What's new

New... Well, not new, but new. Argh. はじめまして。

rothux

Registered
31 May 2015
3
0
11
Greetings! こんにちは!

This is likely to get a little long winded, so I apologise in advance, but thanks to anybody who reads and replies! I was also unable to find a thread containing the rules on what may or may not be posted, so if somebody could point me to one that would be appreciated. I apologise if I break any rules in the meantime.
I'm Rothux. I'm not actually new here, but haven't been to this forum in years. I don't remember my previous login information, though the last time I logged in was about 2008, so my old account was likely deleted for inactivity by now.

Hmm, so about me. I'm 23 years old, live in the UK, and have had an interest in Japan for as long as I can remember. I began learning the language when I was 14, during a school break where I got so bored that I decided to actually do something with my time. Due to lack of motivation towards my schoolwork, my parents bribed me with a trip to Japan on the condition that I pull my grades back. Needless to say, I got my trip to Japan after getting my arse in gear!
I continued to study the language, even after joining the army as a Royal Signals tech, though in a limited capacity due to time constraints and a tendency for anybody engaging in any form of self-improvement to be ostracised by other soldiers.
Unfortunately, when I was 20, I was involved in a major car crash whilst on duty in the UK; I had a head on collision with another vehicle whilst we were both travelling at 60mph. My legs were crushed by the engine block, knees shattered, but worse than that, I essentially bled out. This caused areas of my brain to become oxygen deprived, leading to a stroke which left me paralysed entirely on the left side.

This would seem to be the worst part, but I have since regained the use of my left arm to a functional standard, though with much-limited dexterity in my hand. The biggest issue, at least to my sense of pride, was that the oxygen-deprivation led to what I have dubbed - for lack of a better term - factual amnesia. Rather than forgetting who I was, I instead lost skills and knowledge. I forgot all of my programming experience, 90%+ of the Japanese I had learnt to that point, many complicated English words amongst other things. I still have difficulty finding words at times and have to find other terms to express my thoughts. I'm also still heavily medicated, which leads to an uphill struggle when it comes to retaining the names of people. There are some people I've been dealing with for over a year now, whose names I have forgotten and it feels awkward to ask for their name for the fifth time.

I am unlikely to ever "regain" these skills in the way that one would hope. Instead, I am having to relearn things from scratch, and it is only now, two and a half years after the crash, that I am finding it easier to learn things, and getting to a quarter of what I had learnt previously in regards to Japanese. Due to the medication that I am on, I still find it extremely difficult to concentrate for more than ten minutes, though this is gradually improving.

I am fortunate to still have two Japanese friends who are always happy to help me, and their help has been indispensable; I cannot express with words how grateful I am to them both. However, as I am now at a level where I can begin to learn again, I yearn for a more structured approach to study. To that end, I will be utilising all of the tools I used before, including but not limited to, Tae Kim, anime/movies (for conversational), manga/books (for comprehension and kanji), my friends (inc. Skype/FaceTime), a sprinkling of Rosetta Stone, WWWJDIC, and other websites, including this one - JREF was instrumental in my studies of the language the first time around.
As I have been out of the game for a few years, I'm sure that there are new resources for studying that I am unfamiliar with, and many services may have improved. For example, has Livemocha gotten its act together yet and begun to offer a worthwhile program?

My interests include anime, manga, gaming, physics/general science, computers, Japan, learning about cultures, history, some music, and I have recently been learning to fly single-prop light aircraft. I'm currently still engaged in physical rehabilitation, and have surgery planned for the future (I've already had 25 operations so far!). I aim to go to university to study physics after my rehab is finished, though as I would like to potentially live and work in Japan one day, that goal may inform my decisions about education.

I'm still wheelchair-bound for the time being, though we've had some major leaps recently in walking with crutches, although I'm still not at anything close to a functional level yet. I strongly believe in using proper English as much as possible, though I'm by no means an expert and make many mistakes, in part due to the stroke and medication, and in part due to my own lack of knowledge. I don't try to force others to use English properly, only correcting or asking for clarification when it is near impossible to understand what somebody has said.

I'd like to thank you for reading the entirety of this, and I apologise for going on a bit. I welcome any and all feedback and questions, no matter what it is. Heck, bring the hate if you want to! よろしくね! \^o^/

-Rothux
 
First of all, welcome back to the forum!

I am very sorry to read about your accident, but congratulate you on the impressive progress you have made! I am certain our 日本語 students and experts will be glad to help you with your language studies.

Meanwhile, if you remember your previous user name I could merge your accounts if you want.
 
First of all, welcome back to the forum!
I am very sorry to read about your accident, but congratulate you on the impressive progress you have made! I am certain our 日本語 students and experts will be glad to help you with your language studies. Meanwhile, if you remember your previous user name I could merge your accounts if you want.

Hi Thomas, thank you for the warm welcome!
Unfortunately, I can't for the life of me remember the username or any of my old email addresses, but thank you for the offer to merge my accounts anyway!

-Rothux
 
Back
Top Bottom