JENN McKINLAY: It's that time of year when I lock in my summer vacation plans. Unfortunately, in April, our air conditioner went toes up. Very sad, given that replacing it cost $10K, which of course was our summer play money. So now, to quote the Hub, "Our vacation will be on our roof." (In AZ, air conditioning is not optional and we're in an old house in an historic neighborhood where the ranch houses all have their air conditioners mounted on the roof).
Will we still manage a little getaway? I think so. But more importantly, the Hooligans and I cooked up an idea for an amazing trip for next year! We're hoping/planning to go to Japan!
Who has been to Japan? What can you tell me? Where is everyone going this summer?
Because this idea was cooked up by my hooligans, however, there is a catch. Of course, there is! We've signed up for the family plan on Duolingo and we all have to attend classes in Japanese EVERY DAY in order to be eligible to go on our trip. Naturally, we've gotten a bit competitive about the classes but I like to think our conversational Japanese will be in good order before we go.
This is what I'm working on:
桜を見たいです。Sakura o mitaidesu.I would like to see the cherry blossoms.When I went to Italy back in 2007, I studied Italian for a few months and my happiest moment was being able to order bus tickets all in Italian for our day trips. I studied a bit of French before I went to Paris but in hindsight, I wish I had studied more. "Bon jour" was the only thing that came naturally for the entire trip.
How about you, Reds and Readers, do you study a language before you visit a foreign country?
A trip to Japan sounds lovely, Jenn . . . definitely something to look forward to as you study.
ReplyDeleteIt is a motivator!
DeleteI've been to Japan without knowing Japanese, but am curious if you maybe have a list of 365 words or 52 phrases you're planning to learn in a year?
ReplyDeleteKey phrases, for sure!
DeleteMy degree in Romance Languages was not much use in Okinawa. After a few months it did help while I watched Japanese television. I eventually I could order food, be polite with my staff in the library, and find a bathroom. However Japan! yes! if you really want to see cherry blossoms you need to go in the Spring -- (thank you ms. Coralee Obvious). If you really want insider travel tips, several of the btlers have been there. ps. take an overnight train trip if possible; see more than just Kyoto, et. al
ReplyDeleteAbout a/c in your neighborhood. Are there installation restrictions? and ouch on the repairs.
Yes, the ac is very complicated out here. They have to hire a crane to get it on the roof, etc. Sigh.
DeleteI watch a show weekly on Create TV (a PBS channel) called "Bicycling Around Japan - Highlights." It is wonderful and shows areas beyond Tokyo that are beautiful and fascinating. Makes me want to visit there, too.
ReplyDeleteOh, I'll look for it!
DeleteHow fabulous, Jenn! I lived in Japan in the mid 1970s for two years, taught conversational English to engineers, and studied the language. I was reasonably fluent by the time I left and could read a basic newspaper article.
ReplyDeleteI finally went back a year ago and was delighted to find my Japanese bubbling up so I could talk to locals a bit. The trains are fabulous, and all the taxi drivers now have translation software. You all will love it.
I love that learned languages never really go away. My Spanish has served me well in AZ.
DeleteWonderful idea from the hooligans and I love that you're all studying Japanese! We went on an alumni trip maybe 8 years ago? Adored the country, except not our favorite food. (Neither John nor I are fans of sushi--I know, we're so unhip!) I would love to go back!
ReplyDeleteThankfully, we all love sushi! LOL.
DeleteWow. We had our natural gas forced air furnace and AC all replaced in Minnesota 4 years ago for $4300 and I thought that was bad. Granted they didn’t have to put it up on the roof.
ReplyDeleteI learned a few basic phrases of Italian when we went there in 2023. If I spoke Italian to the shopkeepers they spoke it back to me and very fast so you I couldn’t understand them and I had to ask them to speak English.
Our neighbor up the street here in Ocala was in her way for her long awaited trip to Japan 2 weeks ago. She made it as far as Houston and got so sick she landed in the hospital and she had to cancel her trip and come home. I think she had been studying the language.
Last time we replaced the AC with the same company it was $3500 but that was 15 years ago. Being alive is expensive!
