REACHING OUT TO PEOPLE WITH MY WORDS AND MY HEART

By Koyo Okada
(Age 11, Switzerland)

I speak Japanese, English and some simple German. This is something I can be really proud of, but it is not a result of my own effort. I came to Switzerland when I was three, and since then, I have used Japanese at home, English at kindergarten and school, and German when I play with the neighborhood kids. Therefore, I absorbed all the languages naturally and before I knew it, I was speaking them. But the Swiss-German I learnt by ear is pretty much the local dialect, so when I go to Germany and speak heavily accented German with an Asian face, people laugh at me.

I'm learning kendo from German instructors. Some people may think it is strange for a Japanese to learn the spirit of a Japanese martial art from a foreign teacher in a foreign language. But the instructors all follow the etiquette properly and they are really serious about kendo. You can feel that passion. Last month, there was a competition called the Zurich Cup, for which kendoists from all over Europe came together. The speeches at the opening and all the announcements were in three languages: German, French and English. Then it came to me: this is it! When international competitions are held in Japan, I could make myself useful with my language skills. There would be no need to pass the microphone round from person to person. What's more, I would love to teach kendo to children from many different countries.

Also, I am very fond of small children. I have thought about becoming a preschool teacher, where I could teach English and German to Japanese kids.

I have always attended an international school. There, we are taught to recognize our strengths and fully exhibit them. However, I am told that if I tried this in Japan, I would not be very popular. Apparently, it's up to other people to praise you for your good points. If you start boasting about yourself, people would think you were strange. My mother tells me, "It's very important to have confidence in yourself, but human beings are also expected to have some humility and restraint." I find such Japanese culture difficult to understand and rather complicated, but my German kendo instructors seem to be just as fond of Japanese culture as they are fond of practicing kendo.

Before I grow up to be an adult, I want to learn many more languages and become a person who can understand other cultures. If I can have many different channels within me, I'm sure to be able to help someone or to be of some use.

Finally, I want to go on having the Japanese humility to recognize that it is thanks to my present living environment that I have the opportunity to pursue my goals.