Lack of progress is not always due to lack of effort or desire to learn, but often students simply don’t know how to make the best use of their time abroad. So, let’s take a look at some things you can do before and after arriving in Japan to up your chances of becoming Nihong perapera (fluent in Japanese).

Strategy #1: Formal Study

Being in Japan will bring lots of opportunities to work on your speaking and listening skills, but if you don’t hit the books before departing chances are you’ll be spending precious hours that could have been used for socializing locked up in your room, regretting that you didn’t study before you left.

If you don’t already know them, get your hiragana and katakana down before you go, and being able to read kanji to a reasonable extent will make your life a lot easier (can I suggest Wanikani?). Then I would suggest focusing on vocabulary and grammar for conversational purposes, as it seems most logical to have improving your spoken Japanese as your primary goal while you are in the country. As with most languages Japanese has lots of words that are often printed but rarely used when speaking and vice versa, so what you want to do is concentrate on the spoken stuff.

In my experience, studying with Japanese drama is an incredibly effective way to do this for vocabulary, as you’re hearing “natural” (okay, I know it’s staged, but you get what I mean) Japanese and getting an idea of the contexts in which it’s used. As for grammar, though I do not take the JLPT as a good measure of language ability, I would suggest familiarizing yourself with the grammar required up to N3 – that would equip you with most of the structures you need to communicate to a reasonable level.

Finally, don’t forget to keep the formal study up while you’re in Japan. Having the chance to put what you’ve studied into practical use straight away will help you to retain the information better, and you’ll start noticing what you’ve studied pop up around you in real life, helping to fix it in your memory.

Strategy #2: Make Friends Before You Go!

If your study abroad program is organized by your university, then it probably has a reciprocal exchange agreement with the university you are going to in Japan. This means that not only do students from your university go to your chosen school in Japan, but students from that school also come to your university. Presuming you choose your study abroad destination at least a few months in advance, this gives you the perfect opportunity to meet Japanese students who will return to their home university just as you set off to study there!

Even if your university only sends students to Japan without taking any in, the existence of a magic little thing called the internet means that you don’t have to despair just yet. You could ask students at your university who have studied at your destination school to put you in contact with people over Facebook or Line. Alternatively, you could e-mail the study abroad office at your host university and ask them to hook you up (maybe don’t use that phrase exactly!) with contact information for clubs and circles involved with study abroad students, or even search on Lang-8 to see if anyone from your future Japanese school is keeping a journal there. Just make sure to go about contacting people in a way that doesn’t make you seem like an creepy internet stalker…

Strategy #3: Arrange to live with Japanese Speakers

I’m sure you’ve heard over and over and over and over again that immersion in an all-Japanese environment is one of the most efficient and effective ways to learn, and I for one certainly subscribe to this mode of thought. If you’re lucky, your school will provide accommodation in a dorm where there are Japanese speakers a’plenty, or arrange for you to do a home-stay. If that’s the case, then great, but for those who have not been so lucky I suggest you keep reading!

So, what do you do if it turns out your school is offering you a dorm with 60 study abroad students and 2 Japanese speakers living there? The first thing you can do is contact your school in Japan and ask them if they have any alternative accommodation, or if they can help you arrange a homestay with a Japanese-speaking family. If that’s a no-go then you’re going to have to take matters into your own hands.

As long as you have a connection to the interwebs then finding a place to live during your time in Japan shouldn’t be all that difficult. If a homestay appeals to you, you can search for a site that helps people find host families in the area you’re going to (Homestay in Japan is one I can recommend), or perhaps very nicely ask the Japanese friends you’ve made (as instructed above) if they know anyone who would like to host a student. If a home-stay doesn’t sound like your cup of tea, you could check out to see if there are any share-houses in the area where you can share with Japanese speakers, or ask your school to see if there would be any students interested in sharing a room with you.

