I originally registered on Italki a few years ago but I never pushed myself to actually have a lesson. I know the reason was due to extreme nerves even though I am not typically a nervous person. I believe the reason was the fear of feeling judged or dumb.
I remember in 2022 I booked a lesson with someone and then I cancelled last minute because I wasn’t feeling confident at all.
I finally decided to book a class last week. Leading up to that class, they day before, I felt like cancelling it. Nerves were once getting to me lol.
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So now the call starts and I’m not sure whether to try to speak in Japanese or English lol. She takes the lead in Japanese as a way of gauging my level. I respond back in Japanese and she immediately looks shocked like i’m the first foreigner to speak Japanese to her lol.
Anyways, she continues speaking in Japanese and before you know it; 10 minutes have passed and we haven’t said a word in English lol. She eventually opened up a white board so she can write down words during our conversation because she wanted to see if I could read Kanji.
She wrote down like 10 various words at first. 銀行、川、給料、機械、経験、残業、卒業、自然、種類、相談
So I wasn’t sure when I was suppose to read them out so she said the first one in English and then I was like oh sorry I know that word but didn’t know I should start. I read them all out because I know them all and she was in complete and utter disbelief.
So after that she wanted to see how I was with forming sentences in Japanese from English. So without telling me it was a test, she asked me to tell her a short but interesting sentence about a friend. Then she caught me off guard when she was like “Now say it in Japanese” lol. I was actually nervous but I got the sentence correctly except for confusing あげる and くれる at the end.
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So after all the tests, she legit asked me “I don’t understand what you want to improve, your pronunciation, listening, and speaking are all good. You can also read Kanji. What would you like to do?”
She said if there’s anything I need to improve, it’s building more confidence because I can express myself comfortably during conversations so it’s due to a lack of confidence. So she suggested if I want to speak to her again in the future, we could just practice speaking so I don’t have a fear of it. She also said her lesson is quite pricey so she would recommend I choose a cheaper teacher if the focus is solely speaking communication. (She cost me about $45 Canadian haha). I wasn’t sure if she was lying until she suggested not to pay again and use someone cheaper lol.
We had a **40 minute call** in which she also gave me 10 minutes for free.
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So in conclusion, this lesson was invaluable to me because it made me realize I actually can speak Japanese and express the thoughts in my head even though I don’t practice speaking often.
I credit reading and translating articles to this because doing that helped me understand grammar points and how sentences are formed.
As for pronunciation, it’s most likely due to hanging around Japanese people in 2023 a lot. She was confused about this as well until I explained that part and she said that’s definitly the reason. So there you have it, meet Japanese people and you will improve your pronunciation even if it’s not intentional.
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I recommend giving Italki a try. You might like it, learn more about yourself, become more confident, who knows. Tons of cheap options, I just chose an expensive as she’s a certified teacher in a language school in Tokyo.
by japan_noob