It’s definitely possible though. Personally, I went from having no Japanese experience at all to being fluent in less than five years. It’s mostly due to the extended time that I spent as an exchange student, but even if you spend time in Japan, that doesn’t necessarily guarantee that you’ll become fluent. I also know people who have learned to speak Japanese very very well who have had nothing but their computer and their motivation.

However, there are various things that you can do to help you learn how to speak conversational Japanese. Mind you, these take some hard work and dedication as well as commitment and motivation. 

What is Fluency?

There is no real agreed on definition of fluency, but people seem to mix it up with mastery. In my eyes, there is no real such thing as one hundred percent language mastery- as one changes setting or subject, there are a million words that one must learn in order to be able to understand or express the ideas being discussed.

I consider fluency the ability to converse about any everyday subject without stumbling over words or thinking about what is being said. Fluency is a state when you are comfortable enough with the language that it is hardwired into your brain as if it had always been there. Fluency means being able to express yourself in a comfortable way. This doesn’t mean that you know every word about every subject, but instead that you are able to converse comfortably about everyday subjects without problems.

Immersion

I know it’s not possible for everyone, but if you have a will or a way, immersion is the best possible way to learn how to speak fluently in conversational Japanese. Being surrounded by people who only speak Japanese will do wonders. To get to Japan for immersion, you could go as an exchange student, through a study abroad program, through JET, or just go with a friend or friend of a friend.

If you can’t do a physical immersion, organizing your own small immersions can be good. Decide to only listen to Japanese music and watch Japanese TV shows for a day, a week, or a year. Have a Japanese-speaking friend only speak Japanese to you. Get together with some friends studying Japanese and cook and eat a meal together using no English. Any little bit helps, as long as you’re all committed to the goal of practicing the language.

Warning- Embarrassment Goes Out the Window

No shame is allowed. None. Are you embarrassed that people will laugh at you? Too bad, laugh at yourself first. Are you worried that you sound stupid? Well, you probably will until you get more practice. How badly to you want to be able to speak well? If you want it at all, you have to take all of those inhibitions and put them through a grinder, pressing them into a fine powder before letting them flow through the wind, to a place far, far away.

Talk To Native Speakers

In order to get better at riding a bike, you’d ride a bike. To get better at baking a sponge cake, you would bake a lot of sponge cakes. So, to get better at speaking Japanese, you should speak more Japanese.

Actually Talk To People

Again, you have to really try yourself to actually go and talk to people in Japanese. Again, if you don’t practice, you won’t get better. No matter what level you are at, as long as you actively practice, you’ll improve.

Also avoid getting stuck in the English rut. That’s the undesirable comfort zone of when you’re so used to speaking English with a native Japanese speaker that speaking English on both ends is awkward.

Listen actively, Speak Bravely

Look again at your inhibitions? Are they flying in the wind with the rainbow pinwheel? If they are, your mouth is now free be brave. Go forth and make many a mistakes while remembering these following tips:

What’s that?

If you don’t know what a word means, you can always just ask.

I know that in the beginning phases, there are too many unknown words to really ask for one. Also a lot of the time you can get the basic meaning of a sentence from context, but if there’s something that you don’t know that is critical, ask. If someone starts looking it up in a dictionary, tell them that you want an explanation, or “説明して”

However, using a dictionary can be very helpful as well. Although phones and electronic dictionaries are fast, sometimes a paper dictionary is useful in that you can highlight and bookmark pages. Sometimes starring or virtual bookmarking just isn’t enough.

The Sincerest Form Of Flattery

In order to pick up pronunciation or an accent, directly imitating the speech of a native speaker you know can be helpful.

I know that when I spend too much time with any of my friends, I pick up their speech habits. When it’s with my Japanese friends, I pick them up even more quickly. Just remember to pick up the speech habits of someone who is the same gender and around the same ages as you- I know that it’s your life and you make your own choices, but Japanese society is less likely to take you seriously if you speak Japanese like a girl as a 30 year old man.

Repetition, Repetition, Repetition

When you make a speech mistake, repeat yourself with the correct way to say your mistake.

For example, one day I was with my friend and I gave her a cute acorn that I had picked up on the ground. When I gave it to her, I wanted to tell her to try not to lose it, (なくさないようにね）but instead told her “なかないように”, which means “Try not to cry.” I realized my silly mistake, and started to try to find the right words. With my friend’s help, I managed to get it right, and then repeated it a few times. I don’t think I’ll make that mistake ever again.

Is This Normal?

When you’re unsure if a phrase or word is used properly, ask if it is.

A lot of the time when someone is learning a new language conversationally, they will have something specific that they will want to say in the other language that they will look up in a dictionary or translate word by word. Sometimes direct translation works, but a lot of the time it sounds robotic or forced. However, if it makes sense, the person who you’re talking is not very likely to correct you. You know how awkward it would be to point out weird speech habits of a non-native speaker of your own language. So just casually ask if the wording is odd or technical before you store it into your daily vocabulary cave along with all the other lions, tigers, and bears.

The best go to phrase that I use is  ”Xっていうのが普通？” or ” X使う？”

The Guessing Game

If you don’t know exactly what the word is, but kind of know the sounds, just go at it. You’ll probably have the real word repeated to you.

For a long time, I’d heard the word the phrase “置いとく” which means “to set down for now.” But I never really got it right at first. I’m sure that I said a mixture of different variations of oitoitoku, okitoku, oitoitete, and anything else under the sun. But every time, the meaning was understood and I was one step closer to saying it right.

Aizuchi

Learn how to actually be an active listener through Sarah’s article about aizuchi, or Japanese interjections. Even if you don’t speak fluently, you can trick people into thinking that your nihongo is super jouzu with your “a, sou?’”s and your “haihaihai”‘s.

