Early Childhood

1. What’s your earliest memory speaking English? Your earliest memory speaking Japanese?

To be honest, I don’t remember when I started speaking English or Japanese. One episode I remember my dad telling me is that one of my first English sentences was “Cut Mama” but I don’t remember saying this at all!

As for Japanese, I have no recollection of my first word or sentence. It must have been something close to “Mama” or “Dada” but maybe I said something crazier!

2. Was there a moment when you first realized that you were bilingual?

I don’t think there was a particular moment where I realized that I was “bilingual.” I remember that it was more of a feeling that “I speak more languages than my friends and they think that’s cool!” But when I was in elementary school and English classes started in 5th grade, I think that’s when I was first exposed to the word “bilingual.” And I began to realize that maybe this was something special, especially back then when there weren’t many kids around me who could speak two languages.

3. Did you ever mix the two languages when you were little? Do you remember any funny examples?

When I was younger I think mixing the two languages was easier for me than speaking one language consistently, especially since I didn’t have enough vocabulary. For example, if I didn’t know or remember a word in Japanese, I could switch to English and vice versa. There’s a funny story my mom told me about how I used to talk in my sleep and I said “How about the shiroi one?” For some reason I used “shiroi,” which means “white” in Japanese, instead of using the English word. And I don’t even know what I was talking about!

When I was little, I think I mostly mixed the languages unconsciously. I simply used the one that was most convenient in the moment. However, as I grew older, this became more of a conscious choice, like choosing to use one language or the other, or even using both languages if I was talking to someone who could understand both.

4. What kinds of English books, TV shows, or music did you especially enjoy as a child?

I LOVED BARNEY! The purple dinosaur! I’m not sure why I enjoyed that TV show so much, but I guess it’s because the show used a lot of simple, catchy songs. Recently, I watched some old videos from when I was little and saw myself dancing to a Barney song that my dad was singing to me. And when he stopped singing, I started pouting and began singing the song myself!

I also loved watching shows on Disney Channel like Hannah Montana, Shake It Up, and Liv and Maddie. I still love them to this day!

5. How did you feel speaking English with your father while you were speaking Japanese with your mother and almost everyone else around you? Did those feelings somehow evolve as you were growing up?

When I was little, I don’t think I was very aware that I was speaking a “different language” and I simply associated the English language with my dad. Also, my dad would only speak English to me and sometimes he wouldn’t reply if I tried talking to him in Japanese. This made me annoyed, especially when I was a teenager, but looking back on it now, I think it’s funny! At this point, switching between the two languages is just normal for me because I’ve been doing it for so long.

School Years

6. How was your English ability a positive thing in school? Was it ever a negative thing for you?

I don’t think it was ever a negative thing. I was never bullied in school for being “half” (half Japanese and half American) or speaking English. I feel very lucky to have been in an environment where I didn’t experience that, as some of my friends have said that they were bullied because they had dual nationalities. In fact, I was really proud of my English ability in school. My classmates always wanted me on their team when we played English games in class and I remember being very happy about that. But it’s funny because the games were so easy for me—the questions were too easy for me—that I sometimes got scared they were trick questions!

7. How did your teachers and classmates react when they heard you speaking English?

I remember many of my classmates were really excited to hear me speak English and I did like the attention I received during English classes. I remember one time when I was in elementary school where my teacher asked me to read some flash cards in front of the room for my classmates. Even though I was nervous, I was also so happy and proud, feeling like “Everyone wants to listen to my English!”

8. What were the low-level English classes in school like for you? Did those classes still benefit you in some way?

I would say that the English classes from elementary school (starting in 5th grade) to junior high school didn’t really benefit me. The classes were mostly structured around learning simple vocabulary and simple grammar (and it was sometimes wrong!) so it made me question my English at times. I remember showing some of the school materials to my dad and asking him, “Is this right?”

There were also some frustrating times when I took English tests and the teachers were so fixated on the “correct grammar” shown in textbooks that they marked my answers wrong, even though they were actually correct! And I couldn’t do anything about it!

9. What was it like having both Japanese homework from school and English homework from your father?

Sometimes I was upset that I had English homework. I had to do Japanese homework, because it was from school, but I couldn’t understand why I had to do English homework, too. At the time, I thought, “Wasn’t talking to my dad in English enough?”

I actually enjoyed some of this homework, though, like funny writing tasks where I could use my imagination to write a story or a poem. I didn’t really like writing about things like family trips and school trips. I remember intentionally making my writing bigger so I didn’t have to write so much!

