Hi,
I am going to be studying abroad in three months. I have made a good number of friends that go to the university I am going to already (through exchange programs and events from my university). I want to converse as smoothly as I can only in Japanese. I would say I am n4 in conversation close to n3. I have been studying already a lot this summer, reading different manga and easy light novels, nhk easy news, and grinding anki cards, also only watching Japanese youtube channels, and podcasts.
Is there any recommended ways to improve conversation / speaking practice in such a short amount of time without studying all different areas?
If anyone has any conversation youtube channels I would be grateful to hear them!
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Thanks.
3 comments
the best way to study for conversations is by having conversations. I was around N3 when i moved to here, my studies consisted of mostly reading and writing at the time because i had no japanese friends to practice with. I was able to dive into most native content with the only problem being having to look up vocab here and there. But man the moment i tried to spark up a convo with a japanese person for the first time i failed horribly. being able to understand the information being said to you and being able to produce understandable information to say to someone else are two separate skills. Its true that as you get better in one area youll see improvements in the other but if you really want to improve your conversation skills you need to have convos with japanese people.
Try watching variety shows where the whole point of the show is for the studio guests to chat with each other and tell funny stories etc. Or dramas that are sort of “slice of life” with lots of dialogue.
The best way to practice speaking is by speaking. I was in a similar situation for my study abroad program when I was in college. I prepared by talking to myself non-stop in Spanish during my hour long (driving) commute to work the summer before I left to study abroad.
It was really hard and there were tons of things I didn’t know how to say. If I didn’t know how to say something, I first tried to take around the point or explain it using simpler terms. If that didn’t work, I just said the word in English and moved on. That practice with expressing my thoughts, even just to myself, ended up being a huge help.
I was talking to a friend towards the end of our program about our experiences both in the program and preparing for it. We’d had the same level of formal Spanish classes before the program started (ie barely qualified for the program) and started the program with some of the lowest levels in our cohort. My friend mentioned though that from the start she’d thought that I seemed more prepared and confident speaking than her and she thought it was probably because of the prep work I’d done that summer before