HomeLearn JapaneseThose with high proficiency when you managed to learn Japanese via reading or conversation when you was thinking to yourself was you speaking Japanese mentally or in your native language when you knkw what the words ment.
Those with high proficiency when you managed to learn Japanese via reading or conversation when you was thinking to yourself was you speaking Japanese mentally or in your native language when you knkw what the words ment.
Like example your reading a menu did your mind just speak Japanese to you as your new language and you under stood it. Or did you suddenly have it auto translate in your mind to something you knew
Can’t say that for Japanese yet but when I deal with English, I mentally switch into Eglish mode, meaning I actually think in English. I even once woke up in the middle of the night, realizing I have been dreaming in English. While in English mode I actually happen to temporarily forget German words, that are normally there when I’m in German mode. I don’t translate in my head when I know the words but since I solely think in pictures, I don’t know how that should work anyway 😅. German is my native language, my English level is close to C2…I hope to get there in Japanese too, someday (currently at jlpt n4)
So I’m not a high proficiency by any stretch. What I will say is that I felt fairly confident that I would be ok, and then in prep for my trip to japan I called the hostel to confirm my reservation. I had mostly sat in places like coffee shops saying the lines in my head or quiet to myself.
I froze up immediately, confused the hell out of the guy on the other side as I stuttered out my bad japanese, and then immediately decided I needed to talk to someone in japanese as practice or I would be in trouble. lol I got set up with a great tutor on italki and when I went to japan I only needed to use google translate/deepl three times. It was a bit of a struggle at times, but when you don’t have the option to use english it kind of forces you to try in japanese. I think I would have chocked in real life if I didn’t practice with a person first. I still stumble and struggle since I kind of don’t want to disappoint my tutor. lol
The point is that I think you need Listening practice, but you also need speaking practice. It’s a sort of social pressure adding to unfamiliarity that can really cause you to struggle.
I still remember the day I realized my thoughts were happening in Japanese. Nowadays I think in Japanese about 50-60% of the time
Slowly your brain just associates words and grammar into concepts via context.
At first everything is going to be japanese words into English meanings.
Then slowly it’ll become less and less so.
Slowly I mean over thousands of hours of using and hearing certain phrases and grammar actively.
The sooner you start reading the better.
Usually between n4 and n3 you begin to mentally work out easy sources.
Even if you find a common book or manga and use an established vocabulary sheet.
You want to have your translations checked if possible so you can understand where you are misunderstanding grammar.
Especially in casual scenes where sometimes huge amounts of grammar are implied in between contextual words.
Simple things can mean a lot more than you think.
I’m somewhat of a language learner expert (having mastered 3 foreign languages so far), and what has always worked for me is to get a solid foundation, and after that immediately force myself to only think in my target language. Translating in your head is very appealing and it feels safe, but ultimately it stands between you and fluency.
If I understand what you’re asking—it’s kind of a gradual shift from translating to just feeling. At first I had to translate everything in my head, but as time goes on, the words gradually begin to feel more concrete and you get a better grasp on the archetypal sentence structures.
Now I can just open my mouth and speak Japanese, to the extent that I would sometimes be hard pressed to put into words how some particular Japanese thing maps into English… English isn’t on my mind, X is just what you say in Y Japanese situation.
If I find myself expressing a more complex sentence that doesn’t immediately come to me in Japanese, I do go back to English. Even then, though, it’s not so much to translate (because I apparently am not sure how to express that English thought in Japanese) so much as it is to take a moment to think about what ideas I’m trying to express.
A bit of an oversimplified example, but to show what I mean — I don’t know how to say *I’ve been gunning to see that movie for three weeks now.* but I *do* know how to express desires in Japanese. So the untranslatable (for me) “have been gunning to” suddenly stops being a hurdle. Dumb example, but the point is just that you can do the same thing with longer/more convoluted sentences, too. Focus on ideas, not specific words.
I can understand Japanese without thinking of the English equivalent. I just listen and know what it means or read it and know what it means. Unless it’s a complex sentence, then I usually translate it… Not sure why though haha.
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I’d get English nailed first :p
Can’t say that for Japanese yet but when I deal with English, I mentally switch into Eglish mode, meaning I actually think in English. I even once woke up in the middle of the night, realizing I have been dreaming in English.
While in English mode I actually happen to temporarily forget German words, that are normally there when I’m in German mode. I don’t translate in my head when I know the words but since I solely think in pictures, I don’t know how that should work anyway 😅.
German is my native language, my English level is close to C2…I hope to get there in Japanese too, someday (currently at jlpt n4)
So I’m not a high proficiency by any stretch. What I will say is that I felt fairly confident that I would be ok, and then in prep for my trip to japan I called the hostel to confirm my reservation. I had mostly sat in places like coffee shops saying the lines in my head or quiet to myself.
I froze up immediately, confused the hell out of the guy on the other side as I stuttered out my bad japanese, and then immediately decided I needed to talk to someone in japanese as practice or I would be in trouble. lol I got set up with a great tutor on italki and when I went to japan I only needed to use google translate/deepl three times. It was a bit of a struggle at times, but when you don’t have the option to use english it kind of forces you to try in japanese. I think I would have chocked in real life if I didn’t practice with a person first. I still stumble and struggle since I kind of don’t want to disappoint my tutor. lol
The point is that I think you need Listening practice, but you also need speaking practice. It’s a sort of social pressure adding to unfamiliarity that can really cause you to struggle.
I still remember the day I realized my thoughts were happening in Japanese. Nowadays I think in Japanese about 50-60% of the time
Slowly your brain just associates words and grammar into concepts via context.
At first everything is going to be japanese words into English meanings.
Then slowly it’ll become less and less so.
Slowly I mean over thousands of hours of using and hearing certain phrases and grammar actively.
The sooner you start reading the better.
Usually between n4 and n3 you begin to mentally work out easy sources.
Even if you find a common book or manga and use an established vocabulary sheet.
You want to have your translations checked if possible so you can understand where you are misunderstanding grammar.
Especially in casual scenes where sometimes huge amounts of grammar are implied in between contextual words.
Simple things can mean a lot more than you think.
I’m somewhat of a language learner expert (having mastered 3 foreign languages so far), and what has always worked for me is to get a solid foundation, and after that immediately force myself to only think in my target language. Translating in your head is very appealing and it feels safe, but ultimately it stands between you and fluency.
If I understand what you’re asking—it’s kind of a gradual shift from translating to just feeling. At first I had to translate everything in my head, but as time goes on, the words gradually begin to feel more concrete and you get a better grasp on the archetypal sentence structures.
Now I can just open my mouth and speak Japanese, to the extent that I would sometimes be hard pressed to put into words how some particular Japanese thing maps into English… English isn’t on my mind, X is just what you say in Y Japanese situation.
If I find myself expressing a more complex sentence that doesn’t immediately come to me in Japanese, I do go back to English. Even then, though, it’s not so much to translate (because I apparently am not sure how to express that English thought in Japanese) so much as it is to take a moment to think about what ideas I’m trying to express.
A bit of an oversimplified example, but to show what I mean — I don’t know how to say *I’ve been gunning to see that movie for three weeks now.* but I *do* know how to express desires in Japanese. So the untranslatable (for me) “have been gunning to” suddenly stops being a hurdle. Dumb example, but the point is just that you can do the same thing with longer/more convoluted sentences, too. Focus on ideas, not specific words.
I can understand Japanese without thinking of the English equivalent. I just listen and know what it means or read it and know what it means. Unless it’s a complex sentence, then I usually translate it… Not sure why though haha.