10. Describe your English homework. What kinds of tasks or resources do you remember most?

I think it was a good mix of reading and writing. Every day I would have to read around 10 pages of a book that I usually chose and my dad would read the pages first so he could underline the words I didn’t know and write in the meanings. When I was younger, I read chapter books like The Magic Tree House series. And when I got older, books about romance were fun to read!

To practice writing, we kept a journal and we had to write about a certain topic or a funny prompt. For kids, I think using our imagination is really fun, so if this is integrated into the language learning process, we don’t perceive it as learning but more of a fun activity.

Also, I think my dad took note of the amount of Japanese homework I had and planned the homework based on that, so he wasn’t giving me too much.

Language and Identity

11. Compare your experience learning both English and Japanese. What are the most challenging things about English? The most challenging things about Japanese?

For English, I think reading was the most challenging thing for me, especially nonfiction and academic topics. For me, it’s easier to read fiction and get lost in the story. I might even read the whole book in a day. But for nonfiction, sometimes it’s harder for me to concentrate when it’s about a topic I’m not so interested in or don’t know much about. This was especially evident when I took English tests like TOEFL and my reading score was always the lowest among the different skill areas. As for speaking and listening, I don’t think I really found it difficult growing up because I talked to my dad so often.

In terms of Japanese, even though I went to a Japanese school, I think the hardest thing was learning kanji. There were so many characters to remember and I recall taking so many kanji tests and I didn’t do too well in some of them. As with English, reading academic texts in Japanese was also really difficult. I remember getting pretty frustrated when reading them because they wouldn’t get straight to the point like in English!

12. Do you feel more comfortable in one language than the other? Has that changed over time?

It definitely has changed over time. Of course, when I was younger I went to Japanese public schools so it was more comfortable for me to speak Japanese with my Japanese friends. However, after I entered an English program in college, English has become much more comfortable for me on many different levels! I also feel that I tend to be more emotionally vulnerable in English than in Japanese. Talking about my feelings is much easier for me in English (maybe because of the vocabulary?). In Japanese, it doesn’t really feel the same and it feels like there are things that are harder to express or I feel hesitant to say.

13. Do you feel like a different version of yourself when you speak English versus when you speak Japanese? How?

I would say I feel a bit more assertive when I’m speaking English rather than Japanese. I also feel that the way I joke around changes depending on which language I speak. This difference has become clearer in college, especially because most of my friends here are from other countries. Naturally, I tend to hang out with them, joke around with them, and just speak more English in general.

And like I said, at least for me, I sometimes feel that English is better for expressing emotion than Japanese. I’m not exactly sure what it is that makes me feel this way, but I tend to be better at regulating my emotions when I’m asked about my feelings in English. At the same time, Japanese is a better language for me to reflect objectively on the situation without getting really emotional. So maybe I could say that, for me, English is better for more subjective situations and Japanese is better for more objective times.

14. How do you describe your identity when people ask about your background?

I usually just say I was born and raised in Japan but I’m half American and half Japanese because people are usually curious why I speak two languages. It’s actually a great conversation starter, especially in college! People often seem interested and they start asking me questions about my English and the schools I went to, so this makes it easy to talk about myself. Especially because I was never bullied for being “half,” I never feel embarrassed about my background. I’m quite proud of who I am.

15. Do you think in both languages, too? When do you think in English and when do you think in Japanese?

I get this question a lot but, honestly, I’m not sure! I think it really depends on the environment I’m in, like if I’m surrounded by English then naturally I’ll think in English, but if I’m in a setting where everyone speaks Japanese, then I’ll think in Japanese. However, I’d say that, recently, I’ve been thinking more in English than in Japanese because I have more opportunity to use English at school.

Another interesting thing is that most of the dreams that I remember are actually in English. Of course, I don’t remember the entire dream, but in the parts I remember, I’m talking in English and interacting with other people. This makes me think that I naturally think more in English, but sometimes I do catch myself thinking in Japanese so I guess it’s kind of complicated!

Family Dynamics

16. What do you think your father did well to help you learn English?

I think talking to us only in English was a good strategy. I don’t think I really knew that my dad even spoke Japanese when I was little because he would always speak English so I naturally had to speak English to communicate with him. Another thing I really enjoyed when I was growing up were the little rewards I would get after completing books or other assignments. I know that sounds like you’re getting the child to do something just because of the reward, but actually, I think it works when the child is small. The reward gives them more motivation, and it doesn’t have to be simply a treat, it could be a little toy that they like or something educational like a trip to the zoo.

