Actually I am not sure which will be the best way as of the moment: enroll in an intensive Japanese class, get a private tutor…or any other suggestions?
I’m pretty sure I am not learning in just language exchange events (more like it’s practice but doesn’t help to correct my Japanese or to speak with more sense)
I don’t think I need a lesson structure as most of it just geared in passing the JLPT exam. I need more conversational skills and grammar. Like to help me think quick in Japanese and not sounding stupid.
Time-wise, right now, I have a lot of time. Currently wfh and the work is very minimal. But still, I cannot commit on something full-time, everyday school as work loads will come and go.
I’ve been living here more than 5 years and my Japanese is kinda stuck in the upper beginner level that it’s becoming a shame to admit I’ve been living here for awhile. I also want to improve Japanese for work and be confident in facing Japanese clients with Keigo.
Based on your experiences, which option did really help you become fluent? School, tutor, self studying materials, hacks or any recommendations are all welcome
27 comments
The first novel that I ever read in Japanese, the first pages took me 10-15 minutes each. The final pages were down to 2-3 minutes each. That was the major turning point.
I am a relatively independent learner but I couldn’t get far without a GOOD tutor. Emphasis on good here as I had a terrible and expensive tutor before who was neither native not certified, and now I have one who is both.
There is a difference in understanding/comprehending language and producing it i.e. speaking and writing, which is why they occupy separate parts of the brain (look up Broca and Wernicke for more on this), meaning to be functionally fluent you need to engage both. While it might sound silly to put down money for a tutor to just become fluent at speaking and listening, for me it has been well worth the money. I’m clear about what I’m interested in, the teacher is responsive, patient and well-equipped, and I can still complement it by studying up Kanji on my own. I heard stories of people able to pass N2 and still having trouble speaking, so it reassured me I was right in prioritizing slowly developing both halves of language learning.
Just immerse bro lol.
Seriously though what I did, in order: 1. make Japanese friends who don’t speak English, 2. get a Japanese girlfriend who doesn’t speak English, 3. get a job where nobody speaks English. The whole time I mostly consumed Japanese media. No formal studying/tutors/JLPT etc.
Early on, watching movies dubbed in Japanese. I started with simple old favorite movies I grew up with, like Disney. Since I knew the story and characters (and indeed, much of the dialogue) in English already, I could just focus on *what* they were saying, and *when.* Many lightbulb moments of how to express this or that in Japanese etc. Watching movies you haven’t seen before is more challenging, I recommend starting with dubs of favorites you’re familiar with.
Later on what really helped was when a Japanese tutor assigned me prompts like “talk about your daily schedule, including what times you do each activity” and I would just talk into a mic and record myself talking on the prompt for 2 minutes. Sounds short but it’s a long time to just blather on by oneself lol. The tutor discouraged me from writing it all out beforehand like a speech and wanted me to just speak as off the cuff as possible. I would send the recording to the tutor, and he’d send it back with his corrections spliced in. It was brutal sometimes to hear my own voice making dumb mistakes lol but after 2-3 months of this weekly exercise I really felt my conversational Japanese took off. If you don’t have a tutor or teacher who could do that for you, even just recording yourself and then listening to it later and picking out mistakes by yourself can be useful, worth a try.
School helped a lot for sure. Studying can’t be the only thing you do, but it gives you lots of raw material which you can process later.
For specific ways to learn, watching Japanese movies or drama without subtitles (or Japanese subtitles, if available) is good listening practice. Most drama aren’t very difficult to understand, and even things like detective or medical dramas get pretty easy once you figure out the specialized vocabulary. If you have subs turned on for your native language you will quickly default to ignoring the Japanese. Anime is also fine, just be sure to be aware of when they’re talking in ways normal people never talk.
If you have the chance to talk to people for practice, its best to find someone that you can talk to many times, and about different topics. If you talk to 100 people once each, you’ll have the same boring self intro over and over. If you talk to one person 100 times, you’ll get into lots of new and interesting topics.
As far as learning business Japanese from work, I just shamelessly copied co-workers and clients until I got used to it. Using it and practicing is really the only way to get used to it.
Finally, try to do a hobby in Japanese. You’ll make friends and have extra incentive to get better, as well as learned the specialized vocab.
Date. I’ve been in a relationship for two and half years. That was the game changer. Being scolded by my partner in Japanese or watching niche pop culture from his past are examples of learning paired with emotional memories that helped solidify the language better than a YouTube video or textbook. The memory element makes it feel a bit less plastic. Language learning can feel so dry and unemotional can’t it?
Also, flash cards. Lots and lots of flash cards.
