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Hello all, I have using Textfugu for abit more than a month now and I am just learning adverbs. I would love to use the teamspeak to test how far I have come, but I still feel unable to actually talk to someone, how long did it take you to be able to speak very basic(and I mean VERY basic) Japanese to others?
Something like this can be done within a few days if you skip learning kana and kanji, or even less if you just rely on a few written down phrases.
Seems a bit of a broad question I feel. It also doesn’t help that I have linguistics homework due in about 50 minutes so I’ll get back to you later
AnonymousI find that if you practice your Japanese everyday, and talk to people who can speak Japanese, your Japanese will get better, because you can learn new native things this way. I learned a bunch of random phrases this way, like ‘ano saa’ or ‘chotto’. And remember, do not ever be afraid to make mistakes! You learn and improve this way.
And remember, do not ever be afraid to make mistakes! You learn and improve this way.
This x∞
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This reply was modified 12 years, 8 months ago by
Hashi.
Thanks for all the replies, I know the question wasn’t the best, but I find the right words as I was extremely tired :P. Now I am rejuvenated I’ll try and explain a little better, I live in an area that is predominately English/Eastern European so I very rarely meet and Japanese people, but even if I did I feel like my Japanese is so restricted I would not really be able to hold a conversation, apart from telling them what I Like/Dislike and awkwardly describing random objects, so when did you feel you were able to hold a very basic conversation “How are you?” “Lovely weather today isn’t it?” type thing :P, Still not much better but I hope you get the general jist.
Thing is, talking about the weather is a usual way to start a conversation in Japanese. It creates rapport. Don’t sell yourself short in that regard.
On the other hand, though, unlike English, you won’t typically ask “how are you?” – in English, it’s kinda become part of the greeting ritual: “Hi, how are you?” “I’m fine, thanks” regardless of whether you’re actually fine or not. In Japanese, you’ll only ask the question if you know the other person pretty well, and are genuinely interested in hearing the response.
I don’t do this but I think it maybe relevant. You could try to imitate how actors learn to memorize dozens of scripts. They do it quickly but in your case you could take your time.
1. First you need lines, just Japanese sentences. Organize them in a script: questions/statements + different responses
2. Act. Take different perspectives. Each with their own characters, personalities which include different emotional state; angry voice, bored, happy etc. Don’t forget to move your body accordingly, to these characters’ personality.Do them consistently, after awhile the sentences just roll of your tongues like actors/actresses performing. Heh, pronunciation would be horrible I imagine unless you learn them as you do this…
* Also Google is a good start, search ‘How to memorize scripts’ or something. Example: http://plays.about.com/od/basics/a/memorizelines.htm
I’m writing a thesis about memory and just came across this study: http://www.psychologicalscience.org/pdf/cd/actors_memory.pdf
Not a good writer so please don’t mind the awkward sentence structures etc
Thanks again for the responses, the idea of only asking if someone is ok if you are genuinely interested is brilliant in my opinion, and Ken that seems like a really good idea, that is kind of what I was after, a script to go through every time just to try initiating a conversation in Japanese.
How long does it take? As long as it takes, really.
“so when did you feel you were able to hold a very basic conversation “How are you?” “Lovely weather today isn’t it?” type thing :P” – I can barely even do that in my native English… -_-;
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This reply was modified 12 years, 8 months ago by
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