DeleteJENN: A trip to Japan next year sounds fabulous! My grandparents lived there so we visited several times when I was a kid. We stayed mostly in Osaka & Kyoto. But one trip we visited 3 islands (not Hokkaido) for a month. I was surprised my mom & dad had trouble communicating with the locals. Both of them were born/raised in Japan but it was a different dialect in Kyushu & Shikoku.
ReplyDeleteSakura season is in April and is crazy popular, so be prepared for huge crowds.
But the train system is very efficient, and the food is amazing.
P.S. I studied German for a year at university before spending 6 weeks in Austria on a course. Having the language basics was useful then and on subsequent trips to Germany, Switzerland for work. And of course, I had studied French for 10+ years in school so that was useful in France.
DeleteI dream of cherry blossoms but it might be more cost effective to go off season. Can't wait to check out the bullet train!
DeleteHow wonderful that you are going as a family! Very smart to study the language beforehand. I get it about your AC. While I have no AC at all and it is coming to the time where I'm thinking it might be nice, I had the opposite problem last November. Without any notice at all, my boiler decided to die. Not a problem unless I wanted heat and hot water, which I decided I really did, having lost any pioneer gene I might have had. So there went $10,000 I neither had nor prepared for. I'm still catching up.
ReplyDeleteLOL. Yes, my pioneer days are long behind me.
DeleteSo sorry about your AC , Jenn! I've not been to Japan or learned Japanese, but my next door neighbor is from Japan, so I've heard a lot of Japanese over the fence. Her daughters were in the Japanese immersion program, so they got some Japanese at school as well as at home (yay for public school language immersion programs!)
ReplyDeleteYes, language immersion is so cool. The Hooligans attended Spanish Immersion K-10. It has served them well.
DeleteJenn, so sorry about your Air conditioner. May I ask if you have tried solar power or is it too expensive?
DeleteThat is such a brilliant idea! Cannot wait to hear how it goes. I am going to Montreal on Thursday, if all goes as planned, and I have been Duolingoing French for the past couple of months . A lot of it from school is coming back, and if I ever have to say “my neighbor is nice” I’ll be in good shape.
ReplyDeleteI will give you a full report. Meanwhile, go Jenn ! Xxxx
HANK: looking forward to seeing you in Montreal. I am used to reading French (signs, menus) when I am in Montreal. But I rarely speak more than a few sentences in French. They can tell that zi sm sn anglo and switch to English.
DeleteYeesh, that should be ...I am an anglo and switch to English!
DeleteI really hate typing on this tablet, lol.
Your typo looks like some Louise Penny dialogue when Gamache in “A Long Way Home” is talking with a Scottish police officer about Peter’s travels there. (Sorry, just cannot remember the details better.) Elisabeth
DeleteHave a wonderful trip, Hank! Report back!
DeleteJenn, first of all, I am sorry that your a/c used up your vacation budget. That is a bummer. We have been in our home since 1984 and are frequently clobbered by the cost of replacing things that have worn out over time. The expense of replacement is stunning.
ReplyDeleteMy experience with language on vacations is funny. On my first trip abroad, I was brave and used my high school/college French whenever and wherever. Shamelessly. Not perfect? No problem. Then I lived in Israel for 2 years in the mid 70's. I went to an Ulpan then got a job where I spoke Hebrew every day. Several years later, on a trip to Quebec, I found myself switching languages in the middle of sentences to the hearty amusement of my husband and the bewilderment of waiters and clerks everywhere. Alas. We are going to Greece and I definitely don't want to switch to Hebrew in the middle of a sentence this year. So, no Greek.
My son took a couple of years of French in high school. At university, getting a degree in Economics, I suggested that he study Japanese instead thinking it might give him an edge when he got out. He spent his whole junior year in Tokyo, and was quite conversational when he returned. His first jobs took him all over the world including frequent trips back to Japan. His background definitely gave him an edge making him stand out much more than almost any European study abroad program might have.
I love that your son is a global citizen, Judy! And your language mix up is hilarious! Enjoy Greece!
