Look I am not the type of person who watched anime in his youth but it seems like I will be in Japan for a year (work-related). This is great, right? Well… I am super worried about the language barrier. What should I learn and what would be nothing but a waste of time? I realize that I will probably not make close friends in a year but what is essential for life in Japan? Is Duolingo worth a try?
All answers are appreciated.
6 comments
You can get by fine for a year knowing basically nothing. It’s not ideal obviously, but if you don’t look Japanese no one is going to have any expectations of you and you can mostly get by waving your arms about (that’s what I did, anyway).
From what I have seen, Duolingo is pretty bad. If you want a basics crash-course, I think Pimsleur is worth a look at because it focuses just on listening/speaking (or at least did when I used it – looks like they have fancy apps and stuff now?), which is the main thing you need. If you want to get serious with it, probably consider a beginner textbook and grinding a high quality Anki deck.
WaniKani was a hugely helpful for me. Between that and textbooks I was able to be somewhat conversational in a year but to be honest if you live in the city you probably don’t need to learn much. If you just learn please and thank you and “good job at work today” (otsukaresamadeshita) you’ll be fine.
To be honest with you, the language barrier is much more larger than what you may expect. I suggest you start learning as soon as possible, and if time doesn’t allow it, start by learning some useful phrases first before approaching the Japanese alphabet (hiragana/kana). I would suggest Duolingo for helping you learn hiragana and the first couple units, but after that it’s mostly a waste of time and effort.
For now you should learn basic phrases such as good morning, good evening, hello, nice to meet you, my name is…, thank you, excuse me, im sorry, etc.
Assuming you have the time, go to in-person lessons. They’re more expensive, but this trip is for work. The speaking and listening practice will help loads. By all means, use apps in addition.
Just got back from spending three weeks in Japan. Three key phrases I found most useful were:
英語が話せますか
カードで支払えますか
トイレはどこですか
Aside from that I lived off the Google translate app. I have a US carrier and paid $50 for a 30-day international pass. There were a lot of places I had crappy signal so the app didn’t work. Maybe if you get a local carrier that might work better (?)
Here’s something else: a lot of places don’t take card payments, so cash is essential. Problem is it’s hard to get cash. Look for the post office, green signs that have JP.
If you’re staying in Tokyo that Suica card is essential, you can go anywhere.
If youre not particularly interested in learning Japanese, I would say its not worth studying super hardcore if youre only planning to live there for one year. Basic conversational phrases would be all you need. If it them ends up you living there for longer then I would say to learn more, but for a year I think you will manage