Whilst these notes are based on my own discoveries (and mistakes) of learning Japanese, I have to say that none of this would be possible without the teachings of those that came before me. I’ll put a link of some very good sources of information at the bottom of this note. As a disclaimer, I’m not fluent in Japanese There’s still a lot I need to learn, but I hope that this will help others who are learning a language to get to fluency faster than if they had not read this.
I put this together to show how anyone (YOU!) can acquire a new language and it’s a lot less work and more fun than you think. I chose my words carefully, because I do not believe you can learn a language and put it to effective use. If you look at some of the best speakers of other foreign languages, or foreign people that speak English to a high level, these are rarely people that have spent hours studying grammar books, but more likely to be people who have spent those hours in contact with their target language.
When I say contact, I predominantly mean listening or reading; in other words INPUT. I cannot stress enough how important this is and luckily, I don’t have to. You’re living examples. As a child, you acquired your native language through hours and hours of silent contact. Before you could speak, you could listen. Before you could write, you could read and the same applies here. I understand, you want to try go out and play with your new language, but if you take a little time to sit and read the manual, to understand how to do some tricks with it just like the professionals, then you’ll be blowing every other kid out of the water. Learning a language doesn’t have to be difficult, or boring, in fact it’s so easy a kid can do it!
Thankfully, with the invention of the internet, you have an abundance of resources and most of them are free. This is where I’m going to say something slightly controversial and I mean it;
DO. NOT. WASTE. YOUR. MONEY. ON. LANGUAGE. LESSONS.
Thankfully, with the invention of the internet, you have an abundance of resources and most of them are free. This is where I’m going to say something slightly controversial and I mean it;
DO. NOT. WASTE. YOUR. MONEY. ON. LANGUAGE. LESSONS.
Yep. I went to university to study Japanese for four years. I came out of it with a degree that I could have got studying a less stressful course in less time. My best progress in Japanese was made OUTSIDE the classroom. Hanging out with Japanese friends, listening to Japanese music, reading Japanese books and watching cheesy Japanese drama. The most useful things I got from university in times of Japanese language study, was making those Japanese friends, my year abroad in Tokyo (more on that later) and stealing the Asahi Shinbun (daily newspaper) from the library most days (sorry to my fellow classmates for that one). The key thing to take away from this is that learning a language does not have to cost you anymore than the price of a smartphone or laptop and a monthly internet bill. Plus the coffee you’re all going to buy me for imparting this wisdom to you.
I’ll spend some time here just writing about the resources I use and I’ll try to make it as vague as possible in that it can be used for all languages. I’ll focus more on Japanese towards the end of this, but ultimately I want this guide to help anyone. If you have questions, ask!
I’ll spend some time here just writing about the resources I use and I’ll try to make it as vague as possible in that it can be used for all languages. I’ll focus more on Japanese towards the end of this, but ultimately I want this guide to help anyone. If you have questions, ask!
Again, the key to making the biggest progress in the smallest amount of time is contact with the language, using your target language to do so. This will be difficult at first, so using your native language to ease you in that direction is fine, but should be a temporary solution. Get out of that hole as soon as possible!
Fluency in a language comes under four main headings;
Listening,
Reading,
Speaking and
Fluency in a language comes under four main headings;
Listening,
Reading,
Speaking and
Writing.
Your first two skills that should you should aim to acquire should be the two input skills; listening and reading. And both of those skills can be improved by one activity; watching.
Your first two skills that should you should aim to acquire should be the two input skills; listening and reading. And both of those skills can be improved by one activity; watching.
Watching things in your target language is one of, if not the most useful of tools. As a child learning your own language, you were presented with objects right in front of you as your family member/teacher named them. You may have done the same for your own child and when doing so, you didn’t use any other language than the one they were learning. As an English parent, you didn’t first explain that dog in German is Hund, and you do not need to do it now. I’m sure everyone reading this can say they’re smarter than a six year old, but I can speak to my nephew who can tell me what a hospital and a dictionary is. The great thing about television, dramas, cartoons, films, news channels, etc. is that you’ll hear natural use of the language, but with the added visual context to fill in the gaps. I personally use Netflix and Youtube a lot and recommend getting away from using subtitles as soon as possible.
