Everyone Is A Japanese Hero In The Making
After character creation, and when we appear in the Japanese world, we all start in the introduction training dungeon. While you are there, it’s hard to really think past that. You have your wooden sword in hand, and you start swinging away awkwardly at straw dummies. You are the ultimate newbie. There is so much ahead of you, and the thought of one day getting good at the language is hidden inside of you, somewhere.
Everyone goes through this, no matter how hard you would like to just skip over this intro. But I want you to hold onto one strong ideal.
You all are Japanese masters in the making.
Not just a few. Not just those who are lucky. Not just those who have “talent,” “skill,” time or money. I don’t care how bad you are, how far you have to go, and how discouraged or frustrated you might be right at this exact moment. You are the hero. You are the main character. Whatever horrible place you are now, every step you take brings you closer to becoming a legend.
When you start a new RPG, your character has 10 HP, 5 MP, a cracked wooden sword and some standard (and usually ugly-looking) clothes. He can’t really do much of anything or provide any value to anyone. He gets one-shotted and can’t last more than a few seconds in battle against the wimpiest of opponents.
Yet he still is the hero.
You know he’s going to kick ass one day. He’s going to eventually be 9999/9999, with fully equipped diamond mithril armor, two-handed excalibur and masamune sword action, high level spells pouring out of his mouth, and speed/coordination/strength the likes the land has never seen.
That’s going to be you.
You aren’t just some random beginner NPC that will always just give a hint on someone else’s quest. It’s your story. Stand at the forefront of it all.
Founder of Jalup. iOS Software Engineer. Former attorney, translator, and interpreter. Still watching 月曜から夜ふかし weekly since 2013.
I needed this. I was becoming less and less confident over the days of becoming more than an intermediate Japanese learner. Thanks for the motivation boost Adam :)
Everyone hates being an intermediate Japanese learner. Once you are out of it, you’ll never look back.
So maybe someday I will know more than unconjugated verbs, nouns and phrases? I’ll keep my head down and my feet moving. And I won’t think about how the grammar messes up my head right now.
Yep, it’s just a matter of time and effort. In the not-too-distant future the things you struggle with now will seem totally easy. Of course then you’ll have all new challenges to deal with, but before long you’ll overcome those in much the same way. Just gotta keep at it =)
Thanks for the vote of confidence! :)
One day you’ll know more than you can even imagine now.