Jon: Seeing as you seem to have
some time on your hands right now, would you mind doing an interview for the
newsletter?
Helena:
It'll cost you!
J: No problem; we'll discuss a fee
after we've done the interview......
J: First off, where
are you from and what course are you studying on?
H:
Salisbury, England and I'm studying on the AIJP course.....I
think.......
J: Had you studied Japanese
before you came to Yamasa?
H: I hadn't studied before I came
to Japan which was over a year and half ago. When I arrived, I didn't know a
word.
J: I arrived at around the same time and I
only knew 2 words: 'kamikaze' and 'sumo'.
J: What
was it that brought you from the UK to
Japan?
H: I was doing a really boring job in the UK and
I saw an advert in a newspaper for the JET program so I thought it would be
interesting to go to Japan and perhaps learn Japanese whilst I taught
English. I suppose I was looking for a bit of adventure......
J: What were you doing in the
UK?
H: I was living in Salisbury working as a design
engineer for a sewage treatment company - basically I was designing sewage
treatment plants.
J: (blank expression on face)
J: Being a JET , what was that
like?
H: I was working in Mie prefecture, about
90 minutes from Nagoya. The money was good, I had long holidays and it was
a nice introduction to Japan. I got shown around so many places by Japanese
people. It also meant that I could save money to come to Yamasa. In truth I
didn't really want to teach English but it did provide me with an opportunity to
come to Japan so I took it.
J: How is the course
going?
H: I've been here nearly 8 months now and it's gone
very well. There's quite a bit of grammar being studied at the moment because
everyone is preparing for the Japanese Language Proficiency Test Level
2.
J: And the accommodation?
H: I live in Residence K. It's big,
quite nice, but the heating could be better and the bills are quite high in the
Winter.
J: When do you finish
studying?
H: At the end of June. After that I'd like to work
for a while in Japan and improve my conversational skills, then return to the UK
and look for a job using the Japanese I've learnt.
J: Any advice for our
readers.
H: Don't expect to magically learn Japanese
overnight, it will take some time. At the beginning it was difficult because I
couldn't speak Japanese so most Japanese people spoke to me in English.
J: Thanks very much.
H: Wait a minute, what about my
fee?
J: .........................................
Ní thuigim thú 