Strategy #4: Take A Class That Isn’t About Japanese Or Japan

I’m not saying don’t take Japanese classes – chances are that you’ll be required to, but if you take nothing but Japanese language and culture classes then you probably won’t be being exposed to much real Japanese, will be more inclined to let the class set the pace of your learning, and will have less interaction with Japanese students. Koichi has already written about the pros and cons of Japanese classes, so I won’t go into too much detail, but the thing about classroom-based language learning is that it can only do so much for you.

I suggest that alongside your Nihongo lessons you also sign up for at least one undergraduate class, preferably connected to a topic or subject you’re interested in. One of the best ways to improve your spoken language is to listen to and imitate native speakers, so taking a class in Japanese about a topic you love and want to talk about seems like a pretty solid plan – not necessarily easy, but a solid plan. Furthermore, if you’re listening to someone speak about a topic you like, you’re probably going to have enough background knowledge to help you infer the meanings of words that you don’t already know.

Taking a class intended for native Japanese speakers might sound a bit… okay, very intimidating, especially if you’re worried about things like grades and credits. Fortunately, most lecturers will allow you to participate as a kyōkōsei – a student who attends classes, but is not required to submit assignments or take exams. Sure, you won’t get any official recognition for taking it, but hopefully you’ll be able to learn a lot in exchange for your time.

I will end this section with a word of warning: just because the title of a class sounds interesting doesn’t mean it will be interesting. Before signing up, be sure to check out the details of what exactly is on the syllabus, and ask around to see if any of your Japanese friends have taken the course or classes with the same teacher.

Strategy #5: Join a club/circle (that isn’t related to English!)

Lenna has already written about her experiences joining a club during study abroad, and while she emphasizes that it’s no walk in the park I would strongly urge anyone looking to improve their Japanese communication ability to join one.

As with taking a class you’re interested in, you’re going to be learning language related to something you enjoy and want to talk about, which is a great incentive to learn. Moreover – particularly if you’re doing something that requires a lot of teamwork – you are going to to need to communicate, and nothing helps you learn language faster than being in a situation where you’re forced to use it.

Hopefully you’ll have noticed the bit in the brackets above: “that isn’t related to English”. While ‘international clubs’, ‘cultural exchange clubs’, etc. can seem very appealing and welcoming to study abroad students, they’re usually full other English-speaking study students, and it’s more than likely there’s going to be a lot of Japanese students looking to ‘practice’ their English with (or should I say on?) you.

It’s also a good idea to check out what clubs and circles are on offer in the university and contact them before you arrive, so that they know you are coming and you can secure you place amongst their number

Strategy #6: Do A Part-Time Job (That Is Not Teaching English!)

Source: http://photozou.jp/photo/show/124201/78405736

You’ll notice we have brackets again! Yes, it’s easy to find part-time work teaching English, it’s not too difficult, and it’s well-paid, BUT it’s not going to help you improve your Japanese much. Looking at the bigger picture, you’re much better off getting a regular part-time job using Japanese, even if it means a slightly lower salary.

Obviously, your level of Japanese will part-determine the range of jobs you will qualify to do, but having a basic command of the language should at least enable you to pack shelves in a supermarket. No, not particularly glamorous, but it’s going to put you in an all-Japanese environment, and as your Japanese ability improves throughout the year you’ll hopefully be able to progress to a better position.

Part-time jobs are abundant in Japan, and you won’t have trouble finding a shop with an arubaito bosyū (part-time staff wanted) sign stuck in the window. There are also plenty of websites such as Town Work where you can search for local jobs online (you can always ask a Japanese friends to help you navigate these sites). When applying, you’ll need to submit a Japanese resume, which is always written to a standard format. Check out this very useful page at Japan Career for the details!

Study abroad students are not automatically entitled to engage in part-time work; to do this, you’ll need to fill out a “permission to engage in activity other than that permitted under the visa status previously granted” form (how’s that for a title?) and will then be able to work a maximum of 28 hours a week, or 8 hours a day during long holidays.

Have you been on study abroad to Japan? Is there anything that you think really helped you improve your Japanese while away, or anything you regret doing/not doing? Let me know in the comments below.

