I can say a few simple phrases in Japanese that I have picked up over the years, but other than the three months of Japanese I took in 7th grade (nearly 17 years ago), I never “studied” the language. When I arrived at Narita airport a few weeks ago, however, I certainly didn’t let that stop me from using everything I knew and trying to learn a little bit more during my three hour layover.
While transferring terminals I gave the security personal my very best “Arigatou gozaimasu,” which was probably way too formal for the simple exchange of my boarding pass and passport, but it got me into Japanese mode, and got airport security responding back in Japanese–nice! I didn’t understand anything the guards said to me after my thank you, but I didn’t need to; I simply took my laptop out of my bag and passed through the x-ray machine. All without a word of English–yes!
My goal, while in the airport, was to pick up at least a little more Japanese that I already knew. It didn’t have to be much, but I had to learn something with out a dictionary and without English. I wanted to learn something purely based on context. Even before landing in Japan my language learning journey had already begun. On the plane I added “Watashi wa Kou Ken desu” (“My name is Kou Ken”) to my playbook, which the Japanese lady sitting next to me on my flight taught me when I wrote out my Chinese name, 高健, on a scrap of paper.
After crossing the security checkpoint I still had three hours before my connecting flight to San Francisco, and was in need of a beer. I headed over to a nice-looking airport bar, got in line behind a bunch of overweight Americans, and observed. They placed their order (in English), and then paid for what they ordered. Amazing, it was just like any other country! Now I had the context, and I wanted a beer. Thankfully they had Sapporo on tap. Back in 7th grade I learned “lemon drop o kudasai” (Please give me a lemon drop), so I figured I could just replace “lemon drop” with “Sapporo” and get my beer, so that’s exactly what I did. After placing my order the lady behind the counter fired off a string of Japanese that I didn’t understand, but, because there were three different sizes of beer on the menu, and since she asked the people in front of me what size beer they wanted, I figured that is what she said. I wanted the large!
I didn’t know how to say “large” in Japanese, but I have two good hands, so I simply looked at the woman behind the counter and placed my hands together and spread them apart until they were about the same size as the large glass on display. They woman understood my body language and said “dai de.” Not wanting to skip a beat I said “hai, dai de” (I think I said: yes, a large). She said something again in Japanese, probably the price, so I handed her my debit card and then signed the receipt. She got me my beer and I said thank you again with a smile on my face. Although I don’t “speak” Japanese I just completed an entire transaction without using English, and learned “dai de” in the process, SUCCESS!
In order to “make sure” that I didn’t misunderstand the situation I finished my first beer and ordered a second, this time without hand gestures. The results were the same, I was presented with a large ice cold Sapporro, just like I wanted. I also ordered some Wudan noodles by pointing and saying “ko re” or “this one,” but the woman’s response was to long for me to remember. Oh well, there is always next time!
Learning through context can be a great way to pick up new phrases and bits of information. The more you already know, the easier it is to fill in the gaps. However, if you are a total beginner, like me, you have to be willing to take the risk of not fully understand what is going on, or being said, around you. Even now, I don’t fully know what “dai de” means. But I’m not too alarmed. I’ll try it out in situations where I think it is appropriate. If it doesn’t work, then I’m sure that I’ll learn a few new words in the process, especially if I have context.
Got a story of your own to share? Please leave them in the comments below!