How to speak Japanese: Some top strategies to master the language faster

Estimated reading time: 5 minutes

So you’d want to pick up some Japanese language skills? The “number of hours” needed to study Japanese may scare English speakers like you. Additionally, you might be curious about how to learn Japanese more quickly or what is the most effective method for doing so. You’ll find some excellent ideas in this tutorial to help you learn this language more quickly.

One of the hardest languages to master is thought to be Japanese. It is substantially impacted by cultural context and knowledge, has a distinct writing system than English, and has a totally different grammatical structure.

But don’t worry, you can learn Japanese rapidly with the help of context cues and the following methods. This is the most effective technique to learn Japanese if you are serious about speaking it immediately.





1.Find your passion for learning Japanese:

Decide that you want to study Japanese. Find out why you are particularly interested in Japanese. Numerous factors may be at play, including:

You wish to travel to Japan and fully experience the country’s culture.

You wish to talk with your Japanese-speaking family members.

You’d like to get to know Japanese people.

You wish to go to Japan to work or study.

You wish to enjoy and learn about Japanese literature, art, and entertainment in their original tongue.

If you want to truly grasp this language, you need to understand your “why.” Whatever your “why” is, figure it out and put it in writing. Give your “why” your whole attention.


2.Immerse yourself in Japanese at home:

At home, become fluent in Japanese.
To learn Japanese, you don’t need to go to Japan. Still, you have to surround yourself with it. Creating a home immersion environment where you are continuously exposed to the language is the greatest approach to achieve this for any language.

While initially being able to accomplish this can be challenging. Once you know what to do and what resources to employ, it gets easier. One may:

• Make the most of your smartphone. In the language settings, switch the language to Japanese. Using a computer, this is also possible. To learn the language better, download Japanese language games and applications, visit websites that teach the language, etc. Facebook is an excellent app for the initial changeover since it offers bilingual exposure and is still easy to use.
  
  
  Start with Japanese television series, films, anime, documentaries, and so forth. Japanese TV series are now widely available on Netflix, making it an excellent place to start.
• Take in Japanese radio stations, music, and podcasts. They assist you in becoming as fluent as a native speaker.
  
  
  3.Find native speakers and start practicing from day one:
• You can be ignorant of the existence of a Japanese-speaking population in your neighborhood. You need to locate someone with whom you can have Japanese conversations and start right away. The most important and effective step you can do to become fluent in a language is to learn it. If you don’t genuinely speak Japanese, you won’t advance very far in your education.
  
  Don’t let the lack of a local language exchange partner deter you from communicating. There are several ways to find native Japanese speakers to converse with, such as:
• Japanese speakers can practice their English with one another on the language exchange website . Additionally, you can pay for classes using their affordable online Japanese tutors.
  
  
  4.Use language learning hacks
  
  
• Pay attention to the 80/20 rule. The 80/20 rule states that you should put in 20% of the work to obtain 80% of the results. In other words, in order to create 80% of your speaking, you need to focus on the 20% of the language (vocabulary, grammar, etc.) that you will use the most. Which approach is the most successful? Start with the most important Japanese vocabulary and progress upwards.
• Utilize mnemonic devices. This is crucial as there are numerous ways in which Japanese and English diverge greatly. You will learn more quickly if you can make associations to assist you recall the words and meanings.
• “I will just study for 15 minutes,” is a good mantra to tell yourself if you are struggling to stay focused. This tiny trick is really great. Given that it won’t take much time, you’re more likely to motivate yourself to finish it. Additionally, once you begin going, you’ll typically settle into a groove and keep working. You still spend fifteen minutes researching even if you don’t. Recall that consistency is crucial.
  
  
  5.Use conversational connectors and fillers to add fluidity to your speech:
  
  
• Conversational connectors are frequently used in English. It makes our speech sound more fluent and natural. However, they are often disregarded in the process of acquiring a language.
• Conversational bridges, like “And you?” bring the topic back to the speaker. Additional expressions include “really,” “thank you for asking,” “to be honest,” “if I’m being honest,” and so forth.
• There are variations of this in every language as well. For instance, “at that time,” or “その時,” is one of the most often used conversational connectors in Japanese. Although it is not a widely used expression in English, it serves as a bridge when narrating a tale or providing context.
  
• In order to sound natural and give yourself some time while you consider what to say, you can also utilize filler words. We speak things like “um” and “well” in English. あの。。。 (ano, “um”), なろか。。。 (nanka, “what was it,” and じゃあ (jaa, “well then”) are all acceptable in Japanese.
  
  
  
  CONCLUSION:
  Hopefully, you now know some tips on how to pick up Japanese more quickly. Utilize these incredible resources and methods to expedite your learning process. Maintain consistency while you are learning. Keep in mind that success requires consistency. To begin speaking Japanese, learn a few fundamental phrases, such these: Hello, how are you doing in Japanese? Thank you and welcome. Acquiring proficiency in these fundamental expressions will empower you to begin addressing people in Japanese.