Cultural Internalization and Language Immersion
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.
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
I studied at the University of Shiga Prefecture for nearly 15 months. Everyday was a challenge that brought new knowledge and experiences that I can never replace. Living by the means of a second language was very exhilarating for me to experience. From the first day I was in Japan until the last day, I can say that my language ability was completely transformed. I owe that especially to the surroundings that I lived in. I lived in an exchange student dorm fairly far away from the school. I happened to be the only Westerner that lived at this particular dorm for the majority of my time living there. The majority of the students were either from China or Korea. For most students our only common language was Japanese. Simply talking to my neighbors and friends, I was absolutely forced to continually use Japanese. I made friends at my dorm that I will never forget and I pray that I can meet them again someday. Living in Japan forced to think differently from how I would normally in the United States. In Japan I was very cautious with how I spoke with people, I always tried to use formal speech when talking with those who were older than me or people that I did not know very well. In the United States and usually speak casually in nearly all settings. Being aware of my surroundings and who I was around became a challenge for me when I first arrived in Japan, but I became comfortable with becoming for socially aware of those who I were speaking with. I also notice right away that Japan is generally very clean, so I had to make sure I was not seen as a messy person. I really became aware of how I was cleaning up after myself in the classroom, cafeteria, and just normal commuting. I could tell how much I changed as soon as I returned to the United States. I spoke more politely to anyone that I was not close with, and I did my best to keep a clean environment around me.