Why learn Japanese?

One of the most important languages of Asia, Japan holds the worlds 3rd largest economy and offers business opportunities for many globally, its technology sector is vast and its traditional and modern cultures provide excellent opportunities to delve deeper into language and life there. Most companies in IT, customer support and translation look for individuals that can speak Japanese and would certainly offer career advantages.

Learning the language is not only beneficial for work, it is also a sure way to get up close with Japanese culture; anime, manga, food and many other parts of its heritage.

Focus on the fundamentals first

Most beginners make the biggest mistake of trying to learn everything at once, but focus on the essentials and then gradually expand.

There are three writing systems in Japanese:

Hiragana- This is a basic Japanese script used to write Japanese words, and most of the grammar in the language.

Katakana- This writing system is most often used for writing non-Japanese loanwords.

Kanji- This is a Chinese script and is most commonly used for many advanced writings and words in the Japanese language.

So, the focus is to get your knowledge of these two systems Hiragana and Katakana before moving onto Kanji. Even practicing this for twenty to thirty minutes a day will make the biggest difference in your journey.

Practice consistently everyday

The biggest key to effective learning, is consistent practice rather than long hours once a week, doing so is effective because it constantly refreshes your mind, helping your memory learn vocabulary and the grammer structure.

To form this learning habit try to follow the below:

Learn 5 new words a day

Watch Japanese shows with subtitles

Practice speaking basic sentences aloud

Listen to podcasts/songs in Japanese

Review what you've learned on a daily basis

Speaking some simple phrases, such as ‘Ohayo’ (Good morning) or ‘Arigato’ (Thank you) helps build speaking confidence.

Enroll in the right online class

A good system for learning saves months of guesswork and the wrong learning practices that people tend to follow (by random YouTube videos). By joining a good learning system, such as an Online Japanese Course, you will learn all that you need, from pronunciation, vocabulary, the grammar structure, and conversational aspects of the Japanese language in a step-by-step manner, whilst also helping with motivation, as the structured lessons can help track your progression and highlight your improvements.

The Nihongo Max platform for example offers some excellent online lessons and conversational practice to help anyone at any level learn the language from scratch.

Begin speaking from day 1

Even though you may understand spoken Japanese, many feel awkward speaking the language out loud. The easiest way to develop speaking fluency is by getting out there and just speaking, from day 1, even if you are making grammatical errors:

‘Watashi wa Rahul desu.’- I am Rahul.

‘Kore wa nan desu ka?’- What is this?

The best thing about speaking like this from the beginning is to help your mind adapt to the thought process behind the language. The key to learning is to try, and fluency follows practice and experimentation.

Engage the language with your daily life

If you begin to use the language when performing simple day-to-day actions the faster you will pick it up. Use the language with:

Changing your phone to the Japanese language

Labeling items around your house with the Japanese names

Trying to write in a diary with simple Japanese sentences

Thinking in Japanese with simple sentence structures.

These small, practical exercises will aid your memory retention and help language learning to become second nature.

Learn the language through entertainment

One reason why so many people choose to learn Japanese is because of the sheer abundance of entertaining media in the language. Watching anime and other dramas, listening to music or browsing manga are great ways to enhance your vocabulary and overall understanding of spoken Japanese through repetition.

These forms of entertainment should support the learning of the grammar structure and the use of a systematic Japanese course, not fully take its place.

Grammar isn't a barrier

Even though the sentence structure in Japanese may be confusing at first and seem unlike the English language, learning these differences takes practice and understanding. For example:

'I eat sushi.' is written as 'Watashi wa sushi o tabemasu.' in Japanese.

At first it may be confusing and difficult to recognize, but with enough practice and patience the structure will slowly begin to click.

The simplest way to improve is by not giving up!

Conclusion

Overall the speed of learning a new language such as Japanese relies entirely on the amount of correct methods that you apply with a consistent habit and of course, with the appropriate support available.

Nowadays you have online classes that allow learning to be available through a convenient and useful manner and it comes in readily accessible from wherever in the world. With the right kind of persistence, and the correct teaching methods you can slowly learn Japanese with great ease. If you are ready to jump right into it you should consider an online course.