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*Despair*...
...or one reason why this whole going to graduate school in Japan thing was a really bad idea.
Earning two Master's degrees means--rather predictably--having to write two Master's theses. That in itself is not the problem.
The problem is that, after a year in Japan attending all my classes in Japanese and writing all my papers in Japanese, I can no longer write a paper in English. Even a short paper. Even one without any citations or, really, any criteria as to content and quality.
Guys, I've been trying to write a two-page--maximum--summary of my English-language thesis research for the better part of a week now, and I just. Cannot. Do it. I know everything I mean to say, and I can more or less get it out onto paper. But what I do get out on paper is phrased in such a way that it reads like something a native Japanese speaker with very high-level English skills would write, not the lean, precise papers I was writing in 2007.
In fact, I think it would be easier for me to write the summary in Japanese, except I've had enough experience with these things to know that it is nigh impossible to translate your own writing from one language to another. So here I am, eight days later, still unable to get 700 words out onto paper.
This does not bode well for my future employment prospects...
That will be all.
Earning two Master's degrees means--rather predictably--having to write two Master's theses. That in itself is not the problem.
The problem is that, after a year in Japan attending all my classes in Japanese and writing all my papers in Japanese, I can no longer write a paper in English. Even a short paper. Even one without any citations or, really, any criteria as to content and quality.
Guys, I've been trying to write a two-page--maximum--summary of my English-language thesis research for the better part of a week now, and I just. Cannot. Do it. I know everything I mean to say, and I can more or less get it out onto paper. But what I do get out on paper is phrased in such a way that it reads like something a native Japanese speaker with very high-level English skills would write, not the lean, precise papers I was writing in 2007.
In fact, I think it would be easier for me to write the summary in Japanese, except I've had enough experience with these things to know that it is nigh impossible to translate your own writing from one language to another. So here I am, eight days later, still unable to get 700 words out onto paper.
This does not bode well for my future employment prospects...
That will be all.
no subject
This is one of the major things I worry about too: namely, forgetting things in English. I don't have as many problems going between French and English, but while I was in Japan I would forget even the most basic words, let alone having to actually write anything in depth. Thankfully I've never really been all that good with essays, so it wouldn't be a major loss for me.
I'm sure it will come back to you. If you had it once you can get it again. And all those other monolingual suckers that have kept their essaying skills intact will have nothing on you.