And most importantly, just spending a lot of time together was really good for me as well. Doing things together in English was simply more fun than the “educational stuff”! For example, since my dad was home quite a bit we would do things like taking walks, playing soccer or baseball in the park, watching shows together on TV—all while speaking English.

17. Is there anything you wish your father had done differently?

I can’t really think of anything that I wish he would have done differently. I think the most important thing was that every activity was intentional. To me, it feels like most of the activities were focused on different strengths and weaknesses that I had in English. I don’t think my dad thought that the goal of “speaking English” was enough and so he looked for creative ways he could integrate the other skills into language learning. I think it was well thought out in the sense that one activity could help us with this aspect of the language and another activity could shape our ability in another.

When I reflect on all this now, maybe reading more academic things would have been helpful, since I now have to do this in college. But if my dad had tried to make me read things like this when I was child, I don’t think I would have liked that at all!

18. What are your strongest memories of English-related activities or projects with your father?

One of the activities I loved were the Mad Libs games. For me, Mad Libs was really funny, but it can also be educational in the sense that you also learn about things like nouns and verbs and how they fit together in sentences.

The activities we did outside were also fun. For example, my dad would create a sheet with the names of different items on it, then he would put this sheet on a clipboard and we would go around the neighborhood or go to the zoo to look for these things.

Another entertaining project was making funny videos with my dad and my brother. There was a small mountain near our house and we made this short film called Purple Monster in the Woods—it was hilarious! Fun experiences like this didn’t feel like “learning” and I think they made me like English even more.

He would also read aloud to us every morning at breakfast, which was a big part of my language exposure. Some mornings it felt annoying, especially when I was a teenager and I just wanted to eat in silence! But the fact that he continued reading to me, anyway, meant that I could continue learning. So I’ve really come to appreciate this, haha!

Social Life and Community

19. Growing up, did you have any opportunities to speak English with other children?

Not really. I guess I could say my brother, but after we started going to Japanese schools, I usually only spoke Japanese with him. It felt weird to talk to him in English, though sometimes we do now because we both use English in our school lives. When I was a child, most of my friends were from my Japanese schools and they were Japanese. My dad had some students from the international school who came to our house for private lessons, so I sometimes played with them afterward. But most of the time I was simply talking with my dad, and I didn’t have the chance to talk to other kids that much, so I missed out on some of that influence. Now that I’m in college, and I’m talking to people in English, I sometimes feel that I lack things like slang and other expressions, but it’s not a big deal.

20. Did you use English at any activities or events out in the community?

Sometimes we went to the international school, where my dad used to work. They had events like school festivals and Halloween parties, which were open to the public, and that was a breath of fresh air for me as a kid going to a Japanese school. Also, many of my volunteer activities as a child were in English. I worked on a translation for my junior high school, the narration for a true story about an A-bombed piano. When the cruise ship called Peace Boat docked in Hiroshima, I took part in a presentation as one of the narrators!

I also participated in some English workshops for guides in Hiroshima Peace Memorial Park. I helped the Japanese guides practice their English so they could guide visitors who come to Hiroshima. These activities made me feel important and proud of my English—it felt like I was needed. And I think these English activities helped me get into the high school that I wanted, too.

These days I’m not challenging myself in the same way so I want to get back into it!

21. Did you ever feel embarrassed or proud about speaking English in public?

I don’t recall ever feeling embarrassed about speaking English in public. In fact, I’ve always felt pretty proud of this ability. In Japan, a lot of people think speaking English is cool, so it was more of a positive experience for me than a negative one.

For instance, in junior high, I took part in an English speech contest for all the junior high schools in this part of Japan, and I was the winner! I remember practicing so much for this contest, at school and at home. I was really nervous when I gave my speech in front of so many people, but at the same time I felt very proud of myself. It was such a memorable experience for me!

Transition to University

22. What is your university major and what kinds of courses do you have?

My major is Global Studies so I study a variety of things like international relations, gender studies, and anthropology. Some of my favorite courses so far have been US-Japan relations and anthropology. For anthropology we were able to do our own fieldwork on a topic we chose and I did an observation and wrote a research paper on “solitary eating in Japan.” I think it was the best work I did in college so far! I got an A+! US-Japan relations was like a history class, but the reading materials that the professor assigned were really interesting. I had to read around 30 pages a week, though!

