English in my life

English has played a great role in my life. It is the language that I learn, speak, and write the most. I use English mostly in school, when I talk to my friends and peers, and when I speak to my brother. I used English daily when I used to live in America, but now, I use Japanese more often.

English is my mother tongue, though I am now more fluent at Japanese than English. I was born in Hiroshima Japan, but I moved to America when I was three months old. I lived in America for seven years, and I spoke more English than Japanese. This was probably because I was attending a fully English school, not like an international school like Canadian Academy. Also, everyone around me was speaking English, so I think I was influenced by them. The only time I spoke Japanese was when I was talking to my parents (I speak to my brother with English, even now). Once I returned to Japan, though, I became better at speaking Japanese, and started hanging out with Japanese people more. Before I knew it, I became more fluent in Japanese and started speaking Japanese more often.

Even though I don’t speak English in places other than school, learning English in Japan does not seem that awkward for me. What seems awkward for me instead is not learning much about Japanese, even though I live in Japan. I sometimes feel very stupid when I learn elementary kanji when other Japanese students at my age are already learning high school kanji. It also feels awkward not learning much about other Japan studies such as its history, economics, government, and so on. I think that we should learn a bit more on Japanese as well as English in this school, since it is the country we’re living in.

After high school, I think English would keep playing a big role in my life. I would probably attend at a university in the US, so I would obviously be speaking English for at least four more years after graduating high school. If I attend graduate school (also probably in America), I would probably be speaking English for a few more years. After that though, I plan to work at Japan, so I think it wouldn’t play a big role anymore. Still, knowing how to speak English is a very talented skill and would absolutely help in the future.