AKA

Tonight I've come to the conclusion that as an English speaker in a foreign country, though most of the time people don't understand English at all, I actually need to use a larger percentage of English vocabulary than I do when I'm in an English speaking country, or Canada at the very least.

Not only in Japan but in other places I've travelled knowing a variety of ways of explaining or describing something and knowing a variety of synonyms for key words, particularly for food, is definitely helpful.

Tonight lesson presented itself in the form of grocery shopping for ingredients for a dish I'm taking to a pot luck lunch tomorrow. I was looking for cilantro, trying to find this in Japanese is tricky, seeing as I don't read Japanese but trying to find it and asking someone with limited English was trickier. They had coriander, but not cilantro and then I realised that they are one in the same. Thank goodness for keitai (mobile phone) internet. Had I known that before? It's entirely possible but at that moment, grocery shopping on Saturday night it didn't occur to me. Here it's good to know particularly what vegetables are called in various places. Most vegetables are referred to by their British name or their French name.

Also, I have to remember that the formal English language that is taught in schools here is not necessarily how I speak so when there's a language impasse it's usually because I'm speaking very casually. At those times I need to think of the most formal way of expressing myself, the best synonym and that usually helps with the communication.

On the plus side, I have a lead on Japanese lessons. Hopefully they will work out and I can start to learn the native language and gradually be less dependant on the the one guy at the Peacock (grocery store) who speaks English.