As you know, I’ve been trying to learn Japanese for years. I go back to it with enthusiasm every time I take a break and then life happens, meaning I have to push my love of the language to one side. So here’s what I’m going to do.
I’m going to come up with a list of tips and tricks that I think might encourage me to start learning again, and hopefully along the way you’ll be inspired to learn a language too!
Everyone muck in
With a household like mine full of young minds there is always someone around to give things a new perspective. So I’m thinking, perhaps they would like to learn a language as well! I think if we could dedicate a little time maybe each day, or even a couple of times of week to be more practical, we could learn Japanese as a family. Maybe we can practice having simple conversations, asking and answering questions, keeping a study guide to hand for when we get stuck.
Movie night!
Okay so the family can all join in with this one too. Netflix is pretty great for foreign movies so I’m going to go through what they have on offer and try to watch one new movie a week. I know, that doesn’t sound all that much like learning, but with subtitles on in English, I think it will be a great way for me to start picking up some new words. I’m already pretty good with the pronunciation but hearing Japanese in a natural way on screen I think will help a lot.
All online
There are so many fun apps for learning languages out there like Memrise or Duolingo, as well as quite a few established websites like Coursera or Language Trainers. Youtube is also great for short videos so I’m going to find myself a Japanese vlogger to follow. I might even, if I’m brave enough, turn some of my social media over to Japanese since I understand the characters pretty well. Twitter might only allow 280 characters but writing in Japanese that would almost be an essay!
Japanese everywhere
I think if I concentrate on some of the things I love most, I can turn learning Japanese into an extension of that without even trying. What do I mean? Well, I love baking. So if I look up the ingredients of the things I bake, that gives me a little vocabulary, and then I can move on to more practical words. If I’m stirring, separating, measuring, or whatever else I need to do to create the perfect cake, then I can learn how to talk about those actions in Japanese as well. Hey, I might even start planning out some recipes in Japanese! How awesome would that be?
A little me time
I think a great way to remember some Japanese would be to make a little project for myself. I could create a mood board with some words dotted around it to jog my memory, or start a journal that’s written completely in Japanese. I think the most important thing for learning any language is to have fun with it. What would you recommend?
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