日本語学習 – How to learn Japanese
If you have wondered how to learn Japanese, the steps are simple but it will take you a while and will require dedication. Basically, you will need to follow this formula:
- Start Learning Japanese
- Set Some Goals
- Make Time to Study
- Stay Motivated
All of these steps are important. However depending on your time, resources, and personality the way you execute your plan will be different. Let’s take a look at these steps one by one.
INDEX
Start Learning Japanese
I am going to assume that you are wanting to know how to learn Japanese on your own. If you are open to taking classes in Japanese or if you are moving to Japan though you will still need to spend solo-time learning so the steps are still the same.
So anything you want to do in life requires getting started. In order to start learning Japanese, you will need to have some resources to study from. These resources can be
- Books
- Websites
- Apps
- Teachers
- Videos
- Podcasts
Or whatever you want. I would suggest though getting a mix between the types of study resources. If you want to go the free route and not buy any books then that is fine. In that case, the internet has a lot to offer.
https://japaneseuniverse.com/2024/02/18/pac-man-in-japaneseconcepts-behind-development-to-global-icon/If you don’t want to talk to people that is ok too. You can watch videos, and read a lot to learn. The point to getting started is to figure out what you enjoy doing and to do that. But, I would suggest trying to get practice in the following four categories
- Reading
- Writing
- Listening
- Speaking
These are the four categories of learning a foreign language. In the beginning, though you will mainly be just reading learner material. After you learn enough Kanji though you can start reading broader material which will allow your learning to take off. It is important to get exposure in all of these four categories but I personally believe it is better to focus on learning to read Kanji well in the beginning. That will give you more access to more material than if you were to continually put it off.
Set Some Goals
You can pretty much start studying at any time and start where ever you like. Once you do get started though inevitably you will get lost in the ocean of different things you can study. In order to learn how to study Japanese efficiently try setting some goals.
These don’t need to be hard goals or specific goals. Just try to have a direction to aim for. For example, as I mentioned above, my first goal for Japanese was to learn Kanji. I decided that because I thought it would allow me to read native texts sooner. Of course, before I could do that I needed to learn some basics about the Japanese language. So, I read through an introductory textbook I had borrowed from someone. That gave me a basic knowledge of grammar and some common words. Once I finished that thought I jumped right into learning Kanji.
Make Time to Study
Now that you have started learning and have some goals you will need to make time to study. Everyone will have a different amount of time they can dedicate to learning. What you will want to do is figure out two things about your time:
- How much Dedicated Time can I make to learn Japanese?
- How can I learn Japanese when I don’t have time?
時間 – Make Time to Study Japanese without Eliminating other Activities
First, once you know how much time you can dedicate per day, per week or whenever to Japanese you can start scheduling when to study. During your dedicated time try focusing on doing the tasks that require more focus. That will be reading textbooks, writing, speaking, and so on.
For most people, this will feel like not enough time. If that is the case you will want to get creative. You can use your environment to learn Japanese by putting up sticky notes in Japanese or multitask by listening to things in Japanese while doing other activities.
Stay Motivated
Finally, if you have got a good study plan in place you will just want to continue to keep doing what you are doing.
When you start learning Japanese everything is exciting in the beginning. Every new word you learn feels like you have increased your ability 1000%. After a while though, when you start forgetting words and feel yourself straining to listen to what people say you can get pretty discouraged. That is why it is important to have three things ready to combat these feelings:
- Know that you will have trouble and will feel discouraged
- Continue to focus on why you are studying Japanese
- Mix up what you do to stay motivated
So, just having the right mindset will allow you to keep going when it is not fun. If you know that you will get discouraged but continue to focus on why you started studying Japanese in the first place you will be able to more easily get through those times.
Now, sometimes though you will have the right mindset but still not be able to continue on. That is when you will want to mix up your studies or even take a break. For example, if you keep doing nothing but watch Japanese YouTube videos all day you may get discouraged by not understanding what is being said. If this is the case then try taking a break and do something else that feels more fun to you at the moment. Inevitably what will happen is you will get motivated again and have the power to move on.
