As English speakers, learning Japanese seems like a daunting, if not impossible task. First, there are three different writing systems. One of them has over 10,000 characters to memorize. Verbs often come at the end of a sentence, and a subject isn’t required to form a complete sentence. While Japanese is a difficult language, it is far from impossible to learn.
There are many methods to learning Japanese, but there is one method which has stood the test of time and continues to produce the best results. This method is so simple that even babies and young children can use it. In fact, they are the ones that invented it. Here is the secret: speak Japanese every day.
Immerse Yourself
Go and make some Japanese friends – presumably you already have some if you are interested in studying their language. Start speaking Japanese with them. Ask them questions. Listen to how they talk when conversing with each other. Emulate their speech. Perhaps you do not know the exact intricacies of what they are saying. That is not a problem at first. The very best thing to do at this stage is to get used to speaking Japanese.
You will find yourself improving. It would be advisable to purchase a textbook, enroll in some lessons, or purchase software to learn Japanese. If you are in Japan-even better, you will be able to immerse yourself in the language. Study your textbook every day, but more importantly try to connect what you learn in the textbook to your life. A great way to accomplish this is by using the grammar found in your book on a daily basis in conversation or by keeping a diary in Japanese.
A Head Game
Eventually, you will get to a stage where you feel as if sometimes you do not know how to say what you want in Japanese. You might always be searching for the perfect way to translate what you are thinking. This will be a very big learning block to overcome, but there is a secret. Instead of trying to perfectly translate your English thought into Japanese, try to think in Japanese instead. At the grocery store when doing simple math-count it in Japanese. Walking down the street, you might see a beautiful flower. Instead of thinking to yourself, “wow, that flower is beautiful,” try “あの花がきれいだな。”
Even later on in your journey, there will be times when you know how to say everything you want to describe in a sentence except for one word. That one word is stopping you from bringing this beautiful thought into the world. Here is another secret: you do not need to actually know that one word. If you are able to describe it in Japanese, that is fine until you become more advanced. For example, if you do not know how to say microwave try to say, “an electric device which heats food.”
These are just some basic tips that will help you quickly learn Japanese and be able to speak it. Being able to understand a piece of text or a conversation is important, but without an ability to convey that information to others-you will be lost.
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