Inhae's blog

Prompted to reflect on Roots and writing a blog about Japanese learning, I naturally had a look at how to say “root” in Japanese.

The interesting thing is that the character to say «root» (根・こん) also means “perseverance”, “stamina”, “mental energy”.

So, reflecting on roots being the source of our stamina and energy, I looked up to find inspiration in the air and… I saw it.

The onion I bought two weeks ago and forgot on the lower shelf, with no water and almost no light, was growing little roots and magnificent leaves, proud like a tropical palm tree on a sunny beach, between the spaghetti packs and the canned cat food.

Now, I’m almost tempted to take the onion on the lower shelf as my role model.

Even in the most precarious situation, the onion remembered that roots, as tiny as they may be, give perseverance, stamina and energy and it achieved what it wanted to achieve, it grew to become something better, it didn’t care about the lack of resources, about having no expectations and facing an uncertain future, it didn’t ask itself whether its post will be read or not, it just created and went forward.

If it did it, I can do it!

About

I’m learning Japanese, Korean and Chinese to read mystery novels and play video games in these languages.

Learning languages has always been one of my favourite hobbies, but I’m not a social person, I don’t like to meet new people and make friends, this is just not me. I keep hearing that languages are meant for communication, that we have to actively use them, talk with natives, etc. and for a long time, I thought it was weird to learn languages just to read books, with zero interest in communication.

Now I don’t really care what people think, and this blog helped me a lot to stop doubting myself and just do what I enjoy doing.