Hi, anyone knows a good discord server or any other method for speaking/conversation practice? I’m currently studying for N4 (exam in July), but I barely talk to anyone because I don’t have nobody to talk with. Thank you
If you’re just looking to pass N4 speaking is irrelevant. They’ll test grammar, kanji, and listening. There is no speaking component. Although you definitely should practice speaking, but for N4 it’s unnecessary. I think it’s kinda sad that there are people with N1 who can’t hold a conversation. Anyway, maybe try hellotalk or italki.
Hellotalk is quiet useful. I’ve been on it for 2 months so far and the people there have been nice.(still be careful tho) There is a feature called live/voiceroom where you can talk with people that visit the room. You can also make a post about needing someone to practice Japanese with you. from 2 months of using it I have been taught to hold a convo pretty well and im not even n5 yet. hope this helps!
There’s a VR world for Jp En Language exchange. Always plenty of people in it.
The JLPT won’t directly encourage you to learn speaking. That test has some pretty jank backwash.
If you have a little money to spend, I found working with an inexpensive, native Japanese tutor on iTalki to be incredibly valuable. No joke, I went from basically only being able to introduce myself to being able to hold full conversations after just 3 lessons.
Paying someone to deal with my shitty Japanese put my mind at ease and allowed me to start accessing the “passive Japanese” in my head and turn it into “active Japanese”. Basically, if I’m not paying someone, I feel guilty for dragging down the convo, but when I pay I think, “well, I’m compensating them for my crap.”
And, to be clear, I didn’t actually learn much that was new, it was just an opportunity to aggressively start throwing Japanese out there and getting immediate feedback. I still have a very long way to go, but it was an incredible starting point for me.
UHawaii at Manoa Outreach College has a conversational Japanese program worth trying if you have USD $200 or so to spare. It’s a 3 hour class each weekend for 10 weeks with about ~1.5 of 3 hours being conversation practice with a native speaker living in Japan.
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I’m currently enrolled in the program outside of the US since the program is hosted on zoom. Absolutely recommend it, but this is just my experience anyways…. You’ll have to see if fits your needs.
5 comments
If you’re just looking to pass N4 speaking is irrelevant. They’ll test grammar, kanji, and listening. There is no speaking component. Although you definitely should practice speaking, but for N4 it’s unnecessary. I think it’s kinda sad that there are people with N1 who can’t hold a conversation. Anyway, maybe try hellotalk or italki.
Hellotalk is quiet useful. I’ve been on it for 2 months so far and the people there have been nice.(still be careful tho) There is a feature called live/voiceroom where you can talk with people that visit the room. You can also make a post about needing someone to practice Japanese with you. from 2 months of using it I have been taught to hold a convo pretty well and im not even n5 yet. hope this helps!
There’s a VR world for Jp En Language exchange. Always plenty of people in it.
The JLPT won’t directly encourage you to learn speaking. That test has some pretty jank backwash.
https://www.vrcw.net/world/detail/wrld_153be667-a86e-4aaf-9eed-921bd568ee9b
half a million visitors in two years.
If you have a little money to spend, I found working with an inexpensive, native Japanese tutor on iTalki to be incredibly valuable. No joke, I went from basically only being able to introduce myself to being able to hold full conversations after just 3 lessons.
Paying someone to deal with my shitty Japanese put my mind at ease and allowed me to start accessing the “passive Japanese” in my head and turn it into “active Japanese”. Basically, if I’m not paying someone, I feel guilty for dragging down the convo, but when I pay I think, “well, I’m compensating them for my crap.”
And, to be clear, I didn’t actually learn much that was new, it was just an opportunity to aggressively start throwing Japanese out there and getting immediate feedback. I still have a very long way to go, but it was an incredible starting point for me.
UHawaii at Manoa Outreach College has a conversational Japanese program worth trying if you have USD $200 or so to spare. It’s a 3 hour class each weekend for 10 weeks with about ~1.5 of 3 hours being conversation practice with a native speaker living in Japan.
​
I’m currently enrolled in the program outside of the US since the program is hosted on zoom. Absolutely recommend it, but this is just my experience anyways…. You’ll have to see if fits your needs.
​
Here’s the link if you find yourself interested in giving it a try: [https://www.outreach.hawaii.edu/areas-of-study/language-arts-humanities/](https://www.outreach.hawaii.edu/areas-of-study/language-arts-humanities/)