I need to learn the basics before my trip 😭

11 comments

1. The book Genki is pretty good but honestly I think you’d have to learn full time ever single day if you want to have basics conversations in just two months.

2. Renshuu is better than Duolingo for Japanese. It’s gonna be rough getting anywhere in 2 months though.

3. Yes – hai はい – pronounced like hi in English but with a hard i.

   No – eei いいえ – pronounced like eeeyay.

   Please – kudasai ください – pronounced coo dah sigh eee.

   Don’t understand – wakarimasen わかりません – pronounced like wah caw lee mah say en.

   Where’s the restroom? – toire wa dokodesu ka – pronounced like toe e lay wah doe co dey suu caw?? When you say a question, you put inflection on the final symbol to make it sound like a question.

   There a couple things to say to start! An easier way I tell people to start learning Japanese is to look at the language in “syllables” when it is written in romanji. This is how we learn English and though it isn’t 100% accurate for Japanese, if you look at every 2 letters as an individual sound it will help you pronounce better and more naturally, there are characters that this doesn’t work for so it isn’t foolproof but it’s a good place to start.

4. I went to Japan with a friend in 2011. I had a year and a half of college Japanese class (albeit I hadn’t study hard). My friend had none. My friend’s gestures were much easier to understand than my halting, gap-filled, grammar-mistake-ridden attempts to speak the language.

   That being said, it depends how much time and focus you can bring to study. I recommend an hour a day with a nap afterwards. Learn katakana and hiragana, then start learning vocab. If you have access to picture-vocab flashcards or learning apps, you can start learning vocab right away. After maybe a few days of daily practice with vocab, start basic grammar. I recommend Genki but only because that’s what I used. Really, you want to get vocab and then grammar and as you get exposed to the grammar, drill using it daily. As you walk around a store where you live, think to yourself in Japanese “that’s a shirt.” or ” I want that.” or “how much is that?” or “where is the bank?” When you wake up, look out the window and think to yourself in Japanese “it’s sunny today.” “I want to go to the department store.”

   Listening is important for learning, because if you can’t imagine the sound of a word or grammar structure, you can’t think/say it yourself. Don’t be afraid to do lots of listening at first with your study. And it may seem silly but you really should talk to yourself in whatever basic Japanese you are learning, as much as possible. You want your brain to get used to using it as a tool, instead of searching for how to use it in a somewhat stressful situation for the first time.

   If you’ve got access to thematic learning (shopping at a supermarket, going to a movie, talking about family, etc.), visualize yourself in those situations and drill drill drill what you would want to say. Really visualize…close your eyes and imagine yourself at a supermarket trying to find milk or whatever.

   It’s also useful to learn communication-growth questions such as “One more time, please.” “I don’t understand” “Can you speak more slowly?” “What’s this in Japanese?” etc. If you get used to those, it’ll help you learn as you go more than if you didn’t know those phrases.

   Find a language partner or tutor?

   ​

   The reason I mention a nap is because according to researchers I’ve listened to on podcasts, when we sleep our brain reviews and cleans up/files away whatever we were learning before the nap/sleep, so you’ll retain what you’ve studied and be able to access it faster the next time if you give your brain a chance to nap. 20 minutes is fine, but longer than that they recommend a full sleep cycle which is about 90 minutes.

   Good luck!

5. You are not going be able to speak or comprehend functionally by June lol

6. I am well aware that Japanese is an INCREDIBLY hard language and I will not even be slightly fluent by June. I just need something I can use to understand words like “yes/no”, “thank you” and “I don’t speak the language” 😭 I shall definitely be relying on body gestures but a little “have a nice day” wouldn’t hurt. Though that would probably be the only thing I’d say ☠️

7. Good post Pancake, however, as a Hafu who grew up there, your pronunciations are a little bit off. I will attempt to show the pronunciations using the sounds that Japanese would use, also, I added spaces so you can understand the character spacing, however, when pronouncing these words, don’t pronounce these spaces
   Yes – hai (Hi) just like you are saying Hi to someone
   No – iie (EE eh) if you say it with a yay sound, you will sound like a foreigner
   Please – you can use either kudasai (koo dah sigh) or onegaishimasu (oh neh guy she mas)
   Don’t Understand – wakarimasen (wah kah ri mah sen) – the Japanese language does not actually have either an R or L sound. The closest you can do is somewhat roll an R sound (think spanish R, but less rolled) then pronounce the following vowel
   Where’s the restroom? – toire wa doko desu ka (toy reh wah doh koh des ka) – in the word desu it may look like you would say: Deh soo, however, that would be wrong. Desu is pronounced as: Dehs. The last oo sound is cut off to be inaudible.

