In our study of languages, we all experience difficulties in our path to fluency - whatever fluency may mean to you. Everyone has their own learning methods and develops their own studying habits along the way. As you know, I’m a big advocate of immersion learning. Immersion learning is gaining traction lately, but I realized I was using this method unconsciously during my early days of studying Japanese. For what it’s worth, I’ll share what worked for me below. Hopefully this will give you some ideas for your own study routine.
Formal classes and textbooks
Let me start off by saying that, if you’re a complete beginner, it pays to use one of the standard textbooks like Minna no Nihongo or Genki, and to take formal classes with a teacher who corrects your beginner mistakes.This will help you to grasp basic grammatical patterns and to get familiar with common vocabulary. But also realize that exposing you to basic vocabulary and grammar is all these methods do. They do not exist to help you gain actual fluency, and often do not reflect how Japanese is used in reality.
How to immerse yourself
After you’ve spent some time with these standardized methods, you might want to consider moving on to the next stage and immerse yourself in the language. Here is what I did (and still do as often as I can).
Create the right environment.
In order to prepare your brain for immersion, you need to create a distraction-free environment. The world around us constantly demands our attention. We need to come up with ways to cut these distractions out of our lives for extended periods of time. During my first two years at university, I lived in an apartment without tv, internet connection, radio, newspaper, etc. (this was 2005, before the birth of smartphones). I’m not sure if I would recommend this level of seclusion, but the takeaway here is that it helps to free yourself from distractions, get away from your screen by using pen and paper to make notes, and create an environment conducive to deep focus.
Read a lot.
For me, written language was a big part of my initial draw to the Japanese language. So after finishing a standard textbook, I immersed myself by reading novels. I use the term ‘reading’ loosely here; it was more like solving a puzzle. I had to look up every word and grammar structure and forced my way through my first novel (it was Murakami’s 国境の南、太陽の西). I spent five hours a day for two months reading that book. In the end, I only got to page 150. And yet, I noticed an immense jump in my reading ability after this experience.
Don’t panic when you don’t understand everything.
This point builds on the last, but because the experience of looking up all of the vocabulary and grammar structures and still not understanding what a sentence means can feel so incredibly frustrating, it’s sometimes difficult to keep motivated. But don’t get discouraged and keep going. I’m not saying you should skim over the parts that you don’t understand; instead, spend some time with the sentence, read it out loud a few times, take in the rhythm of the words, and move on. As you progress, these issues tend to work themselves out over time.
Watch Japanese series, movies, and comedy shows without subtitles.
I don’t know about you, but if there are any subtitles in any language that I understand, I automatically HAVE to read them. My eyes are just drawn to them, even though I perfectly understand what is being said. If you recognize this, consider turning off the subtitles, and instead focus on the original audio and engage with it in some way. You can transcribe what you’ve heard. You can pause in the middle of a scene and reply to what someone has said as if you were reacting to the actor on the screen. Or you can simply mimic and repeat the phrases you hear. These phrases often shouldn’t be used in real life, but it’ll allow you to get familiar with the sounds, accents and rhythm of the language.
Immediately use what you’ve learned.
Once I had learned new words or phrases, but was unsure how to use them in specific situations, I would just try them out in conversations with native speakers and gauge their reaction. Often, people won’t tell you outright that you’re making a mistake, but in some cases you can feel something is off when you’ve used a new word of phrase incorrectly. In any case, turn your input into output as you progress. You can also do this by writing short essays or diary entries.
Make Japanese friends.
This is kind of an obvious tip, but I’ll add that it’s important to make friends who have interests similar to yours, so that you can actually engage in activities together and interact in Japanese in a more ‘organic’ way, for lack of a better term. This way you can avoid the awkardness of a mechanical ‘language exchange’ with someone who doesn’t share your interests.
Create a healthy rivalry.
This was a major factor in my development. I was lucky to have someone in my year who was just as motivated as I was. We became best friends and still are today. We would challenge each other in various ways every single day. I remember many ‘I-bet-you-can’t-read-this-kanji’ moments back in the day. Forging a healthy rivalry with a friend who shares your interest and drive can really create momentum for your studies.
Don’t compare yourself to others.
This might seem to contradict my last point, but what I mean to say is that it’s important to avoid comparing yourself with others in unhealthy ways. When you compare yourself to your favorite language guru on YouTube, or perhaps even to someone in your class who is only slightly ahead of you, you feel like you’re ‘behind’. On the other hand, if you always compare yourself with people who aren’t as far in their language learning journey as you, you might get smug or arrogant. Both ways of comparison are sure-fire ways to hamper your progress. In the end, you can only strive to become better than you were yesterday, because there will always be someone who is better (or worse) than you.
Get outside of your comfort zone.
Make sure you’re always punching above your weight. If you keep to a level that you know you can already do, you’re likely to make next to no progress. Getting out of that comfort zone can be painful, but that just means you’re making progress. If you get stuck, you can always turn here and ask your question to the Bunsuke community.
Avoid complacency.
