I’m basically working from the ground up in Genki with a tutor, so struggling is completely reasonable, but it’s still frustrating. I usually prep for lessons by trying to anticipate what I might be asked about, but ultimately I still end up scrambling a little due to changes in word order and such, which results in dropped/incorrect particles and incorrect conjugations. Social anxiety is a huge contributing factor, but so is my (perceived?) lack of mental agility when working in real time. Since these two issues feed each other pretty well, I’m hoping that working on the latter, the former will decrease. I’m just not sure how to practice on my own time since I can’t get spontaneously prompted. Has anyone else struggled with this? What sorts of things helped you?
5 comments
How many practice lessons did you have already? I was super confident with my skills before first live session (studied a lot on my own) but couldn’t create simplest sentences during it.
Speaking is a separate skill, and needs practice. And the only sure way of getting better is to practice.
Time, is going to be the real answer. The more you spend on practicing in “real time”, the more confident you’ll get.
Another factor might be that you’re moving too fast, and you’re not internalizing concepts before moving on to the next one, resulting in an unstable base to build off of. I feel like a lot of people on this sub have an idea of an “ideal schedule” or number of hours it takes to get through a curriculum, but those are often arbitrary, and don’t fit everyone’s ideal pace. Often times, it’s better to go slower in the beginning to build a solid base, so that you can go faster later on, with better results.
Lastly, you might be a bit too critical of yourself. It’s important to know what mistakes you’re making, so that those don’t get fossilized in your Japanese, but making a mistake isn’t a big deal in the moment if you are able to communicate what you wanted to communicate at a reasonable level. Be nicer to yourself, it’ll go a long way as well.
Yes. Keep practicing, the end.
I’m in the same boat. So i don’t know either. I’m finishing Genki 1 right now but when my tutor chats with me I literally can only make like wa/desu constructions. I feel like such a dumb idiot.
I passed N3 and couldnt speak a thing when talking with natives – took me 2 to 3 months of consistent conversations before I got used to it.