My name is Sophie. I just arrived in Japan 3 days ago. I’ve spent the last 2 years at the university studying the language, however, it appears to me that the JLPT and the very formal Japanese I was trained to use just didn’t prepare me for this. I barely heard people using masu form in Tokyo and now that I am with a family in takayamashi, I just can’t exchange with people because I don’t understand casual/everyday Japanese. It is so
frustrating!!! So my question is: do you have any resources (YouTube, vocabulary list of more familiar words, explanation of the contraction of formal forms…) to help me ?
Thank you so much for your help!
11 comments
I think the best bet would be to hire an Italki tutor to practise, if you don’t have the money I think you can watch some blogs in Japanese, I dont really have any recommendations, but from the ones I have seen it’s pretty casual. You can also maybe ask your family members.
I second Italki, I’ve done lessons on there and they have helped a lot!
If you’re N3, you should understand the plain forms.
The test won’t likely use slang expressions or dialects (but a textbook for your native language and compare that to how you and your friends speak), but a more “grammatically ideal” form of the language.
You’re 3 days in and probably still experiencing jet lag and culture shock. As someone who has lived in Japan for 4 years, it will take a few weeks. Keep at it and you’ll eventually get used to it.
You are in Japan with a host family. That’s the best resource you could possibly get. Talk to them and you’ll learn quickly.
-る is one of the first things you learn with verbs in Japanese, I would be more focused on vocabulary for the slang words.
Since you are with a host family, that’s probably the best resource you’ve got at the moment for your speaking and comprehension skills
Hi Sophie! I went through something very similar last fall. I had mostly book learning and classroom learning and I was at about N3 or lower when I went to my host family. What you might be struggling with (what I was actually struggling with, it turned out) wasn’t so much the grammar or vocabulary, but the fact that in real conversation there is very little context in given in Japanese sentences, it’s all assumed from the situation.
For example my host family would constantly be asking me いる？while standing next to the rice cooked, and it took me a while to figure out they were asking if I need rice. And every time they would ask that kind of single-verb question it would take my brain forever to catch up. Add that to the fact that negative questions there are answered the opposite as in English (ie, won’t you eat it? replying うん/はい means you won’t eat it) and very simple conversations can be incredibly difficult to follow.
So: take a deep breath. Give yourself some leeway. Has your host family hosted before? Do they generally seem understanding? If so, just explain what you’re struggling with. Ask them to add context (pronouns, subjects, time periods etc things besides verbs) to their sentences when you look confused. Figure out your basic clarifying questions/requests to repeat or slow down and utilize them. Don’t be like me, rudely saying “what?” every two seconds haha.
Also remember that as a native speaker, they will understand your imperfect Japanese much better than you think. Keep talking and responding to them, asking clarifying questions and repeating things they say back at them to make sure you’re following. They will appreciate that much more than a silent blank stare or an “I don’t understand”. It won’t take long before you start getting comfortable! By one month in I was having conversations about politics with my host mom, despite having none of the requisite vocabulary.
If you want to supplement on your own, I recommend reading manga over novels as it has much more casual speech and contractions, which I was also very rusty with when I went. You could hire a tutor, but as others have said you have a host family at your disposal! Just talk to them and explain your struggles, you’ll be great!
Have you tried addressing this issue with the host family?
Something like すみませんですが、私が理解できないような場合は少しお手伝いして頂けませんか？
There’s probably a more natural/correct way to say it but you get the idea.
I’m sure they’ll gladly help you
Is this a host family or your family?
I recommend watching Cure Dolly’s grammar videos on YouTube. Start with Lesson 1 and go from there. She teaches informal Japanese to start with and teaches Japanese in a much more natural way than Genki does.
you still have a long way to go. even getting a N1 certificate doesnt really mean youre fluent
Listen to how they talk