Listening
In addition to music, you have podcasts on any and every topic and news stations. I use listening input like those above for passive immersion periods. This is different to active immersion, where you’re paying a lot of attention, making a conscious effort to take in what’s being said, maybe making notes and doing it as your main activity. With passive immersion, you’re typically doing something else; cooking, eating, having a bath, even sleeping. In addition to regular podcasts, I found an app called SBS radio, which delivers Australian news and information in 74 languages. Do I have an interest in Australian news? Kinda… Do I understand everything they’re talking about? Not really. But can I put it on through my phone’s speakers when I’ve barely opened my eyes in the morning? You bet. And even if I listen to it for 15 mins a day as I drag myself out of bed, that’s an extra 1 hour and 45 minutes of listening I’ve got in.
Reading
First of all for anyone who is NOT studying a language that has a writing system different to your own native language, you can skip the next two paragraphs. We’ll catch up with you in a bit…
For anyone who is IS studying a language that has a writing system different to your own native language, learn it. At this point, I would recommend writing these down as you go. You can do this using a SRS (Spaced Repetition System). I’d recommend Anki or Memrise, but there are others. I only have personal experience with Anki I think it’s great because the community and shared packs are a great start. I’ll put links to Anki and what SRS is in the links section below, but ultimately SRS is a technique, usually using (electronic) flashcards, where cards are repeated based on your ability to retain the learned information. The more difficult the topic is for you to grasp, the more often it will come up in your “stack”. This technique will also come up later with writing.
For the Japan students here, you’re going to be looking at learning just over 2000 kanji characters on top of hiragana and katakana before you’re at the level where you can read everyday things like newspapers, novels and For this I recommend Remembering The Kanji and the Heisig method, which in a nutshell is learning the kanji meanings by creating stories. This sounds daunting, but if I told you that you’ll be able to remember the kanji for depression (鬱) with a story about a hallucinogenic experience whilst sitting in-between two trees, then chances are you’ll probably remember it by the end you’ve finished reading this. And that’s the name of the game! For RTK, there are three books. 1 & 3 concentrate on the meanings of the kanji and 2 concentrates on the readings. The good news is I want you to take book 2, fold them up into tiny paper aeroplanes and fly them all out of the window. You won’t be needing it and I’ll explain why in the writing section.
For anyone who is IS studying a language that has a writing system different to your own native language, learn it. At this point, I would recommend writing these down as you go. You can do this using a SRS (Spaced Repetition System). I’d recommend Anki or Memrise, but there are others. I only have personal experience with Anki I think it’s great because the community and shared packs are a great start. I’ll put links to Anki and what SRS is in the links section below, but ultimately SRS is a technique, usually using (electronic) flashcards, where cards are repeated based on your ability to retain the learned information. The more difficult the topic is for you to grasp, the more often it will come up in your “stack”. This technique will also come up later with writing.
For the Japan students here, you’re going to be looking at learning just over 2000 kanji characters on top of hiragana and katakana before you’re at the level where you can read everyday things like newspapers, novels and For this I recommend Remembering The Kanji and the Heisig method, which in a nutshell is learning the kanji meanings by creating stories. This sounds daunting, but if I told you that you’ll be able to remember the kanji for depression (鬱) with a story about a hallucinogenic experience whilst sitting in-between two trees, then chances are you’ll probably remember it by the end you’ve finished reading this. And that’s the name of the game! For RTK, there are three books. 1 & 3 concentrate on the meanings of the kanji and 2 concentrates on the readings. The good news is I want you to take book 2, fold them up into tiny paper aeroplanes and fly them all out of the window. You won’t be needing it and I’ll explain why in the writing section.
Hi, we’re back. Thanks for waiting for the weird writing people… So, for everything you read every day in your native language, there is the equivalent in your target language. Sports blogs, news, music, architecture, children books, cookery websites and more. Social networking sites are great too. Follow your favourite celebrities and brands from your target languages country and you’ll be inundated with input. I highly recommend Twitter for this. The character length is actually a benefit in this case because you’ll have access to short sentences that you can mine. More about that later. If you don’t have Twitter, make an account Right now. Stop, make an account right now, follow three accounts that only write in your target language and then come back.