Aside from the advantage of being visually rather than textually based, the popularity of Dragonball and Street Fighter outside of Japan made it easy for Makanokosappo to cross cultural and linguistic boundaries and catch on with internet nerds around the globe. Now, Japanese humor is often painted as being all-but impenetrable by those without a high level of proficiency in the language, and the idea of not being able to be at least moderately funny in Japanese is quite a discouraging prospect for learners in the early stages of their studies.

But never fear! Just because you aren’t JLPT N1 yet doesn’t mean you are doomed to bore the pants of others when communicating in Japanese. As this article in The Japan Times points out, there is lots of Japanese humor that only requires a basic command of the language to be understood, enjoyed, and used to send your Japanese friends flying into the air from the sheer force of your wit! Three contenders for this year’s Japanese Buzzword of the Year Award have been taken up on the internet in a big way and become memes, and they are perfect examples of how Japanese humor is quite similar to the kinds of things that make us English speakers giggle. So, without further ado, let’s us proceed to teh lolz!

Meme #1: Itsu Yaru Ka? Ima Desho!

Osamu Hayashi’s now-famous catchphrase “Itsu yaru ka?…… Ima deshou!” (When are you actually going to do it? NOW!) made its first appearance in 2012 as part of a T.V. commercial for Toshin High School. A nationwide chain of cram-schools focused on preparing students for the infamously grueling university entrance exams, Toshin tries to lure in customers by showing clips of their best teachers motivating students through their “unique characters” and “inspirational words.” While making the mother of all doya-gao (a Japanese phrase describing look of smugness or self-satisfaction), Osamu faces his students and asks “Itsu yaru ka?” (When are you actually going to do it?), leaves the smallest of pauses, and then answers the question himself “ima desho!” (it’s now or never, right!). The word “ima” simply translates as [now/the present], while “desho” is a grammatical term that, in this particular case, implies that the speaker is very confident that their opinion is correct.

The video gained some attention, but it wasn’t until Toyota hired Osamu to do a parody commercial in 2013 that the videos went viral and Osama’s catchphrase rapidly became one of the most popular memes of the year. Toyota’s commercial mimics the original video, but the “yaru” in “istu yaru ka” is replaced with “kau” (buy), turning the phrase into “When are you actually going to buy it? NOW!”

Usage and Examples

Within a matter of weeks of the commercial being aired, Twitter, Facebook, Mixi, and other such sites were flooded with remix videos, gifs, and image macros.

Dubstep remix anyone?

Or how about the Kirby version?

Another popular way to procrastinate online is to change “itsu yaru ka?” to another question, or alter the response by replacing “ima” with another word or phrase. In the picture below, やる “yaru” has been replaced with 殺る, which is also pronounced “yaru” but means “to kill” or “to knock off!”

“Itsu yaru ka… ima desho!” When are you actually going to knock them off?…NOW!

As Japanese has quite a limited number of sounds, the majority of words have at least one homonym, aka a word that is pronounced the same but written differently and has a different meaning. In the original Toshin commercial, the “ima” meaning “now/the present” is written 今, but there is another “ima” which is written as 居間 and means “living room.”

“Doko de yaru ka? Ima desho!” – Where are you going to do it… In the living room, right?

So when’re you going to start using this meme? Err… sometime soon?

Meme #2: Je! (Je!) (Je!)

In standard Japanese, surprise or shock are usually expressed with the word “eh?”, meaning something like “huh?” in English , or “bikkuri”, which translates roughly as “what a shock!” However, in the dialect spoken in Kosode, Iwate prefecture in North-East Japan, surprise is given voice to with the expression “je!”. The greater the surprise, the more times you repeat the sound, three repetitions usually being the maximum.

One Japanese website gives the following guidance for usage:

Level 1 ‘Je!’

“Udon yori soba no hou ga karori ga takai da te”
[You know, soba noodles are apparently higher in calories than udon noodles]

Level 2 ‘Je! Je!’

“THE BOOM ni wa okinawa no hito wa hitori mo i inai rashiiii yo”
[It seems that not one of the members of The Boom, who play Okinawan-style music, are actually from Okinawa!]

