How soon did you start to understand spoken Japanese after you had started learning the language?

17 comments

1. definitely give yourself time. there’s no such thing as a point in time, there’s no magical click. it’s a slow process of understanding slightly more as you go. i guarantee you understand more than you did a month and a half ago. and in another month and a half you’ll look back at today in the same way. repeat ad infinitum.

2. This ones pretty simple, just give it more time. Proficiency is a function of how much time you spend practicing, and a month and a half ain’t that much time.

3. I don’t know your study schedule or habits. I also don’t know you specifically, so I’m going to refrain from giving an exact time.

   It depends on what we’re talking about. You’re not going to get the totality of spoken Japanese overnight:

   If you’re using a textbook, you should dedicate time to learning the vocabulary and practicing the grammar. As you study, you’ll learn more and more (naturally), and the scope of what you can understand will grow.

   Everything will also become more embedded. Memorizing and recalling information makes it more and more automatic. Once something can be recalled without translating it first, you’re pretty much home.

   Then there’s things like speed. A beginner can’t possibly understand natural speech. How the sounds are contacted and the natural shortcuts people take. You’ll be fine with a teacher or someone used to speaking with foreigners, but the average speaker might not think to give those considerations (and it is a skill). But with exposure and experience you start to get it.

4. after the first 10 months. I mean, as you study grammar, spoken japanese gets easier to understand. up to N3 is not that hard to get but native japanese don’t speak like the text books that the gaijins study to understand their language. A normal conversation can be a mix of different levels of the jlpt program.
   but as I see it it’s more easy to use than to learn.

   You said you have a month studying a language that is completely different to any western language in grammar and “word structure” it’s obvious that you need more practice and more deep study in grammar and in getting used to the rythm and accent of this language. Just keep study hard and you’ll get results after the first 7 months (if you study daily ofc)

5. It took me about 20 years, though I was mostly focused on reading.

6. >Month and a half

   Sorry but you won’t be understanding anything much in such a short time. I think it’s time you tempered your expectations. I’m not going to sugar coat this, it’s going to be a long and hard journey (talking in terms of years), so be mentally prepared for that. Languages are not something you just suddenly understand in a few months, and especially not Japanese.

7. I have done mostly listening practice with Japanese subtitles and also some reading about 1-2 hours a day for 10 months and I can now understand sentences as they are spoken given I know the vocabulary used (my vocabulary still needs some time) and they are not speaking at light speed. I can understand a natural speed

8. I’d be astonished if you understood anything after a month and a half.

9. I think that you’re worrying too much about spoken Japanese. Fun fact: Japanese is one of the fastest spoken languages in the world, so of course you would find it challenging. There’s a lot more to the language than just speaking, so focus on those aspects more! I don’t even remember when I first started to understand spoken Japanese, but it came naturally as I learned the language. Once you reach the point of feeling comfortable enough for it to not be a worry is when you should begin your mastery of the spoken language 🙂

10. Depends what you mean by the speaking Japanese. If you are talking about controlled environment like language school, it should not take more than a month, if you are talking about Japanese on the street, it will probably take years. There are dialects some hard, some not so much. There are different type of speech’s like slang or keigo etc. And then different types of people each person speaks on unique way.

    Everyone has own strength and weaknesses. Everyone has different learning speed and even for then, the learning speed varies for different days, topic, level etc.

    So, what I mean speed, time or effort varies individually and every path unique on its own.

    My suggestion would be don’t tire yourself with these kind of stuff and focus on your progress. Japanese is already hard enough without this kind of stress and if you focus too much on where you should be with instead of where you are, you will probably get burn out much faster. So don’t give up studying and you will reach your goal eventually. At least, this is my approach to Japanese because I did tire out myself with the stress for am I going too slow stuff and got burned out and changed my approach.

11. If you listen to those guys, you will believe that you will understand only in 10 years and 150000 hours. I hope they are just dumb and not mean, so don’t be afraid and continue to work and learn.

    You will start to understand some conversations in your field on only few month. If you learn all the vocabulary about food and cooking, on 1 month you will understand two people speaking about what they eat.
    So that could be fast, but only on some field.

12. This is the same with any foreign language. Japanese also makes it difficult with native speakers often using more honorifics (Keigo) than we learned at the start. Our-masu and desu are easier for us to learn but not always what we meet especially with new people.

13. Don’t worry about how hard it is to hear individual words. All you need is more time. Everything will slowly come to you if you just keep at it.

14. Still struggling. A year and a half into it

15. Hey there! I know the feeling, nostalgic when I think about it now. I started studying Japanese 10 years ago.

    I knew the words and grammar but not sure how to put it in order to make it sound right. It can be frustrating.

    Or when you know every word but one.

    Give it time, you will get there eventually. Time flies and before you know it, it will get easier.

16. Took me 5 plus months before I could understand simple stuff and probably around 7-8 months before I could understand people around me at school and such

17. Well for me it was kind. Yeah a month and a half is def not enough time but, there are things that will help u get there faster.

    First u gotta get how the grammar actually works I recommend using Cure Dolly’s Organic Japanese playlist on YouTube. I think it’s the best resource out there for Japanese.

    Second learn the contractions of Japanese. English is difficult to understand cause if the crazy amount of phrases and slang we use. Japanese is hard to under stand cause if the crazy number of contractions used.

    Here’s and example

    食べているの
    食べてるの
    食べてんの
    食べてんの

    Going from the first to the last seems completely different. It’s not hard to implement but with out it it’s a headache.

    gl!