Done it? Good. This is your first box ticked. The first move towards fluency. Don’t worry if you don’t understand it. You will.
Online newspapers are also great. I like these particularly for the “world news” sections, because changes are you’ve already touched base on the topic when talking with your friends in your native language, so it goes back to that context again. Even if you know 30% of the text, you might catch another 10-20% in context.
Done it? Good. This is your first box ticked. The first move towards fluency. Don’t worry if you don’t understand it. You will.
Online newspapers are also great. I like these particularly for the “world news” sections, because changes are you’ve already touched base on the topic when talking with your friends in your native language, so it goes back to that context again. Even if you know 30% of the text, you might catch another 10-20% in context.
Once you’ve started making progress in your language through watching, listening and reading, you’ve graduated to toddler level. It’s time to start giving it back with some output.
Speaking
Okay, so you remember when I said lessons were pointless? I kinda lied. Lessons do have their place, BUT, you shouldn’t be paying for them. Ever. Never ever. And the reason why is simple; why pay to be the student when you can be your teacher’s teacher? Language exchanges are so good for language acquisition. Think of this person as your parent/teacher/guide to new words, and sentence structures. I recommend two sites/apps for this, Interpals and Tandem and again, links will be below. In addition, I advise getting on Skype or some other video call app where you can get that visual context to new vocabulary. Seeing and orange and being told that it is an orange is a lot easier to grasp than not seeing that orange. You can also introduce this technique earlier on as part of your input acquisition, but remember to listen more than speak to start with. Be a sponge full of lovely, juicy vocabulary until you’re all moist and ready to slowly start dripping on the floor… or something.
Okay, so you remember when I said lessons were pointless? I kinda lied. Lessons do have their place, BUT, you shouldn’t be paying for them. Ever. Never ever. And the reason why is simple; why pay to be the student when you can be your teacher’s teacher? Language exchanges are so good for language acquisition. Think of this person as your parent/teacher/guide to new words, and sentence structures. I recommend two sites/apps for this, Interpals and Tandem and again, links will be below. In addition, I advise getting on Skype or some other video call app where you can get that visual context to new vocabulary. Seeing and orange and being told that it is an orange is a lot easier to grasp than not seeing that orange. You can also introduce this technique earlier on as part of your input acquisition, but remember to listen more than speak to start with. Be a sponge full of lovely, juicy vocabulary until you’re all moist and ready to slowly start dripping on the floor… or something.
Writing
The fourth and final piece in the puzzle is writing. If you are one of the freaks that decided on a foreign language with a different writing system then you would have already touched on the absolute beauty that is SRS. If you haven’t and went on ahead, SRS is basically a repetitive flashcard system, where cards are repeated based on your ability to retain the learned information. More details are in the links section below. It’s great. We like it! As I also mentioned above, I recommend Anki as your flashcard software. It’s free and you can use it on your phone (the app isn’t free), or your computer.
To learn to write, we need things to write and this is where sentence mining comes into play. It’s just like mining for gold, but instead of shiny metal, you’ll be gaining a language to dazzle people with! As before, your goal is to have this all in your target language, but if you need help getting there, then use your native language as a little stepping stone until you hit that goal. A typical card will look like this;
To learn to write, we need things to write and this is where sentence mining comes into play. It’s just like mining for gold, but instead of shiny metal, you’ll be gaining a language to dazzle people with! As before, your goal is to have this all in your target language, but if you need help getting there, then use your native language as a little stepping stone until you hit that goal. A typical card will look like this;
————————————————————————————
[FRONT]
Your mined sentence
————————————————————————————
[FRONT]
Your mined sentence
————————————————————————————
[BACK]
- (If you’re learning Japanese) The furigana of the sentence written on the front of the card.
- The dictionary definition of every word you are unfamiliar with.
————————————————————————————
I keep the katakana as is, because there is no benefit for me to convert it into hiragana.
Japanese students, remember when we made the aeroplanes? The reason you don’t need RTK2 is because you will be learning the readings of the kanji using that magical gift of context again.
