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.

You could be memorizing Japanese in the slowest way possible, and not even know it.

Most Japanese courses teach you the slow way. They cram you with grammar, grammar, grammar… and treat vocabulary as a side dish.
Your biggest challenge isn’t the few hundred grammatical rules… It’s the thousands and thousands of words you have to remember.
” Speak Japanese Fast “ takes a fool-proof memory tool that’s been used for 30-years and launches your Japanese skills in no time at all.

So if you want a smart study system, that is fun to use and will give you results in days instead of weeks, then Speak Japanese Fast is something you need to get your hands on. i have tested the product myself.

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 product  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.

Everyone knows some Japanese. You probably have heard or know the meanings of these Japanese words; kamikaze, keisha, kimono, karaoke, samurai and so on. Many Japanese words and phrases have deep cultural significance which can make it hard for students to learn Japanese. However, Japanese words aren’t  always deeply culturally rooted – there are some wacky words.  While living in Japan I came across some ridiculous Japanese words that could only exists in Japan. The Japanese have a knack for stealing foreign words and giving them new meanings. Let’s learn a few.

My pet hate Japanese word is juice, in katakana  ジュース. In Japanese “juice” basically means soft drink. It can even mean canned coffee.  How could they get this word so wrong. So if a Japanese offers you “juice” in Japan don’t be surprised if you are giving a glass of coke.

Snack, スナック, is an other word Japanese give new meaning to. Instead of relating to eating food the word is all about drinking. In Japanese snack means bar. But not just any bar. Snack bars are small drinking places usually for the older generation where Japanese can drown their sorrows with whisky or beer and belt out some enka. These places are very popular with men as they are sort of a hostess bar where you’re charged quite a lot to drink with female company. Enka is traditional Japanese music- songs about lots love. These places are probably the most depressing places you could ever visit in Japan.

Vikingis one of my favorite’s. It is pronounced “Bye -king” and written in katakana バイキング. Japanese most likely wouldn’t know who the Vikings were. Yet, at least one Japanese picked up on their eating habits and coined the phrase to mean buffet. Viking means “all-you-can- eat” .  It can also mean ”all-you-can-drink”.

Icecomes close. It means ice cream. In katakana  アイス. This is an example of how Japanese will take English words and shorten them or abbreviate them.  Japanese generally like to communicate with the least amount of words. They will take a foreign word shorten it, give it a new meaning, and eventually it slips into main stream vocabulary.

When you first learn or discover these words you will feel dumbfounded . You will either feel amused or annoyed.  It is quite hard to believe that the words I just taught you are meaningful and common words in the Japanese language. It certainly took me a while to accept and use them.  One of the most frustrating things is many Japanese believe that they are speaking English when using these loan words. Good reason enough not to even consider teaching English in Japan……just joking.