Tetsu’s Road to Multilingualism (Part V: 23-29 years-old)

As I mentioned in the previous post, after doing a few university courses in German and Italian, I decided that I should stop increasing the number of languages in my repertoire, but rather improve the level of the 5 that I already knew much better (English, French, Japanese, Mandarin, Spanish).



After graduating from McGill University, I went to Laval University in Quebec City at the age of 23 to do my graduate studies in cellular and molecular biology. It is a French university, but it just so happened that I found a Japanese professor to supervise my work. Pure coincidence. But this turned out to benefit my training immensely. First of all, I think my supervisor was happy to have someone to talk to in Japanese, and so a strong trusting relationship was quickly built. Second, despite the fact that I was very inexperienced, he would let me proofread all sorts of privileged material, from scientific articles in preparation to all sorts of research grant applications. This allowed me to rapidly learn critical complementary knowledge to just front-line science. Also, significantly, I was able to greatly improve my writing skills, which was absolutely horrible before starting science (...and I thought I could be spared all the soft skills, such as writing, by going into science!). Third, this professor's human network would open the doors to my career in Japan, which I will talk about in the next post.

Now, we all know that being a graduate student meant that I would continue to be poor for years to come. So I earned some side revenue using my language skills. One thing that I did for a while was teaching English (remember, this was in Quebec City) at a small language school. Actually I would pick up the material at the school but drive to the clients’ offices, one of which I remember was a big pet food manufacturer. The wages weren’t great, but enough to help pay the bills. And I enjoyed it and had a lot of fun because the teaching methods of this language school were based on participation in activities and games. There was a large collection of games and the school gave teachers tremendous flexibility on which ones to use and how. This experience allowed me to learn about teaching languages without going through textbooks.

Another, much more lucrative job on a per hour basis, were the few but sporadic contracts as an interpreter using the various languages in my head. This usually involved corporate folks receiving guests from other countries, such as Japan. One contract even brought me down from Quebec to the Dominican Republic for one whole week! That contract involved a French chocolate company, a giant Japanese candy maker (Morinaga), and a local Dominican cocoa plantation, and I used Japanese, Spanish, French, and English. That was a fun gig. I got to do all the touristy things with the group, eat great food, AND earn money while doing it! But of course, money isn't everything. I’ve also done numerous volunteering gigs as interpreter at large gatherings, such as business conferences, sporting events, etc.

The best part about my student life at Laval University was living in the student residence. The room itself cost around $200CDN a month at that time and was essentially the size of a phone booth. But in it, I had a little fridge, a microwave oven, a TV, a bed, a chair, a desk, a sink, a closet, drawers, shelves, some books, and, get this, a keyboard, a guitar, AND my Roland TD-5 electronic drums. Furthermore, the residence building was right next to Le Pub de l'Université Laval, which essentially served as my living room, especially given that there was an underground tunnel so I could go there in T-shirts even when it was -30ºC outside! And of course I would never drink and drive. Just all drink.

And of the residence life, the best part is of course the people. There were people from all over the world. For me, the huge presence of latinos really helped me improve my Spanish. Not because these friends sat down and taught me stiff Spanish grammar, but rather because they partied hard with me and helped me advance my spoken Spanish. The useful kind. Once again, alcohol may have help somewhat. Ahhhh, what great memories… Paloma! Nico! Como andan!?!?

Speaking of Nico. He's a Peruvian friend who invited me to visit his home in Lima. I brought down two other friends from the lab and had a blast during our stay! We visited Machu Picchu and swam with piranhas in the Peruvian Amazon!

Finally, I'll mention another trip here in which I went to Brazil with my best buddy Greg. Great friend, beautiful Brazilian women, carnaval, my birthday... perfection. Greg and I both studied Portuguese a bit on our own before the trip using easily accessible material, and immediately upon arrival, we simply went into full practise mode, speaking with as many people as possible. Hotel clerks, waiters, taxi drivers, you name it. We even talked our way into student residences during the carnaval! Best party on earth.

Although written Portuguese is very similar to Spanish, spoken Portuguese is quite different. But once you learn the patterns of where Portuguese and Spanish differ, then things become much easier. And in those 2 weeks in Brazil, we were able to pick up quite a bit of Portuguese...(language or women?) Yes, Portuguese would be the last language that I would learned with which I could carry out something of a conversation.

And in an Augenblick, 5 years in Quebec City flashed by, and just 3 days before my 29th birthday, I would defend my thesis entitled “The Role of Poly(ADP-Ribose) Polymerase (PARP) in DNA Repair and Transcription”. I gave my speech in French, using a Powerpoint presentation prepared in English, and earn my Ph.D. under my Japanese supervisor.

A few months later, I would go to the Tokyo Institute of Technology in Japan to take up post-doctoral training.