Q1.	Where are you from?
A1.	I'm from France and Switzerland. A bit of a mixture.
Q2.	And why are you at Hiroshima University?
A2.	I was born in Japan in Kobe City. And I grew up in Japan and then moved on to England and decided to study Japanese at university because I wanted to come back to Japan. And I've already learned a little bit of Japanese when I was here and I wanted to improve, and I thought it would help me in my future.
Q3.	Do you like studying Japanese?
A3.	I do very much, but it is getting very difficult, and unfortunately I'm slacking a little bit. So, it's becoming less enjoyable as it gets harder.
Q4.	Why do you like it and why don't you like it?
A4.	I like it because I have an attachment to Japan. And I think that it really would help me in my future, knowing such a difficult language. And I dislike it just for the plain fact that it's so difficult to learn.
Q5.	How long have you studied Japanese?
A5.	It's now been three years.
Q6.	Why do you want to learn Japanese?
A6.	Because I wanted to come back to Japan to visit a little bit more. I had actually never been to Hiroshima when I lived here. And also for my future. I think it would open new doors and allow me huge prospects if I knew Japanese fluently.
Q7.	How well do you want to learn Japanese, perfectly or only well enough to communicate?
A7.	At the moment I would say well enough to communicate. It's very difficult to learn perfectly.
Q8.	Do you like studying Japanese in class or outside of class?
A8.	In class is more fun, I think, because you have the help of the teachers, or the things you do together to help you learn. Whereas opposed to doing it on your own is more difficult, and if you don't understand something, you don't have anybody to ask. And it's easier to learn in the lesson, so I think it's more fun.
Q9.	What kind of things do you like to read in Japanese?
A9.	If I could read in Japanese, I would probably try to read some books. But unfortunately I'm not that good. So, just basic writing.
Q10.	What kind of things do you like to listen to in Japanese?
A10.	Again if I could understand it better, I would love to listen to Japanese. Well I like listening to Japanese music, though I don't understand it. And I like watching Japanese television. It can be very interesting and amusing.
Q11.	Do you like to study grammar?
A11.	No.
Q.	Because?
A.	It's impossible.
Q12.	Which do you want to improve the most, reading, writing, speaking or listening?
A12.	First listening, and then speaking. I think it's the essential things you need, at least to be able to communicate. And then writing and reading is not as important. In my view.
Q13.	Why do you think that reading and writing are the least important for you?
A13.	I think because in the future if I were to use my Japanese in a business, you talk more with people. It's just the first thing that came to my mind, I suppose. I find that in communicating with people you have to understand and you have to be able to speak. So that's the essential thing.
Q14.	What do you think is the best way to improve reading in Japanese?
A14.	Just to read as much as possible. Anywhere, everywhere. Signs, books, newspapers.
Q15.	What do you think is the best way to improve listening?
A15.	Listening to the television, the radio. Just trying to speak, trying to communicate with the Japanese people.
Q16.	What do you think is the best way to improve speaking?
A16.	Again, talking with the Japanese people is the only way you'll ever really get to improve it.
Q.	How much do you talk with other people?
A.	Not as enough as I should.
Q17.	What parts of Japanese grammar do you think are hard? Can you give an example?
A17.	God, I'll have to think about this one. Most parts. Constructing sentences is fairly straightforward, but then there's so many different ways of saying things. And I just think it's, it's the general grammatical system in Japanese. I think it's just very difficult.
Q18.	What do you think is the best way to improve grammar?
A18.	Just to learn. Just memorizing it.
Q19.	What are the best ways to learn vocabulary?
A19.	To just read as much as possible and just remember.
Q20.	What kind of activities do you like to do in class?
A20.	I think group activities are probably the most fun for me. We don't, unfortunately here I have not done much listening to tapes or anything. So I would prefer if we would have done. I think that's a good, fun way to learn the language. So that and pretty much group activities I think are the best.
Q21.	What activities don't you like to do in class?
A21.	Grammar. Anything to do with grammar.
Q22.	Have you had any bad experiences learning Japanese?
A22.	Nothing in particular. Just that it's getting more and more difficult, and so I'm kind of drifting away from the motivation I used to have to learn it.
Q23.	Do you use computers or Internet to study Japanese?
A23.	No, I don't.
Q24.	What do you think about dictionaries?
A24.	Helpful. I couldn't read a Japanese dictionary because it's quite complicated. But I mean the general English-Japanese/Japanese-English I always carry around, I always carry one around with me.
Q25.	How often do you use a Japanese-English dictionary?
A25.	Probably at least once every day to look up a word or so.
Q26.	What does a good Japanese teacher do, for example?
A26.	In my opinion, my best Japanese teacher is, how can I say it? Moves around a lot, really tries to interact with the students, as opposed to just standing there reading from a textbook. So I think that is really, it makes it more fun for the students to learn that way. And always smiling, and always happy to help.
Q27.	What does a bad Japanese teacher do, for example?
A27.	Just stands there and read from a textbook, or doesn't do anything really to help you.
Q28.	What other language do you study?
A28.	French.
Q.	How well do you know French?
A.	I speak French fluently. And my mother is French so I speak it fluently. My writing isn't so good, but I understand it all, say perfectly.
Q29.	Can you tell me a little about, in general, your experience in learning Japanese from the very beginning to now? How have things progressed?
A29.	From the very beginning, well I first began learning it when I was nine years old. So then it was quite fun because we used to learn everything through pictures. So I used to enjoy that a lot which is what I think pushed me initially to learn Japanese at university. At the beginning of university it was quite simple because I had a base already. So, again I think I was quite easygoing towards it, and I enjoyed it a lot. Now, as much, I do enjoy it, but because it's so much more difficult it's just really, just getting too difficult.
Q30.	Could you tell me in detail about one Japanese teacher that you thought was really good?
A30.	In detail, he's a bit of an actor really, because he kind of jumps around the classroom and really interacts with you. He draws lots of pictures on the boards. He doesn't actually speak in English at all, and when he wants to make you understand something or a word, he'll act it out for you or he'll draw a picture on the board to help you understand. And that's definitely my best teacher.