I want to learn to speak Japanese. I’m very terrible about learning to read and write in other languages and I was wondering if it’s possible just to learn to speak Japanese. Any information would be greatly appreciated. Thank you!
People assume reading, writing, speaking, and listening are all basically the same skill, but that couldn’t be further from the truth. You’ll pick up some reading if you practice writing, of course, just because it’s hard to only study one and the same is true of speaking and listening, but generally these are separate skills.
You really only get good at what you practice. I’ve practiced a lot of listening comprehension but I can barely speak Japanese, and threads saying the same are common here.
If you want to just learn to speak Japanese, then study and practice that and you’ll get there. You won’t learn a lick of reading or writing and your listening won’t be as good as your speaking, but you’ll get there.
Pimsleur is often recommended for speaking practice. I use tokini andy and it’s similar but has lots of reading too.
It’s a bit dated, but _Japanese: The Spoken Language_ by Eleanor Harz Jorden is a textbook focused purely on spoken Japanese. As such, the book is written purely in romaji (i.e., in Roman characters) so the learner doesn’t have to worry about learning to read while learning to speak—Jorden was adamant that speaking and reading/writing were different skill sets, and should thus be treated separately from each other. Jorden’s methodology was to use the accompanying audio tapes for listening and mimicking, and to use the textbook itself as a reference for vocabulary and grammatical/cultural notes. The grammatical notes are excellent, better than those of any other textbook I’ve seen. Also, should you ever want to learn to read, Jorden has an accompanying series called _Japanese: The Written Language_ focused on just that.
For something more modern and purely audio-based, people seem to speak very highly of the Pimsleur Japanese course. I can’t say I know much about it, but it might be worth checking out as well.
Is there a way to just learn how to program? Well you have to study and practice or you won’t know how to code. Learning to speak Japanese is no different. You’ve gotta study and practice, and do it a lot.
While you can *focus* on learning to speak more than other areas, it will be much harder to learn to speak without any reading ability. To be able to use learning resources past the very beginner level, you need to be able to read, and being able to read also increases how many resources are available to you to practice what you learn, such as books or internet forums with native speakers.
I also have been more interested in conversation than reading, but unfortunately, unless you can move to Japan and are willing to spend years there learning to speak, the only *really* viable ways to learn will almost certainly require at least basic reading abilities. It may seem like a pain, but honestly, the time you “save” by skipping reading will be outweighed by the time lost from not having as many good resources.
You don’t have spend insane amounts of time studying reading and writing if you don’t want to. I can barely write, and my reading skill is way worse than my speaking and listening. But even so, skipping reading entirely would’ve prevented me from using the vast majority of the resources I used to get through the basics that allowed me to learn from immersion practice.
Check out these previous threads on the same topic:
5 comments
People assume reading, writing, speaking, and listening are all basically the same skill, but that couldn’t be further from the truth. You’ll pick up some reading if you practice writing, of course, just because it’s hard to only study one and the same is true of speaking and listening, but generally these are separate skills.
You really only get good at what you practice. I’ve practiced a lot of listening comprehension but I can barely speak Japanese, and threads saying the same are common here.
If you want to just learn to speak Japanese, then study and practice that and you’ll get there. You won’t learn a lick of reading or writing and your listening won’t be as good as your speaking, but you’ll get there.
Pimsleur is often recommended for speaking practice. I use tokini andy and it’s similar but has lots of reading too.
It’s a bit dated, but _Japanese: The Spoken Language_ by Eleanor Harz Jorden is a textbook focused purely on spoken Japanese. As such, the book is written purely in romaji (i.e., in Roman characters) so the learner doesn’t have to worry about learning to read while learning to speak—Jorden was adamant that speaking and reading/writing were different skill sets, and should thus be treated separately from each other. Jorden’s methodology was to use the accompanying audio tapes for listening and mimicking, and to use the textbook itself as a reference for vocabulary and grammatical/cultural notes. The grammatical notes are excellent, better than those of any other textbook I’ve seen. Also, should you ever want to learn to read, Jorden has an accompanying series called _Japanese: The Written Language_ focused on just that.
For something more modern and purely audio-based, people seem to speak very highly of the Pimsleur Japanese course. I can’t say I know much about it, but it might be worth checking out as well.
Is there a way to just learn how to program?
Well you have to study and practice or you won’t know how to code. Learning to speak Japanese is no different. You’ve gotta study and practice, and do it a lot.
While you can *focus* on learning to speak more than other areas, it will be much harder to learn to speak without any reading ability. To be able to use learning resources past the very beginner level, you need to be able to read, and being able to read also increases how many resources are available to you to practice what you learn, such as books or internet forums with native speakers.
I also have been more interested in conversation than reading, but unfortunately, unless you can move to Japan and are willing to spend years there learning to speak, the only *really* viable ways to learn will almost certainly require at least basic reading abilities. It may seem like a pain, but honestly, the time you “save” by skipping reading will be outweighed by the time lost from not having as many good resources.
You don’t have spend insane amounts of time studying reading and writing if you don’t want to. I can barely write, and my reading skill is way worse than my speaking and listening. But even so, skipping reading entirely would’ve prevented me from using the vast majority of the resources I used to get through the basics that allowed me to learn from immersion practice.
Check out these previous threads on the same topic:
https://www.reddit.com/r/LearnJapanese/comments/whiz0b/for_everyone_who_comes_here_to_ask_can_i_learn/
https://www.reddit.com/r/LearnJapanese/comments/whrth7/can_i_learn_japanese_without_learning_how_to/
https://www.reddit.com/r/LearnJapanese/comments/vak9u2/is_it_possible_to_learn_how_to_only_speak_not/
https://www.reddit.com/r/LearnJapanese/comments/wka45g/toddlers_speak_your_language_but_they_dont_know/
https://www.reddit.com/r/LearnJapanese/comments/whe74r/is_it_feasible_to_only_learn_to_comprehend/
https://www.reddit.com/r/LearnJapanese/comments/6l55sk/whats_the_best_way_to_learn_japanese_without/