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How can you study Japanese efficiently and master it?
In this lesson, we will learn two Japanese study methods recommended by a former Japanese teacher.
First, to work in Japan, you need conversation skills of JLPT N2 or higher, but even if you don’t have the JLPT, you may be able to get a job offer if you have good communication skills.
Of course, having JLPT N2 increases your chances of getting a job, but even if you don’t have N2, you can still become the type of person that Japanese companies are looking for.
More than 5 years of work experience and high skills
Used Japanese at work and has experience working with Japanese people
Has experience not only as a player but also in management
If you work for a Japanese company, you will need at least a minimum of communication skills beyond everyday conversation, so if you have these three experiences, it doesn’t mean that you can work in Japan even if you can’t speak Japanese.
Also, there are people who can speak fluent Japanese even without the JLPT, so there are some things you can’t know until you actually meet and talk to them, but the way Japanese companies think about it is that they place more importance on Japanese than experience or skills.
No matter how much experience someone has in the industry and how high their skills are, if they cannot speak Japanese, they will not be able to get the job done, so naturally, Japanese is an essential requirement for working in Japan.
2 recommended study methods
These are the methods I taught to my foreign students when I was a Japanese language teacher.
If you study these two methods every day, your Japanese language ability will definitely improve and you will get closer to passing the JLPT N1, so please try them out.
① Write a diary almost every day
The first method is to write a diary almost every day in an A4-sized notebook.
By writing a diary, you can learn writing skills and how to use correct grammar.
You can write about anything you are interested in or like.
For example, if you write about something that is easy to write about, such as what happened today or what you plan to do next week, you can continue writing every day without running out of material.
You may think that just writing a diary will not improve your speaking skills, right?
Of course, just writing a diary will not improve your conversation skills, so we will make a few adjustments here.
Before writing your diary, write the sentence out loud once and then start writing.
By saying what you want to write out loud once, you can improve your speaking ability, practice speaking with good pronunciation, and check your intonation.
By recording yourself speaking Japanese and correcting any mistakes, you can speak more fluently.
Once you have said what you want to say correctly, start writing it down in your notebook.
By writing it down in your notebook, you can visualize what you have said as a sentence.
By visualizing sentences, you can check for grammar mistakes and also practice kanji, so please give it a try.
② Talk to yourself in Japanese
Report what you are watching in your head as a monologue.
Just talk to yourself in Japanese.
By commenting on what you are watching, you can improve your speaking ability, pronunciation, and expressiveness.
To explain it a little more specifically, for example, when it is lunchtime and you are hungry, instead of saying “I’m hungry” in your native language, you would say “I’m hungry” in Japanese.
Or, while riding the commuter train, you can look at the scenery outside the window and say to yourself in Japanese, “I’d like to go to that store.”
Basically, you say things to yourself in your head, but when you’re at home, say them out loud.
By speaking out loud, you can also check your pronunciation, so it’s definitely worth trying.
What’s most important?
The most important thing when learning Japanese is to increase the amount of time you are exposed to Japanese.
Even if you don’t have any Japanese friends or opportunities to speak Japanese, you can improve your conversation skills by being exposed to Japanese a lot, even if you are self-studying.
There are many different study methods written on the Internet, but they are all abstract and it is difficult to know how to study.
On the Internet, there are many articles that say to study by watching Japanese movies, anime, and manga, but they don’t explain the important points of how to study by watching movies.
It would be great if you could improve your Japanese just by watching movies.
Watching anime certainly helps you improve your listening comprehension, but the conversation speed is so fast that it’s hard to understand the content.
Also, anime doesn’t help you study the Japanese you’ll encounter in JLPT or business situations.
Reading manga helps you improve your reading comprehension and kanji, but your Japanese improvement will be slow.
Tips for sustaining your studies
How can you make studying last for a long time?
In conclusion, you can make studying last for a long time by studying at your own pace.
Talking to yourself in Japanese is easy, so you can study continuously, but writing a diary and practicing your conversation and pronunciation out loud before writing takes more than 30 minutes.
Studying for more than 30 minutes every day after work is hard, isn’t it?
That’s why, in order to keep yourself going, you should study within the pace you set for yourself, such as 20 minutes a day and writing just five lines in your diary a day.
If you get too excited and exceed your own pace, such as “I’m going to pass the JLPT N1 next month!”, you’ll lose motivation and end up giving up after three days, so I recommend that you set clear rules for your study.