Japan’s original written language was based closely on Chinese characters. To get the full bang for your buck out of the romaji system, check out some romaji charts. But it’s as good a place as any to start understanding your target language’s phonetic system. It’s important to be aware that this system is not a real part of the Japanese language and should therefore be used only in the early stages of learning Japanese. For this reason, romaji is a powerful ally to those who are just starting to learn Japanese. (My name is Tanaka.)Įven without a rudimentary understanding of Japanese phonetics, you’d be able to make a guess at how this sentence sounds. However, in romaji, this sentence becomes approachable: Even if I replaced the kanji, or the more complex Chinese-based characters, with hiragana, it would still be impossible for a beginner: Let’s say that you’re just starting to learn Japanese and you see this sentence:īecause you can’t read these characters, you don’t know how to begin understanding the pronunciation of this Japanese phrase. Romaji isn’t an official Japanese alphabet, it’s the quickest approach to Japanese pronunciation. If you can read this article, you can read romaji. Romaji is the Romanized representation of Japanese characters, or 字( ji). You’ll learn more Japanese than you’d expect just by listening to it! Use Romaji to Learn Japanese Pronunciation When you manage to catch a word or a phrase, try repeating it back. You can also check out podcasts about learning Japanese. It’s the best way into your “zone” for learning Japanese, and often, it’s free! Just Google a genre or topic that interests you and add in Japanese. Listening is great because you can do it almost anywhere there’s no need to set study time aside for listening. Thanks to these early steps, I’ve developed a natural level of pronunciation. When I finished these, I would listen to simple broadcasts created by Japan’s national news agency. The easiest and earliest way to learn Japanese is to listen to it! My Japanese journey began with commutes to my local college I had some Pimsleur method CDs that I would listen to and repeat back as directed. Here’s a hint: the best way to learn Japanese is to use it whenever you can! Start Listening! Where to begin? In this article, we’ll talk about the best way to learn Japanese. After all, Japanese has three alphabets, multiple levels of formality, and a different sentence structure than the one you might be used to. (That’s why we use them throughout our free and Premium Japanese courses!) 7.So, you want to learn Japanese. The use of mnemonics like rhymes, imagery, and associations is particularly helpful when learning Japanese. Studies show that clear goals and timelines make a huge difference in how far language learners get toward reaching their goals. If you want to learn spoken Japanese, you’ll likely listen to native speakers, but how about listening to yourself? Our experts recommend recording yourself and listening back – once you have an ear for the language, you’ll be able to start making adjustments to make your Japanese sound increasingly natural.įollow those four tips and you’ll have an easier time if you want to learn to speak Japanese fluently, but these next three are the icing on the cake. There are native Japanese speakers all over the world, so it’s worth trying to find friendly native speakers near you who are willing to chat! And, of course, you can get feedback from native speakers directly when you learn Japanese with Busuu. If you want to master how to speak in Japanese, accent and all, nothing beats communicating with native speakers. Plus, going over the same material will give you a great marker of your progress as you understand more over time! 3. Doing this will help you learn how the language is used and spoken. Find media you loveįind Japanese-language movies, TV shows, music, books, manga, or radio you love, and then return to them again and again. But, if you focus on learning to speak and skip the reading and writing, you’ll be missing out on a big piece of learning the language! Besides, getting started with hiragana, katakana, and kanji is really quite doable. Don’t rush the basicsįor some learners, the three Japanese writing systems can be intimidating. Whether you’re a beginner or have already started working towards speaking fluent Japanese, there are things you can do to make learning a little easier and faster for yourself.īut if you’d rather just jump into learning, you can skip all this talking and head straight to learning Japanese on Busuu – with help from native speakers and mnemonics galore! 7 tips for learning to speak Japanese fluently 1. Want to learn how to speak Japanese? Despite the rumors that it takes 2,000 hours to hold a decent conversation, learning Japanese is really very doable – with hard work, dedication, and a few tricks up your sleeve.
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