I have been studying Japanese for years, and I have had a chance to try just about every method to learn this language. After thousands of hours of practice, I can share two aspects of learning Japanese that have made the biggest difference in my progress: 1.) heavy repetition, and 2.) having fun so that I would keep coming back to my lessons.
Japanese Study Methods
I may not have always been the best student, but I have been working on learning to speak and understand Japanese almost every day for over 10 years.
I have done listen-and-repeat audio lessons. I have taken in-person college classes to learn Japanese in an organized setting. On the bookshelf in my home, I have a stack of Japanese language books including the Genki series, the Minna no Nihongo books, and several books about Japanese characters like the Basic Kanji Book. I have completed a two-year, full-time language program in Japan, in the classroom studying Japanese five days a week, four hours a day. I have had one-on-one private lessons in Japanese. I have used several apps and web-based programs to study as well. And…
I have also used games to study Japanese. In fact, using games like LangLandia to learn Japanese can be an especially effective and fun way to learn.
Tips for Becoming Fluent in Japanese
The biggest surprise for me as a student of Japanese has been how slowly my learning has progressed. Even living here in “complete immersion” in the culture of Japan has not helped me to achieve fluency in Japanese quickly. I can express myself in many different contexts, but it is still challenging to follow along in even an average conversation.
Looking back at my history with the language, I have a better sense now for what has worked for me. My favorite ways to study Japanese have two things in common: they give me opportunities to repeat, and repeat, and repeat the lessons; and they are interesting and fun enough to bring me back to those lessons again and again.
Repetition and Fun Help You Learn Japanese Vocabulary
The most basic expressions in Japanese like “コンビニに行きます” (“I will go to the convenience store”) are easy enough to learn, but they are not enough to have a real conversation. Most of the words in an average conversation are used just often enough to be important, but not often enough to make them easy to remember.
Even basic fluency in Japanese requires you to learn so many words. For me, what began as exposure to vocabulary and sentences, then led to recognition and understanding of those less-common phrases in conversation. Along the way, heavy repetition was required to help me retain the words, and to make the language intuitively available when I was in conversation.
How Long Does It Take to Really Learn Japanese?
The Japanese language requires more time to learn than most languages.
The US State Department has a list of several common languages, divided into four categories (I – IV) based on their estimates of how many hours are required for a native English-speaker to learn that language. Spanish is a Category I language, and they estimate it takes about 600 – 750 class hours to reach proficiency. German is in Category II (900 hours). Russian is a Category III language, and takes a little longer (1100 class hours). As one of the four languages listed as a Category IV language, learning to speak Japanese is one of the most difficult, and is estimated to take approximately 2200 hours to learn.
I confess, when I discovered that Japanese is classified as a difficult Category IV language, I felt a little better about how long it has taken me to become even somewhat proficient.
Japanese may require even more repetition and commitment than some other languages. And because Japanese is so difficult, students of Japanese are wise to pursue study materials that both provide the exposure that creates understanding, and have enough entertainment value to keep students motivated along the way.
Comprehensible Input
Language experts like Professor Stephen Krashen tell us that what we need is not necessarily memorization, but hours and hours of “input,” and specifically what he calls “comprehensible input.”
Professor Brown is another language expert that does a great job of explaining some of these ideas in ways that helped me understand:
“We know for a fact that babies don’t learn language, they acquire language. Babies acquire language, naturally, subconsciously, spontaneously, without even thinking about it. They acquire language through what is called ‘comprehensible input.'”
— Professor Jeff Brown, Associate Professor at Orange Coast College
Professor Brown suggests that we will learn in the same ways babies do. First, through extensive, ongoing exposure to “comprehensible input” we learn to recognize more and more phrases, and the patterns in which sentences are constructed. Then, through repetition, the language becomes part of our long-term understanding. Speaking and writing can come later.
“Input” is Better Than Writing
It has been interesting to discover that many experts discourage language learners from writing (and even speaking), and want you to begin by simply acquiring words you will use later as your studies progress.
“I would not do any reading or writing for a really long time. I think it is so easy to do after you have a 5000-word vocabulary.”
