Learning Japanese – Is This Going To Take Forever Or What?
Will it take years and years to learn Japanese fluently? Quite a few beginners with the Japanese language want fast results. The real answer to “how long does it take?” is dependent on how much work you’re willing to put in.
People really don’t worry about how long it will take to learn Japanese. Typically, they really want to know how hard they will have to work. And undoubtedly, there is no clear-cut way to tell someone exactly how long or how much work it will take to master the language. However the biggest factor for learning to speak Japanese as fast as possible is the motivation to learn the language.
Being able to speak Japanese is actually rather simple if you are willing to learn and don’t let yourself get overwhelmed. You’ll find that there is a pretty wide spread of people out there. Some of them are so determined that they can learn Japanese in a few quick months, while other people actually live in Japan for several years and still make use of the point-and-grunt approach to communicating.
Although expensive, the best way to learn Japanese is to take language classes or get a personal tutor. Nothing is more effective than actually putting your Japanese into practice with real people. If, like me, you can’t really afford to pay out thousands of dollars on language classes you can still learn Japanese with books or language software programs. These are all superb ways to get a good understanding of the Japanese language and kick-start your studying.
We all know that you’re never going to become fluent if you just read and never put your Japanese into practice, so look for every opportunity you get to chat someone up in Japanese. Put aside the time to practice speaking Japanese with people that are already fluent in Japanese or other classmates too. Use what you learn and you will be shocked at how fast you can really learn Japanese. Talking to people that already speak fluent Japanese is great too for figuring out the more fun words and phrases that you probably won’t learn from a textbook (if you know what I mean).
Don’t pay attention to anyone that tells you that learning spoken Japanese is tough. Chances are most of these people have never tried it themselves, or if they have they never really put much energy into it. Once you begin, you’ll see just how easy it is. However, I must confess, that learning to read and write Japanese, is probably going to be more of a task.
Learning to speak Japanese will be a cinche, but if you’re like me, you’ll probably start to get lost when it comes to learning the intricate writing system. Hiragana and Katakana won’t take you more than a few weeks to learn, but things start getting hairy when you dive into the Kanji. Are you ready to confront your fears and memorize nearly 2000 characters?
Don’t pull your hair out and run shouting in frustration, though. Learning to read and write Japanese is equivalent to learning to speak it. It simply requires constant practice and application. Don’t use Romaji to learn Japanese. It will only harm you in the end. Another great tip is to associate certain symbols with pictures. For example, the Kanji character for “me” (which means “eye”) looks like an eye with two eyelids. Let the creativity flow and you’ll find that it is pretty simple to think of ways to memorize the Kanji.
So how much time is it going to take to learn Japanese? It is going to take you just as long as you need. We each learn in a different and unique way, but the most critical thing is that you devote yourself to learning the language. Don’t stop and make the time to practice everyday.
If this information helped you and you’re ready to learn Japanese, check out useful Japanese phrases and is it hard to learn Japanese.
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