And you have no idea what they’re saying? I need a bit of a confidence boost, this just happened to me and I feel like a total bewb.
Edit: there’s a lot of really helpful comments on here. In lieu of replying to everyone individually, just wanted to thank everyone for your very thoughtful responses! All of you are immensely helpful to me in this journey. I am grateful!
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This is totally normal.
Yep. I definitely know this feeling… Hang in there.
How do you judge yourself making progress?
lol, this happens to everyone.
The good thing about this is the reverse also happens if you stick with it long enough. You’ll wind up clicking on a video and suddenly realize it’s not all jibberish to you. Maybe you don’t get all the detail but there is meaning.
You are making progress, it’s just hard to recognize. I feel comfortable making a bet you know exactly what a 猫 is and didn’t even need to translate it in your head for it to be meaningful. Now realize whatever we did to come to understand 猫 in such a way must be done again, thousands-to-tens of thousands of times.
It’s a long journey, a lifelong one even, in English too. I still learn new English words and sentence patterns consuming various media in my free time as you do certainly. You’ve got time, you’ve got the capability.
Don’t worry, we’ll get there just dont forget to study at least single new word everyday
I mean…comparing my 8 years of study to their 30 years of everyday use is gonna do that…
Yep! Had a rude awakening after starting work at a café with Japanese coworkers. Absolutely going to be a long road but I think we need to enjoy the process and celebrate the wins along the way
Listening and speaking are the hardest things, you can’t control how fast someone speaks to you and you also can’t control their vocabulary. Don’t stress about it just immerse yourself more if you need it!
Yeah, I felt pretty confident in having at least survival level Japanese until I got off the plane in Japan. People talk faster, use different vocab, use slang and non-literal phrases, use varying levels of casual/formal speech… Try to stay focused on the little wins you get along the way, it’s all a part of the learning process
Happens to me all the time. I get bursts of confidence with my ability to understand or write Japanese to some of my Japanese pals, we then get on a Discord call to have a chat and the second they say a word I don’t know, my brain freezes and I get knocked back down lol.
We’ll get there!
At some point there is a need to learn from the natives.
I’m a “native” speaker and it still sometimes happen to me. Sometimes they just talk too fast or slur their words together or talk too quietly.
Lol! Yeah, it’s like…. &!^#%@$ I want to go $!^@&$*%cap &*@%$!#@ present^!$@$$^#&&#^^!$$table&&@^%#@ past&!%%!##$%@^^!^%$!$$%#^&@&^!%% I suggest ^!$!$$$%#%^@&&%@^
I feel like I’m making progress, then I’ll listen to Japanese, and out of a whole conversation I’ll catch like, two words. Also, devoicing has continued to be pretty tricky for me.
Yes absolutely.
My main problem as a learner still in the N4 range is my lack of vocab and grammar, which is easily solved by simply studying more of that.
My second biggest problem is the speed of translation. Or rather, having to translate at all. I find that native japanese (even people speaking slowly for your benefit) speak so quickly that you simply cannot keep up with a japanese > english translation in your head. By the time you’ve finished translating the beginning of a sentence, you’ve missed the end, which is arguably the most important part.
I got thoroughly humbled a couple of weeks ago speaking to my japanese native teacher, where I simply couldn’t make sense of anything the whole lesson. Very frustrating.
So recently I’m watching stuff unsubtitled and trying my best not to actively try to repeat the phrase in english in my head, instead just trying to absorb the meaning without the english step. Essentially, it means thinking in japanese while listening to japanese. Difficult with limited vocab, but I have seen small improvments.
There was a period in my Chinese study where I could only understand my wife. Everyone else would just talk too fast for me. She would “translate” what other people said by just repeating it a bit slower. Don’t worry, it will come with practice.
I’ve studied French for like 10 years and lived in Quebec for a bit. I can hold a conversation with a French speaker pretty easily. So much of the vocabulary is basically English, so that helps too. I still can’t understand conversations between native speakers. That’s SO normal. When you’re obviously not a native speaker, people tend to slow down when speaking, maybe use less slang. It can be really helpful!
Native speakers don’t do this for each other. Seriously – being able to overhear and understand conversations between native speakers is a sign of being practically a native speaker yourself. Don’t beat yourself up for not being SUPER advanced
Yep happens all the time, but as other point out sometimes the inverse happens and it feels amazing!
Just last night I went on Satori read and read an entire article no problem without any furigana, and having a nice confidence boost decided to open up a book and couldn’t get past the first page being overwhelmed by unknown words, and suddenly felt back to square one, but had to remind myself that even what I did understand is more than I would have a few months ago.
Every day!
All the time. I lived in Japan for 5 years, and I’d go from within 20 mins, having long conversations with natives or watching/reading native content with relative ease, to other situations where I literally could not understand anything the person was saying.
I do think, in most cases, it was a switch between casual/conversational Japanese and keigo, but not always. There are lots of topics and vocabulary that I encounter regularly and am good at (how are you, how’s the weather, what did/are you doing, food choices, likes/dislikes, hobbies, travel, school related things, etc.), and there are lots of them that I’ve never used or learned (hospital terms, government/official terms, high-end luxury items/discussion, political stuff, science terms, medical terms, administration terms, technical terms, polite explanations like announcers on delayed trainlines etc., not to mention keigo). On the plus side, if I can figure out at least the topic it usually gives me a good area of study.
Big yes! I usually feel like I can get by pretty well but last week I happened to sit in on a discussion between two natives about traditional Japanese cooking & was just so lost. And then I got criticized (sort of) for not participating in the conversation.
After the initial shock it’s motivated me to collect more specialized vocab from certain areas of life though! It’s always disheartening at first to realize how much you still don’t know but I think the best thing you can do is just keep up the がんばる spirit.
Don’t compare your self to masters when learning anything. Compare your self to your skill level.
100% normal and every language learner will be able to relate.
Best way? Keep practising with those native speakers!
頑張って
No worries. It happens to everyone.
I had N1 when I first went to Japan and still could only catch around 50% of my uni classes.
Took me quite some times to finally adapt to the speed, use of slang, and accent etc.
Oh, you mean like every day in each of my target languages?
Sometimes. It just depends on if it’s close to +1 or not. If they are talking about games or talking shit to each other, it’s alot more manageable. The second they start talking about history, science, or anything relating to bureaucracy or government, I am immediately lost.
I don’t know if this will help, but one thing about Japanese that makes it hard to understand is the crazy use of contractions. It’s like how in English we have phrases which are said in a certain way but mean something else, which can trip up ppl trying to learn. After I learned the contractions and the grammar behind them, things cleared up a lot.
I said this might not help because I came across contractions from anime and manga. However, I was in similar situation where I learned a ton of vocabulary and literary grammar, but when I listened to audio or read anything, it seemed like everything I learned was for nothing. But after learning abt the contractions Things really cleared up.
Basically just search up Japanese contractions list. They take a little time to get used to. Also if u need help with grammar Cure Dolly from YouTube’s Organic Japanese playlist is by far the best resource for learning Japanese.
Where I’m at right now is I can listen to a native and understand what they’re saying, but can’t put the words together to respond
Honestly that is my confidence boost. Anytime I listen to Japanese content (anime, music, live news, vtubers or regular YouTubers) and notice myself picking up more and more words and noticing I’m understanding more each time it gives me the boost needed to continue. I’m still only halfway-ish to N5 and it still ends up feeling great.