I’m from India and was in Tokyo for an year from 2007-2008 during which I tried to pick up some Japanese. Had passed JLPT3 that time and am currently trying for level2.

it was interesting to read about the natives’ difference in perception of difficulty of learning the language in Tanzania and Japan. Was surprized to know that the word for Table is meza, coz in my mothertongue Malayalam (spoken in the south of India) we use the exact same word for table ! Reason being that it’s of Portuguese origin as well and it came 2 my language from Portuguese traders too.

Nice blog . Will keep visiting this one from now on.

We met at a ohanami in Osaka when my wife had a business trip there(same company as you at the time). I have a good friend from Dar es Salaam and plan on visiting there someday. You’re really moving all over the place… last I heard you were in school back in the US. I had a six month stint in Hong Kong but we’re back in Tokyo for the time being.

Could it be because many, if not most, Africans live in a multilingual environment? Swahili is the lingua franca of East Africa, but Tanzania alone has approximately 30 local languages. Multilingualism is common across the continent, and mastering another language might be regarded as natural rather than difficult.

It’s been my experience that people all over Africa take great delight in sharing their language with strangers, and seem to have a natural ability to “dumb down” their communication to accommodate non-native speakers.

PS: Great blog, by the way!