Intercultural Reflection

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February 19th, 2005: I stood by my parents listening to them spoke to the immigration officers at LAX in regards to our documents and immigration status -- helpless-- as I saw my parents faces turn blue from what I later learned was anger in their inability to express their needs in English. Thankfully, a translator was brought to us, and we were able to solve all the issues. November 9th, 2005: My mother cried at a parent-teacher meeting as a Chinese translator describe to Mother that I was doing well in school despite being in 3rd grade with little English learned. That is just a snippet of my first year in America; 2005 was a year filled with many uncertainties due my and my parents’ inability to communicate effectively in English. Despite these…show more content…
During the first semester, I remember Hirata-sensei showing us how to write each alphabet in Hiragana and Katana. From there, we slowly picked up phrases and by the end of the first semester, we were able to speak basic Japanese. My journey then continued with second and third semester Japanese, eventually, a semester abroad in Kyoto and now at almost the end of my third year Japanese. Although prior to my semester abroad, we studied a lot of Japanese, my language skills were not boosted until in Japan, where I realized that I still have a lot of work to do before I can long translate for those in need. Because of this, I wish to go back to Japan to submit to an all-Japanese speaking environment and train myself to not rely so much of what I know, but instead break free and explore so that I can reach a new level of Japanese. Thus, I want to participate in the the summer abroad program hosted by CIS Abroad in Tokyo. Not only will I be able to experience a new lifestyle (Kyoto versus Tokyo) but challenge myself to meet new people and be less afraid to speak with people in

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