First Impressions of JPN 101!

はじめまして、じゅん　です！　どうぞよろしく。

My name is Jun Takahashi, and I am excited to be taking Japanese 101 this year at Princeton University!

I was born in a city near Osaka, Japan but moved to California when I was only a year old. Although I grew up hearing and speaking Japanese at home with my family, I gradually found myself adopting English as my native language, as it was the predominant language I used for the majority of my life. 

Furthermore, my parents decided against enrolling me in any Japanese schools, so I have never had a formal Japanese education. Just this past summer, while visiting my grandparents in Osaka, I was frustrated by the numerous comments I received while I struggled to read basic hiragana books like Doraemon.

This semester, I am excited for the opportunity to solidify my background in Japanese, and especially to improve my writing ability and to expand my vocabulary. Even in the first two weeks of class, I can see that my handwriting still needs a lot of improvement, and I need to brush up on even the basics.

So, よろしくおねがいします！　ガんばります！