— Professor Jeanne Egasse, (formerly of Irvine Community College)
It makes sense to me that study methods that help you simply acquire words and phrases should come first. Writing, studying Japanese grammar, and even speaking become easier once you have acquired this “5,000” word level of proficiency that Professor Egasse recommends.
Learn, Forget, and Relearn
Another language expert with excellent comments on learning Japanese and other languages is Steve Kaufmann. He speaks 20 languages, and learned 11 languages after he was 60 years old.
“We don’t remember things very well; we keep them for a short while and they are forgotten. What the brain is very good at is gradually, by dint of getting all these things that you learn and forget, learn and forget, the brain starts to form patterns.”
— Steve Kaufmann
Kaufmann is critical of traditional approaches to teaching Japanese, with their emphasis on grammar, memorization, and testing. He says traditional language instruction is ineffective and discouraging.
“This is why traditional language instruction is so bad, because it discourages people – because we ‘forgot’ things.”
That has certainly been my experience. In my formal Japanese language classes, I was taught too much, too early – before I had much of a vocabulary, I could not absorb what they were teaching. Not only did I not retain that instruction, but there was so little review, and so much new material, I struggled, and always fell behind.
I cannot say that I enjoyed my time in language school. At a certain point, the pace of new material was “incomprehensible” to me (it was “over my head”) and not helpful (at all). When we think about how we teach babies to learn a language, we do expose them to new words and vocabulary, but we also keep coming back to their level.
To practice regularly, and to stay at my level, I have needed to spend most of my time in repetition of words I could recognize, but had not yet learned.
Using Games to Learn Japanese
Language games can be a fantastic way to learn, because they provide the input in a fun way, and allow you to repeat lessons until you have enough of the basics to communicate.
“The game-based approach of LangLandia helps to keep learners motivated and engaged, making it easier to retain new vocabulary, grammar, and sentence structures.”
— LangLandia
Games allow – and sometimes require – you to “stay at your level” (which is where understanding happens) before you progress. I often wished my language school would have held me at a certain level, and allowed more time for acquisition, instead of pushing me forward into material I was not ready for. It has been my experience that once you move beyond what you can understand, you are mostly wasting your time.
Games provide the fun that helps you willingly jump into another study session. Day after day, from all those sessions, by using repetition, you naturally acquire more words.
We Acquire a Language “Subconsciously” Through Exposure
Professor Brown’s comment about “subconsciously” learning a language interests me as an intermediate-level student of Japanese.
Even with less-common words, over the years I have been increasingly able to “produce” the right words in conversation. I study, I learn, I forget, I relearn, I see a term again and again, and then I am surprised as that word is increasingly “there” for me as I listen or speak. I can suddenly hear it more often around me, and understand it more in conversation.
Experts like Professor Brown are less interested in rote memorization, and are more likely to encourage us to keep “taking it in,” day after day, at our own level (so it is “comprehensible”), until it “subconsciously” feels like a part of us in a natural way. That is, in fact, how we learned our original language.
Games to learn Japanese can be an ideal way to find sources of “comprehensible input” that are fun, engaging, and easy to repeat, over and over.
Exposure to Input and Repetition
“You can start anywhere, but obviously it helps to have repetition. That gives the brain a better chance to form patterns.”
— Steve Kaufmann
The endless repetition has been key for me. Every few months, I will come across a word I may have studied before, but that is not yet a part of my working vocabulary. Each study session provides both new words and repetition of words that are already familiar. Because they are familiar, I can begin to understand them in context.
“It’s just exposure. I don’t wrack my brain trying to remember. Just exposure.”
— Steve Kaufmann
When you use games to study a language, you do not have to “memorize,” you just have to keep playing; we acquire the language as we “continue to play.”
You Learn More When You Enjoy the Process
“I still think learning language comes down to finding a way to enjoy it.”
— Steve Kaufmann
Games like LangLandia will make it easier to practice, practice, practice, and let your mind “discover” the patterns of Japanese over time.
頑張ってください (do your best)!
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About the Author
Graham Hill is a writer living and working in Japan. He writes about Japanese culture, and operates ICHIBAN NO MACHI, a restaurant review website in Sapporo, Japan.
