Kim 1

Minji Kim Kim

Mr Horrigan
English 9
8 January 2013
Television is Not Only Junk!
Minji stop watching TV and go study Japanese! exclaimed my mom,
you have a test tomorrow and Id better see a big, fat, red A on it.
She really likes big fat red As, I thought, but I am studying mom.
Remember the time you told me to study but I didnt and I got a 100% on
the test? I recalled.
It all happened about 5 months ago when I had come home from
school. I was scolded at so I would start my Japanese homework but being
the human I am, that was not an option. Sure, Japanese is a really
interesting and pretty language, but when you actually learn it, it is
obnoxious. All those Kanjis and Hiragana letters and the different ways of
informal and formal language. The writing is all different and there are
more than 10 ways to say one expression. I hated it so much that I would
rather go into a white box and stare at the wall for the rest of my life. I
walked into my room, flung my white North Face backpack and sat down
on my desk.
Why do I even have to study this when I already know 3
languages? I groaned, sometimes I hate being in the Kim family. I am
just going to go watch some Japanese anime.
Yes, even though I hated the Japanese language I loved the anime
shows because the characters were so cute or as one would say in a

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soprano Japanese voice, Kawaii. I sat down on my comfortable, chocolate

colored living room couch and turned on my flat screen TV. I proceeded to
watch Detective Conan which is a show about an astute high school
student who solves murder cases. He would gather every single little part
of information he could get from the cases in order to put the pieces
together and as he always says Reveal the one and only truth. Now,
because I had been studying Japanese for about 3 months, I knew all of
the basics but I still had to turn on the English subtitles for the higher level
words.
Minji you are going to regret watching TV instead of doing
homework, My mom advised.
Mom I told you I learn faster if I actually see people speaking and
using the grammar in everyday life, I smiled, it shows me when to
exactly use the terms and sentence structures.
I went on a Conan marathon. I watched it every single day for about
a month. My mom would yell at me sometimes, saying things like,
If only you would study as much as you watch TV.
When I would go to Japanese class, the teacher would ask us
questions of how to say things in Japanese and I would already know the
answer thanks to my TV watching skills. My sentence structure highly
improved and my word choice increased vastly. I would ace all the tests
and my grades would go up. The Saturday 2 weeks before the Semester
ended my teacher walked into our classroom with a serious expression on
her face. I imagined her saying, There is a bomb in this building we need
to get out of here in maximum 60 seconds.

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Ok guys we will be having finals in one week, she said while

returning our last weeks test, so study hard because I know that some of
you do not want to fail this class.
She looked at the kid sitting across me who instantly turned red and
covered his face with the textbook.
Yes I got 100% again, I said.
Ugh I got a 75%. I better not blow the final, my friend Hanna said,
I need to at least get a B.
All right, Gambate (work hard in Japanese).
During the week I only looked at my notes once or twice. I hardly
ever studied and I just watched Conan the whole day, and this is where I
am at right now, in my living room watching Conanagain. Tomorrow is
the test and not even the most miniscule cell in my body is worrying
about it.
Minji you should really study because if you dont get a good grade
Im going to go throw the TV away and replace it with a shelf full of
Japanese newspapers for you to read. my mom explained.
Fine, I sighed as I sluggishly dragged my feet into my room.
Never going to happen, I thought smirking, I always get 100%.
I shut the door behind me and opened my right desk drawer. I took my
iPad out and pressed the You Tube application.
Oh, how I love technology these days, I said while plugging in my
earphones, and I proceeded to keep watching TV.