Learning a foreign language is like experiencing childhood all over again

When learning a foreign language, there is a strange sensation that one cannot help but feel.
No matter how much I speak, the words quickly vanish from my mind.
It is as if they were written in the sand; the moment I touch them, they have form, but they immediately slip through my fingers.
Even words and phrases I thought I had learned yesterday cannot be recalled in the moment.
Although I practice them over and over, the memories in my mind seem to turn their backs on me, as if they were being spiteful.
In contrast, speaking Japanese is completely different.
There is almost no struggle to recall words; I simply speak what comes to mind, and it is conveyed naturally.
I can use sentence structures and word meanings without thinking about them at all.
That seems to be proof that the language has become a part of my body.
So, why do I forget a foreign language so easily?
When I think about it, perhaps I never learned Japanese all at once when I was a child either.
In the process of learning language, we must have surely forgotten, remembered, and forgotten again many times.
Words that are not used or are difficult naturally fade from the mind, and only the words necessary for daily life remain.
Thinking of it that way, forgetting might be a part of learning and an inevitable process of language acquisition.
That feeling from childhood, when I felt no struggle in learning words.
The joy of encountering unknown sounds and characters, understanding their meanings, and becoming able to use them little by little.
That process might be essentially the same as learning a foreign language today.
And if I could return to that feeling once more, I should be able to learn while purely playing with words, without fearing forgetting.
Therefore, what is important when learning a foreign language might not be seeking perfection, but rather an attitude of enjoying even the forgetting.
Even if the words I learned disappear immediately, that is just a stage in the learning process, and there is no need to be more impatient than necessary.
In the repetition of forgetting and remembering, they gradually take root as my own words.
Come to think of it, the experience of learning a language itself is like a small adventure in life.
I dive into a sea of unknown sounds and meanings, swim while feeling bewildered, and sometimes even feel like I am drowning, yet I move forward under my own power.
A foreign language is likely a door that allows us to experience that childhood adventure once again.
And as long as I have the courage to open that door, perhaps even forgetting will eventually change into a part of a pleasant memory.