DeleteJUDY: I can picture the confusion when you switched languages mid-sentence! When I moved to Ottawa for work, I finally had to pass the 3 French exams (reading, writing, oral) for the first time in my career with the feds. It was interesting working at different jobs there from 2014-2016. People seamlessly switched from English to French in a meeting, and everyone accepted this & understood. My French fluency was at its peak then. But now 9 years later i lost most of my oral fluency. I can still read & write French.
DeleteOur son has been living in Japan for a year and we leave July 31 for a 19-day trip to Japan. Squee!!!!! I can hardly say how excited I am! We will spend the first few days seeing Numata, the small town where he lives, so we can better relate to his stories about his life there. Then he is joining us for a little over a week in which we plan to visit Kyoto, Osaka, Nara, Himeji Castle (en route to our next stop), Hiroshima and Miyajima Island. Hubby and I are going on to Nagasaki and then Tokyo by ourselves, and our son will join us for the last day in Tokyo before we head home. I will happily share any advice or insights after we return.
ReplyDeleteI admire your family commitment to studying Japanese, but I also urge you not to set too high a goal. Japanese is such a complex language it is a bear to learn. Our son had studied some before he went and has really focused intensively on learning it since he has been there, and has a pretty high level of frustration at how slow going it is. Learning some key phrases you can use in your travels is probably realistic, though, and your efforts will be hugely appreciated there.
I have never been to Japan. Not sure I would want to go. I used to have a pen pal from Japan many years ago when letter writing was still the primary communication.
ReplyDeleteThe majority of my travel destination bucket list is English speaking so I wouldn't have to worry about studying a foreign language before going. Which is good because I took French in high school and was very bad at it. The only thing I can remember is how to say "I can't speak French" and that was taught to me by a math teacher.
That said, two heavy metal festivals I would love to go to someday (Wacken Open Air and Keep It True) are in Germany so I'd likely have to pick up a tiny bit of that to get around anywhere other than the location of the festival itself.
Of course, none of this is going to happen in the near future if at all, so I don't really have to worry about it.
Where am I going this summer. Surely you jest. I'll be going nowhere as per usual. Unless going to a concert in August counts (it doesn't).
Oh, I forgot to mention that my friend who owns Purchase Street Records went to Japan a couple years ago. I'm not sure if he did much of the touristy stuff as he was there on a record buying trip for the shop.
DeleteRats, Jenn! It's so much less fun to have to spend your "fun" money on boring old house stuff. But I'm thrilled for your family for the Japan trip! My daughter and her boyfriend (the Portland ones we just visited) took their mountain bikes to Japan last year for a three-week budget trip to celebrate their 40th birthdays. They hit most of the highlights, minus the cherries because it was August, including a visit with my cousin's British grandson, who lives in the north teaching ESL classes. I've never met him, but we keep in touch, and it was a kick to see photos of the three of them.
ReplyDeleteMy grandson has been studying Japanese, both Duolingo and a college semester, for three years, and he really wants to go. And I really want to take him, but we have yet to figure out the logistics. Be prepared; it's very expensive there. My cousin works three jobs just to get by.
In the meantime, we are planning to go back to Greece in the fall, and piggyback a trip to Italy, since Steve has never been there. The daughter living in Athens just found out their next embassy assignment is in Bucharest, so after they move next July we hope to go to the Balkan States at least once, too. Having a free place to stay makes a big difference in traveling!
My memory isn't the steel trap it used to be, so language attempts are not always successful, alas. In Tanzania the guides got mystifying grins when I wished them a peaceful night with "Dar es salama" instead of "lala es salama". Dar es Salaam being the capitol city of Tanzania. Apparently, some tourists end up saying "lala es salami", so at least I was spared that embarrassment. Swahili is already complicated, and then in Kenya they use a different version of it called Kiswahili, which sounds completely different. I was ready to speak Spanish a bit in Peru and Ecuador but the roommate I was paired with had been in the Peace Corps in Colombia, and she jumped in to show off her fluency at every chance. Steve took French for five years, and he retains an impressive amount of it, 55 years later, but his accent is atrocious. When we went to France together he spoke, and then I translated in my much better accent, to the great amusement of the French. Our job as travelers might just be to entertain, come to think of it.
