11 August, 2010

All of a sudden you're illiterate again

Last week during a normal shopping trip I found myself at a loss to figure out which bottle of clear liquid was vinegar. This would not be a problem in Australia. But my poor Japanese reading let me down again. I fooled around on my new iPhone trying to find some help. (This prompted me to get finally get a Japanese-English dictionary installed on the phone.) In the end I made the ultimate move in selection - lifted the lid of a likely candidate and sniffed. Even through the plastic seal I caught a wiff of vinegar! Success, though not in a terribly satisfying way.

Yesterday we met a new teacher at CAJ. He is intelligent and no doubt highly competent in his home country. Yet I was reminded again of how difficult it is to integrate into this country, where not even knowing your English alphabet can help you feel like you are competent. He admitted that their biggest challenge at present is being able to read enough to buy stuff. For example his wife wasn't able to find toilet cleaner in the shop the other day. I know the feeling. It is like a single plane trip has stripped you of adult competency and you are back in kindergarten, but, unfortunately, still with adult responsibilities.

Pictures are a huge help. Cleaning products are more difficult than food because they often don't have pictures that help. It is no surprise that the cleaning products in our cupboards mostly have pictures on them!
Here are some products in my pantry. Can you guess what they are?

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8 comments:

  1. Sandy11 August, 2010 16:23

    Oh, how I feel your pain! It's the same in China, even after a year. I still can not figure out the difference between shampoo and conditioner!
    I am changing language schools and went to the university to get information about their program. The 300 or so characters that I know were not even close enough to read the informational booklet so I had a 12 year old Chinese boy translate it for me!
    In the US, I am an English teacher! It just gives me more empathy for my students!

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  2. Wendy11 August, 2010 17:48

    Walking - The tragedy of it is that I've been in Japan for nearly eight years now. And I went to language school for a good portion of 2 years. At least Japan has some basic alphabet, though. I can tell the difference between shampoo and conditioner using that! I don't even you. You've got tones to deal with too!

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  3. Melissa11 August, 2010 22:58

    I am actually going to make a guess.
    Flour, salt, milk powder.
    Tomato paste, honey
    Cornflakes.
    I remember trying to shop in Europe and being confronted with lots of canned meat and trying to find the tuna. And we kept changing countries and lanuages every few days.
    Shopping must take a lot longer in a different country.

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  4. -J11 August, 2010 23:24

    Well put. A single airplane trip strips you of adult competency...

    Gambatte! Always enjoy your posts.

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  5. Ormo12 August, 2010 00:51

    I recommend "kotoba" on your iphone... very excellent concise dictionary and free too :-) Just what you need for these moments!!

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  6. Wendy12 August, 2010 08:47

    Melissa you are almost totally correct. The only errors are the tomato substance is smashed up tomatoes (as opposed to merely chopped) and the flour is specifically bread flour. The milk powder is the skim variety. Well done!
    Yes, it does sometimes take longer to shop here, especially when you are new to the country. When you've been here longer, it takes less time. In fact shopping in Woolworths in Australia took me forever because I had so many choices. Often here I don't have so many choices (there are exceptions, like with margarine).

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  7. Wendy12 August, 2010 08:48

    Thanks Ormo for your recommendation. Kotoba is the app I've installed since the vinegar incidence. It has helped tremendously.

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  8. Anonymous12 August, 2010 18:42

    Wow. A different world in so many ways...

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