Practice speaking in Japanese when you don’t have anyone to talk to

Learning to speak is a skill. When I say a skill I am comparing it to knowledge. Knowledge would be everything you learned about Japanese. That would include words, grammar, facts about the language, and so on. A skill would be actually using that knowledge. So, speaking does require having knowledge but it also requires being able to recall that information when you want to speak. You can have a lot of knowledge about Japanese but have trouble speaking. Mostly it is just an issue of not having enough practice speaking. But, most of us probably don’t have a lot of opportunities to actually use these speaking skills with Japanese people. We could pay for classes to talk to tutors or find people online to talk to. That may not always be an option, however. So, how do you practice speaking Japanese when you don’t have anyone to talk to?

Speaking Japanese without Anyone to Talk to

If you are in this situation then the solution is to talk to yourself. There are ways to do this however to simulate something close to the feeling of having a conversation, however. It is not going to be exactly the same but you can get some of the same benefits. Here are some ways you can practice speaking without having Japanese people to speak to.

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Become the Speaker and the Listener

If you don’t have a Japanese-speaking partner then what you can do is become that speaking partner.  find a room, and designate two seats. One is for you, and the other is, well also for you. Start speaking as yourself in the one spot then transfer to the other spot when you need to take to the role of the other person. By moving positions, you can get into the mindset of being the other person. Try to think of what the other person would say to your responses and vice-a-versa.

Use a Picture or a Doll

If you don’t want to move back and forth, you can take a picture of someone and put it in the chair. Or, if you don’t have a picture put a doll, stuffed animal, or any object that you can think of as the other person.

Borrow a Friend or Family Member

If you feel weird talking to yourself or stuffed animals then another option is to find a real person. A friend or family member or anyone. Ask them to pretend that they understand what you are saying and respond to you by nodding, smiling, or just using their body language. You can even ask them to use some set Japanese phrases to respond to you.

Learning to Speak Japanese

The point of this exercise is obviously not for understanding. It is to help you get used to actually talking to someone. Even if the other person does not speak any Japanese, their body language, eye contact, and so on can still simulate the feelings of having a real conversation. When you are talking to yourself you will likely not speak the same as if you were talking to someone.

Talk with a YouTuber

This next practice can be powerful. Play a video of someone speaking in Japanese. You can find this on YouTube or wherever. Try to find a video of someone that is just speaking to the camera instead of to another person in the video. Then pretend that they are speaking to you. Try to respond to what they say or add little comments here and there. You may need to stop the video a lot in order not to get lost. When you do this exercise mostly you will probably just be responding most of the time instead of adding new thoughts. But this is a great exercise to learn how to respond in Japanese which is a critical part of improving your Japanese communication.

Record Yourself

If you want a little more control over the conversation you can make a recording of yourself speaking in Japanese. When you do so, pretend you are speaking with someone and leave space for them to answer. You can ask questions for yourself to answer later. Then once you made the video play it and play the part of the other person.

Hijack a Dialog

For this exercise find a video of two people talking. Then decide on which person you want to be. Whenever that person is supposed to speak, stop the video and speak in place of them.

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