(Yes weird title I know, but question is serious)
TLDR: Any nuances of the language I should focus on that are difficult to learn without access to a native speaker?
My girlfriend is Japanese, and simply I am learning the language because of her. Sadly she had to move back to Japan 2 months ago as her visa expired, but we still talk regularly on the phone when we can and over video.
In terms of language learning, especially that of Japanese, I understand having 1) easy access to a native speaker and 2) one who is willing to help you, can be a powerful resource. I myself am this in a unique position to accelerate my learning If I play my cards right in terms of how/what to go learn.
However, of course we do not have unlimited time on the phone together due to our personal commitments and time difference. In terms of ‘lesson’ time, what would be the most effective use of both mine and her time?
Is there any particular nuances of the language that are worth going over, granted the fact she’s a native speaker? E.g pitch accents or difficult grammar topics? I.e things that are especially difficult to learn without access to a native speaker.
Going over beginner topics would be a compete waste of our time’s potential, besides, I am already learning kanji and vocab on the side.
Another obvious option is output, however I feel my own proficiency is not good enough to muster more than a few basic sentences at this stage. Shamefully, she lived with me for 2 years, and in hindsight I wish I had dedicated some of my time to pursuing more spoken Japanese with her, besides a few casual phrases. Of course, I will practice output with her too, don’t get my wrong, but just looking for some more specific guidance. Even in terms of output, anything specific?
So, for those seasoned pros of Japanese, and any native speakers, if you had infinite access to a native speaker for say 1hr a week, what would you focus on?
P.S not relevant to question, but I am aiming to reunite with her in Japan at the end of this year / start of 2024, it would be our first time seeing each other 10 months. Long distance relationships are tough man.
6 comments
You are going to sound like a girl if you talk like your girlfriend.
I’m beginner myself but my situation and you is similar so, I will answer you what I usually do(maybe not the best way) I’m in long distance relationship with my girlfriend for almost 2 years now and I’m planning going to japan in the next month. first would be your gf’s education background my gf is not coming from a literature background even though she is native she doesn’t know how the language work most of the time so making her explain is troublesome and better googling it myself she is also my first reason why I learning the language, at first we speaking and chat in English but when I start to study japanese for 2 months we starting to chat/message in japanese and that is the best thing that she can do to help me learning Japanese because I don’t have to worry about making mistake, about keigo(polite language) I can talk with her without worry so, I can start using my japanese since the first 2 months of my study and I think it’s a big advantage that most people don’t have. I usually playing game with her at night around 2-3 hours and all we only do is basically chatting and talking about our day/problems in japanese, I also requested her to please start correcting my japanese(when I’m around N3) but she said she understands me there no need for it but I said the exam and other people won’t understand me lol then she starting to correct my grammar and in a few weeks I can see the improvement she also said my grammar is improving, for video call we usually just talking in japanese like normal couple and if we are bored we will study my favorite japanese song’s lyrics together you will be surprise how hard some Japanese song’s lyrics is even for japanese people. In short my girlfriend only chatting/messaging with me in japanese, correcting my japanese grammar sometimes, talking in japanese when we are video call and that’s. I study japanese by myself and she is the place where I can put my effort into practice, I’ve been study around 8 months and right now I’m around N3 I think my gf definitely help me the most in my journey.
A really good opportunity to become fluent. Just talk as much as you can. I took many years of Japanese, but the thing that made me fluent was skipping class and just talking to friends. One day I realized I had just spoken 8 hours of Japanese without ever thinking in English.
You lost me when you said you were learning the language because of her. Not sure if that is a good idea. Do it for yourself, not her or your relationship.
I am married to a Japanese person, but I only decided to learn Japanese after five years we were together, mostly to talk with her parents and friends.
My advice, do everything yourself and just talk with her in Japanese. Making your girlfriend your private tutor is not the best idea and your relationship will become very tedious quickly.
Honestly, I really liked my boyfriend when I first met him even though I didn’t speak Japanese and he barely spoke English. We texted and called each other every evening for weeks just bumbling through with bad Japanese haha. Things get better quickly 🙂 I was living in Japan at the time though!
My tip would be to ditch the English, start to think in Japanese and speak in Japanese sentences with Japanese grammar. Fill in words that you don’t know with English by all means, but copy her sentence structures and word order. Get really used to the word order and that will really boost your ability, then you can learn vocab along the way. Good luck 🙂
Rather than trying to do some sort of lesson, just talk to her as you normally would, but say the things you know how to say in Japanese. Say the things you don’t know how to say in English. Over time as you continue to study, the amount of things you know how to say will increase and more of your conversation will be in Japanese. I did this with a friend and we now speak completely in Japanese