Four Orange students were able to put their Japanese lessons to the test during a visit to the country.
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Kate Elliott, Millie Balcomb, Georgia Beattie and Charlotte Balcomb spent four weeks touring Japan, highlights included Kyoto, a high school and a temple. They tried calligraphy, sumo wrestling and plenty of sushi.
They all study Japanese by correspondence. During their visit to the country, they were able to meet with their teacher Mariko Kobayashi, who runs the tutoring service Easy Japanesee.
“I really enjoy it, it’s tough when you don’t know a translation and there’s no help but,” Miss Elliott said.
Miss Elliott’s family joined the four students for the trip with students putting their translation skills to the test.
“Speaking [Japanese] is a bit harder since you don’t get to practise your pronunciations,” she said.
“You’re really stepping into the deep end, there’s not many people who speak English.
“There was a few times when catching trains where language was a barrier, but everyone was so ready to help.”
During a visit to a high school they discovered how different the culture was.
“Everyone was so considerate, it’s much more clean and tidy. The culture and people are so different compared to us,” she said.
Miss Elliott said she couldn’t wait to go back to Japan during a school trip. As well as preparing for another visit, Miss Elliott said she would be studying the language as a Higher School Certificate subject.