Originally Posted by noveltyjunkie
Originally Posted by Alu_Rathbone
Or I can go with no comprehension of the language... or very little as I have a friend who can help me a bit. It's not so much the speaking as it is the writing of the language
You are going to be living with a Japanese family so you TOTALLY need to work on your basic conversational Japanese before you go. At the very least you need to know your politeness words and how to use them- not only the please and thank you but the 'that was delicious' and 'I'd like to help with that' level of communication as well. You also need to be able to introduce yourself- v v important in Japan- you need to know how to say where you are from, your age, your family situation/ siblings details and a basic sentence on why you are in japan and how much you love it!
According to my friend, my last name would probably be pronounced Saram-san (Ms. Schram). First name is Christine no clue how that would go over. I know very few things... I can say hello and goodbye (but most people can do those) just not entirely formal. I have heard that most study abroad students refer to their host family as Mom: Oka-san, Dad: Otou-san and that is as far as I know. To talk about my family, that would be difficult... but I'm going to learn! Anything that helps is great! Tips would be great for that.