Cheap/effective speaking practice for Japan trip

Japanese
#1

So, I have a 3 week japan trip coming up in about a month. I’m approaching N4 level and I’m quite comfortable reading, and getting better at listening as well, but I have almost no experience speaking/writing.

My plan was to start personal lessons with a teacher a month before to practice speaking just to be able to communicate okay-ish when necessary, but I’m wondering what other options there are because obviously it’s a fair chunk of money I could save. Maybe there’s AI tools that could help with this? I’m not necessarily trying to hone my speaking to be perfect as outside of the trip I’m not too interested in speaking. Any suggestions, experiences or opinions would be super helpful to me!

#2

Congrats on your Japan trip! I’m jealous! If you make a point to use Japanese while you’re there, you’ll definitely see your skills grow in those three weeks (At least that’s how I felt on my trips there).

I think that hiring an iTalki tutor would be helpful, but if you’ve never spoken be prepared for a little bit of a challenge. It’s a much different skillset than just listening. However, if you’re dedicated you can probably pick up on some basic patterns in a month’s time. I think you can probably find a conversation practice partner for around $10 USD per session. I would message them letting them know exactly what you need help with and make sure to have a concrete plan before going into your first lesson.

On the free side of things, もしもしゆうすけ has some fantastic videos filled with everyday dialogue such as the conbini, fast food, etc. I watched each of them multiple times over before my last trip, and they were helpful to me. They help you pick up on the style (and speed. It’s a lot faster in real life.) of Japanese you’ll be hearing. I’ll link a few of my favorites but feel free to explore his channel!

Conbini: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4NjSKPPFaEU

Fast Food: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lLjPNTpxtjg&t=613s

Drug Store: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fzVKlyZeibo

There are a lot more helpful videos on his channel, so definitely go through and watch!

I hope you have an amazing trip!

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#3

For speaking and listening practices I use talkio AI. I think it’s ~9€ per month so you could subscribe just for this month

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#4

Oh wow thank you so much for all the resources, I’ll absolutely use them! And yeah I’m thinking at the very least I’ll book some sessions on iTalki, I probably shouldn’t be that stingy considering I’m already spending a bunch on this trip. Seriously though, thank you!!

#5

Thank you so much for the suggestion, that is kinda exactly what I’m looking for, I am a little confused though, I can’t see any monthly plan (only starting from 3 months at a time) and that’s 19€ per month… am I missing something?

#6

Have you looked at apps like HelloTalk? It’s free (with some features limited) and great practice for conversational Japanese.

Hope you enjoy your trip!

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#7

Personally, I’d recommend Preply over iTalki. It’s cheaper on average & I’ve found the tutors to be of higher quality. The website layout is also easier to navigate (for example, sorting tutors from cheapest to most expensive is much easier on preply).

I pay a little under 800 yen per lesson! (If you choose this route, send me a message & I could send a code for a discount & I’d get credits if you sign up afterwards).

Otherwise, there’s HelloTalk as others have suggested. I’ve seen people also speaking on TikTok & getting feedback from Japanese people (although personally I wouldn’t be confident enough for that).

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#8

Preply looks pretty good, I’d take that code if you don’t mind! If you can’t DM me here let me know how else I could reach you

#9

You can find some friends on some discord servers and speak with them. It’s free, you won’t get corrected much but you can record yourlself and than research needed sentences and write them anki or something like that.

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#10

I really appreciate the suggestion but sadly I’m really nervous and scared to do stuff like that, I think for the sake of this trip I’m okay spending the money on a tutor but I’ll definitely keep this in mind for the future

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#11

wow these videos are incredible, thanks!

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#12

As it is for a trip and you’re around N4 it might be useful to write down a list of scenarios that might come up and that you probably can handle in Japanese (e.g., at the cashier in the konbini, ordering a coffee, etc) and then just seeing if you could form some basic sentences that you may want to use. If you get stuck then look it up and try again or ask your tutor to help you role play the scenarios.

At N4 it’s totally normal to still be at the level of just remembering phrases rather than spontaneously speaking so there’s no need to put too much pressure on yourself. As you’ll obviously be a tourist people won’t expect you to know any Japanese so even using simple phrases or even single words will be much appreciated by most people. Enjoy your trip!

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#13

There are a number of free online language exchanges you can find on meetup.com and you could use Hellotalk to find a language partner which is also free.

#14

On top of the websites/apps like iTalki and Hello Talk, I would also recommend as a free/cheap thing to do is shadowing some simple Japanese dialogs you may have, such as simple greetings, at a conbini, at a train station etc.

You can also record yourself doing this to hear how your pronunciation sounds.

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#15
  1. as a tourist I wouldn’t worry about writing. The only japanese writing I do is texting other club members
  2. I wouldn’t stress too much. The Japanese I came to Japan with N5 certification I got from college classes til the end of Genki 1.
  3. the two speaking things I needed that N5 didn’t prepare me for are “袋要りますか?” do you need a bag and “あたたかめますか” would you like that heated? I would like it heated is あたためてください
  4. If you have any dietary restrictions you’ll need to talk to the servers to figure out what you can eat.
    My mom is gluten free, (小麦アレルギー、醬油ダメ) and many resturants say “むり” can’t. She would eat stuff from the conbini I can read the ingredients list.
    If you can eat what ever, point at the food and say “お願いします”

at the station or taxi, I pull up the directions on google maps and hand it to the station attendent/ driver.

You don’t have to do this, when I am making small talk. I ask for lunch recomendations. Locals often don’t care for the big tourist spots, but ask them about where has the best breakfast or lunch set.
すみません、ランチおすすめ?
morning どこ?

once I asked someone sitting at the same table as me at dinner to go to karaoke with me after. “Karaoke Let’s Go!” is fine. there are Japanese people who are only brave enough to speak English when drinking. so if you want to make some friends, a bar is a good place to do it.

people over 30 know ‘let it be’ and ‘country roads’ while people under 30 know shake it off and shape of you as well as Japanese songs from this decade. Wicked isn’t out in Japan yet, but some people know the songs from greatest showman.

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#16

I’m gonna get a lot of flack, but honestly, Rosetta stone helped me kickstart my speaking. I know a lot of people hate it, but if you focus on the vocal lessons, it’s genuinely a good course. of course it kind of only teaches keigo and pretty basic phrases, the real purpose of it is to get speaking.

It’s definitely better than a tutor (tutors at this level tend to enjoy the drill method or just talk the whole time so you don’t get practice) at the very basic level especially if you are shy to use your japanese in front of other people.

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#17

oh yeah. Rosetta Stone and Pimpslur are good for audio lessons. I checked Pimslur Audio CDs out of the library. If you have a CD player at home or in your car, librarys are free.

When I was studying for the N5 I put the audio CD that came with my text book in my car, which helped. It doesn’t help your speaking unless you actually speak tho.

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#18

that’s why rosetta stone is nice, you have to speak to progress the lesson.

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