English is a cure for most of life’s ills日本の魅力を伝えるTOKYO FREE GUIDE理事長、川本佐奈恵さん

訪日外国人観光客に日本の魅力を伝えるTOKYO FREE GUIDEの活動を率いる川本佐奈恵さん。子育てをする専業主婦から一念発起して、32歳から英語学習を始め、人生を切り開いた。現在はTFGガイドとして特別な体験と忘れられない思い出を届けている。

When Sanae Kawamoto was 32, she was at a crossroad in her life. “I was a full-time mother and wife,” says Kawamoto. “While raising my children was a wonderful experience I had no skills that I could call my own. I felt lonely, as if I had become isolated from the world.” Kawamoto vowed to become her own person and to “acquire something that would make me proud of who I am.” To that end, she started studying English.

Kawamoto is now an English tour guide, author and English teacher. She also helms Tokyo Free Guide, a nonprofit organization that specializes in providing tours to inbound travelers looking to enjoy Tokyo. As its name suggests, Tokyo Free Guide tours are not set to any official schedule – the visitor is free to decide where to go and how to spend the day. “Our mission is to help them enjoy Tokyo as much as possible. We hope they leave with nothing but good memories.”

You’d think that, fired up by such enthusiasm, Kawamoto had always been an excellent English speaker, but she says otherwise. After graduating from college, she became a company employee and was assigned to the personnel department. “There was no room in my life for English. I got married and became a stay-at-home mom. Then at 32, a thought popped up in my head: If I could learn English, that would surely turn my life around.”

Kawamoto started by signing up for an English conversation circle held at her local community center. “I had three kids and couldn’t afford the fees for a proper English school. I just assumed everyone in the circle was on the same level as I was.” To her surprise, the circle members could all talk with ease and fluency.

Kawamoto thought of quitting, but her friends at the circle urged her to persevere. “The circle was held weekly so I spent the rest of the week prepping and studying. Eventually, I hit upon the method of phonetic emulation.” This was learning conversational phrases and sentences by ear, and repeatedly practicing them out loud. “Reading out loud is a very effective way of studying.” She recited and read out loud every day for three years and got to the point where “a few words would come out naturally, without having to learn them beforehand. For me, this was a milestone. I eventually gained confidence and honed my sense of humor.”

Kawamoto sums up: “Rather than getting your words right, it’s more important to let people know that you care, and you’re there to help them have a good time.”

After Kawamoto joined Tokyo Free Guide, she gained a lot of insights into communication. Not all her clients are native speakers, but all of them were eager to experience Japan along with their guide. “Conversation and communication is a shared experience. So being relaxed and having a sense of humor is really important. And remember that it’s okay to make mistakes. I’ve made tons of mistakes in the past, and sometimes all I could do was throw out some words and phrases and hope they made sense.”

Kawamoto says that the better she got at English, the more confidence she gained in herself. “Before, I used to blame external circumstances for my lack of language skills. And I used to envy returnees because it seemed as if English fluency was handed to them on a silver platter. But I realized that every English speaker has had their own battles and struggles.”

For Kawamoto, English isn’t just a language, it was a gateway to becoming the person she wanted to be. “Eventually I got divorced, but English enabled me to launch my own business and forge my way in life. It changed my whole perspective. For me, this is the biggest benefit of learning English.” (Kaori Shoji)

Words to live by