Like the past couple of days, work started at 7AM today, which thanks to jet lag isn’t too bad! Then everything was finished by lunchtime. Now if this was Japan it would be “oh, finished your work? Do some more!”, but here it’s “got all your work done? Right, that’s it for the day!”. I tell you it’s good to get out of the Japanese mind set once in a while and not feel guilty about it!!

So in the afternoon I went along to the park and did some Italian. That is just fantastic, sitting there in the sunshine ( but no humidity!), with a cappuccino that only cost 1 euro, and having all the people roaming around. Perfect. You just can’t get that in Japan, and I’m loving it!! This is the sort of day I’ve been looking for for ages, I guess it must be a hang up from my student days of being in Grenoble but not being able to afford even the 1 Euro for a coffee! But it’s great, highly recommended!

For the Italian I was going to use Pimsleur series like I did for Spanish in January, but I don’t have the time to rush through the course in a week. So I went with the Living Language series, which I remembered I actually used when learning Japanese. The difference here is that unlike Pimsleur which really makes you think and adds in little bits at a time with lots of review, the Living Language gives you everything in 3 hours and you just keep repeating it till you’ve got it. I think Pimsleur is probably best, but since I did a year of Italian in uni then the Living Language one is working a treat.

I also had a look at the Rosetta Stone software package which allows you to work at your own pace, but mine is the version for learning Thai so only includes the demo version of the Italian one, so not much use!

It’s always good for my job to keep learning myself, Japanese people must get so confused with all the advice people give them, mostly from people who can only speak one language! Once you have the right tools, it is really simple, and one thing I realised today is that now thanks to ipods, DVDs and the net, the difference between EFL ( studying at home) and ESL ( studying in the country ) is really getting quite small. It’s easier than ever to learn English in Japan! The Daily Yomiuri also had a couple of articles today which were quite positive for a change! And taking the time out to brainstorm new ideas for Genki English is really working out, there are lots of cool things to do!!

So things are looking good, and one last cappuccino before I head off to my hotel!

Be genki,

Richard