I have been studying for a while now this beautiful language. Japanese has been a journey that never gets old. I keep finding books, apps, and methods to ramp up my ability to understand the language. However, I cannot begin to express the challenge it has been. Being able to read, write, and speak while learning on your own is no easy feat. The amount of discipline and motivation needed to maintain focus is immense but not impossible.
I personally struggle with remembering what I’ve learned without the assistance of my materials. So thats when I came to the grim reality of it all. I NEED TO SPEAK. Yes, speaking. Of course we can memorize lists of words and phrases but what does that matter if we can’t recall them when we need it.
Therefore I began taking a more proactive approach and reaching out to a multitude of people and started putting my knowledge to use. Of course that was only half the battle but before I touch on that let’s talk positive. I was not prepared for how well received my efforts where by the native speakers. It almost gave me a false sense of bravado which can be a bit dangerous. I was praised for my understanding with vocabulary and my ability to respond however short my phrases were. However, it also showed me that I knew a lot more than I thought I did.
Now I am by no means saying I’m fluently conversational but I was able to say enough to be understood. Then it really hit me the importance of speaking. I was able to remember my conversations better than I was able to remember random flash cards. Wait. I am not knocking on the flashcards, don’t attack me yet. Without the flashcards or apps like Anki, I wouldn’t know most of my basic vocabulary. Spatial repetition definitely helps big time when you’re first starting your journey.
Conversations, on the other hand, offer something textbooks and flashcards don’t. Emotional memory. You read correctly, emotional. What do I mean by this? Well let me give you an example. Let’s say you are studying with a textbook, everything is fine and you do a mini quiz. Once your done you check your answers and realize you got one wrong. You re-read the question then read the correct answer to try to establish the connection. Now next time you might end up messing up again and again and again until you don’t.
With me so far?
Ok now let’s say you are speaking with someone and that person giggles and corrects your sentence. At this point you might feel a little embarrassed or flustered. At this point the brain is now associating the emotion your feeling at that moment with what you just learned. When that happens you are more likely to remember what you learned next time around.
Make sense?
It’s similar to associating pain with something. You learn not to do it again or to be careful because the result is pain, be it learning to walk, ride a bike, touching a candle etc.
Speaking the target language with a native speaker or with someone at a higher level than you can offer a faster retention rate than studying with books. Of course I don’t recommend this if you don’t have a foundation.
Foundation is key to any language journey. How you create that foundation is completely up to the student. Some learn best in a classroom while others learn on their own. Some like books while others like app or videos. Personally I like doing a little bit of everything. It keeps me on my toes.
Some apps that helped me start my building block are:
Duolingo: Now I know this app tends to get a lot of hate for some reason, however, for someone who is a complete beginner this offers a great free learning experience. It also has a very vocal community that help you understand when you are stuck. For example if you get something wrong, on the bottom of the screen it’ll show the correct answer and a little comment bubble. If you click the bubble it’ll open a thread from other users that can provide insight as to why the answer is what it is.
Busuu: This was very interesting. It offers a free version and paid version. When you first log on it asks you a few questions to get an idea of your goal. After, it sets up the lessons. In the free version you have access to almost everything minus the quizzes and select exercises.
Takoboto Dictionary: This is a god send. You can look up any word in English or Japanese and it’ll give you the correct spelling, kanji, stroke order, pronunciation, and example sentences. It is my go to for everything.
Easy Japanese : Last but not least, this app has fun mini lessons using scenarios with a student. If you are familiar with NHK Learning then this app is for you.
Once you have a good grasp on the basics then being able to put what you know into practice won’t be as hard but it can still be a bit scary. I have spoken to so many individuals and still get stage freight.
Now remember when I said it’s only half the battle? Well this was just my personal experience but when using the app for language exchange you have to be weary of the creeps. I’m sure this might happen to men as well so I don’t want to say it’s because I’m a woman but you will come across the occasional person that doesn’t care about learning. Truly they only care if you are willing to share pictures or have sexual conversations. So unfortunately I have had to report or block many many people. At the end of the day don’t let those experiences take away from what you want to accomplish. There are still many out there who truly want to learn and are willing to teach.
Then there’s the struggle of colloquial terms that don’t translate well. I’ve had many conversations where either I or the speaking partner said something in which we felt offended by the other. We then back peddled at the speed of light to break down what we meant. Sometimes I have to admit it’ll get awkward after the misunderstanding gets cleared and we stop speaking to one another but most of the time we can laugh it off. Definitely a learning experience.
Now I’m sure you’re curious as to what apps I’ve been using to talk with people around the world. So here they are:
Hellotalk: This app is like facebook meets language learning. You can speak with anyone from your target language by responding to a live feed of whatever they post. Some post about anime, other post on food, some post on their homework asking for help. What makes this unique is the correction tools it provides to help correct mistakes.
Tandem: This nifty app is more like a texting app. You go through a list of people in your target language and send them a message. Simple as that. It doesn’t have many correctional tools like Hellotalk but its pretty cool.
Well there you have it. Speaking is definitely best in my opinion for really getting a grasp of any language really. Making vocal mistakes, having a funny, serious, or chill conversation and associating that with the mood, moment, or emotion provides the perfect recipe for reaching fluency.
So what are you waiting for?
行きましょう❗
