Japanese atop the Belfry

As ridiculous as it sounds, after studying Japanese for the last ten years I had still never approached a complete stranger to speak with them in Japanese, without any qualification or introduction, or academically-oriented framing. I've met new people and practiced conversation with people I hadn't met before, I've had conversation partners, and even people very close to me with whom I can practice. But never the "cold conversation," or whatever you want to call it.

Part of the reason, of course, has been nerves. And the true academics out there will probably laugh, but it simply didn't feel right for me to have a stilted, awkward conversation with a stranger. To me, it was illogical and pointless, and even rude, because there was not a truly pragmatic reason to use Japanese other than self-gain. So I'd never done it.

Until today, the 14th of July, 2014.

After climbing to the top of the Belfry of Bruges, with our group of companions, we stopped for a few minutes to enjoy the beautiful view (and the wind). Then three Japanese tourists were at the top of the Belfry of Bruges, taking turns shooting photos of each other, unable to get all of them together. I heard them wishing they could ask someone:

英語やフランス語が話せたらいいのにね。
If only one of us could speak French or English, right?

So I approached them, offered to take their photo, and made a little bit of small talk for a minute before catching up with my friends. Simple stuff: Who we were, where I studied, where they were from, why they came, and no I'm not good at Japanese thanks though seriously no I'm not. (For those of you who don't know, it's pretty common to have your Japanese skills heavily commented on by strangers, especially if you weren't expected to speak Japanese from the get-go.) And then goodbye:

失礼しました。
Pardon my intrusion.

Nope, I didn't get a picture.

It was such a tiny thing. Easy stuff: simple grammar, simple vocabulary. But somehow I felt the beginning of a larger shift. Finally this skill I've been working on since high school has escaped its hermetically-sealed box of academic and become a real thing.

Again, it's not to say I haven't practiced, or even had whole conversations in Japanese. But somehow this felt significant. Like flying after years of practice, with no safety net, and finding out you don't need it any more.

This post is largely irrelevant to the rest of this blog, but I wanted to share here because this trip has given us a lot of personal revelation and change. And this is one way it's affected me. Thanks for reading.