Here are 9 effective ways to learn Japanese free. These are non traditional study methods that really helped me move beyond the basics of Japanese. They helped me progress in leaps and bounds and I recommend you you invest some time in finding out which ones will work for you.
Watch Japanese TV Dramas: Watching Japanese dramas will expose you to real spoken Japanese and cultural aspects of how Japanese communicate and socialize. Watching TV dramas did wonders for not only my speaking ability, but listening skills as well.
Children’s Books: You can learn to read a lot of basic Japanese words, master hiragana and build you vocabulary with Japanese children’s books. Picture dictionaries in particular are great for building basic vocabulary.
Japanese Friends: Go out and make some Japanese friends. Most cities have some sort of social group or club for Japanese. Express an interest in Japan and Japanese culture and you’ll start making friends fast.
Japanese radio: While very challenging listening to Japanese radio could turn you into a fluent speaker in a matter of months. However, you need to make it a daily practice. When I listen to Japanese radio, I basically try to dictate everything I hear. It is extremely challenging, but lots of fun. I keep my pen moving all the time and won’t stop until I have pages and pages of writing.
Manga: If you can read hiragana and have started learning kanji get into reading Manga. Unlike American comics, Manga covers more genres than just superheros. Some of it is very unusual, but you can learn a lot of slang and develop a visual understanding of Japanese words. Katakana is often used with onotepiea and curse words.
Flashcards: Carry Kanji flashcards all the time. Everywhere you go. One thing you must learn to do is really spend time testing yourself with each card. You don’t want to flick through them without any purpose. You really need to stop and test yourself – the on-reading and kun-reading, the stroke order and the various meanings.
Take the JLPT: The Japanese Language Proficiency Test now has 5 levels. Levels 1 and 2 are killer levels requiring hours and hours of study. I recommend that you at least take levels 5 to 3. Having the goal to pass the JLPT will ensure that you study hard. If you are thinking of taking the JLPT check out my product Japanese Proficiency Power.
Japanese culture: Take an interest in Japanese culture – Karate, Tea Ceremony, Ikebana, Shouji (Japanese Chess), Calligraphy…..anything you like. Try to find a Japanese teacher or instructor as this will give you a chance to learn some language as well.
Learn to read Japanese: Really learn to read Japanese. Not just learn hiragana, katakana and a few hundred kanji. But learn to read Kanji in context. Most students of Japanese struggle to do this because it can be very time consuming. One product I highly recommend (I created it with my wife) is Read Japanese Fast. It can teach you how to read Kanji in context in less than 30 days.
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Check out our Japanese lessons on Youtube. We have over 70 lessons you can watch for free. Many are samples from our own Japanese language programs.
