Im already semi-conversationally fluent, but I want to become fully fluent in Japanese because I want to work in Japan as an engineer. I want to take courses at my college, but they kinda suck for Japanese plus my schedule is tight enough with my engineering courses.
It’s been a long dream of mine to be fluent in japanese, but it just seems like a pipe dream now 🙁 no colleges nearby me have advance Japanese classes in the summer.
is there any sort of program that could be accommodating to my busy schedule 😭 or any credible study Japanese In Japan during the summer programs that are affordable 😭😭😭 or even something in the Southern California area
6 comments
Semi conversationally fluent is surely the best time to learn from native material?
What level are you jn? There are many online teqchers who can teach Japaneae language
I used the Japanese Online Institute for a few years to get up to N2 level.
https://www.japonin.com/japan/
Another really useful thing you could try is translating short sentences about your engineering studies. That would help you build up your technical vocabulary. Just make sure you are saying the sentences outloud and memorizing them so you can use them later.
Depending on where you live, there may be a local language club that you can join.
A friend of mine living in Vancouver told me about a language club where you can sign up for reciprocal lessons with a native language speaker of whatever language you are interested in. So you tutor them for an hour in English and they tutor you for an hour in Japanese.
You could get books on shadowing and business Japanese, enroll in a program online like japanesepod101 (they have paid options where you can get tutor help), sign up for HelloTalk app and record yourself reading/talking Japanese to get feedback and to meet native speakers to improve your conversation skills, watch Japanese news and read Japanese articles to work on kanji and higher level vocabulary, etc. My polyglot friends swear by watching tons of shows in your target language so you get a lot of listening practice. If you’re not confident reading and writing Japanese, it would be a good idea to brush up on those skills as well since they could be useful during both work and life in Japan. An acquaintance worked for Rakuten and only became conversational in Japanese while he lived in Japan, so you might be good to go as you are. Wishing you all the best!
Define “fluent”.
I’m serious.
What does “fluent” mean for you, and your circumstances, specifically?
I’m a professional translator, with a background in the language used in business and some finance. I can watch the news and get most of it. I can watch a _dorama_ and get completely lost — I just don’t have a handle on a lot of the everyday slang and other vocabulary, simply because that isn’t used in the business environments where I got most of my Japanese-language experience.
So for you, looking to get into engineering, how much do you need to know words like 童貞 or パイオツ? Or 経常利益 or 繰延損失? What does “fluent” mean for your situation?
Identify that, and you know what to work on.