Those of you who know me know my penchant for many things Japanese. My interest in Japan grew when I was in Britain, of all places, when I could buy VHS tapes of anime easily found at Forbidden Planet on Grainger Street in Newcastle during my student days. The interest continued to flourish with films (yang legal eh? ahem) and music to this day. However, one thing I really wanted to do was learn the language.
The problem with learning a new language is that you lose it if you do not converse it. I should know because I actually learnt (albeit not very well) Arabic and French when I was in SDAR. Arabic and French weren’t my first dalliance with a foreign language – I actually went to Mandarin classes at age 6 but stopped when we moved to Taman Tun. My late mom found it somewhat difficult to ferry me to Brickfields as my classes were on a weekday, and, besides, being in primary school meant less free time.