02 Jul Natsumi Kondo: A High School Student Who Started From Scratch
How They Did it – Stories for Migrants by Migrants
While we were still in the Philippines, my mother and I applied for a type of visa that would allow us to remain in Japan indefinitely. A few days upon our arrival here, we began the process of registering myself as a Japanese citizen. This took some time and multiple visits to the immigration as well as various other offices. However, the effort was well worth it because eventually, I did receive my recognition as a Japanese citizen.
Meanwhile, it was suggested to me that while I was waiting for my Japanese citizenship to come through, why didn’t I enroll in these free Japanese language classes that were being taught by volunteer teachers, both retired and still working. I did, but because I did not really have any education on the Japanese language back home in the Philippines, I had the hardest time learning the language. In those days, I could barely read Kanji and my vocabulary consisted only of a simple konnichiwa or arigatou—Nothing else.
But as I would soon discover for myself, if you are the studious type (or even if you are not and are only studying Japanese because you are here in Japan and have no choice but to), you will succeed. After a few months of attending classes twice a week, I had learned to say basic Japanese phrases and read Hiragana and Katakana. To develop more fluency, I also signed up for the Japanese language courses offered by City Hall as well as others whose fees were reasonable.
Before long, I was able to converse in Japanese, although not as smoothly at first. It was an achievement for me, borne out of my belief that it is far better for a person to be educated than not. Every day you are presented with opportunities to learn new things and hone the knowledge and skills that you already have—It is up to you to make the most of them. All it takes is confidence in yourself and the mindset that there is always room for improvement.
Because I was only 17 at that time and not old enough to work, and because I had not finished senior high school in the Philippines either, if I had to complete my studies here, I had to take the senior high school entrance exam even though I was not yet well-versed in Japanese. This was something I really devoted my time and attention to preparing for because while there were many schools here in Japan, there were only a few where someone like me with little knowledge of Japanese could go.
My mother and I spent some weeks researching these schools and when I had decided on one, I began learning as much Kanji as I could in order to understand the exam questions. But of course, it was not possible for me to master in just a few months everything that a Japanese student takes 10 years of study to learn. So, it was a very good thing that the teacher in my Japanese language class was willing to tutor me for the exam.
In addition, friends of my mother’s friends likewise volunteered to help me, as did the people from the JFC. Because every one of them went all out in their support of me, to repay their kindness I resolved to do my best on the exam even though it was extremely difficult: I had trouble understanding the questions and found them rather confusing. Still, all my hard work paid off: I passed and was admitted as a senior high school student at the Japanese public school where I will be starting my second year.
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