Tetsu’s Road to Multilingualism (Part II: 6-13 years-old)

My parents planned out two grandiose language assimilation schemes for me in this second part of my linguistic history.

Natural Japanese learning in Japan

The first began around the age of 6, when they started sending me to grandma’s place in Japan to spend all my summer vacations there. I had been there a few times before, but this time would be the beginning of annual summer visits. In some years, I also had the privilege of going there for Christmas. Although these visits lasted from a few weeks to a few months, this full-time immersion allowed me to naturally “be” a typical Japanese kid.



First, I loved watching cartoons and other programs on. And the obvious effect of watching Japanese TV is improvement in Japanese language. However, there were other advantages also. For example, I had to read the TV guides everyday in Japanese in order to know what programs were on, and plus I had common topics to talk about with my friends. Another thing I loved reading were comic books. Doraemon, Inachu, City Hunter, I read them all. Great ways to absorb language don’t you think?

Also, just like any Japanese kid in those days, I also loved playing Famicon (Nintendo). I didn’t have one myself, but I loved going to visit my friend Masato and we would play Takahashi Meijin’s Aventure Island all day. It goes without saying that Masato helped me improve my Japanese much much more than I helped his Mandarin or English.

I was also an absolute fanatic of remote controlled cars. My first one was the Tamiya Boomerang. I think it was about 400$ in those days. Pretty expensive toy for a kid my age. But that’s not how my parents’ logic work. Later I would build many more of these cars throughout my childhood and adolescence, some for myself, but more often for my friends. Also, I would modify my cars and equip them with the latest accessories. And whether it is to build a new car from scratch or add new parts to my cars, every time I had to read instruction manuals cover to cover in Japanese. But when one is motivated, it’s a pleasure! And the resulting impact this would have on my Japanese learning was immeasurable. Do you think you can achieve this kind of results with the few hours of language instruction that you buy with 400 bucks? Will you EVER be as interested in the teaching material as I was in what I was reading? Didn’t think so. Now, it doesn’t seem so expensive if you see it this way, huh? Plus, on a nice shelf at home back in Canada, I still have all the cars that I built, including of course, my wickedly upgraded Boomerang.

When I think back, the time spent in Tokyo in those years were crucial for my smooth integration into the Japanese society and workforce when I started my career in Tokyo a few years ago (more on that in later posts).

American elementary school in Taiwan

Now let’s switch gears to the second big scheme of this childhood period in my life, which was my transfer from a Chinese kindergarten to an American school. As I write this, I’m having flashbacks of my anxious self asking my parents countless questions before the big transfer. I of course had no idea what English was and I tried incessantly to convince them to tell me that everyone also spoke Mandarin.

Then came the dreaded first day at the new school. I vividly remember that day my father brought me to the new school. Late, of course, as my father always was in those days. We entered the room, interrupting a bunch of kids playing in the presence of the teacher. And my worst fears came true! Not only did they NOT speak Mandarin, they all looked like the strange people in foreign movies!! (…except their lips matched their speaking) Some white, some brown, all weird.

But, in a matter of minutes, I would forget about all that. A cute blond girl by the name of Rachel came to say something to me, and immediately all the fear was overtaken by curiosity (not sure if I’m using the word “curiosity” in the right way here, but oh well). And I had not the slightest clue what she was sayin’… but who cares! I’m now the new hotshot in class and all the babes wanted me! (Hmmm, now that I think about this, what did she say to me? Rachel, if you’re reading this, do you remember? What? You don’t remember this encounter?!)

I would spend 7 years of my childhood and graduate from 6th grade at this wonderful school, resulting in English becoming my first language. Of course, more than the language, the high caliber education I received and the amazing friends that I have made in those days have played an integral part in shaping and forming me into who I am today. And the most incredible thing is that I have found almost all of these friends and teachers on Facebook! Amazing. God bless Facebook.

I would celebrate my 13th and last birthday in Taiwan before my next big step: Moving to Quebec, Canada.