Hi! Just wondering how long did you guys take to learn the language? How many hours do you put in a day? & anything that helped you in picking up the language?
For me, it took around 3 years, but only the last 1 year was intense studying.
It was 1 hour/day for the first 2 years, which brought me to N3-ish. Then 8~9 hours/day for 3 or 4 months in preparation to move to Japan. After that was a year or so of studying whenever I have free time.
Working for a Japanese client helped. But I think my biggest motivation was that unless i improved quickly, I would be sent home. Moving to Japan is both my dream and a ticket to a much better life for both me and my family, so I was pretty damn motivated haha.
went to a language school(4 hrs/day) and worked in conbini and izakayas where I could use what I learned in school.
Took me less than a year to be comfortable. But no matter how good I get, I’ll never understand 100% of the conversation between 2 Japanese ppl.
>How long did you take to be comfortable conversing in Japanese with locals?
Maybe 6-8 months to get somewhat comfortable with simple conversation. 1-2 years to be comfortable with regular, more complex, long conversation.
>Just wondering how long did you guys take to learn the language?
Still learning, it’s a lifelong journey. Even native Japanese learn new things every now and then.
5 years so far.
>How many hours do you put in a day?
I did 15 hours a week the first year, because I was enrolled in classes at university, and studying on the side.
After that I did maybe 1 hour a day on average for a year.
But since then I haven’t actively studied more than some short sessions every now and then, because I just don’t like studying to be honest. I live in Japan, so I mainly learn by just living and working in Japanese.
>anything that helped you in picking up the language?
The classes really helped getting the foundation. Without that I wouldn’t know half of what I know. Moving to Japan helped forcing me to use what I learned, and to continue learning.
Came with N3. Took me a couple of years to really feel comfortable with daily conversation though.
Been here since ’05. Still not confident with my Japanese, although when I’m forced to use it I’m often surprised by how much I actually know, so maybe its all in my head? I dunno.
Oh man, it didn’t hit me that I was “chit chat with locals conversant” until I understood my neighbor’s insanely strong Nagoya accent and realized we were complaining about the mysterious dog turd criminal for like 10 minutes.
I guess it depends on your definition of “comfortable”, mine is pretty strict – as in if I understand less than 99% I’m hardly comfortable. With that in mind, around four years starting from zero. I used kanji, grammar, and vocabulary flashcards while on the toilet or in bed at night. But while this is an approach that works for me, it may not work for everyone. Also, in general, the less I have to talk to people regardless of language, the better lol.
I don’t think I’ll ever be comfortable conversing with the locals because the better my comprehension and production gets, the more aware I am of being snubbed or making people anxious. I can fully express my ideas in writing but I can barely talk anymore, even though I was a fairly fluid/rapid speaker in school.
I study about 3 hours a day, grammar drills plus WaniKani for kanji, and then any casual reading or Netflix-watching is in Japanese.
The biggest weak point I had when I arrived was a lack of activities-of-daily-living vocabulary. Irodori is a free textbook that Japan Foundation distributes online and it’s designed to fill that gap.
About 1 year with the bar locals because the conversations were largely similar everytime. Mostly about sports which have similar terminology, especially the sport we all like in the bar which is skiing.
To converse with the locals (up in the mountains, hard accents) took me about 3 years. Granted, I don’t actively study and everything was passive input and active speaking.
Now when I meet my wife’s friends, they are sort of taken aback because the hard Tohoku dialect shows through easily.
9 comments
For me, it took around 3 years, but only the last 1 year was intense studying.
It was 1 hour/day for the first 2 years, which brought me to N3-ish. Then 8~9 hours/day for 3 or 4 months in preparation to move to Japan. After that was a year or so of studying whenever I have free time.
Working for a Japanese client helped. But I think my biggest motivation was that unless i improved quickly, I would be sent home. Moving to Japan is both my dream and a ticket to a much better life for both me and my family, so I was pretty damn motivated haha.
went to a language school(4 hrs/day) and worked in conbini and izakayas where I could use what I learned in school.
Took me less than a year to be comfortable. But no matter how good I get, I’ll never understand 100% of the conversation between 2 Japanese ppl.
>How long did you take to be comfortable conversing in Japanese with locals?
Maybe 6-8 months to get somewhat comfortable with simple conversation. 1-2 years to be comfortable with regular, more complex, long conversation.
>Just wondering how long did you guys take to learn the language?
Still learning, it’s a lifelong journey. Even native Japanese learn new things every now and then.
5 years so far.
>How many hours do you put in a day?
I did 15 hours a week the first year, because I was enrolled in classes at university, and studying on the side.
After that I did maybe 1 hour a day on average for a year.
But since then I haven’t actively studied more than some short sessions every now and then, because I just don’t like studying to be honest. I live in Japan, so I mainly learn by just living and working in Japanese.
>anything that helped you in picking up the language?
The classes really helped getting the foundation. Without that I wouldn’t know half of what I know. Moving to Japan helped forcing me to use what I learned, and to continue learning.
Came with N3. Took me a couple of years to really feel comfortable with daily conversation though.
Been here since ’05. Still not confident with my Japanese, although when I’m forced to use it I’m often surprised by how much I actually know, so maybe its all in my head? I dunno.
Oh man, it didn’t hit me that I was “chit chat with locals conversant” until I understood my neighbor’s insanely strong Nagoya accent and realized we were complaining about the mysterious dog turd criminal for like 10 minutes.
I guess it depends on your definition of “comfortable”, mine is pretty strict – as in if I understand less than 99% I’m hardly comfortable. With that in mind, around four years starting from zero. I used kanji, grammar, and vocabulary flashcards while on the toilet or in bed at night. But while this is an approach that works for me, it may not work for everyone. Also, in general, the less I have to talk to people regardless of language, the better lol.
I don’t think I’ll ever be comfortable conversing with the locals because the better my comprehension and production gets, the more aware I am of being snubbed or making people anxious. I can fully express my ideas in writing but I can barely talk anymore, even though I was a fairly fluid/rapid speaker in school.
I study about 3 hours a day, grammar drills plus WaniKani for kanji, and then any casual reading or Netflix-watching is in Japanese.
The biggest weak point I had when I arrived was a lack of activities-of-daily-living vocabulary. Irodori is a free textbook that Japan Foundation distributes online and it’s designed to fill that gap.
About 1 year with the bar locals because the conversations were largely similar everytime. Mostly about sports which have similar terminology, especially the sport we all like in the bar which is skiing.
To converse with the locals (up in the mountains, hard accents) took me about 3 years. Granted, I don’t actively study and everything was passive input and active speaking.
Now when I meet my wife’s friends, they are sort of taken aback because the hard Tohoku dialect shows through easily.