considerate. I felt angry and sad. After the torturous hour and a half was over, and I realized a very simple and obvious fact - I have to study harder.

My husband is a Flemish from Antwerp. Flemish is quite similar as Dutch except for some words. They are the same language except for a slight difference in pronunciation. I have been married to him for 13 years. I also have been teaching at the Flemish conservatoire in Brussels for four years. As a matter of fact, I feel embarrassed that I cannot speak the language at all.


I can find too many excuses. But one is that I do not have a lot of free time. Dutch is not used at a global level. Brussels is a French speaking area. I teach the violin, not a language. Everybody is fluent in either English or French. But on the other hand it is a serious disadvantage for me not being able to speak the language of a country where I work. It is quite a shame not to show any interest in my husband's mother tongue. I communicate with my mother-in-law in French. The president of the conservatoire kindly speaks to me in French. I am only taking advantage of the generosity of the Flemish people.


I have decided to tackle the language right away or otherwise I will never be able to learn the language again. I'll give it a try for at least one year.


It sounds like a brave decision and even makes me look good. I feel I am invincible, hoping that I will be fluent in a year's time and even improve my French like a native. On top of that I may even give Russian a try.

My teacher complimented me during my first and second lesson. "Yes, yes, you can speak very well." I felt good and memorized the expression " hangt ervan af"(which means "depends of it"), without looking at a textbook or even understanding the conjugation of the first and second person.

During the third lesson, I used that expression to my teacher to show off, which was detrimental. He continued to speak unfamiliar words. I said I did not understand. He replied I should understand the lesson because the record shows that I studied them. I did not even know what he was talking about since I did not even look at the textbook. It was frightened when he realized that I had not studies anything at all. What happened afterwards was a never ending torturing private lesson. I felt as if my human rights were threatened.


The Berlitz system is such that the teachers change at every lesson to prevent students from becoming too friendly to one particular teacher. It exposes the students to different types of pronunciations. It is possible to have the same teacher hence keeping good long term relations with the teachers is one of the important ways to absorb the language smoothly. If there are teachers the students cannot get along with, then they can inform the person in charge of arranging the lessons to avoid that teacher. That distressful experience changed my attitude completely and I started to study seriously with the dictionary in one hand.

I tried to remember everything I learnt. It was the beginning of learning a language after a long break from studying.


I am a natural with languages. Other than Japanese, I know the note names in German, 'solfe´ge' in French the musical vocabulary such as allegro, dolce, and fermata in Italian. I was proud of my abilities when I was at elementary school. I also liked English classes when I was in junior high school. When I was at senior high school, at Toho School of Music, I wrote a letter asking to appear in the French television lessons on NHK. I also have pleasant memories learning "l'histoire naurelle" under the direction of Akira Miyoshi.

However, I never dared to learn grammar or to pore over Shakespeare in the original. I did try French grammar but did not learn much. Even during my last year at high school, I was not quite sure of the conjugation for "e^tre ", a fact I am not very proud of.


When I came to Brussels, I stayed with a Belgian host family during the violin competition. The only conversation I managed with them at the meals was only "this is delicious", and "what nice weather". It was miserable.


In the first place the spoken language is faster in the home country then when studying that language in Japan. There is no time to jot down what has been said. I tried to have my brain work three times faster to try to grasp a word I could understand to imagine what has been said. My younger sister once said that I was good at pretending that I understood everything. She speaks proper German since she spent four years in Salzburg. Once she asked me "what did she say?" when I was smiling sweetly in French conversation and had no clue what was being said.


At last I was able to live in the outskirts of Paris, a long last dream come true.

I lived with Clara and five sisters and brothers aged between 15 and 23. They were talkative and fast speaking if not extremely fast. So, I had to learn to speak French quickly, which was quite difficult. They said I spoke slower when I spent some time in Belgium.

It is well known that people still tend to look down upon the Belgians as "petits Belges" but now with many French people coming to Belgium for a more comfortable life, "petits Belges" can also signify people who give a bourgeoisie atmosphere.


The other main language in Belgium is Flemish. According to the regulations, German is also an official language. German speaking people live in the adjacent area to Aachen, This is Belgium. When I first came to this country, I was amazed and wondered why there had to be three official languages in such a small county. Other than for work reasons, there isn't much interaction between Brussels and Antwerp, even though the distance between the two cities is only 40 kilometers. Their cultural backgrounds are completely different. They watch different TV programs and they speak different languages. It's like living in two different countries.

When l look around my apartment, there are Swedes living next door, Austrians on the opposite side, and Greeks downstairs. Many nationalities live within 500 meters around me. I do not have to go to Antwerp to find an international atmosphere.


It was my desire to bring up my children in Japanese. Perhaps this came about because I married a Flemish man. It wasn't very complicated until I became pregnant. He started talking to my tummy in Flemish. I heard Flemish being spoken everyday. My children have no problems between Japanese and Flemish contrary to my worries. On the other hand my Flemish vocabulary is very limited and childlike knowing words like spider, rabbit, ant, bear, and look.

Our concerns intensified when they started going to kindergarten, a time they started becoming social. Elementary school is a time when they began thinking in a language. My husband and I should have sorted out this important issue by now but I was still undecided. My husband was influenced by me and shared my soul-searching journey. I just seemed to postpone the decision making forever.

In the end, they are now studying in a French school. I was told that they had a scanty vocabulary when they were going to elementary school. French was their third language. It was only natural that it would take time for them to master the language. Until then, although it was difficult, I was able to help them with their homework in French. I was able to teach them history, mathematics, and conjugation. I was hopeful that I would be perfect in French if I went through the six years of elementary school twice with my two children. What an illusion that was!

Of course, they had to learn Japanese.

I found that mother tongue formed at the age of ten or in fourth grade at elementary school. It becomes quite difficult to absorb another language after that. Their brain could not handle another language and there was no time for it. It is far more important to absorb information and vocabulary as much as possible than translating the text from one language to another. In this respect, I do not agree that English should be taught in the early stage. People may disagree with me but I believe that it is better to have communicative skills, to have the linguistic ability to talk to one person to another, leaving the pronunciation and grammar aside.


Those who are talkative are free to talk as much as they like. If one is reticent, they are also free to keep silent. It all depends on one's character. How to develop from there depends on how their brain works. There are times when one is silent because they know too much. There is a tendency to unintentionally become a recluse when living in a foreign country. It is important to talk to people to keep mentally stable.


Now going back to my Flemish, the lessons are getting more difficult, with the conjunctive mood, presumptions, half past tense, and conjugation for each setting. I was lucky to find a teacher I get along with. I study with her these days. It gives me great pleasure when I have no problems in learning and I feel good when my teacher compliments me. Since I have been teaching for the past few years, I find it interesting watching how my teacher reacts.


Also, through this experience, I find it easier to be taught than to teach.

I will continue my studies while swaying like a metronome from frustrations to joy.