JLC- Mason Brianna

When I see myself in the future, I have too many dreams to see one distinct path. The largest one regarding Japanese, though must be me having enough of an understanding to feel confident in a professional (medical) setting. I want to be able to make the people around me as comfortable as possible and show that I care. I have thought about spending time in Japan, and while I believe I would enjoy it, I can’t see myself spending a large amount of time there. I know that can easily change though. I am interested in pursuing the JET program even though that is far off, and I want to be as proficient in the language as possible. Besides throwing myself into JLC4, if I am allowed, I plan to continue to take Japanese until I am no longer able. I am willing to attempt to learn on my own, but I feel that the structure and pressure of a classroom setting is something that I need at my current level. I understand that I will never be ‘perfect’ but I want to be able to converse with others and ...

Yesterday's class made for an interesting discussion with my peers. What initially started as confusion, quickly turned into joking and comradery to tackle the assignment, and that in and of itself shows be just how powerful "language" as a concept is. Before our session on Jamboard, I was frankly a little uncomfortable talking amongst my peers since, as I've found from previous experience with KCAI, as welcoming as everyone tends to be, there are groups of friends that are made very fast. It can be intimidating. Yet, even with this, a simple struggle with finding the word "socioeconomics" and joking about it made me comfortable enough to add to the conversations and share my opinions. For the Jamboard assignment, I was most intrigued by the overlap of ideas of our two groups. It was expected, but the excitement of everyone when we agreed on topics already being stated made it very clear to me why language- or simply the ability to fully express yourself to ...

While assessing my own skills and accomplishments I became extremely aware how far behind I have come, and in the duration of actually writing down my answers, I grew more and more stressed and disappointed with myself. Even though I can rationalize that practice and use are important in retaining information, my completive side really got to me when it came to putting levels to things. I found myself wanting to score myself low on everything, and I struggled to have confidence in my skills. That all being said, I am actively trying to work on that pessimistic view of myself. I know there were reasons why I am not where I want to be, and I am willing and excited to use this opportunity to grow. This semester's major goal is going to be simply gaining confidence in myself. I love to talk and laugh and create relationships, and I want that to reflect my experiences in Japanese and not just English. Major goals I am setting up for myself this semester include: 1. I want to be able to ...

My overall proficiency in Japanese is sadly low despite the experiences I have had in the past. It has been four years since I have had any actual practice learning and using any skills from class apart from catching words here and there and very basic speech through online gaming, and I have reverted, in my opinion, mostly to novice low to novice mid. It might just be a matter of re-exposure, but I anticipate needing to start from the beginning in reading and writing. My strengths are definitely interpretive and based off of the first class of the year as a level four student, I believe the greatest barrier I will find in my practice (especially with presentational skills) is my lack of confidence and anxiety speaking in front of others. I can understand vocabulary that is dotted into speech and writing, but I find it hard to get the full picture without grammar and more vocabulary knowledge. My goals for the semester are to strengthen my bases for reading and getting more confidence ...

What do I mean when I say "outside" culture?  Outside culture is something that a person has to learn through personal curiosity and empathy; the person in question must work for the knowledge and actively seek to remove bias through not only their thoughts but also their actions. It is something that makes humans different and should be celebrated. For me, this really started when I was a young teen. Growing up, I had always considered myself just white . My family, especially my mother, have never attached themselves to any particular culture, only the generic color of our skin. The idea that because of the privileges that comes with light skin, we must try and reach out to others to understand and empathize with what we have not grown up learning and doing was a major part of my upbringing. That being said, my view into other cultures was really only consisted of a superficial look into the Mexican heritage of my godmother and her son and a brief awareness of Chinese cultu...