Getting better at listening and speaking

Japanese
#1

Hey guys. I’ve been studying for around a year (around 1h~1h:30m per day, sometimes less sometimes more, I don’t have a lot of time) and I’m now noticing that I’ve made a bit of a mistake in my way of studying. So for a while now I’ve been using Anki for Vocab. I do all the reviews daily and learn around 5~10 new words that I get from immersion. I also do Bunpro daily for grammar, and I try to read a little bit every day so I get new Vocab for SRS and get a bit of reading practice, be it manga, novels, news, etc.

The problem is, while my reading is progressively getting better and I’m kind of proud of where I’m at, I’m absolutely atrocious at listening and speaking, mainly because I don’t practice it at all. For listening I’ve tried to listen to some podcasts or videos but they speak so fast, I can’t grasp anything. Even the NHK easy news audio is hard for me. The reason for this I think is, because I learned kanji by memorizing its shape and then recalling the reading and meaning, doing it the other way around takes a lot longer for me, and while I’m trying to process one word, I already lost the entire sentence. I also tried really easy podcasts like Nihongo Con Teppei, which I can get for the most part because it’s REALLY basic vocabulary but I don’t know how to get past that barrier. I thought about creating another Anki deck by reversing my current cards to play the sound first but I don’t think that’s the most efficient way to do it.

As for speaking, I feel like spoken Japanese is almost like another language. Besides, reading the vocabulary and grammar points is one thing, but using them for my own phrases is another thing completely. If don’t feel ready at all to even have a small conversation with someone, how can I develop this side? I thought maybe finding a native friend to text with or something since I can think a bit more before replying, but not only I don’t know where to find one, I don’t think they’d be interested in such a low-level conversation.

I get that paying a tutor would solve a lot of these problems but honestly, I don’t have the money or time right now for it, plus learning Japanese is more of a hobby than anything super serious.

Anyway, I’m just hoping for some advice from people who have more experience than I do on how to break these barriers because most times I try to study either of these it’s so frustrating that I just get back to reading practice :stuck_out_tongue:
Thank you!

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#2

try reading out loud, parse the words to where they sound natural together. it may not seem like it, but it does help not only reading and retention, but also speaking ability as you get practice with the mouth movements. as for intonation, well I keep calling my friend a bow instead of by her name, so i can’t help you there.

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#3

  • Make use of Bunpro’s listening features (using cram is good for this)

  • Keep up with the podcast listening and also find some youtube channels that interest you, they’re often subtitled so you can follow along with words you might not know

  • Try out shadowing, there might be youtube videos out there for this too but I used a book way back in the day

If you can’t afford language lessons then maybe use HelloTalk, VRChat, OmeTV for the not perfect but free options.

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#4

Two things I did

  1. I put the CD that came with the genki textbook in my car and played it while commuting
  2. I double sided my anki cards.(As in I added an audio card in the note type) I think its pretty efficient. When you learn vocab you practice both reading and listening. I highly recommend you use an anki deck with example sentence audio so you can use it for listening practice like this.
  3. try just saying any word you know like you are narrating for a cat. or listing off your todo list in Japanese
    7:15バスに乗る. そうして7:10から待ちます. 帰り途中にスパーに行きます
    or even that’s a window, まど, that’s a door ドア excitedly listing all the words you know
  4. read out loud the example sentences in bunpro/anki
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#5

Improving in listening and speaking always differs from person to person, but I’ll put in what worked for me (conversation is undoubtedly my strongest point in Japanese).

I started by doing as much ‘thinking’ as possible in Japanese. What I mean by this is, when I was at home and hungry I’d ask myself out loud things like ‘なんか食べようかな’ or if I forgot to do something I’d verbalize ‘あ！忘れた！’ . This is a simple thing you can do which will not only help you think in Japanese, which is much-much faster than translating in your head, but it will also help you create a sort of muscle memory with your mouth and thoughts. It’s important to verbally do this, not just in your head. (Although that’s a good place to start if you find verbalizing difficult).

The next thing I recommend is finding a way to speak to people in Japanese. This is obviously harder to do if you aren’t located in Japan, but you can always use apps like HelloTalk to try and find these opportunities.

This next point is, in my personal opinion, the most important. When you use your Japanese, FAIL. Make mistakes, say things wrong, get embarrassed. One of the largest roadblocks learners have when trying to improve their verbal skills is overcoming the fear of making mistakes and failing in front of other people. Making mistakes is one the best ways to improve and remember things. You’re not a native speaker of Japanese, so you’re bound to make mistakes, any decent person will not judge you for this, and will instead likely help you. When you can’t remember a word, or a grammar point, don’t fret. Work your way around it and see if you can describe what you’re trying to say instead. In conversation, your goal shouldn’t be to show off how many grammar points you know or your extensive vocabulary; rather it should be to understand what the other person is saying and for them to understand you. If you have to talk like an 8-year old to be understood, do it. Then take those memories and later try to think about the conversation and how you can maybe say it like a 10-year old next time.

Finally, for listening specifically, I used a lot of music. I’d listen to Japanese music and not really worry about what they’re saying at first. Then when I found a song with a melody I liked, I’d try to pick up on the chorus and maybe what it meant. Song lyrics are sometimes abstract, but also very straight-forward at times. Heck, I still tout karaoke as one of my favorite study methods.

TL;DR - Think out loud in Japanese, make mistakes and don’t be ashamed of them, use media as a non-focused form of study.

Hopefully this can help you find the right path for you in improving your listening and speaking. :call_me_hand:

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#6

@TomLinper I am in a similar spot as you, only I have only been at this for 9 months. I have recently started working on listening (still waiting for the talking bit) and have found that the ‘Slow Japanese’ podcast was a really great place to start.

The first 10 episodes or so are really simple. I didn’t understand even these first lesson much at all at first, but once I got to episode 45 or so I started all the way over and was amazed at how much of those first episodes I understood. After that I found some of the other podcasts way more understandable, so you could give that a try.

#7

Adding on to the suggestion to find ways to speak Japanese with other people, see if there is a language group or language exchange in your area. The public library system where I live has a world language event a few times a month where multiple different languages are offered. They typically have a few volunteer native speakers as well, so that’s where I get my listening and speaking practice in. I ended up finding it through meet-up I believe, so if you can’t find it advertised on the library website perhaps try looking on MeetUp.

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