Not a traveler to foreign lands, just a couple of business trips to Quebec in late 1970s. Friends, who I think of as doing all the travel that I don’t, have really loved multiple trips to Japan. Their 20something children are fluent in Japanese (one spent college year abroad there). Recommendation from this family…sample Japan’s variety of KitKat Bars along with all other sorts of Japanese food. Elisabeth
ReplyDeleteIndeed I always study the language before traveling to a foreign country.
ReplyDeleteHowever, if you visit Germany, there are many Turkish people who speak Turkish. If you go to a Turkish restaurant it’s a good idea to bring a Turkish phrase book. That was my experience in 1994.
Jenn, your trip to Japan sounds exciting, especially since your family is preparing for it so thoroughly. When I went to Paris last spring, I hate to admit that I did little preparation in the language department, but I was in a bad state of mind then. If I go back, I do plan on studying the language a bit more. Of course, in heavily traveled tourists spots, the locals are quite accommodating with their knowledge of English. They do have an incentive with wanting tourists to choose their tour or buy their goods, but it's really a shame most of us don't reciprocate with the effort of learning their language. I don't think we will attempt any foreign travel this year, although I've thought about it. I have to have some medical issues dealt with and remember the recovery time for each. A new knee is the big one this year. Then, I have my second cataract surgery to fit in. I'm looking for ideas in the states right now.
ReplyDeleteJenn, I'm sorry about your AC--we had to do that a few years ago--but I think your plans for next year are fabulous!! Can I send you one of my books published in Japanese to practice on?
ReplyDeleteJenn, I have a few friends who spent extended time in Japan ( months, but not years). Their reactions were all over - some 9very well traveled) LOVED it and thought it the best place ever, and others said, "I cannot understand the culture at all." Interesting. right? I will look forward to your and your family's reactions. I had an interesting 4 day trip to Paris in the 1990's. I had enough French to stumble along, but having forgotten a dictionary I would come up to a word I didn't know and lose the whole point. At that time, the French were still maintaining there were NO other languages. Even big tourist attractions, with visitors from all over the world, had no signs in anything but French. A few years later, I went for a longer trip with my husband, and we found multi-linguage info everywhere! He used to be fluent inFrench and was greatly frustrated that he could not practice it - all the French citizens then wanted to practice their English! I suspected the EU had something to do with this
ReplyDeleteOMG, I am so thrilled you're coming to Japan! I live here six months a year, and I do Japan-based travel writing in addition to my books. Ping me for any and all questions you might have (jonelle.patrick@mac.com)! Here's a link to The Tokyo Guide I Wish I'd Had (https://jonellepatrick.com/the-tokyo-guide-i-wish-id-had/) to get you started on my favorite places to take friends when they come to town, but I'm forever grateful that the Reds for inviting me onto Jungle Reds when my last book came out in 2020, so I'd be delighted to give you personalized travel info and help. If you need something that requires more Japanese language fluency or insider insight than you have at the moment, don't hesitate to ask. (From "where are the best cherry blossom spots/secret cherry blossom spots/cherry blossoms lit up at night" to where to get a visitor transit card at the airport, I'm standing by!) Meanwhile, deep respect for learning some Japanese before you go, but what I always tell people is a) never ask a question in Japanese unless you can also understand the answer and b) although Japanese people are very shy about speaking English, they all have to study it in school starting in 7th grade, so most people will understand you perfectly well. If you learn the words for "please," "thank you," "where is the ladies' room?" and "excuse me/sorry," you've mastered 90% of what you'll need. I'm so envious you'll be seeing it all for the first time, and can't wait to hear what you think!
ReplyDeleteWhen traveling to Washington DC, the Deaf Mecca, it may be a good idea to know some sign language 🤟 😊
ReplyDeleteJapanese public TV online: https://www3.nhk.or.jp/nhkworld/
ReplyDeleteLanguage, sightseeing, history, arts
Japanese national tourist office: https://www.japan.travel/en/us/
Major tourist attractions
I like taking tours because the company does everything for me. I don’t have to wait in line at a museum because the tour company already bought them. I don’t eat crappy food when I ask the guide for recommendations. The hotels on tours are reliably clean.
But the real perk is that these tours can save you a bundle of $$$. I found great tours through the Auto Club.
Go for it! You will love Japan!