Thanks! Your mentioning "two first languages" reminded me: one time in elementary school, our class was asked what each of our first languages was. My mom always told me that my first word was "abunai" meaning danger in Japanese, so I told them Japanese was my first language. They then went on to tell me - I think a teacher called me to her office afterwards because I remember sitting with her alone - that my first language was the language of my parents, which was English, and that Japanese was not my first language. I couldn't understand the logic of that LOL
To be honest, my knowledge of Japanese is not quite that of a native adult - just my accent and spoken language. I hate official documents and avoid having to read them as much as possible. It takes much longer for me to read a Japanese book than in English.
Even though I did pass the highest test of the Proficiency Exam right out of university and am an experienced translator, it is nice to be able to fall back on the "I'm a gaijin(outsider), sorry." excuse sometimes:P
![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
branchandroot
no subject
Date: 2022-08-21 08:07 am (UTC)Your mentioning "two first languages" reminded me: one time in elementary school, our class was asked what each of our first languages was. My mom always told me that my first word was "abunai" meaning danger in Japanese, so I told them Japanese was my first language. They then went on to tell me - I think a teacher called me to her office afterwards because I remember sitting with her alone - that my first language was the language of my parents, which was English, and that Japanese was not my first language. I couldn't understand the logic of that LOL
To be honest, my knowledge of Japanese is not quite that of a native adult - just my accent and spoken language. I hate official documents and avoid having to read them as much as possible. It takes much longer for me to read a Japanese book than in English.
Even though I did pass the highest test of the Proficiency Exam right out of university and am an experienced translator, it is nice to be able to fall back on the "I'm a gaijin(outsider), sorry." excuse sometimes:P