If you don’t know the words to explain something, it’s hard to communicate. I recommend purely memorizing vocab with flashcards (assuming you already know basic grammar). But learning new words in context is important.
i.e. かぜをひく (to catch a cold). The verb ひく is always paired with かぜ when saying “catch a cold”, so make sure to memorize them together rather than separately.
It’s a cliche, but basically dating a Japanese guy helped me more than anything else.
The fact my boyfriend barely spoke English led to a MASSIVE boost in my Japanese. I wouldn’t call myself “fluent” because that’s a very high hurdle in my opinion, but my fluency definitely improved *massively* living with my boyfriend 🙂 I’ve plateaued now though haha.
The same can be said for friends. Forcing yourself out of your comfort zone and having the pressure of speaking and following quick conversation helps a lot
I read japanese news then translate to English.
Use Google translate when stuck
Perseverance. There aren’t any viable language school options in the area where I live so I’m mostly self-taught. I’ve done just about every self-study course I could find. My husband is fluent in English, which hasn’t been particularly helpful in learning Japanese, but I spend as much time as I can chatting with the locals and I watch some Japanese TV shows and movies. Watching non-English foreign TV shows and movies with Japanese subtitles has also helped with my reading ability.
I used to watch a lot of movies with subtitles on to catch the phrases I wanted to learn. I would watch the same movie a few times taking notes and finally speaking along in key scenes. I would also record myself reading aloud to get rid of my ‘accent’. Listening to yourself speak on tape is an exercise in humility.
Drinking with Japanese people who didn’t speak English
Temporarily (2-3 years) of losing contact with 99% of my foreign friends, working in a traditional Japanese company with Japanese clients, getting in way over my head at work and coming out the other side bruised and damaged, but with a lot more knowledge to the point where I could operate in Japanese and English independently. Watching TV all in Japanese helped, especially the news.
Not recommended for the faint of heart or those who are not used to being continually corrected and being watched over every little detail until they get it right.
Dated someone who didn’t speak English and hung out a lot with people who didn’t speak English in my 20s. Immersed myself in Japanese media as much as possible. Now I have a job where I have to use Japanese and I’m still improving.
From like N4 level up to about N2/N1, studying full time in uni and language school while staying active socially going to parties, dating and avoiding English cliques helped a lot. Left the country and took a break for 15 years then came back and had to pick up a lot again.
This time, more adult meetings for business, building a house etc mixed with lots of reading and media consumption has been very helpful. I watch a lot of Japanese business panel talk content on YouTube from Newspicks etc. Especially more unfiltered characters like Horiemon and Narita Yuusuke are interesting to watch from both a Japan/business POV as well as language and vocab
Doing shit by myself, no matter how hard or awkward I felt. Once you get passed that phase, everything just starts to click
Get sick a bunch in the middle of nowhere where the doctors only speak Japanese. You learn really quickly when it’s linked to your health.
In all honesty, date someone who is intelligent enough, but who also bluntly refuses to speak English.
I joined Kyuudo (japanese archery) club in my university and did a part time job in a small business hotel. I think you need to immerse yourself in an environment that makes you use Japanese wether you like it or not. It works for me as it force me to learn and applied it almost in the same time.
Break it down into a magic quadrant. X axis = speaking and listening, Y axis = reading and writing. Be honest with yourself about where your stengths are and do the things you are good at, but don’t neglect the things you aren’t. Because the only way to be “fluent” is if you cover all the squares, but you’ll be happy if you reward yourself by excelling at your strong points.
Having a GF that doesn’t speak English. Once you have someone to talk to on a regular basis and you are motivated to improve, things come fast.
Knowledge part: Subtitled anime + translated manga as a start, proper grammar books + novel + dictionary when I made up to seriously study Japanese language.
Confidence to start speaking in Japanese: Being lost in a station, alone (because my Professor was not available), with a deadline for academic conference presentation.
I don’t think I know anyone who is really good at Japanese who is self-taught. Maybe only one actually, but he’s incredibly bright, like genius level. Most people get just good enough to hold a conversation in Japanese, but still make lots of grammatical errors. I think everyone needs a good teacher/class to really learn proper Japanese.
I took some Japanese in college, but it was the intensive language classes that really boosted my skills. I did a summer course in America, a summer study abroad course in Japan, and a two-week course when I first came here on the JET Program. After 3 years of college Japanese and a year of living here I passed JLPT N1 on my first try.
Working in Japanese. Talking to people enabled me to ask all the questions that, piece by piece, patch up any gaps in my understanding of things. Working in a job that doesn’t necessitate or even *want* the use of English means you HAVE to use Japanese, and usually, the people around you are more than willing to help you get there.
A hell of a lot of speaking with natives.
Read a lot. Look up lots of Kanji and vocabulary. Repeat.
Visual Novel and online gaming community.
100% shameless mode joining their voice chat.