My Reasons

When I was younger, I always had an interest in Japanese culture. My father works for Panasonic Japan, and often - as in every month - goes to Tokyo for a week. He always brought back great trinkets and food; these were my first taste of Japanese culture. Since then, I have traveled to Japan on numerous occasions. I first went on vacation there with my family and was able to travel all over mainland Japan for a week, visiting all the major cities and sights. On my second trip, I was lucky enough to receive a scholarship that allowed me to live in Japan for approximately three months. This time, I lived in Okinawa with a host family. This little island was surprisingly and radically different from the mainland cultural setting that I already associated with Japan. Needless to say, this was an absolutely rewarding experience, other than the fact that I could not speak Japanese. I somehow was able to gesture and point my way through three months of interaction in Japan, which was fortunate, but had me desperately wanting to learn Japanese for real.

So here I am now, taking Japanese at Columbia, and maybe even double majoring in East Asian Languages and Cultures with a concentration in Japanese.

In learning this language, I'm excited for this year, and of course also the years to come. I hope that my fluency will improve rapidly over the course of this year. Its been a slight struggle for the past few weeks due to some rusty Japanese that I hadn't been able to practice over the course of the summer - but my ability from last year is slowly returning. For that, I am glad.

Introduction

みあさん、こんにちわ！はじめまして。

わたしのなまえはティーファニーです。
わたしはニュージャセーのプリンストンからきました。わたしのかそくは台湾からきましたから、ちゅごくごがだいたいわかります。
わたしはニュヨークのコロンビアだいがくのにねんせいです。わたしのせんもんは EconomicsーOperations Research とにほんおべんきょです。とてもむずかしですね！　わたしはひまじゃありません。
わたしはおんがくがとてもすきです。わたしは electronic のおんがくのDJです。そして、guitar, piano, violin をします。
しゃしんがすきです。まいにちしゃしんをとります。
わたしのしゃしん：http://www.flickr.com/photos/tiffany_lee

どおぞよろしくおねがいしぇます！
またいらしやってください。

じゃね。