   Now to add onto what Pancake added:

   As you only have 2 months, I would recommend this site: [https://www3.nhk.or.jp/nhkworld/en/learnjapanese/](https://www3.nhk.or.jp/nhkworld/en/learnjapanese/). Pick the fast track, characters (mainly hiragana and katakana, and phrases for travel. These would give you a decent foundation to learn more.

   I also agree that getting a good phrasebook, since you are only 2 months out, might be the way to go. I have carried a phrasebook named: Japanese Phrase Book (Eyewitness Travel Guide) and it is still available on Amazon. I found it handy to have when I did not have good signal on the portable router I normally rented.

   Now, if you want your cellphone to still have internet service while you are traveling around, you may want to rent a portable router. Ninja Mobile and Sakura Mobile offer different plans depending on speeds and how long you will be in country. I have personally used Sakura Mobile every time I get sent to Japan for work. The router was always waiting for me at the hotel check in desk and it always comes with a pre-paid envelope that I used to drop the router off into any nearby mailbox the day before I left.

   If you need an app, I would recommend Yomiwa which is available on both ios and android. It has a dictionary, hiragana, katakana, kanji, plus it has a camera translation feature that can be helpful as well.

8. Look for local Japanese classes or tutors where you are.

9. Don’t use Duolingo it’s a good supplement but terrible for learning the language. The lessons aren’t structured enough to use as a learning tool.

   https://www.amazon.com/15-Minute-Japanese-Learn-Eyewitness-Travel-ebook/dp/B087JK9328?ref=d6k_applink_bb_dls&dplnkId=6ab4b61b-31a7-48a9-a109-45700bef8099

   This book is decent if you just want the bare necessities for travel.

   If you don’t mind spending more money Busu has great structured lessons for learning the language and a study plan that’s geared more towards travel.

   Nativ Shark has less structure but teaches you more natural sounding Japanese.

   If you don’t want to spend any money then starting with memorizing hiragana and katakana, and then using japanese pod on YouTube would be good.

10. **Lingodeer** (app) is pretty good for simple phrases and communication.

    If you’re looking for writing practice, **Ringotan** (app) is amazing.

    If you want something a bit deeper, there’s a book called **Japanese Sentence Patterns for Effective Communication**.

    However, I recommend trying to getting familiar with Japanese pronunciation, as a lot my miscommunication stems from that. Fortunately, Japanese sounds aren’t too different from English. Still, there’s a surprising difference between what *we* think the word will sound like and how it’s pronounced in Japanese.

11. Duolingo kinda sucks. It used to be better, but they had a major update which doesn’t let you review previous lessons. Your best bet is going to be drilling katakana (hiragana is also extremely useful obviously, but katakana is even more useful to get the general meanings of signs because many katakana words are English loan words) and making flash cards for basic vocabulary. Common nouns you’ll need like “train station” or “restroom”, question words like doko, dare, or itsu, and a basic understanding of particles will get you a long way. All of this can be made into flashcards yourself or found online without a specific app. Many things you’ll need to read have options for multiple languages, fortunately. Screens I’ve used to check into hotels, order at sushiro, and get my pasmo card all had English language options. This might be different if you live outside of the Tokyo metro area though. There’s more English accessibility here than in other parts of Japan. And don’t feel embarrassed if you have to gesture if you forget a word or something. In my experience, Japanese people are really patient and understand that you’re trying your best to learn their language. It’s really intimidating at first, but every time you get to use Japanese with native speakers becomes a little less scary and a little more fun. I enjoy when I get to talk to people in Japanese now. As long as you’re polite and have a decent understanding of their cultural differences to make sure you aren’t offending people unintentionally, people will be kind back. Have fun on your trip and don’t stress too much about language. English is the best foreign language to know in Japan because most people have at least basic English speaking abilities since it’s a required class for Japanese students. So many tourists come here with 0 intention to learn any Japanese beforehand so you’re already a step above them.