- (If you’re learning Japanese) The furigana of the sentence written on the front of the card.
- The dictionary definition of every word you are unfamiliar with.
————————————————————————————
Example:
————————————————————————————
アンケートに回答しました。
————————————————————————————
アンケート に かい・とう しました。
かい‐とう【回答】［名］(スル)
質問・要求などに答えること。また、その答え。「調査に回答する」「満額回答」
→返事［用法］
———————————————————————————— I keep the katakana as is, because there is no benefit for me to convert it into hiragana.
Japanese students, remember when we made the aeroplanes? The reason you don’t need RTK2 is because you will be learning the readings of the kanji using that magical gift of context again.
But what sentences should you be mining? The answer’s pretty simple.
Anything!!
That comic you read? Mine the sentences.
Those bands you liked? Mine the lyrics.
The menu of your favourite restaurant that serves the food of your target language’s country? Mine it!
That newspaper article that you remember talking about with your friends about and then found during your reading study? Mine, mine all miiiiiiiine!
If it was written by a native person of your target language, then it’s fair game. Take it. It’s free. No catch!
That newspaper article that you remember talking about with your friends about and then found during your reading study? Mine, mine all miiiiiiiine!
If it was written by a native person of your target language, then it’s fair game. Take it. It’s free. No catch!
Next level wickedness
If you really want to go into super badass level and really step into your discomfort zone, switch your phone, computer, search engines, websites to your target language. Nothing will break, your fingers won’t fall off, but after a few months, switching back looks weird. Facebook in English looks really odd to me now.
What now?
So, you’ve got it all down, you’re reading, listening, writing and speaking like a right гениальность*. So what now? Pack your bags! We’re going on an adventure! And don’t forget that coffee money, I’m tired from all this writing…
Time in Tokyo, Turin, Texas, Tibet… and other places that don’t start with the letter T...
The only thing I find better than watching TV for language input is full immersion and the best place for that is the country of your target language. It’s a holiday and a lesson all in one delicious bun! Enjoy the weather, eat all the food, but most importantly, have a chat with the locals. They’ll love to hear your story, get out there and tell it! Me and my pal Jamie used to go out to Tokyo more or less every holiday during university and I’d come back with a much better understanding of Japanese. Real Japanese that was used by real Japanese people. Cheaper than a university degree and much more fun than repeating “This is a pen” to your computer.
And that’s it! Simple right? It will take some time and you’ll be discouraged at times, but keep your goal in mind. Most importantly, KEEP IT FUN! If you’re watching something boring, switch it off and find something you enjoy. That documentary about spam factories will always be there, your motivation might not be, so grab it and find something you want to do.
Below are some links and videos to topics and sites that I’ve found useful and that I’ve mentioned before, so fill your eyes, ears, mouth and nose with it all. If you have questions, ask. If you have ideas on how I can improve this little guide, tell.
Thank you for reading and please feel free to SHARE!
And that’s it! Simple right? It will take some time and you’ll be discouraged at times, but keep your goal in mind. Most importantly, KEEP IT FUN! If you’re watching something boring, switch it off and find something you enjoy. That documentary about spam factories will always be there, your motivation might not be, so grab it and find something you want to do.
 |
| Learn a language so that you too can go to the country and order "healthy curry" that has the same name as your surname. |
Below are some links and videos to topics and sites that I’ve found useful and that I’ve mentioned before, so fill your eyes, ears, mouth and nose with it all. If you have questions, ask. If you have ideas on how I can improve this little guide, tell.
Thank you for reading and please feel free to SHARE!
Videos
“How to Acquire any language NOT learn it!” (Jeff Brown)
"The Three Stages of Language Acquisition" - (Steve Kaufmann - lingosteve)
"The Most Powerful Way to Remember What You Study" - (SRS/Anki)
Interpals - https://www.interpals.net
SRS - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spaced_repetition
SBS Radio - https://www.sbs.com.au/radio
SRS - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spaced_repetition
SBS Radio - https://www.sbs.com.au/radio
Skype - https://www.skype.com
Tandem - https://www.tandem.net
Twitter - https://twitter.com
YouTube - https://www.youtube.com
*Russian for genius.