Level 3 ‘Je! Je! Je’

“Ano hito, ojisan ni mieru kedo, jitsu ha obasan nan da yo ne”
[That person over there – they might look like an old man, but it’s actually an old woman.]

So, perhaps you are wondering how and why “je!” became so popular? Well, it’s all thanks to a T.V. drama called ‘Ama Chan’ that was aired on NHK from March to December this year. The story revolves around a girl named Aki Amano who visits her mother’s hometown of Kosode when her grandmother is taken ill. I don’t want to give away too many spoilers, but I will say that the story involves Aki struggling to qualify as a sea urchin diver and aiming to become a famous idol at the same time. The majority of the main characters in the series speak in the Kosode dialect, and thanks to both the popularity of the show the once little-known expression “Je” has taken off in a big way.

Usage and Examples

As with “Ima Desho!”, YouTube videos featuring the expression have been a big hit. One user decided to record his “improved version” of the instrumental theme song by singing along to it with “Je! Je! Je! Je!…”

… while a slightly more ambitious user created his own song inspired by the show, with a “Je”-filled chorus.

Sukoshi odoroku je！ When it’s a little surprise ‘Je!’
Futsuu ni odoroku je！ When it’s an every-day surprise ‘Je! Je!’
Sungoku odoroku je! je! je! je! je! When it’s a big surprise ‘Je! Je! Je! Je!’
Nipponcyuu je! je! je！ All through Japan ‘Je! Je! Je!’

Ever since the first episode, when Aki’s mother receives a message on her phone where “je!” is written using the emoji (‘j’), usage has been a huge hit on social sites such as Twitter.

‘Je!’ = （‘j’）／
‘Je! Je!’ = （‘jj’）／
‘Je! Je! Je!’ = （‘jjj’）／

“Okaasan taoreta! (‘j’)/” [Mum feinted! :O]

Or you could just make a macro by slapping the phrase on a picture of a surprised looking cat because, let’s face it, cute animals are what the internet’s really about.

“Je je je je je!!!!!! Nanda are?” [Ahhhhhhhhhhh! What is THAT?]

Meme #3: Bai Gaeshi

Our third meme also comes from a 2013 T.V. drama. “Hanzawa Naoki” centers around an incredibly bad-ass banker called (shockingly) Hanzawa Naoki (!), who works for the largest financial institution in Japan, Tokyo Chuo Bank. The series tracks the challenges and scandals he encounters as he climbs his way up the administrative ranks. His catch-phrase “yararetara yarikaesu, baigaeshi da!” means “If your enemies hurt you, take double the payback!”, and as the series progresses and his opposition get more dastardly it becomes “jyuubai gaeshi da!” (10 times the payback), and eventually ”hyaku bai gaeshi da!” (take 100 times the payback!).

Just like “ima desho!” and “je! (je!) (je!)“, this one-liner was a huge hit with internet users, and popped up all over the place as the show gained popularity.

Aside from the usual remixes, there is also (the rather difficult) “listen-to-the-phrase-for-three- minutes-non-stop” video challenge.

The interesting thing about the phrase “bai gaeshi da” is that without a specific context it can have a lot of meanings. It can be translated as “double the payback” or “give back twice as good as you get”, depending on how it is used. As a result, there have been numerous discussions about what else should be given or taken back in double.

“Raisu tanonda hazu na no ni han raisu ga kita.”
[Even though I ordered a full portion of rice, I only got a half. Take double the payback!]

“Omiyage wo”
[Souvenirs: give back double what you get]

Humor really is one of the most awesome forms of communication out there; sharing a joke and laughing with someone allows you to break down barriers, establish common ground, and I know I would be more likely to want to spend time talking with someone who can make me laugh. Moreover, language learning is more efficient, beneficial and, well, fun (!) when you are enjoying yourself as you study, so exposing yourself to Japanese humor seems like a pretty good idea overall. One of the great things about these memes is that they’re not exclusively used online – they have been appearing on T.V. and in real-life conversations throughout the year, so you can work them into both your written and spoken Japanese!

Do you know any other Japanese memes that can be easily understood by English speakers that you can share in the comments?

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