Learn To Speak Japanese

Japanese is one of the fastest growing languages in the world. And while it may look very difficult to learn, it is not impossible for you to learn it. If you are enthusiastic and focused about learning this language half the battle is won. Japanese uses these scripts:

Kanji – Kanji is composed of the Chinese characters.

Hiragana and Katakana – refer to the syllables and they are based on Chinese characters. Katakana refers to foreign words and sounds. Modern Japanese uses a combination of Hiragana and Kanji.

In Japanese you write from top to bottom and from right to left. Social status of the speaker and the listener is reflected on the language. Gender is also reflected in the tone, pitch, vocabulary and grammar, as well as different speech patterns for male and female.

There are many teaching methods of learning Japanese and all have different learning levels, speed, and budget. Choose the one that best matches your degree of interest, budget, and the amount of time that you have to dedicate to learning. It all depends on your need to learn, if it is just pure conversational, to get around while traveling, or if you need to learn characters and more specific functions.

Speaking the language will be of course easier than learning the characters, although you have to concentrate in learning proper pronunciation, and the use of words in context. Listening to a native is best when learning to speak. There are cd’s that can help you with this task. If you want to concentrate in learning the writing part, many books are available which include a cd with audio. This way of learning involves dedication and practice, as well as patience since you are learning by yourself and at your own pace and convenience.

You can also focus more on the words that you need the most while learning the proper way of constructing sentences to help you speak the language. The amount of grammar and vocabulary will depend on how much you need to learn and why you need to learn the language – for what use. You can pick up on the conversational tone by imitating the sounds of the words as best as you can.

There are many websites that can help you in learning the language. Some of them contain simple and quick courses to start you up. Others offer step by step instructions using audio based tools to promote and improve communication and comprehension skills.

Whichever method you use, should match your need and desire to learn this language.