So, one thing I remember struggling with as a beginner, and something I see others struggling with starting out with studying Japanese, is this:
“How do I find reading/listening materials that will help immerse me into the culture, learn natural Japanese, and help me develop my Japanese skills?”
It’s easy to say, “Read more” or “Listen more.” However, finding a good level at which you can move along in the material and only have to stop a few times to look up a few words is very difficult if there is nothing specific to your level. This is where I endorse a website called お家で学ぼう by NHK (not I’m anybody special LOL).
This website is a collection of different episodes from various TV shows in Japan. The reason why I like this website is because:
- You will get exposed to natural Japanese. It’s so easy to get stuck in that JLPT-only mode where you learn little fragments of grammar and how to take a test but not actually develop any true listening and comprehension skills. I still use BunPro to learn grammar because this is the best site for learning Japanese, but I don’t use it to study for the JLPT. I use it for real-life application, and actually being around Japanese every day and forcing myself to speak whenever I can is the only reason I improved.
Side note: What’s funny is that I’m out here in Japan having deep conversations all the time, going to stores, discussing my phone contracts, etc., yet I barely passed the JLPT. Trust me, the JLPT alone doesn’t really do anything to help you with life in Japan.
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They have different levels of content, from kindergarten all the way to high school. Now, as an adult, it may feel weird watching shows that are meant for little kids, but think about it. As a beginner, you are pretty much a baby in the language, so you shouldn’t feel ashamed to practice immersing yourself in the culture through kids’ shows. This is how you learned your own language growing up, so learning a second language shouldn’t be any different.
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You can also get reading practice through the あらすじ (outline/summary) and there’s an option to turn on the captions while watching the shows on the website. This is so helpful, and it makes studying very easy.
For a few years, I fell into the trap of sticking to the JLPT-structured way of studying, improved my pronunciation and got conversational pretty quick. But, I wasn’t immersing myself into anything except grammar and vocabulary. Although, my ability to string sentences together and my pronunciation were better than my peers around me, they were still more able to enjoy conversations with Japanese people because they were actually diving into the culture. Also, I only knew “official” words from my studies, but all my peers knew about slang and references to certain cultural things that I could not understand.
For these reasons, that’s why I recommend taking a dive into something like お家で学ぼう. Use Bunpro and Wanikani to learn some basic stuff, then put your skills into application with resources like what I’ve discussed in this post.
Any other thoughts are welcome, especially if you specialize in linguistics or a related field.