I’ve been studying Japanese for a while and while I’m practicing my writing, reading, and listening skills, I don’t really know of much ways to improve my speaking as it’s very crap lol. I tried HelloTalk which I haven’t found anyone to talk to. Anyone got some resources to do so? I prefer apps but anything else can do.
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I’ve heard Italki is pretty good.
You won’t get feedback with this but it does help to talk to yourself sometimes like narrating your day or asking yourself questions in Japanese.
Maybe an Alexa dot may help? Help with remembering basic small phrases at least. May not be the best tip but speaking is speaking
Something I’ve been getting into a lot is shadowing. You can find resources on YouTube for shadowing, but I just find content I like and shadow that. It’s not exactly the same as conversation, but it gets your mouth used to phrasing and you can pick up really useful phrases. Don’t know your level, but just repeating what you hear is a good place to start.
I use this for solo practice: [https://www.amazon.com/SHADOWING-SPEAK-JAPANESE-BEGINNER-INTERMEDIATE/dp/4874248500](https://www.amazon.com/SHADOWING-SPEAK-JAPANESE-BEGINNER-INTERMEDIATE/dp/4874248500)
I’ll start talking with real people as soon as I can afford a tutor or I find someone who’s willing to
You might find out if your city/greater metropolitan area has a Japan-America society that will allow you to either volunteer or take classes/go to a conversation table of some variety
Start out by practicing talking to yourself. Narrate what you’re doing in extremely simple terms. “I cut the apple. I eat the apple.” etc. As you learn more and get more comfortable speaking, the number of things you’re able to say will increase.
I do iTalki for now
it’s expensive but seems like you can improve with it since you are speaking to a person
Italki 100%. If you do a language exchange you spend a lot of time speaking English. If you speak to a “real” Japanese person, good luck getting them to correct you! Italki you hire someone who is experienced at teaching and will give you full attention on your speaking skills. Worth every penny. It is a bummer that Japanese is more expensive then say, Spanish, where you can find tutors for 5 or 7 dollars an hour.