Once you reach a certain level, it’s easy to feel satisfied with the progress you’ve made. Of course, it’s important to celebrate your achievements. But in my experience, lingering in this feeling of accomplishment leads to regression. Once you close yourself off from learning new things, your brain simply won’t register or store additional information. Maintaining your motivation and hunger to keep learning is the key to staying on course and improving your abilities.
Immersion learning is a slow process. It’s is a long-term project that takes effort and patience. But to me, it never actually felt like work. Even now, I simply enjoy the process and avoid fixating on results. After all these years of studying, I still have good and bad days, but I never beat myself up over the bad days, and try not to get carried away on the good ones. Just enjoy doing the work, and the results will follow.
Which methods do you use to increase your fluency? Share your thoughts in the comments below.
Hi Bunsuke! Thanks for the tips and I noticed that you wrote that you read 5 hours a day. For me this is very impressive because although I do have the time to read, I just don't have the mental energy of that caliber ( The max I can do is 1 hour a day). Any tips on how to do that? do you check every word that you don't know the meaning at the dictionary? Or am I doing it wrong?
I would like to know how to get my hands on japanese e-books. Specially s/t like short stories collections. I gather Murakami Haruki is learner friendly.
I can't get them from amazon jp (bc rights? or maybe Im too dumb?), and in western amazons I can only find big blockbuster books like harry potter.
Hi Bunsuke! I gotta say, I pretty much feel the exact same way about #1 #2 and #3.
#2 and #3 remind me of the time I would go to Japanese websites where Japanese people post their novels and I'd try to read them on a daily basis. Just like you said, it's been hard and I often just skipped lines because I couldn't understand it anyhow (didn't drag me down though, just kept on going). In the end it's been very benefitial for my jp comprehension generally, reading can't be bad right haha
Also the #1 part about distractions and using pen and paper, yeah definitely this! I still sit in front of a laptop with chill music playing silently, but being able to focus and write with your hand truly is great.
Thanks for your content Bunsuke! I recently (last week!) took the N5 exam because I wanted to have a clear goal to keep my motivation going, but I was already studying beyond the exam content (specially kanji and more natural japanese). My plan is to keep studying by myself, moving into Minna No Nihongo 4 and Tango N4 books, while trying to read real japanese content.
I'm currently reading "よつばと！", and learning a lot from it. Would you recommend trying to read a book for someone at my level, or is it still too early?
A series recommendation I could watch without subtitles would be great too! I'm trying to watch some of them, but I'd like to know if there's any you could recommend.
Hi Bunsuke! Thank you very very much for the techniques you mentioned! These arrived exactly when I was feeling kinda saturated and didn't know how to go ahead! I'll always be grateful for this one article :) Kore kara mo yoroshiku onegaishimasu!
PS : Looking forward to new stories from you everyday :) :)
Hi thank you for this! Curious how you balanced #2 and #3 especially when you were first being able to read novels and books? I hear it referred to in another resource as reading deeply vs reading broadly? Looking up words and grammar can sometimes get very tedious, but I’m never sure how much I’m actually learning, or if I’m missing important points if I just skim along. Did you just feel it come together over time?
Thank you so much Bunsuke for your advice. And I will keep your advice in mind, especially about comparing. There is always someone with less time studying Japanese that is better than me and then as you put it I feel 'behind'. The past few days I have been a bit stuck with my Japanese studies. Genki is good, but having come to the last chapters I still feel I can’t speak. It’s all about grammar and vocabulary. All my spare time I’m studying, but without real improvement. As you mentioned I would also want it not to feel like work. I’m getting tried. The “rote memorization” of vocabulary, grammar and kanji, makes me forget more than not. So I’m trying a different approach. I now trying to learn Japanese through stories and found a excellent link on youtube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6sBPNXTwpek&list=PLJov1NnDE_N_92MtmRyQknjavXa1oLSuM&index=11 (N5 level)
I’m reading a lot and I order my Japanese books at this bookstore: https://verasia.eu/
They are located in Spain and it’s a paradise for Japanese learners of all levels. As some mentioned I also dislike digital books and I still prefer the paper books.
It's lovely that we can now have a forum to share this information.
Thank you for the post, it's very inspiring! I'll come back and reread it once I am free from my exams ^_^
The tip about the "no-distractions study place" reminded me of the times dictionaries were only on paper... Now you'll need at least one screen for a digital dictionary ^^"
(I was about to ask about kindle and its Japanese dictionaries too, but it's okay. If I have a chance to try out if it's comfortable reading in Japanese on kindle, I'll write about it here, in case anyone is interested.)
Excellent list! I used to record NHK news on the radio and try to transcribe it. This helped my listening as well as reading, writing, and grammar skills! Finding something one enjoys that is sustainable is key. A thing I do now is watching Japanese Netflix shows with the Japanese subtitles on. It can really aid in understanding when one can't catch all that is said. Watching in a third language with Japanese subtitles instead of English is also good practice. I'll watch Korean or Chinese shows with Japanese subtitles.
