It Took Just Five Days for English to Feel Like a “Foreign Language” Again: The Second-Language Barrier I Felt After a Break

My five-day break is over.

I went on a trip and had a lot of fun. I will write about that in another article, but today, it is back to work.

I sat down in front of my computer, but I could not get myself going at all.

Well, I had expected that.

I decided to write a blog post before starting my regular work, only to find myself completely at a loss with English.

I normally take online English lessons and regularly read articles and watch videos in English. During those five days, however, I stayed almost completely away from the language.

The moment I started writing in English again after the break, I thought,

“Was it always this difficult?”

Of course, my English ability did not vanish in five days. I can still understand it when I hear it, and I know that it will come back once I start using it again.

Even so, the psychological distance was unmistakably different.

English had been part of my daily life before the break. Suddenly, it had gone back to being a “foreign language.”

A Second Language Has a Switch

This experience reminded me once again of the difference between a first language and a second language.

With Japanese, five days—or any number of lazy days—would not be a problem.

Even when I am lying around watching television, Japanese enters my head on its own. Whether I am tired or drunk, I never have to brace myself and think, “All right, time to listen to some Japanese,” just to understand it.

I have not reached that point with English yet.

I watch a video in English. I read an article in English. I speak English in an online lesson.

Once I begin, I can enjoy it. But first, I have to flip a small switch.

Because I do these things every day under normal circumstances, I forget that the switch even exists.

After taking a complete five-day break, however, I can feel the weight of that switch again.

English itself has not become more difficult.

Getting into English mode has simply become a chore.

Humans Adapt Frighteningly Fast to Comfort

Come to think of it, this is not just about English.

The same is true of work.

Normally, I turn on my computer in the morning and write code or articles. I do not think of it as anything special.

But after five days spent having fun, even turning on my computer feels like a chore.

Just five days.

Five days of idleness are stronger than habits I have maintained for years.

People often praise the human ability to adapt, but apparently, we are rather selective about the direction in which we adapt.

It takes time to get used to studying English every day.

It also takes time to get used to working every day.

But when it comes to

“not studying English,”

“not working,”

or “having fun from the moment we wake up,”

we adapt with astonishing speed.

Will English Ever Truly Become Part of My Everyday Life?

If I spend a little time with English today, I will probably be back to normal by tomorrow or the day after.

So this is not a serious problem.

Still, these five days made me realize that English is not yet completely part of my everyday life.

I have become fairly proficient. I can read articles in English, and I can have conversations in English.

But it is still different from Japanese.

There is a small switch somewhere, and I can enter the English-speaking world only after turning it on.

Will I ever be able to enjoy English while lying around, just as I do with Japanese, without any mental preparation at all?

Perhaps reaching that point is what it truly means to have acquired a second language.

For today, though, before contemplating that state of linguistic enlightenment, I have to deal with the work that has piled up.

English had not moved farther away from me. I had simply raced back into a Japanese-only world at astonishing speed.