Learning to speak Japanese and speaking Japanese are two different things.

When you study Japanese from a text books that is what you unfortunately learn; text book Japanese. Also, teachers of the Japanese language have a tendency to want to teach text book or formal Japanese. Usually, there is curriculum they have to follow. It is part of their job to meet learning standards. This means they will teach you Japanese that  can be easily tested and graded..

When you speak to natives you hear and experience real spoken Japanese. I have learned hundreds of word and expby just talking to or being around Japanese. Words and expressions I would never have learned from formal classes or text books. I am not just talking about swear words or slang. I am talking about real everyday language.

One of the best ways to learn how to speak Japanese is to speak to native speakers. It can actually be better for you to learn from someone who is not a teacher. Why? Well, teachers tend to explain the language and will want to teach you correct Japanese. You often end up learning something that is very str . A native speaker will tell you how it is. They won’t be conabout grammar  or your learning abilities.  They will give you the best natural answer without worrying if it correct language or not.

Watching and listening to Japanese speak will also help you to understand how Japanese communicate. Text books and audio recordings cannot capture all the idiosyncrasies of spoken Japanese. So even if you are a beginner and know very little Japanese, the best thing for you to do spend time with Japanese.

If you want to learn how to speak Japanese, then I strongly suggest you go out and make some Japanese fri. Try to find Japanese students in your community. Offer to teach English in exchange for informal Japanese lessons. Just hang out with each other. You can save yourself a whole lot of money, frustration and time. You may also meet the love of your life. You never know. It happened to me.

What do I mean by the average student? Someone who wants to hold informal everyday conversations with Japanese. Below is one of my wife’s popular Youtube lessons. It teaches basic words, yet shows you how to use them in in a conversational context.

Learn Japanese Conversation

Big News

My wife and I are working on an Intermediate to Advanced Japanese language program. The goal of the program is to teach you Japanese as if you were soaking up spoken Japanese  in Japan. The program will have audio and video lessons. It will have two main areas of focus; teaching you to understand what Japanese say to you as a customer or guest, and teaching you how to best communicate with Japanese. It is going to be big.

We will keep you posted….

The Rocket Japanese program is great for beginners. The audio quality is outstanding and the lessons are lots of fun.

You can take the lessons online or download them. The program also includes quizzes so you can track your progress.

Go check out their site to learn more.

If you are taking the JLPT this year then you don’t really have a choice - you have to learn lots of vocabulary and kanji. Learning new words in Japanese can be very time consuming. So you need to be creative with your study methods. One way is to use flashcards. Not boring old Kanji flashcards, but picture flashcards. Check out the video below and you will understand what I mean.

JLPTFlashcards.com- Get Your flashcards and Ace the JLPT

Learning to read Japanese is probably the most challenging aspect of learning Japanese. Most students find it far too confusing and time consuming, and as a result give up. After spending a few months learning Hiragana and Katakana the prospect of learning a few thousand Kanji becomes too overwhelming.

However, learning to read Japanese doesn’t have to be a painful and confusing experience. Most students make the mistake of learning to read Japanese in parts. First, students learn Hiragana, then Katanana. After this they learn a large number of grammar rules. Then comes learning hundreds of Kanji.  Doing all of this would take several months of considerable study time, but unfortunately amount to little progress. The problem is actual “reading practice” is not being done.

You have to start reading Japanese in order to read Japanese. As strange as this might sound it is the only way to learn how to read Japanese. Rather than learn Hiragana, Katakana, grammar and Kanji in parts, it is far more effective to practice reading Hiragana, Katakana and Kanji in a context.

Instead of spending money and time on Kanji and grammar books, what you really need is to be shown how to read Japanese. You need someone to guide you as you attempt to read. Think of it as like having a reading coach - who can explain cultural elements, confusing grammar and ambiguous wording.

If you can afford it, find yourself a Japanese tutor and have them read to you, explaining Kanji, grammar and cultural elements along the way. Then, you read to them and have them correct and guide you. It is the most effective way to progress with your reading. Make sure you find a tutor who understands your needs.