23. What was it like to start studying in an English-taught program in college, especially after attending only Japanese schools throughout childhood?

At first, it was hard to get used to. Before this, the classes at my Japanese schools were basically all teacher centered, but as soon as I started college, everyone was speaking up in class, and I froze! I remember talking to my dad about not being able to raise my hand in class because I was so scared of talking in front of people. But now, I’ve become quite talkative! I raise my hand a lot and I love group discussions!

24. Did you feel prepared for using English at a high academic level?

In terms of speaking and communicating, I think I was in a good position to begin with and I didn’t have any major issues. I would say that writing, especially academic writing, was the part I struggled with the most because I had never written papers like that in my life. Of course, I think most of my friends were new to this, too, so it wasn’t really a matter of lacking preparation. So far, I’ve probably written more than 15 papers and I’m still trying to get the hang of making good word choices and crafting good sentences. I’m still on a loooong journey!

Looking Back and Ahead

25. What was the hardest thing about growing up bilingual? What was the best thing?

As a little kid, I think the hardest thing was simply the homework. I remember asking my dad why I had to do all that homework when none of my friends were doing it. Sometimes this made me frustrated. But looking back on it now, I don’t think it was that bad!

Another thing is that sometimes people would just assume that I speak English because my dad speaks English. That frustrated me because they didn’t know how much homework I was doing!

26. If you could give some advice to younger kids growing up with more than one language, what would you tell them?

I would say that growing up with more than one language is awesome! It’s actually like a superpower! So be excited about this and try to talk as much as you can in your second language. And if you have homework, do the best you can, even if you don’t do it every day, because consistency is key. Your future-self will thank you!

27. If you could give some advice to parents raising bilingual children, what would you tell them?

I would say that pushing them to learn a language will never really work. Encouragement is okay, but pressuring them is just going to discourage them. I think the most important thing is the creativity that parents can put into how they expose the child to the language, like giving your child the challenge “Let’s see how many things you can name in this language” when you go somewhere. Of course, I’m not a parent so I don’t think I can provide much advice, but from a child’s perspective, I think creativity is important!

28. If you have children someday, do you intend to raise them bilingually? Would you do this in ways that are similar to how your father raised you? What would you do differently?

Yes, I intend to do this. Of course, the languages will depend on where I raise my children, but I would like to prioritize English and Japanese as the languages I hand down. And I think I would do this in ways that are similar to how my dad did it, especially reading books and doing fun activities outside the house. For example, making funny videos, doing playful interviews, and simply spending as much time with them as I can.

Honestly, I’m also not sure what I might do differently because this also depends on the child. There may be some things that suit the child based on who they are and some things that don’t.

Maybe I would also incorporate more nonfiction books because I read mostly fiction, and nonfiction became more important as I got older.

29. Looking back, how do you now feel about your bilingual upbringing?

I really liked it! Even though I sometimes didn’t like doing homework, I’m so glad that I speak both languages now because, if I didn’t speak English, I wouldn’t have met most of my friends today!

Of course, some people say that being bilingual is easy because one of your parents can speak that language, but it’s not so easy! If I could somehow meet little me today, I would give her a giant hug for alllll the homework she was doing! And I would remind her that a great bilingual life was waiting for her in the future!

30. Looking ahead, how do you feel about your bilingual future?

The future looks bright! I think being bilingual is always a plus! And I hope to keep learning other languages as well. For me, Spanish is a language I want to get better at. For my career in the future, I hope to use both English and Japanese and do something I really love to do!

What do you think? Please share your thoughts with us in a comment below.

Now read the interview with my son here.

Or continue reading about my daughter’s bilingual upbringing with these popular posts I made about her over the years of her childhood.

“I Can Help People”: I Interview My Daughter on Being Bilingual (age 8.9)

Big Breakthrough with My Bilingual Daughter? (age 10.6)

VIDEO: Wacky Interview with My Bilingual Daughter (age 10.10)

How I Got My Bilingual Daughter to Eagerly Do Her Homework in the Minority Language (age 12.7)

My Bilingual Daughter Is 13. My Bilingual Son is 10. So Why Is Their Level in the Minority Language Basically the Same? (age 13.7)

Update on My Daughter’s Bilingual Life at 14.5 Years Old: High School, Tears, and English Tests (age 14.5)

My Daughter Hits the Biggest Milestone of Our Bilingual Journey Together (age 15.8)