Why Am I Doing This?

Hello! My name’s JD. I’m 31 years old. My son is almost 2 now. (Man, I wish I had been doing this from day one!!) I’m happily married with my wife Chiaki of 4 years. I love language. I grew up in Maryland, USA, graduated from the University of Maryland College Park with a BA in Japanese, and have been living in Japan for 8 years. I first worked as an English teacher for a year, then as an exchange coordinator at a Japanese university, a patent office, a medical/marketing translator for 3 years, and in 2022 I started my own business teaching Japanese…Yes, that’s right…Japanese! If you’re interested in learning Japanese, would like some language advice, or need relocation support for your move to Japan, feel free to message me at languagementor.jp@gmail.com

So, why am I doing this? I love language. And I love my son. I want to understand how babies and learn language in general, and how they process learning two languages at the same time.

There are some major questions that my wife and I had when we first started discussing raising our child in a bilingual environment. Should we speak both languages at home? If so, which one and when? What did our friends do? Did it work for them? What about his name? If it’s too American, he might get teased. If it’s not easily pronounced in Japanese, his friends might not give him a nickname like the other kids. What about his American passport? Is giving him a Japanese middle name worth it? I hope to answer those questions (from our perspective) and more as I write this blog.