It all started when I was lonely… (not uncommon) and I had just finished my initial 11 months of Japanese study, so I hadn’t met any humans in a long time. (Also, not uncommon)

So, I decided to do it the safe way, online. (less self-confidence required) Also I wanted to meet an actual Japanese person, because up until that point, I had NEVER actually spoken any Japanese to anybody in my entire life.

I could understand anime!...

...But I was literally terrified to test my skills in any practical situation.

And since I didn’t live in a big city or anything, Japanese people in my area were nearly nonexistent, so at that point in my life I had probably met like 1 Japanese person. Maybe…

Anyway, I came across the site Japan Guide, which had a service called Japan Pen friend. https://www.japan-guide.com/friends.html



This was before smart phones made it easy, and actually normal to find and meet people online.

(I now occasionally use Hello Talk https://www.hellotalk.com/ 





OR for much more advanced students… Saito-san https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=yudo.work.saitosan&hl=en_US)




So, I sent out this message, I still have it to this day and I’ve included it below for your reference…

But My God So CRINGEY!

I love how I was too scared to use actual Japanese, but at the same time, trying to show off what little skills I thought I had, so I sprinkled bits of fake Japanese(romaji) throughout the message.

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[ACTUAL MESSAGE]

“Hey Ayaka!

I was searching for a tomodachi to help me with my nihongo. Sore de, I found your profile and thought we could help each other.

I'm not very good at Japanese, I've only been learning for ichi nen kurai ka na?

Demo, I could definitely help you with your Eigo ^^

Ma, sou iu koto nanode,

Yoroshiku onegaishimasu!

Ken”

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Of course, I wasn’t confident enough to think anybody would respond to me normally, so I sent out like 20 of these to anybody with a Japanese sounding name within a 50 miles radius.

And I’ll be damned 6 days later I got a response from an actual human being!

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[ACUTAL MESSAGE]

“Hi! Thank you for your message:) I'd like to contact to you! Do you have a skype ID? My ID is ayaka_0518”

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HELL YEAH!

So, I added her and since she was online I immediately sent her a message. And after chatting for about 10 to 20 minutes in English, I asked if she wanted to do a quick phone to practice speaking.

Of course, I was sweating bullets inside, but I knew for a fact my spoken Japanese was worlds better than my written Japanese, so I felt like I had to.

And after a pause which felt like an eternity, she responded with

“ok”

Whew! Ok, here goes nothing I thought, so after a few Kiais screamed into my pillow. I plugged in my headset into my pc and clicked the terrifying green “call” button.



And waited for her to pick up…

…

It felt like I was at the top of those drop tower rides, waiting for my seat to suddenly fall to my death.

……

She picked up.

……

“Hello?” She said

“Hey… A-Ayako?” I stuttered.

And so, I asked a few questions in English, “Why did she come to America?” “How she liked it here?” Slipping in a few compliments here and there. Things were going good so far.

…Ok… Now it’s my turn…

I finally mustered up enough courage to sneak some Japanese into the conversation…

“Sugoi ne!” I blurted out.

 “E?!... un…” She responded, sounding extremely surprised.

And so, feeling my confidence slightly increase I continued…

“Sugoi ne to omotta dake da yo”

And then it started,

She immediately went into a frenzy.

“E dou iu koto?! Mecha nihogo umain yakedo!? E? Maji de!?”  

“Nande!? Nande??!” 

A whirlwind of confusion and astonishment enveloped her.

She couldn’t believe how well I spoke Japanese.

She asked me if I lived in Japan, I responded with of course, no. (the truth of course being I even hadn’t left my room for the last few months… that went unsaid…)

And then we continued to chat for the next 4 hours all in Japanese! It was so amazing!

My first conversation in Japanese, and easily the funnest conversation I’d ever had in my life!

I couldn’t believe how she reacted to my Japanese, I mean I knew I could understand everything Naruto and Sasuke were saying… and I knew I could probably repeat it.

But I had no idea what a year of non-stop 12 hour per day listening to the language did to my pronunciation…

I had come out with nearly accent-less perfect native sounding Japanese.

And it took a good half hour to convince Ayaka I wasn’t playing a bad joke on her and I was actually half Japanese or something.

I didn’t even attempt to tell her it was my first-time speaking Japanese to a human before, she probably would have hung up on me.

But now!

How in the world did I turn the first Japanese person I’ve ever talked to in my life into my girlfriend?



Well of course that’s…

…To be continued…

…

Moral of story?

You would be shocked at how little time it actually takes to become fluent enough in a language to impress a complete stranger over the phone so much they become your girlfriend.

So really don’t doubt yourself. Most students highly underestimate themselves and what they can achieve in as little as a year.

Ken