My Language Learning Journey - Ups & Downs - 17 Years Old+

Are you studying Japanese hard but cannot speak with confidence?

I understand your frustration because learning Japanese for you is the same process as learning English for a Japanese person.

So I was also frustrated when I was studying English as a Japanese person.

But don’t worry, you can master speaking Japanese on your own!

I’ll share how I mastered speaking English from zero!

I’m a professional Japanese teacher with over 20 years of experience at UK universities, the foreign office and Japanese companies in London. I studied Applied Japanese Linguistics.

So, I’m sure my story and learning tips from my experience as (1) an English language learner, (2) a Japanese language teacher and (3) an applied Japanese linguist will make your Japanese learning journey much smoother!

You probably learn Japanese with dedication, but you still cannot use them when you speak?

I felt exactly the same when I was studying English.

I talked about my childhood and why my environment was not good for learning English at all in the previous article. so, please check it if you haven’t.

On this post, I’ll continue my story from the time I finally started studying English at the age of 17.

I’ll give you my learning tips at the end of this article. Now, this is how I studied the language. First, I opened the old textbook that I used when I was 13.

I studied from the scratch like really basic sentence patterns. Memorising spelling was very tough because it wasn’t phonetic unlike Japanese language.

My English teachers couldn’t speak English and the lessons were based on reading and writing. We sometimes read a sentence aloud but never had a conversation practice.

The method was just memorising and regular tests. Some people are good at it, but I really wasn’t. Just repeating without logical understanding took me so much time until I retained them into a long-term memory.

You know, I wasn’t a good student…

Reading and writing weren’t fun in terms of language learning. Of course, it’s great if you like it, but for me, I really wanted to be able to speak! So, I started saying example sentences on the textbook out loud.

I didn’t have a chance to talk about myself because those sentences were all about the main characters on the textbook.

But actually, reading it aloud really helped my memory because it was more stimulus. Our brain can remember better by using more physical senses with our eyes, ears and mouth. It’s scientifically proven as Total Physical Response, by St. Jose State University.

I’d recommend you say it aloud when you learn new Japanese sentence patterns and Japanese expressions especially if you find it hard to just memorise them. You don’t need a Japanese speaking partner to begin with! Simply speak Japanese a lot on your own as a preparation for your real conversation with a real Japanese person!

Now, I’d like to share my Japanese learning tips form my learning and teaching experiences.

MY TIPS for HOW TO LEARN & SPEAK JAPANESE

🌸As an English Learner

It was good I studied new expressions every single day because native speakers use 1500 to 3000 words in their daily conversation. I’m sure that it’s more effective if you select and learn from useful Japanese phrases that you can actually use immediately in your daily life.

🌸As a Japanese Teacher

Select a Japanese learning app or a Japanese textbook which helps you to learn the most relevant expressions for your learning purpose. If you want to speak Japanese, select a course which gives you a lot of speaking practice. If you want to talk about your needs and feelings, select a course which helps you express yourself!

I mean, if it is practical for you to learn how to say ‘smart phone’, ‘to post’ or ‘to send an image’ in Japanese, you can remember them easily without an effort.

🌸As an Applied Japanese Linguist

How Japanese people see a certain situation reflects the Japanese expressions, like positive people always say positive words, and negative people say negative words.

For example, why word order is totally opposite between English and Japanese language?

Native English speakers focus on a core pin-point information first, then add more information one after another.

Japanese native speakers see the whole picture first and break it down into the main point.

So, understanding Japanese perspectives helps your logical understanding and as a result it stays in your brain far better than just repeating without any logical understanding especially for adults. immersion and communicative approach works only for children in terms of effective Japanese language learning.

This is the reason why multi language learning apps are not suitable for learning Japanese.

That’s why I created an online self-study Japanese speaking course, ‘Master Speaking Japanese’ . Many students who were stuck and lost confidence started speaking immediately after taking my Japanese course.

This is a comment from a student who struggled with learning Japanesefor the last 20 years and finally started speaking Japanese with confidence.

"Always over the years I've tried Duolingo, I’ve tried different apps, but it didn't stick. I couldn't speak it at all.

Then, last year, I came across the 'Master Speaking Japanese' course and I thought, 'Try, maybe this will work.'

And I was pleasantly surprised, I have to say, I found it really worked!

I found that even after a short time, I started not only understanding it better because the explanations went into a lot more detail, not just linguistically but culturally. 

It's very, very practical. 

You can start speaking right from the beginning of the course, which I found myself doing.

I couldn't believe it!

‘Oh my God, it's sticking!’

It's finally sticking!!! After what, 20 years?

Talking face-to-face, so to speak. And with the recorded videos, it felt like it's a room!

I felt like I was in a room with you(me-Arai) and I was able to answer your questions.

Master Speaking Japanese is the only one that I found that ticks all the boxes.

It's highly practical. It's very simple. There's a lot of culture involved. You can study whenever you want, and you get lots of speaking practice.

This course is too comfortable to drop out!"

My mission & passion are to make you feel Japanese is easy to learn and achieve your goals. The right method will take you there.

You are welcome to join the Master Speaking Japanese course from www.araiacademy.com.

On the next story, I’ll share how I mastered pronunciation. I know Japanese pronunciation is challenging. It was the same when I practised my English pronunciation. So, you’ll be fine!

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Thank you for learning Japanese! See you on the next story!