Talk about coincidences. It happens all the time. Intrigued and inspired by AJATT for a while, faintly discovering at the same time the meaning of the Heisig books, all this wrapped up yesterday by .... nothing less than a presentation of "Les kanjis dans la tête", a translation/adaptation in French of the James Heisig's book by Yves Maniette. Yves is a member of Freelance France Japon, a professional social network I launched about a year ago. The presentation took place in Tokyo as part of the monthly meeting schedule. The story of how Prof. Heisig put shame on the Japanese learning didtatorship of didacticless didactics by learning the meaning of kanji in no time is recorded enough over the net. I haven't learned using the Heisig. I only but recently learned about the book and the approach. Since yesterday, I am the owner of the French version of that book, courtesy to Yves Maniette. In a way, it is mind blowing but I won't go into doubt mode and scorn at that approach. With close to 30 years in contact with Japanese and Japan, I do not qualify for a fresh view at what is set on the top priority list of what beginners should start learning Japanese with. I just picked up this from the English introduction:
the course is intended not only for beginners,
but also for more advanced students looking for some way to systematize what
they already know and gain relief from the constant frustration of forgetting
how to write the characters.
Forgetting how to write kanji has been on my side ever since then. It know comes clear to me that there was no systematic, didactic approach at the university besides sweating on filling up notebooks after notebooks of kanji. I did my share. Enthusiasm was the burning fuel and there no shortage of it. Immersion was minimal, a poster of kana bought at Smith's in London pasted on the wall in Paris, and rare books religiously lined up on the shelves that were protuding with "mysterious" kanji. Heisig is like AJATT yet another nail in the coffin of that "mysterious" shroud. It also tells a story that holders of the mysteries are not the best qualified to unveil those, for the mere reason that the very shroud make them holders of power and distinction. Why would you tell the world that there is no god, the scripture only asking for dedication to be decrypted? Although I am not linked to China, the very same thing is happening with Chinese. More and more non-Chinese not only learn Chinese but reach a level of practical usage competence of it. Exoticism is receding, to some extent, back to the dark age where it belongs. For sure, a new mysticism is built on top the blanked space, the cool mysticism. But at least, it doesn't pretend to be the exclusive territory of a few coopted bards.
The last wall to keep these modern warriors at bay from the academic fortresses is to scorn there youngish level of competence at best. Yeah, they glee at watching dumbo drama and anime, but they can't read the Genji Monogatari unless it comes in manga format. It is a hopeless battle. The academics will go on holding their conferences like any other social network.
I am more interested in the question of how these learners speaking Japanese much in the way they do on TV, that coolness I don't know nor do I care about, how will they evolve and grow? You don't learn while already a grown-up a language starting with baby books. So you miss growing the language, and at least in university, you learn a grown-up, intellectual language aiming at the perfection native may not on average possess.
This question is no trifle and turn a very interesting subject of sociolinguistics in the coming years.
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