I have taken Japanese 101-402, yet I don’t feel even close to fluent. Do you know what steps I should take to get there? I consider myself around N2 level. Going to Japan is one of my goals, but it’s not exactly possible at the moment.
I hope to become mostly fluent in the future, but I’m completely lost as to what to do to now…
5 comments
I think the best way you can improve now is by doing lots and lots of immersion, you should consume content created by natives for native speakers. This could be podcasts, novels, TV shows, etc. Make sure to create flashcards for commonly seen unknown words to expand your vocabulary. You might have an easier time going in than I did having already reached the N2 level, but it’s still probably going to be challenging at first if you haven’t done much immersion before.
You could be N1 and still be nowhere close to fluency in all honesty. Completing N1 is only the beginning.
Classes, as you already experienced yourself, can only get you so far in the process.
The true questions are
“Have you consumed content meant for Japanese natives?”
“How comfortable do you feel consuming content not for language learners, but for a Japanese native?”
“What is the extent of difficulty you typically expose yourself to?”
There is no better teacher than experience, so you have to experience the language whatever way possible in order to slowly improve your way to fluency. Read/listen/watch anything that interests you but in Japanese. If you have access to natives, try practicing with them. If not, find a tutor, or a community where you can practice output
Get a Japanese girlfriend
“I consider myself around N2 level”
You’re not N2 unless you pass the N2.
When you say “fluent” do you mean “I want to speak fluently”?
Because if that’s the case, the best thing to do is to practice exactly that: speak to Japanese people. You can probably find a Japanese language exchange partner on HelloTalk, Tandem, or similar. Find a friend and talk to them a lot. You might have to try talking to a few different people before you meet someone you really connect with, but that’s OK. Just keep at it until you meet someone you have chemistry with and then keep talking to them. You could also talk to tutors on iTalki, but it’s kind of the same deal: it might take you a few tries to find a good tutor and it’s also not free. (But you don’t have to talk in English, so it saves you time vs. a language exchange)
I also think listening practice helps the most with speaking, especially fairly natural conversation like Nihongo Con Teppei (original or Z) or Teppei and Noriko’s conversation Podcast. There’s other podcaster too if Teppei and/or Noriko don’t really mesh with your tastes.