What's-her-face

I've reached a curious point in my knowledge of Japanese. I understand that learning a language is an ongoing process and I've a long road ahead of me even now. However, I've entered a stage that is somewhat unnerving, if not a little bit frustrating. I can best explain it, perhaps, through a metaphor. Whenever I see or hear Japanese now it's as though I'm seeing somebody I've seen a lot in my life for the past few years. This person is awfully familiar and I'm sure I know them. Her features aren't too clear but I can certainly notice some key aspects; the color of the person's eyes or skin tone. Yet within that perception, I'm entirely unable to remember her name. I have countless experiences with this person and I'm sure she's a big part of my life but I can't say I really truly know her. We're just acquaintances, as far as I could tell.

Socially speaking then, I've probably reached the point where it's awkward to ask that person's name because I really should remember it. Of course, that's not exactly the case with the language itself. Instead, I'm at a loss trying to figure out how to get over the hump, so to speak. The other day I was listening to some Japanese music (中島美嘉 if you're curious) and it just hit me that I was understanding most of the words but I just couldn't piece them together to form a thought and thus missed the whole meaning. That's where the above analogy came from. Now, that might just be an effect of it being a song and there not being natural inflections to the lyrics, not to mention they are lyrics so there's a chance they make limited sense on their own. However, the same things seems to happen more or less to the same degree whenever I hear dialogue in a japanese video game, for instance.

Maybe what I need is just to spend more time listening to things in Japanese. At least until it reeeally starts to sink in. Maybe that'll just keep me at this level forever! I should just try to find somebody to speak and practice with. I have the sneaking suspicion that might just be what I need to get through this point. Now to actually finding this kind of person... and then hopefully remembering their name!