A fun way to improve your Japanese speaking is by trying it and using it with friends who already speak
the language. If you live in Japan, making friends with native Japanese speakers should not be too hard.
There are still a lot of people in Japan who are interested in doing language exchanges, or just having
the opportunity to hear the opinions of people from a different country or background.
Benefits of Learning Japanese from Friends
Aside from being a whole lot of fun, there are a lot of other benefits to learning Japanese from
friends. The type of vocabulary that someone will use with friends, or hear from friends can be a great
supplement to whatever is learned in a textbook or classroom. A lot of Japanese teachers are averse
to teaching too much slang or informal Japanese, even to students whose primary purpose in studying
Japanese is to be able to make friends and communicate informally.
Some of the other benefits of learning Japanese from friends can come from the fact that friends tend to
share similar interests. Friends who are native speakers of Japanese can recommend books, magazines,
manga, anime, and TV shows as well as pop, enka, and children’s songs that can be great learning tools.
Learning from Japanese Friends
When learning from friends, there are a few things to keep in mind that can ensure that the experience
is all that it can be.
First, be sure to remind friends not to be shy about correcting you. When doing language exchanges or
learning in casual environments, the priority can sometimes come to be placed on understanding each
other instead of speaking correctly. At the end of the day however, it is important to learn the correct
vocabulary and proper grammar. Having set times or circumstances under which the friend will correct
you can be a great way to keep things fun, while learning.
Second, it’s important not to get frustrated when using Japanese with friends, or even when friends
correct you. A large part of learning a new language is making mistakes, making mental notes, and trying
to break those habits.
Another thing to keep in mind is that as important as learning Japanese can be, the friendship is the
most important thing, so it’s certainly fine to throw the textbook out the window and relax sometimes.
Japanese Grammar is Important Too
Lastly, although friends can be wonderful teachers and exchange partners, they are not professional
instructors. As people may know from their own struggles explaining the rules of their native language
to others, there are times when you know what’s correct but can’t adequately explain it. This will also
come up when learning from friends so it can be useful to have a good Japanese textbook, dictionary,
and grammar book nearby for times dedicated to serious learning. It can also be a good idea to keep a
running memo of what’s covered in the lessons so friends can do a little studying of their own to better
explain it.
All in all, learning from friends can be a great way to pick up new vocabulary, avoid letting the process of
learning Japanese from getting too stale, and learn how to speak the way people actually speak instead
of the stiff impersonal stuff of textbook sample sentences.
No related posts.