Hi Bunsuke! Thanks for the tips and I noticed that you wrote that you read 5 hours a day. For me this is very impressive because although I do have the time to read, I just don't have the mental energy of that caliber ( The max I can do is 1 hour a day). Any tips on how to do that? do you check every word that you don't know the meaning at the dictionary? Or am I doing it wrong?
Thanks!
Hi Bunsuke!
Good tips!
I would like to know how to get my hands on japanese e-books. Specially s/t like short stories collections. I gather Murakami Haruki is learner friendly.
I can't get them from amazon jp (bc rights? or maybe Im too dumb?), and in western amazons I can only find big blockbuster books like harry potter.
Got some good advice on this?
Much appreciated,
Jose.
Hi Bunsuke! I gotta say, I pretty much feel the exact same way about #1 #2 and #3.
#2 and #3 remind me of the time I would go to Japanese websites where Japanese people post their novels and I'd try to read them on a daily basis. Just like you said, it's been hard and I often just skipped lines because I couldn't understand it anyhow (didn't drag me down though, just kept on going). In the end it's been very benefitial for my jp comprehension generally, reading can't be bad right haha
Also the #1 part about distractions and using pen and paper, yeah definitely this! I still sit in front of a laptop with chill music playing silently, but being able to focus and write with your hand truly is great.
Thanks for your content Bunsuke! I recently (last week!) took the N5 exam because I wanted to have a clear goal to keep my motivation going, but I was already studying beyond the exam content (specially kanji and more natural japanese). My plan is to keep studying by myself, moving into Minna No Nihongo 4 and Tango N4 books, while trying to read real japanese content.
I'm currently reading "よつばと！", and learning a lot from it. Would you recommend trying to read a book for someone at my level, or is it still too early?
A series recommendation I could watch without subtitles would be great too! I'm trying to watch some of them, but I'd like to know if there's any you could recommend.
Hi Bunsuke! Thank you very very much for the techniques you mentioned! These arrived exactly when I was feeling kinda saturated and didn't know how to go ahead! I'll always be grateful for this one article :) Kore kara mo yoroshiku onegaishimasu!
PS : Looking forward to new stories from you everyday :) :)
Hi thank you for this! Curious how you balanced #2 and #3 especially when you were first being able to read novels and books? I hear it referred to in another resource as reading deeply vs reading broadly? Looking up words and grammar can sometimes get very tedious, but I’m never sure how much I’m actually learning, or if I’m missing important points if I just skim along. Did you just feel it come together over time?
Thank you so much Bunsuke for your advice. And I will keep your advice in mind, especially about comparing. There is always someone with less time studying Japanese that is better than me and then as you put it I feel 'behind'. The past few days I have been a bit stuck with my Japanese studies. Genki is good, but having come to the last chapters I still feel I can’t speak. It’s all about grammar and vocabulary. All my spare time I’m studying, but without real improvement. As you mentioned I would also want it not to feel like work. I’m getting tried. The “rote memorization” of vocabulary, grammar and kanji, makes me forget more than not. So I’m trying a different approach. I now trying to learn Japanese through stories and found a excellent link on youtube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6sBPNXTwpek&list=PLJov1NnDE_N_92MtmRyQknjavXa1oLSuM&index=11 (N5 level)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WbEN55Ti1k4&list=PLJov1NnDE_N_92MtmRyQknjavXa1oLSuM&index=66 (N2 level)
Some of you might find it childish, because it’s at N5 level, but they also have stories at N2 level. All the stories are read by a native speaker and the kanji contains furigana. No subtitles which is good, but the difficult words are explained in English. It’s a fun way to learn grammar, vocabulary and kanji. Additional to that I’m now learning the meaning of kanji with stories with this excellent book: https://www.amazon.com/Kanji-Months-Meaning-Kanjis-Japanese/dp/B094SZRXLM/ref=sr_1_3?dchild=1&keywords=Max+Chahua&qid=1625933131&s=books&sr=1-3
I’m reading a lot and I order my Japanese books at this bookstore: https://verasia.eu/
They are located in Spain and it’s a paradise for Japanese learners of all levels. As some mentioned I also dislike digital books and I still prefer the paper books.
It's lovely that we can now have a forum to share this information.
Thank you for this! How does one go about finding Japanese friends while not being in Japan? Curious to hear your tips.
Thank you for the post, it's very inspiring! I'll come back and reread it once I am free from my exams ^_^
The tip about the "no-distractions study place" reminded me of the times dictionaries were only on paper... Now you'll need at least one screen for a digital dictionary ^^"
(I was about to ask about kindle and its Japanese dictionaries too, but it's okay. If I have a chance to try out if it's comfortable reading in Japanese on kindle, I'll write about it here, in case anyone is interested.)
Excellent list! I used to record NHK news on the radio and try to transcribe it. This helped my listening as well as reading, writing, and grammar skills! Finding something one enjoys that is sustainable is key. A thing I do now is watching Japanese Netflix shows with the Japanese subtitles on. It can really aid in understanding when one can't catch all that is said. Watching in a third language with Japanese subtitles instead of English is also good practice. I'll watch Korean or Chinese shows with Japanese subtitles.