![]() If you want to spend the years, you absolutely can do it. So be aware of how long it’s going to take. ![]() They’re all balls-out at the start, and then after several months it dawns on them that it’s a much bigger task than they were led to believe. Most people seem to last about a year and a half. In other words, either bake the cake or do not. Of course, you can spend the years of your life any way you like, but it seems a shame to buy a cookbook, go to the store for eggs, flour and a cake pan, come home and mix up a batter, put it in the oven, and then half an hour later yank open the oven and throw the whole thing out the window. You might want to give some thought to undertaking a project with a higher dropout rate than that oShackletonf the Navy SEALs. Of the hundreds of people I’ve seen study Japanese over the years, only about 10 succeeded in speaking the language with any level of competency. If I had to say how long it would take to get reasonably good at Japanese, I’d estimate a minimum of 3 to 7 years, and possibly much more, depending upon how much time you devote and how many advantages you bring to the table. It’s a little bit like putting yourself through high school and college all over again, alone, in Japanese. In other words, even fluency wasn’t enough. Then I wanted to have a longer, more interesting conversation, until eventually I realized what I really needed was to make myself understood in both speech and writing at roughly the same level I’m at in English. So I learned more, until I could finally have a conversation. But every time I met someone, they asked me questions I couldn’t answer. At first, I thought it would be enough just to master some survival phrases. Part of the problem lies with ever-loftier goals. Myself, I can honestly say I’ve spent at least 4,000 hours actively studying, and that’s not counting watching Japanese movies, singing karaoke, having conversations all day long in Japanese, and working in Japan. every morning to do speaking drills, or wrote 50,000 flash cards, or went to language school five hours a day. But honestly, when I look at the very few people I actually know who’ve succeeded, it’s clear why. Look, everyone thinks they can learn Japanese quickly, fueled in part, no doubt, by the number of websites claiming to help you do so if you buy their products. But on a scale of 1 to Hot-Tub-at-the-Playboy-Mansion, learning Japanese slots in somewhere between soldering together your own black-and-white TV and copying the Bible by hand while wearing a Medieval monk outfit. Because that would be great and the world would like that, and then I could sell the world some secret method that I dreamed up and I’d be rich and the world would be happy. I want to tell the world that learning Japanese is easy and fun. And while you’re there with your pine cones and sandwiches and beer, ask yourself: Do I really want to study Japanese? No, really. You should probably pack some sandwiches, now that I think about it, and maybe some beers too. If there is a pine tree, then climb to the top of that and sit there instead. The taller the better, preferably with a sturdy pine tree. For this, you’re going to want to find yourself a really tall mountain. Anyway, where were we? Oh yeah, Phase II. Phase III? Well, okay I haven’t written that yet. So this is Phase II of the Japanese Rule of 7 Learn Some Japanese project. ![]() Beyond a handful of survival sentences, you should give a really good think to whether or not you want to continue learning Japanese. Even if I pay you? No? Hmph, well I didn’t want to anyway.īut when I say “a little” of the language, I mean it. Daily life is much better when you know a few key phrases: Hello. ![]() Anyone with an interest in Japan should learn a little Japanese, I really believe.
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