Today was a day off. A friend on Discord had invited me so I attended an online meeting about language exchange (English and Japanese) on ZOOM at 11 am. But I had not known that I had to reserve to join, so I just registered at that time and joined soon (yes, it was so selfish and I have to reflect on this). We five people talked in English and Japanese. Although I said that my level was 'intermediate', it went with no problem. We talked about tattoos, Himeji city, and ALT's various problems. I thought I was glad to attend this meeting.
At night I listened to the Podcast in which Kumiko Torikai appeared on a program with the host Peter Barakan. They talked about the difficulty the Japanese have (but also the Japanese tend to use English in unique ways as 'with corona' and 'overshoot'). It was also about me so I had to listen carefully. I was just reading Kumiko Torikai's "The skill of English to speak" so her logical thinking and plain explanation. How can the Japanese speak English well? Or I have to think about why I want to speak English fluently.
Talking about myself, I have lived a life with a strong connection with English. I have learned English literature at a university. But that effort doesn't become fluent English (should the Japanese education system provide us the knowledge of the grammar of English? Or the opportunities of speaking? It seems that the Japanese country itself goes the wrong way). Speaking skills might not be friendly with the education. We have to improve in the real world in our private time. Sometimes that might be seen as how higher we have improved the 'power of human beings'. Therefore the person who is fluent in speaking English has been treated as a great one.
At night I opened a room on Clubhouse (the room of the club 'Let Our Souls Talk' as I said before). I talked about learning English with the guidance of my friends, Judith and Asel. I had wanted to talk about learning English, but the topic slid to the autism I have. Judith said that I am not good at listening because of autism, so I have to speak after referring to the fact that I can't listen to things if people speak so fast (and also I have to see the fact that English is not my mother tongue). I can't stop feeling thankful for her kindness.
