How I Wish!

After being on the phone with a Japanese guy to negotiate a cultural performance for Cool New Asia, it struck me how knowing Japanese would come in super handy.

How I wish I was mature enough to accept my mother's offer of sending me to Japanese lessons when I was younger. It's really paradoxical to me - you are not old enough to realise the importance back then, but fast forward now, it hits you with a pang. Sometimes I think the way society is structured is just wrong - young kids that just graduated from high school are required to make heavy decisions like deciding whether to be a doctor, nurse, engineer, artist, whatever... Doesn't 18 sound a bit too young to make a decision of a lifetime. And when you were younger, an extra lesson only means more homework and less playtime for a kid. That's all kids see. How I wish my mom was more of a dictator and just pushed her reluctant little daughter into a language class back then.

If I knew Japanese, the negotiation would turn out a breeze. After studying Communication, I strongly believe language is the key to understanding another culture deeply and not just on a surface level.

But of course, if you don't have what you need, you will need to maximize on what you already have. I'll use whatever knowledge I have on Japanese culture and try and make it a good outcome for the event.

Stay tuned to find out whether the negotiation was successful!