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Originally Posted by airielchan
Were you very fluent when you first began living in Japan?
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Not at all. I believe I could greet people, and stumble through letting them know basic needs (I`m hungry, I`m thirsty, Where is the toilet? etc level.)
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If not, how long did it take you to become so?
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I was able to communicate well using gestures and small drawings in addition to language after about 2 months. I could stumble through a phone conversation after about 3. I`d say I reached real competency after around 4 or 5 months.
I met my husband after 6 months, and he wouldn`t believe I wasn`t Japanese and just pretending not to be at first. (Our early communication was through email and messenger.)
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Did you just learn from being around others, or did you enroll in classes there to learn the language?
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No formal classes in Japan... I took a little university class before coming over here, but it basically only gave me the basics of the basics.
I just learned it by being around everyone and by desperately wanting to communicate.