Learning to Speak Japanese
Learning how to speak Japanese is one of the key skills for learning Japanese. Speaking is a complex skill requiring knowledge of vocabulary, grammar, phonology, and so on. It is also linked with the skill of listening. Even before that, being able to speak requires being able to think about what you want to say. Let’s take a look at the steps and techniques you can use to learn how to speak Japanese.
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How to Speak Japanese
Learning how to speak Japanese requires getting past two types of hurdles.
- Learning the Speaking Skills
- Getting past Psychological Barriers
In another article, I wrote all about psychological issues or fears we may have about speaking. Take a look if you are interested.
Other than those issues we have the actual process of learning the skill of speaking. That would be learning to activate our knowledge through actually vocalizing words, phrases and having conversations.
https://japaneseuniverse.com/2024/02/18/pac-man-in-japaneseconcepts-behind-development-to-global-icon/Learn how to Think in Japanese
Thinking is not the same as speaking but it is related to speaking. Learning to think in Japanese is actually a prerequisite to being able to create proper phrases and to get used to the structure of the Japanese language. After all, you need to think about what you say before you can say it. I have another article that goes into more detail on how you can learn to speak in Japanese. If you have not read it yet take a look and then come back here.
Thinking in Japanese, a Critical Skill to Fluency in Japanese
Speaking Out loud
Basically, in order to learn how to speak in Japanese, you will actually need to speak. But, after some practice with thinking in Japanese, actually speaking in Japanese will be a lot easier. It will not feel natural at first but with some practice, you will get more and more used to it. You will notice that at first, it will take a little bit of effort to say what you are thinking. You may be a lot slower at saying something than you would be thinking it. That is ok and natural. You can even use this as a way to measure your fluency.
The Less you need to Think, the more Fluent you become
As I stated earlier, learning to speak Japanese is a skill. It is not knowledge. Knowledge would be everything you learned and skill would actually be using it. You can learn a lot of information but struggle to use it. That is what you will see what you try speaking in Japanese or even just thinking in Japanese. Once you start training your skills in speaking though you will start to notice that you are thinking less and less about what to say. Over time as you get more fluent the gap between thinking and speaking gets more and more narrow. That is until you get to the point where thinking and speaking are almost instantaneous.
The Importance of Speaking Out Loud
I have found that you can sometimes say something in your head but not out loud. I have personal experience with memorizing words and thinking I know how to pronounce them properly. In my head, I can pronounce them with no problem but then when I go to actually say them I am unable to.
When you say a word in your head and you hear the pronunciation it may sound like your voice. You may think that you are saying it in your head and so you should be able to say it out loud. But, it actually may just be the sound of native Japanese speakers superimposed onto your voice. You won’t know if you can actually say the word until you try.
Practicing Speaking in Japanese
To practice speaking in Japanese requires actually speaking. Below are some techniques, exercises, or things to do during your Japanese studies to learn how to speak Japanese.
Listen and Repeat
First, a good way to help your listening comprehension is to listen to things and try to repeat what you hear. That can be by shadowing by trying to speak at the same time, or you could listen to someone, stop the audio, and say what you think you heard. These techniques also help you to speak too. The more Japanese you listen to the easier it becomes for the sounds to sound more natural. When those sounds are more natural to you then it becomes easier to say them. At the same time, you can compare what you say to what you heard to judge how close your pronunciation is.
Practice Saying a Small Set of Words and Phrases
Practicing a select set of words or phrases has two benefits. First, it helps you to pronounce things correctly, and second, it makes those words and phrases more spontaneously pop out o your mouth.
Difficult Sounds
Some sounds or combinations of sounds are harder than others. These may require more effort to be able to pronounce correctly. Find words and phrases with these troublesome sounds and practice saying them. The more deliberate effort you put into getting it right, the easier it will be to say. Your pronunciation does not need to be perfect to speak but the easier it is to say things the more fluent you can speak. If you are extra ambitious you can even try finding some Japanese tough twisters which will help you to speak quicker and more fluently.
Speaking more Spontaneously
When you pick certain words and phrases in Japanese to practice they become more natural to say. Just like improving your ability to pronounce things, repetition helps you to move passive vocabulary into the active vocabulary. Meaning, the words you know are passive are those you may know the meaning of but which you would not usually use yourself. If a word is in your active vocabulary that would be a word that you can easily use at will when speaking. The more words you have in your active vocabulary the more easily you can speak.
Reading out Loud
Listening and trying to repeat what we hear, or just understand what we hear can be exhausting. For that reason, it is good to have a few different methods for practicing how to speak Japanese. Reading in Japanese out loud is a good way to improve your speaking. Here the focus is not on trying to match a native speaker but instead just get what is going on in your head to come out of your mouth. There are two types of reading I will explain here.
Reading for Understanding
This would be reading where you are actually wanting to know the meaning of what you are reading. This may involve using a dictionary to look up words, take notes on things you don’t quite understand, and so on. This typing of reading can take more effort and can tire you out quickly. It is important to do it though as it helps you learn Japanese. But, if overdo it you may lose your motivation to continue on or get started again.
Reading just to Speak
This is just what it sounds like. You are reading not to understand what you are reading. You are reading to get used to speaking. Reading is just giving you something to say. This process is meant to train your speaking muscles to be able to not trip over your words and to just get used to speaking in Japanese. It is a plus if you can understand what you are reading but that is not the focus. So, when you do this don’t worry if you understand or not, just keep reading.
Talking to Yourself
This is similar to reading but instead of having a book to prompt you, you only have your imagination. This is probably going to be difficult at least at first. The issue is that you have to not only speak but know what you want to say. I explain this more in the article I wrote earlier which I provided a link to above of thinking in Japanese. Again, there are two ways you can do this
Say what comes to your Head
Basically what you want to do is just try to say what comes to your head in Japanese. If you are thinking about what to eat for dinner try to talk about it in Japanese. It is ok if you have difficulty or don’t have the vocabulary to say it. If you need to substitute words you don’t know with English words or add some other word. The point is to get used to freely pull Japanese vocabulary out of your head and put them in sentences. This exercise again is difficult but the more Japanese you learn the easier it gets.
Pick a small set of words to talk about
Here what you do is pick a few words that you know well and try to make sentences with them. You can choose a verb, like 走る meaning to run, and a noun like 人 meaning person, and make sentences with them. You can add in other words hear and there but try to focus on using all the forms of 走る and trying to use different particles with 人 and so on.
- 人が走る – a person runs / the person runs
- 走る人 – the running person
- 走った人 – the person who ran
Remember your ums
Filler words such as, um, like, and so on are crucial to speaking. In middle school English class our teachers may have tried to beat these words out of us but not using filler words will hurt your fluency. These words serve a real purpose in order to allow you a moment for your thoughts to catch up with your words or to prepare yourself to say the next thing.
Talking with People
Finally, if you are able to nothing compares to actually talking with people. When you talk to a real person you can see their responses to your statements, their facial and body language. That gives you confirmation if what you are saying is making sense or not. Also talking with someone, they will ask you questions that will prompt you to think of how to respond. This is easier to think of something to respond to then trying to think of what to say when talking to yourself.
Don’t worry too much though if this is not an option. Try the other steps in this post and they should get you a long way even if you have no one to listen to you. Once you do have someone to speak to it will be a lot easier.
If you are interested in learning Japanese I have reviewed what I consider the best resource for Japanese Grammar below:
