I sit at a table full of chatter, of a language foreign to me. Even though I've heard it before I was never able to understand it, except for the few words fed to me from a young age. The language of which my name is derived from, stripped from my mind. I look around me and realize that the language at my family table is forgotten by me and my mother. Japanese slips off my grandmother's tongue easily, but falls upon me and my mother's ears with no way to understand. So instead my grandmother speaks in the only language that we know. When we visit cousins in Okinawa and wander around the streets, we only hope someone understands English when our grandmother is not with us. When I wake up and head to school I say the few phrases that I know, "Ohayo" and "Ittekimasu". When we eat the only phrases in my grandmother's native tongue we speak are "itadakimasu" and "gochisousama". But I refuse to let that be the end of a beautiful language I love. I sit down on my bed with a Chromebook in front of me and a pen and notebook in hand, I use a language app and write down everything I know. I speak to my grandmother and practice every time, I refuse to let go of this forgotten tongue.
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Created - July 29th, 2020
