若年認知症 (jakunen ninchisho - premature senile dementia)

I have finally started my 逐次通訳 (chikuji tsuyaku - continuous interpreting) course in earnest.

I knew it was going to be hard - the mere fact that they're making me interpret out of my native tongue and into Japanese is challenge enough. Moreover, studying and working at the same time is always a pain. However, the whole subject has turned out to be even more difficult than I had initially feared.

So much so that, even though I used to joke that I had some form of 若年認知症 (jakunen ninchisho - premature senile dementia), I am now seriously considering going and getting myself tested. You see, one of the first exercises we did was a retention test where the teacher played about a minute of dialogue in English, and all I had to do was say back the same dialogue IN ENGLISH. But I couldn't do it - it was so hard! As soon as I started thinking, "Oh, I'd better remember this part..." I'd get a total brain freeze and forget all the preceding dialogue.

I tell you, it is going to be a studious weekend around these parts with me trying to retain and restate every freaking thing that I hear.

To summarize -

Week One of Course = Hideous, Shaming Experience => Weekend of Funless Grind Bettering Myself