Learning Japanese – Is This Going To Take Forever Or What?
Is it going to take a very long time to learn Japanese? When many people first start out with Japanese, they want to master the language as fast as possible. To answer the question, it really depends on how determined you are about learning Japanese.
People ask “how much time?” constantly. But what they are really curious about is “how much work will this take?” Of course there is no conclusive answer for a question like this. However the most important factor for learning to speak Japanese as fast as possible is the motivation to learn the language.
You can realistically learn spoken Japanese pretty quickly if you are sincere about it. With the right drive and motivation, there are people that will master Japanese in under a year, while there are also people that actually move to Japan and live there for several years that can barely say the word sushi.
Although costly, the best way to learn Japanese is to take language classes or get a personal tutor. Nothing increases results than actually putting your Japanese into practice with real people. If, like me, you can’t really afford to pay thousands of dollars on language classes you can still learn Japanese with books or language software programs. All of these options are great ways to get a solid basis in the Japanese language and begin your journey toward the land of cherry blossoms and sumo wrestlers.
Of course practice makes perfect, so you’ll want to look for every chance to put your Nihongo abilities to work for you. Take some time to talk to people that already speak Japanese well or some of your classmates. Begin applying what you learn in your studies and your Japanese will improve so fast that you will impress your friends. Talking to native speakers gives you the opportunity to learn some useful slang that you won’t learn in the textbooks.
Contrary to popular belief, speaking Japanese is actually pretty simple. Once you start, you’ll see just how easy it is. But you may still find that reading and writing in Japanese is still fairly difficult.
To tell the truth, it is going to take some time to master a new writing system if you’ve been using the English alphabet your whole life. The Japanese have several writing systems. Hiragana and Katakana are in many ways similar to our alphabet, but when you get into the Kanji things will likely begin getting tough. Each one has a unique meaning and I hate to break it to you, but there are nearly 2000 of these little buggers!
Don’t stop trying and throw in the towel though, this isn’t any different that learning to speak Japanese. All you need to do is practice, practice, practice. Stay away from relying on Romaji when you’re learning to make things even earlier. It helps to start to associate each character to specific mental picture you have in your mind. As one example the Kanji for “kawa” (or “river”) looks like flowing water. With some practice, you’ll discover creative ways to remind yourself of what each Kanji means.
So how long does it take to learn Japanese? As long as it takes. We each learn at a different pace, but the most important factor is that you put focus and attention into all your efforts. Don’t stop and make the time to practice everyday.
If this information helped you and you’re ready to learn Japanese, check out useful Japanese phrases and difficulty in learning Japanese.