When I needed to speak japanese

It wasn’t a requirement that a foreign teacher like me needed to know the Japanese Language because the school preferred that the teacher doesn’t know Japanese so that the students are oblige to speak English.

So I just studied few words that I can use to shop or to eat in a restaurant. Funny thing was, I often reminded my students to speak in sentences using English language but I didn’t speak in sentences when I used Japanese. I talked with Japanese people using just 3-4 words accompanied by sign language. When I said “ I just want a small rice” in Japanese I said “gohan tsou” (rice small) , "Let me take a look at that pls."- "Mite Kudasai" and they understood. So I didn’t care to learn further the language.

Until I got sick and I needed to explain to the pharmcist what I feel so that she can give me the right medicine. Using the dictionary would probably take us the whole day to understand each other. I had no other choice but to ask assistance from my principal to be my interpreter. The town is small and it’s rare to meet Japanese in there who speaks English.
Scared that I might get sick again and my interpreter won’t be around any time, I finally decided to study further the language. I was lucky that the town has free Japanese lesson and since it’s only once a week for just 2 hours, I also did self-study.

Man! Shocked to find out that it’s harder than English; one writer of a book even said it’s a “devil’s language” perhaps because it's kinda tricky. You need lots of patience to learn.