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 Posted: Tue Jun 03, 2008 6:20 am
These are just some things I think worked for me. I'm now fairly fluent at a conversational level (too bad my boss confuses this for being completely fluent and tries to get me to translate technical manuals).
I credit this a lot to watching lots of Japanese television when I was in the US. Dramas and variety shows mostly.
(Anime came first but people who actually talk like anime characters would sound like freaks on the street! I live near the otaku capital of Osaka and the only people who sound like anime characters are the maid cafe employees and they don't even sound like that off the clock.)
Before I was really at a level to carry on a conversation I mostly talked back to the TV and commented as best I could to get comfortable with just USING the language. Then when it comes time to trying your Japanese out on someone it will flow a lot easier.
Also, if you have a habit of talking to yourself - do it in Japanese!
It's not so much a conversation skill but I think it's good for pronunciation. Listen to a lot of Japanese music. Even just having it on in the background perhaps will get your ears used to the sounds and make it easier to mimic them. Sing along! Even if you just stumble and mumble at first. I'm often told I have a really clear accent and I think this really helped.
What are everyone's favorite ways of working on their conversation skills? Methods that have worked for you or anecdotes? I'm looking for some stuff to pass on to others when I'm asked about how they can study too.
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Posted: Tue Jun 03, 2008 9:00 am
That sounds like useful advice. Unfortunately for me, I have nowhere near enough vocab to talk to the TV or myself in Japanese. sweatdrop
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Posted: Wed Jun 04, 2008 3:34 am
I did it from the time I had just started studying so just go with what you know and build from there!
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Posted: Sat Jun 07, 2008 8:51 am
Oh you did? I might try it then.
I've been trying to learn a few new phrases each week, I guess I could start with those. =]
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Posted: Thu Jun 19, 2008 4:19 am
I am currently in Japan studying abroad for a year. Being here, you DEFINITELY can pick up on a lot of stuff (conversationally) that you do without thinking. For instance, I'm finding that I can mumble in Japanese here (aka not enunciate) like I do in English a lot. It's really interesting, but I am working on it. There is ALWAYS a simpler way of saying something, so textbooks can have grammar terms not used as much in conversation.
Listening to Japanese music helps. I personally didn't do it as much as others, as I tended to shy away from being plagued from unfamiliar vocab, but with subbed anime, I could have a net to use to also hear how the language was being used. But, I would never use it alone. Anime and music both have weaknesses. Music forces you to learn unfamiliar vocab. It also doesn't use nouns (as what did what and so on) so it can be kind of confusing sometimes. Anime uses....well just weird phrases and slang that is not normally used anyway.
Talking to yourself in Japanese works believe it or not, but TV programs are harder to do so if you don't have a strong ear in the language and you have no subtitles. However, I was taught this by a professor that is American, but has taught English and has lived in Japan for about 40 years that: English is a lazy language. Even good non-natives can sit there and not have to actively listen because English lays out all the details of something, whilst Japanese (and other languages) you have to actively listen sometimes to get the point and understand sometimes.
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Posted: Thu Jun 19, 2008 11:04 am
One bit of Japanese slang I think is useful for students of the language(or even for people in general) is the phrase "Kuuki o Yomanai"*sometimes abbreviated to KY(Kuuki yomanai)* Though the literal meaning involves reading air, it refers to the persons inability to read into the context of a situation or what's going on around them. Unlike English, Japanese is a lot less straightforward(typically anyhow) and is reliant on context clues for the listener to pick up on and use how they feel is appropriate. This involves not only what is said, but what isn't, and the body language(where appropriate and approximated) of the people involved. So remember, one of the key skills you'll want to have and hone in your learning is how to read the atmosphere. If you think you have your friend pegged, and yet also feel like there's something you're missing ask yourself, "Kuuki o yomeru ka?"(Am I reading the air?)
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Posted: Fri Jul 04, 2008 6:46 pm
sou desu nee?
sou desu ka?
hontou desu ka?
ee
wakarimasu yo
un
heart (all useful convo fillers) heart
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Posted: Wed Jul 09, 2008 11:40 am
Dramas are great. I can't say much for Japanese because I'm a native speaker, but in general, dramas help a lot. Not only are you entertained, but you learn! I picked up on a lot of (useful) Korean and Mandarin phrases by watching dramas alone, and I think my pronunciation's fairly decent for a newbie. Oh, and I practically learned English from TV. biggrin
I personally think it's too difficult for a student to understand and follow variety shows, not only because the topics are random, but because people talk very quickly. When you're relatively comfortable with a language, though, you should give it a shot. :]
And yes, anime language makes you sound like a weirdo most of the time. Especially shounen anime, because everyone swears at the drop of a hat. People in Japan are generally very polite. rofl
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Posted: Sat Sep 20, 2008 8:27 pm
Talking to yourself helps a lot. Sometimes I try to say stuff without thinking about it, after awhile you will get quicker and your gramar will be better; though your string of sentances won't make much sense when put together... confused
Also, anytime I'm at all unsure of a word, even if it's a tiny bit, I'll force myself to look it up in a dictionary. I HATE looking things up, so it gives me the motivation to learn words the first time around.
Also, I've been keeping a journal on lang-8.com It helps a lot to have natives correct your sentances for you.
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Posted: Thu Sep 25, 2008 11:27 am
Kappugen: thanks for mentioning lang-8.com. I'd never heard of that site before, but I popped over there and it looks like a good tool for language studies. Thanks tons! b^_^b ありがとございます～
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