Betsy Campbell, mother of Eliza Campbell, talks about her daughter’s confidence in learning Japanese


I believe Japanese has made my three children more confident students. Learning what is considered a difficult language – but one they consider easy because they started learning it at an early age – has given them the confidence to take other challenging courses now that two of them are in middle school and high school. My youngest child started first grade this year, and the first thing she reported, very excitedly, after the first day of school was that she learned to count to 5 in Japanese. It was clear that studying Japanese sparked a love of learning that all parents want their children to have.

Traveling to Japan with our daughter's sixth-grade class was an educational and enlightening experience for our entire family. Watching our older children converse with Japanese students and appreciate the history and culture of another country is a wonderful memory that will stay with us (and them) forever. Studying Japanese has heightened their global awareness and respect for other cultures, positive qualities that will benefit them for a lifetime. This heightened awareness of the world around them, coupled with the self-confidence that comes from mastering a "difficult" foreign language, are a winning combination in today's competitive world.

My advice to other parents is to take advantage of any opportunity to enroll your child in Japanese. I know many parents attach their own fears about learning such a different or difficult language, but children typically don't have that kind of trepidation. They are already learning many new things in school, and Japanese becomes one of them, at a time when their ears and brains are much more open to it than our adult ones are. And I have seen with my own children that taking Japanese has enhanced their academic performance and, I believe, will open doors for them in the future.

(February 2010)