Difference between Japanese Skills and Knowledge

Learning Japanese requires acquiring a large inventory of facts, language patterns, vocabulary, and so on. We can call this knowledge of Japanese. Next, in order to use what you know though knowledge is not enough. You need to practice in order to feel comfortable and to be able to recall your knowledge easily. We can call this part of language learning skills. If you are going to learn Japanese it is vital to work on both of these components. But, this is something that most successful language learners may do without knowing and thus is often not talked about. So, here I would like to explain how I understand the difference between them

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Japanese Skills vs Knowledge

During my time learning Japanese I have come across many situations that gave me trouble. I would know that I knew something but would still make mistakes. I think this is the story for many language learners. You can know something but still, have trouble using it.

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At the same time, some people may seem like they have no trouble saying what they want to. But, in reality, they are making mistakes left and right. These people may not even be aware of their own mistakes. This is something that I also had issues with.

Not being able to use what you know is an issue with lacking skills. Fluently speaking or using Japanese unaware of all your errors on the other hand would be an issue with knowledge. People can have issues with both skills and knowledge or issues with one over the other.

What is Japanese Knowledge?

What I mean by knowledge is hard to explain in a single definition. But, you can think of it as all of the information you learn and remember about Japanese. Basically, anything you read on this blog, watch in a video, see in a book or learn at school is knowledge.

What is a Japanese Skill?

Skills are what you develop after you have knowledge of Japanese. You can think of skills as everything that a course, book, blog, or podcast can not teach you. These are things that require you to take action in order to activate. Skills can be summed up as being able to comfortably, and spontaneously recall then use your Japanese knowledge without needing to be prompted.

List of Skills and Knowledge

There is overlap between these categories which we will talk about later, but you can generally separate knowledge and skills like this

Knowledge

Words
Kanji, Hiragana, Katakana
Grammar Rules
Knowing how things should be pronounced
Knowledge of facts about the Japanese language (ex: Japanese has a polite form or the language)

Skills

Speaking and Writing
Listening and Reading
Thinking in Japanese
Properly using the correct polite language during speech in the correct social situations.

Knowledge and Skills can be Tricky to Differentiate

Most courses in Japanese and a lot of books will give you drills or test your knowledge. You may be given a sentence and asked to fill in the blank. If you are able to fill in the blank with the correct word this means that you have knowledge. It does not mean that this is a skill though. Anytime you are tested, or being asked for a specific answer that is knowledge.

So, anytime you are studying flashcards and you answer correctly then that is knowledge. Under my definition of skill, you need to be able to spontaneously recall and use the information without being prompted. It is true that in a conversation you have lots of prompts when talking to someone, but usually, they are not asking for a specific answer like a test.

How to Differentiate between Knowledge and Skills

Here are some examples of things you will studying when learning Japanese. You can think of, vocabulary, grammar, pronunciation, and so on as being a coin with two sides. One is knowledge and the other skills.

Vocabulary

Knowledge of vocabulary would be anything words you learned from a dictionary, a class, and so on. When you learn flashcards on Memrise, complete the entire tree on Duolingo, you learn knowledge. You may learn all the vocabulary and grammar through these two methods. In order to know if it is a skill though you need to speak, write, or talk to yourself to see which words pop up in your head. Under my definition, you could think of your active vocabulary as your skill vocabulary and your passive vocabulary as your knowledge. Active vocabulary would be the words you can use freely and passive would then just be the words you know when you hear them.

Grammar

Just like vocabulary Grammar can be knowledge or skill. If you learn all the rules of the Japanese language you may be able to recognize them when you read but have trouble using the grammar correctly. This means that you learned a lot but it has not been ingrained to the point of being able to use it as a skill.

Pronunciation

Japanese is a language with intonation. That means that words are accented through the pitch. Learning Japanese intonation can be tricky. For most non-natives, the difference between the pitch is so subtle that it is hard to pick up. So, you can spend months learning the correct pitch. That would of course be knowledge. But, unless you are able to listen and differentiate or use the correct pitch when you speak, then you don’t have the skill of proper intonation.

Also, if you are interested in learning Japanese I have reviewed what I consider the best resource for Japanese Grammar below: