With each passing day, there is someone somewhere around the world who has just developed an interest in the Japanese language and that someone might be you.
The number of people developing interest as well as learning the Japanese language is increasing yearly. In 2015, over 3.66 million people around the world learned the Japanese language. With statistics like this, Japanese is considered to be the 8th most learned language in the world, with English being the 1st.
Just like any other language, Japanese has some challenges attached to it. It isn’t the easiest language to learn, but with perseverance and consistency, you’ll be surprised at how well you can handle those challenges the come with it.
Although the Japanese language is considered as difficult to learn, that has not stopped people from learning it. They even go as far as sitting for the JLPT just to get certifications for various reasons. Some of the reasons why people learn the Japanese language are:
- To broaden their career opportunities
- For Academic purposes
- To enjoy their favorite Japanese music, tv shows, YouTube channels, and more.
- To learn about the Japanese culture and heritage.
- For fun purposes
- For travel and tourism purposes
- Some people even go as far as familiarizing themselves with the Japanese culture for relationship and marriage purposes.
Just as some people consider the Japanese to be a difficult language, others may consider it as not so difficult. Here are a few reasons why people say that the Japanese language is hard.
- Unlike most languages that have just one writing system, the Japanese language has four writing systems, and that is why it takes longer to learn than any other language. For example, it takes only about 24 weeks of learning to become fluent in french language conversations, but it takes about 88weeks or 2,200 hours to reach general proficiency before you can be considered fluent.
- Officially, The Foreign Service Institute ranked Japanese as one of the most difficult languages for a native English speaker to learn. In fact, it’s ranked at the hardest level.
- The Japanese language has a sentence structure different from that of the English language. A Japanese sentence structure is arranged using the subject-object-verb format while that of English uses the Subject-verb-object format. Hence, translating a Japanese expression go English may sound dumb.
A few reasons why others consider the Japanese language as not so difficult are as follows:
- The Japanese language contains some words that you are already familiar with in English. Words like Kimono, Sensei, Samurai, Tofu, Sushi, Manga, Tsunami, Typhoon, Karate, among many others, are Japanese words you are already familiar with in the English.
- Another reason why Japanese is considered easy to learn is that one word can have different meanings, depending on the context in which it is used.
It is important for you to note that once you get past the difficult phases, you’ll realize that Japanese is quite fun to learn and not all that hard. It’s just that it has so much information you need to learn, and this naturally takes time!
Now that you are on this journey to learn the Japanese language, I’ll rather you concentrate on accomplishing your study/learning goals than being worried about how difficult the learning process may be.
Just like any other language, there are steps that you must follow if you intend to achieve the best results from learning Japanese. But before I show you these steps, it is important that you are intentional about learning this language. No one can force information into your brain or compel you to remember what you have learned. Hence, you have to set goals and be willing to take each necessary step seriously in order to accomplish your set goals. Now that we’ve cleared this out of the air,
10 important steps you should follow in your Japanese learning process.
Step 1: Learn hiragana and katakana
Whether you are a basic, intermediate, or advanced learner, both hiragana and katakana are the basic Japanese writing system that You must learn. They will help you understand the Japanese syllabus, and teach you to pick up pronunciation early. Learning both hiragana and katakana first will also help you know how to spell Japanese words when you hear them for the first time.
Both Hiragana and Katakana have 46 characters each, and so, if you dedicate 2 hours daily to study each of them, within 2-3 days, you’ll become familiar with each character. And trust me, this will definitely make learning Japanese so much easier for you.
Step 2- Engage in basic and useful conversations
The more you speak Japanese with others, the greater your chance of learning and becoming fluent. As a beginner, you can engage in basic conversations such as greetings, how to give a self-introduction, and ask basic questions like how are you? What is your name? Can I help you? Where are you from? Etc.
Also, you should engage in conversations that will be useful to your reasons for learning the Japanese language. These should be conversations you are likely to use every day. If you are learning the Japanese language for traveling/tourism purposes, learn how to ask for directions, order food at a restaurant, or call a taxi. For business purposes, learn the basic vocabulary used in business conversations, and for school purposes, learn school-related vocabs. Whichever reason it may be, Just ensure you don’t stop learning.
Step 3- Learn Kanji
After learning your basic conversations in Japanese, the next step is to focus on learning kanji. This step requires all the concentration and attention you can put into it because you can’t rush your way through learning kanji.
Learning to write kanji isn’t enough; you have to learn to write the strokes of each character correctly. A wrong stroke on a kanji character can change the entire meaning of an expression. Therefore, if you must learn it, you should learn right.
