Just took a trip to the cafeteria of the school to grab a sandwich. This also gave me the opportunity to chat a bit with two students. One of the students said something that reminded my of the different expectations when learning Spanish versus Japanese.
A short history. From December 2003 to May 2005 I spent six months in Japan as a short term missionary for OMF. Before flying to Japan I studied Japanese for two or three months at the Migros school in St. Gallen (about two hours every week). This gave me some basic grammar and vocabulary, so I was actually able to say “My name is Patrice” when I arrived in Japan. But that was about it. Then I spent six months there, and during that time studied Japanese using the Minna no Nihongo books. I didn’t get far but studied quite a few lessons of it.
When I flew back I was very proud to be able to converse in basic Japanese with a travel group I met in Vienna airport. And they were impressed, too. For them it was not natural at all, that I spoke Japanese “so well”. And on a market in Hakodate I greeted some people in Japanese and they already said that my Japanese was good.
So now I’m staying in Peru. Before arriving here I learned about three or four lessons with a book. It was more of a phrase book but a bit more advanced than the Kauderwelsch series (of which I also have the Peruvian edition). Then I studied for one month in Arequipa and now I’m able to converse quite well, though speaking goes a lot better than understanding. I was a bit surprised, but I definitely expected Spanish to go much better than Japanese. After all I already knew French and Spanish is a Latin language.
But I was even more surprised by the attitude of the people. Most of them tell me that I’ll be able to speak Spanish “extremely well” after my six months here in Peru. I just hope they are right.