No Native Speakers?

It’s virtually impossible to become fluent in a spoken language if you’re not speaking it with people. But, if you happen to be in an area or situation where there is no one to speak Japanese with, you can absorb a lot to prepare yourself for a time when you can use the language on your own. If learning how to speak Japanese is you goal, I would recommend dramas and real-person TV shows over anime.

With language exchanges, although skype exists, sometimes it can get creepy if you’re just exchanging addresses with strangers who will undoubtedly be as awkward as you on camera. Be careful, kids!

I hope this will help those who are on their way to Japanese fluency! You can do it! Just don’t give up!

If you have anything you’d like to add, experiences to share, or questions for me, leave them in the comments!

Over time, you should see your Japanese getting better as well (or at the very least you should feel more confident about conversation). First step? Go insane… or at least act like it.

You Talking To Yourself Bro?

The “technique” I’m going to teach you isn’t really much of a technique at all, though we’ll go a little deeper into this subject than you ever thought possible. In a very basic sense, the “technique” is simply the following:

“Talk to yourself in Japanese.”

Whew. That was intense. But, it’s a little more complicated than that (just a little bit). There are a few rules to go along with this. Rules are good – they’ll keep you from falling all the way into the depths of insanity… well, for some of you anyways. I’ve seen some of your comments – you know who you are.

Rule #1: You have to be alone. You can’t feel like anyone else is around to see or listen to you.

Rule #2: Whatever you’re doing while you’re doing this “technique” shouldn’t require much concentration or thought. Things like showers, driving, watching TV, and so on might be good (please note that if you crash your car into something while doing this it’s your own fault. Be careful, hokay?!)

Rule #3: You have to speak (or yell) as loud as you possibly can without being heard (otherwise it breaks rule number 1).

Rule #4: Never, ever, talk about Fight Club

So, now you know basically what you need to do. When you’re alone and doing something that doesn’t take much concentration you want to talk to yourself in Japanese. I can’t just leave you there, though. I should show you how to do it. Let’s take a look at some specific examples that you can use to do this technique.

The Car

So you’re driving along in your car being all like “I’m gonna listen to some Weird Al on the 8-track machine” (or whatever you kids do these days). Instead of doing that, why not spend some time talking to yourself like a crazy person in Japanese?

Time in the car is absolutely perfect for this. Maybe you have to drive to work in the morning. Maybe you have to drive to school. Whatever. If you drive alone in a car (or you’re in the back of a sound-proof limo), this is one of the best opportunities to try out this technique.

I’d imagine it going something like this:

1. Yell something unintelligible. Get it out. Stop feeling bad about yelling.
2. As you drive around, you see things. Talk about those things (to yourself) in Japanese. Actually, don’t talk. Yell. You’re in a car. Nobody can hear you, maybe.

Talk about the weather. Talk about people you see. Talk about that dumb Oregon driver in front of you who doesn’t turn on their blinker then turns really, really slowly. It doesn’t really matter what you talk about – the only important thing is that you continually change the topic as you see new things. I’ll find myself even taking both sides of the conversation using different voices (yes, it’s embarrassing). I’ll have entire conversations about what someone is wearing or what I recently listened to on the radio. It’s like having a language partner but you get to have both sides.

The Bicycle

Some of you ride bicycles. Compared to a car, the bicycle has a lot less in terms of sound-blocking aluminum and glass. Just go back to Rule #1. Talk as loud as you can without feeling self conscious. Once you feel self conscious you won’t speak as freely, and that’s one of the main goals. On a bike, I’d say you can talk in a normal voice and get away with it. Just like with “The Car” you want to talk about things you see and experience as you ride around.

If you’re a little ashamed feeling, though, try the next example.

The Headset

One technique that you can use while your cycling, walking, or even riding a car is “the headset.” Wear a bluetooth headset or some headphones. When people see that, they’ll just think “oh, he’s talking on his phone, he’s not crazy.” That way, you can have the ability to practice your Japanese conversation no matter where you are! Pretend like you’re closing a multi-million dollar deal or something.

The Shower

Most of you secretly sing in the shower. So, why not talk to yourself in Japanese in the shower? C’mon. I can hear you singing from all the way over here, so I know you’re not self-conscious. In the shower, just think about your day (or previous day) and go through it in your head. Since you’re not constantly seeing new things like you would in your car or on your bike, you’ll be responsible for coming up with new and interesting topics that push your ability to a higher level.

Making This Work

I’m not going to claim that this is the best technique in the world, but it does have some nice perks and advantages.

• You get to practice your speaking skills, which is something that most people don’t get.
• You’re taking advantage of times that are normally empty and wasted. With all that driving, walking, showering, and so on that most people do, I bet you could get in an hour or more of crazy Japanese talking time.
• You get to practice speaking freely without worry. When you’ve had a few daddy drinks, it becomes very easy to speak another language. This is because you’re not self conscious. This technique is supposed to emulate that feeling (or lack of feeling).
• Yelling makes you think differently about the Japanese language. I don’t know what it is about yelling, but everything is better for some reason. You can also hear your pronunciation and correct it more easily, too. Yelling has some kind of magical property that I don’t understand. You’ll just have to trust me that it does good things.

If anything, though, I hope this article helps you to think about Japanese study in a slightly different way. There are a lot of hidden opportunities to practice. You just have to notice that they’re there.

This technique won’t work for everyone (you’ll probably want to be at an intermediate level of Japanese to do this at least somewhat effectively), but it’s something to work towards. Even if you’re a beginner you can try to recite sentences using grammar you’ve learned using things that you see around you. It won’t quite be a conversation, but it’ll be good for you too.

So go out there and pretend to be insane. It’s for the betterment of your Japanese.