If you can’t afford a tutor then you could try our product “Read Japanese Fast”. We take you through twenty pieces of writing word-byword, phrase-by-phrase with video tutorials. We teach you how to read Kanji in context. No other product does this. We also teach you to read Hiragana and Katakana in just a few short weeks. You can now try “Read Japanese Fast” for 21 days for the cost of a coffee - just $4.95.

Visit ReadJapaneseFast.com to learn more

Flashcards are a great learning tool. You can use them anytime, they vocabulary focused and help with retention. I made my own flashcards to learn Hiragana, Katakana, Kanji and JLPT vocabulary  years ago when I was really into my Japanese study. I would carry them on the train and really test the old memory banks with each card. I would look at each card for up to a minute to remember the prnounciation or meaning.

The JLPT Flashcards  come in two sets. One set is in Hiragana to teach you the readings of each word. The pictures on the card tell you the meaning of the word. Far more effective than an English translation.

After you have learned the readings you move on to the Kanji cards. They are the same set of picture flashcards, but
now the Hiragana is replaced with Kanji. With this set of flashcards you focus on learning the kanji and cementing the
meaning of the word.

Also, Kaoru and I go through each card with video tutorials. These also come in mp3 format.  I have make a few finishing touches to the new website.

Here is a video I posted this morning explaining it all.

On Youtube, he is the 11th most subscribed Guru in Japan. Not bad!  He’s lessons also get excellent ratings.Takanori is well known in Japan, as he is featured in Japanese magazines, radio, Internet, and TV. His passion is to spread the Japanese culture to all over the world. He is also a respected and successful Japanese teacher in Japan and Online.

Takanori knows what it’s like to learn a second language. When he was fourteen years old, he went to Australia, and I had to learn English from scratch. His philosophy on learning Japanese is this;

“You need to listen to and speak lots of Japanese words and phrases from native Japanese speakers, to really power-up your Japanese learning and fluency.”

I agree. Avoid the text books and grammar and learn real Japanese from real people. Taka has a great method for learning Japanese. The focus of the product is learning Japanese for real communication. A ” street-level” learning style that helps non-natives achieve real communication quickly!

NIHONGO Japanese lesson will teach you how to speak Japanese naturally in the easiest way possible, because the program focuses on teaching many well known words and phrases to guide your learning right from the start!

The lessons don’t drag on, but instead are bite-sized, broken down into smaller parts that are easier to digest, so you can practice each part individually and then put it all together — multiplying your effectiveness.

Each lesson is intended to be completed in 2 to 3 hours. As you work through each lesson, certain aspects of the grammar will start to soak in, which means… in a very short time… you’ll be communicating in Japanese without thinking about it.

Go checkout Taka’s site and sign up for his 7-day course.

Politeness is best expressed as the practical application of good manners or etiquette. I have had plenty of  experiences where Japanese have spoken “politely” to me, yet not been polite in the true sense of the word.  Rather than polite, I think of the Japanese language as being more a language of several levels of formality.
Japanese will often use very formal language without any real personal thought or regard to who they are speaking to.  A case of having to speak in a certain way rather than wanting to be polite. 

An important part of Japanese is being able to use the right level of formality in the right situation. In general Japanese won’t expect you use formal language unless they know that can speak fluent Japanese and you are in a situation requiring formal language. Using formal speech in an informal setting makes you sound strange, and using informal speech in a formal setting makes you sound rude.

There are two levels of Japanese formality. Firstly, there’s the plain/polite form of speech called ていねいご, which is principally determined by the absence or use of です/ます. Secondly, there’s the use of humble and honorific forms of speech, called けんじょうご and そんけいご respectively, when dealing with vast social status differences
between the speaker and listener or speaker and subject. It is very hard for foreigners to learn and appreciate humble and honorific language. The opportunity for them to speak this formal level of language is rare. Also, most students of Japanese probably would find learning けんじょうご and そんけいご far too frustrating to learn.

How and when to talk plain or polite, and when to be humble or when to be honorific, depends very much on the concept of in and out group, as well as familiarity. In ones familiar in group, one can talk in a plain and informal manner, while talking to someone who is part of ones formal in group, or part of an out group, typically warrants polite speech. When one talks to someone in ones out group that is of clearly higher social status and you wish to acknowledge this fact, humble and honorific speech is typically used as well as polite form.