There are a number of E-dictionaries, websites, and textbooks with which you can learn kanji, but it is highly recommended that you learn from a Japanese teacher then review one of the other references whenever you get stuck.
Step 4- Develop and Practice your speaking and listening skills
“Practice makes perfect,” they say. You can’t be considered as fluent in Japanese if you know all the hiragana, katakana, and kanji but haven’t improved on your speaking and listening skills. In fact, what’s the use of knowing every vocab if you can’t use them to express yourself verbally?
Listening to podcasts, Watching tv shows, Japanese YouTube channels, tv programs, movies, cartoons, and the likes will help improve your speaking and listening skills.
Note that you must work on your speaking and listening skills If you intend to take the JLPT N3,
Step 5- Divide your study time into bits
Studying at once can be a good thing, but then, you can learn even faster when you share your study time into bits. For example, if you intend to study for 3hours on a daily basis, you can decide to study for 1hour three times a day, or 45minutes for 4times daily. You should try out different study techniques and stick to whichever works best for you.
Also, when there is a break between your short study times, you tend to be more focused and productive than when you study for a longer time
Step 6- Get yourself a conversation partner.
Communication is the key to learning any language. You’ll never become fluent if you don’t communicate in real-life situations with what you’ve learned. Therefore, if you have native speakers around you, it will be beneficial if you communicate with them as you will be motivated to improve your Japanese language.
You can also meet new people on the internet with whom you’ll be able to speak the Japanese language. Most times, these people are other learners looking to learn your own language while they teach you theirs. Make use of every opportunity you get to communicate with what you learn, and you’ll be amazed at how fluent you’ll become.
Step 7- listen to Japanese podcasts
You need to make podcasts your best friend. You can’t attend a class or study a material all-day long. Hence, you can listen to podcasts on a train, when you are driving, on the street, walking, etc. There are a lot of podcasts available online for beginners, intermediates, and advanced learners. For best results, and to accomplish your learning goals, make listening to podcasts part of your daily routine.
Step 8: Take a class or an online course
As a beginner, the best way to start your Japanese language learning process is by signing up for an online course, Japanese classes at a school near you, or hiring a private tutor. This can also apply to intermediate and advanced Japanese learners that intend to enhance their Japanese language studies and brush on their skills.
Having a teacher, tutor, or instructor guide you, especially at the start of your learning process, is beneficial and highly recommended. This is because you may find it difficult navigating through and understand your first lessons when you self-study.
Step 9- Avoid too much translation.
Every time you translate from Japanese to the English language just to understand what is being said, you steal an opportunity from yourself to learn — in fact, translating from Japanese to English or vice versa doesn’t really sound the way it does in your head. The meaning of a Japanese sentence can drastically change when translated word-by-word to form a sentence in English. Hence, Instead of translating, try to understand what the sentence or expression means, learn how to pronounce it correctly, and memorize the situations in which it is used. This will definitely help you learn better.
Step 10- practice every single day
Whether you are just starting to learn the Japanese language or you are looking to enhance the knowledge you already have, you need to practice always with each given opportunity. To practice means to incorporate Japanese into your everyday life. This shouldn’t be hard, especially if you live among native Japanese speakers. Find an opportunity that makes you practice every day. In the absence of a native speaker, or language exchange student, you can also talk to your family members and friends even if they don’t understand you (this should be fun!). I’ve heard stories of people who talk with their pets all because they are trying to practice a new language they learned. A large percentage of these people said it worked for them. Why not try and see if it works for you too?
Bonus step- take it slow and have fun
Don’t rush the process. Take it one step at a time. The truth about learning the Japanese language is that there are basically no shortcuts to achieving the best results. The goal is to learn the required numbers of words, improve and enhance your speaking and listening skills, as well as becoming fluent in each conversation you make; therefore, you can’t just rush this within a short time frame. Hence, take your time to do what needs to be done, it’s ok to make mistakes and laugh at them. Learn the lyrics to Japanese songs, and sing along, watch movies over and over again without translations. In fact, have fun with each step you take, and you’ll discover that Japanese isn’t as tough as it is made to look.
In conclusion, don’t just focus on one aspect of the Japanese language while you allow the other aspects lag. Always remember that in order to have a well-rounded language-learning experience, you’ll need to learn the whole package, which includes vocab and grammar, speaking, listening as well as writing skills! Learning Japanese should be considered an adventure. Now that you have an understanding of what steps you’ll need to take in order to learn Japanese, be conscious about each step you take and watch how fluent you’ll become with time.
Good luck with your Japanese learning journey!