Hi there!
So you want to learn and improve on your Japanese speaking skills, right? Well, it’s good to know that you are making efforts to enhance and improve your Japanese skills in order to meet your set study goals.
Before you can become fluent in speaking, you have to improve your listening skills first.
Most Japanese language students find it easier to write than to speak Japanese. This is because putting the right Japanese words together to make a sensible statement can be tricky. Also, when a learner starts to learn the Japanese language, they usually start off with reading and writing vocabs. Most of their study time is spent reading, and the only time they have to practice speaking is the few minutes left from their allotted study time. So, if you find out that you spend most of your time reading and writing instead of speaking, you may never get to improve your speaking skills unless you do something about it.
Becoming fluent in the Japanese language takes more than grammar, reading, and writing. Until you can listen without having to patch up words to understand and converse without difficulty, both combined with fluent grammar, reading, and writing skills, only then can you be referred to as fluent.
Just like any other language, it takes hard work and dedication for you to master your speaking skills even with an extended time. Therefore, to get started with speaking, here are a few steps you must be willing to take.
Step to improve Speaking Skill
Talk to native speakers.
As a Japanese student, if you are fortunate to have native speakers around you or better still you live in Japan, then you have the opportunity to brush up your speaking skills. Don’t confuse fluency for mastery. Why? You may ask. Mastery has to do with knowing all that there is to know and be 100% perfect in skill, and I’m glad to let you know that it is impossible to learn every single thing in the Japanese language or any other language. You can only become familiar with words you are exposed to mostly on a daily basis.
Hence, talk to and with native speakers every time you get an opportunity to do so. Ask questions, listen to how they pronounce, and copy their pronunciation style if possible. The more you are exposed to such opportunities, and you use it well, the better you become at expressing yourself verbally in the Japanese language.
Connect with a language exchange student online
This is another way to brush up your speaking skills. There are a lot of websites built for the sole purpose of language exchange programs. There, you can find several native speakers looking to learn English or your native language, and both of you can learn from each other. This way you can easily learn to hold conversations and also get corrected each time you make a mistake
Also, if you do not live among native speakers or have an online language exchange partner, you can organize your own little Japanese community with friends or other people in the same place as you who are also learning the Japanese language. Invite them over for drinks or a meal, watch Japanese shows or movies together, out with the English and in with the Japanese every time you are together. Do this consistently for a year, and in no time, you’ll become a fluent speaker.
Embrace your mistakes
Don’t let embarrassment stop you from learning what you are supposed to. Each time you speak and make a mistake, that’s an added opportunity to learn better. If you are scared of being laughed at whenever you make mistakes, laugh at yourself first! This will help you put away every ounce of shame or embarrassment and get you to learn what you need to learn. Remember, don’t be afraid to speak because of fear of making mistakes. Fear is just an illusion of the mind.
Read aloud
This is a practical method of improving your Japanese speaking skills. Reading aloud, especially to yourself, gives you the opportunity to listen and correct yourself when necessary. This way, you are unconsciously enhancing your Japanese speaking fluency.
Shadow native speakers
This is basic if you must improve your accent, fluency as well as your ability to understand. This involves you listening to a Japanese native speaker and repeating whatever they say loudly. You can apply the shadowing technique when watching a movie or listening to music
Focus on the easy part first
Don’t try to overwork your pretty little head by leaving the basic conversations and getting into more complex ones. Start simple, start easy, and work your way to the complex conversation. Start with greetings like hello, how are you? What’s your name, where are you from? Etc. This will give you more opportunity to listen to the replies you get and learn from them accordingly.
Read and Study Japanese material intensively.
You can’t just put words together to form a conversation when you haven’t learned how to use them correctly. Carefully study each Japanese vocabulary with consistency, learn how each kana character is rightly pronounced, and how to blend them in an expression. This way, you will easily grasp the usage of Japanese words.
Reading will help you understand sentences well and give you hints on how to use and combine words to make your conversations lively and meaningful.
What you need to understand is that the Japanese language expression is very different from that of the English language. So, if you don’t read to understand how to use each kana correctly, you may end up speaking nonsense each time you try to put up a conversation.
In conclusion, it takes dedication, consistency, and constant practice to improve your Japanese speaking skills. Don’t just imagine conversations in your head, engage in real-life conversations on a daily basis, and you’ll see just how well you are managing conversations fluently.
I hope you found this article helpful to your Japanese learning process. Enjoy!