I have stumbled across a very effective vocabulary building method which I think can help you to learn lots of vocabulary.

Do you know what a Mnemonic device is?

It is a method for enhancing memory - a trick that one uses to help memorize something. Mnemonic devices can help with remembering peoples’ names and faces as well as with remembering words in a foreign language.

Several months ago I was contacted by David McGimpsey. He is the creator of “Speak Japanese Fast”, a Japanese Language learning ebook that uses Mnemonic devices to learn and retain vocabulary.

Anyway, David emailed me and asked me to promote his produc Speak Japanese Fast. At first, I was sceptical of his product and said no. So he gave me a copy and just asked me to read and try his learning tool.

So about a week later when I had some free time I had a look at his ebook. I was actually pleasantly surprised and found his learning  system fun. Yet, I already knew all of the Japanese words in his ebook. I couldn’t really review his product as a learner. However, I did believe his learning tool was effective. So, I had the product tested with some of my wife’s private students. We gave it to five of my wife’s private students who are beginners.

I actually had my wife test the students with the vocabulary from the ebook after a week. She gave them a little test for five minutes at the start of her next lesson. All five students had made incredible progress with the method. One student had pretty much remembered all the 300 pages of  the ebook.

So I highly recommend the book if you are struggling to learn and remember Japanese words. This ebook can definitely help you learn and retain vocabulary.

Speak Japanese Fast

Competitive research is becoming an important factor in the development of our product. Without getting too detailed we want to differentiate ourselves from our competitors and obviously make a better product. This has meant we have looked at several competitors and purchased products.

We looked at Pimsleur, Rosetta Stone and Rocket Japanese. Which is the best one?

Well before we get into that let me tell you what we looked for in each product.

• Value for Money
• Ease of Use
• Realistic conversation examples
• Japanese cultural references
• Enjoyment Factor

Rocket Japanese

At this stage we are only recommending Rocket Japanese. I believe it to be the best product online to learn Japanese  In fact, at one stage we were considering promoting the product aggressively instead of making our own. The core of the product is the 14 and a half hours of audio lessons. The lessons cover all the fundamentals of basic Japanese - from introducing yourself to getting around on public transportation, and ordering food in a restaurants. They take a friendly radio style approach with their teaching method. At times I do feel the lessons go on a bit and sometimes the dialogue seems too scripted. However, over all the audio lesson are very good and teach Japanese you would actually use.

Each audio lesson comes with grammar and cultural notes in a down-loadable PDF format. The reference material also contains instructions and explanations on written Japanese. Even if you don’t want to buy any products I recommend you at least subscribe to their Email course. It is great value - you get lots of sample lessons. Sign up ASAP.

Pimsleur

Pimsleur claims that you can learn a language in 10 days. I know that a lot can be learned in ten days with multimedia products and cutting edge learning methods, but learning Japanese in 10 days with the Pimsleur method doesn’t seem possible.  I think Pimsleur is somewhat dated and is in need of  upgrade and update. In order to speak Japanese I believe you need a certain amount of cultural understanding of Japan. This is something missing with Pimsleur.  Pimsleur claims that their CDs have been scientifically sequenced to rapidly lock language material into your brain after just one listening and that you can absorb Japanese effortlessly without any reading, writing or computer use. Sounds too good to be true. Learning Japanese requires effort - it takes more than ten days.

Rosetta Stone

Rosetta Stone is the most expensive language program out there. I would probably make some good money promoting their products. They have 3 levels they individually sell  starting from around $260. Buying all three levels at once is the best option, but you will have to fork out $550 dollars. The product comes in a CD-ROM format, with audio CDs. This means it is software heavy. This can be good for some things such as learning vocabulary and Hiragana and Katakana. However, in general I don’t believe learning a language through software is the way to go. You end up stuck in front of a computer learning just the basics.  Rosetta Stone don’t provide any samples of their audio lessons on their site. You have to sign up to get a demo. There are promotion movies at their site. However, as I watched them they gave me the impression that I would get sick of using the software after about half an hour.

So if you are looking for a product to help you speak Japanese in a short amount  of time we recommend Rocket Japanese.