Learn: Japanese

The following post is an edited version of a speech that I gave at Capital City Toastmasters (Club 2953). As a result, it may sound chattier or cheerier than prior blog posts.

Konbanwa!

How many of you know what that means? No cheating!

"Good evening!"

In what language does konbanwa mean “good evening”?

Japanese.

I am learning to speak, read, and write Japanese. I am going to tell you about the research of learning a foreign language. I’m also going to tell you about the specific challenges of learning Japanese. Then, I will tell you about the tools that I am using to learn.

First, the research. According to the Foreign Services Institute, to learn Japanese would require 2200 class hours, or about 88 weeks. They claim that that is how much a student would need to reach a “Professional Working Proficiency.” That is twenty-five hours per week every week for more than a year and a half.

Imagine having a part time job where you learn Japanese. Sounds fun, doesn’t it?

Before I forget, the Foreign Service Institute is part of the State Department. So, they have some experience with training diplomats.

Since learning Japanese is a part-time job, how best to make use of that time?

Believe it or not, there is a book entitled Principles of Language Learning and Teaching by H. Douglas Brown. Brown wrote, “in the case of second language learning, it appears that contextualized, appropriate, meaningful communication in the second language seems to be the best possible practice the second language learner could engage in” (76).

In other words, learn the foreign language in a context that makes sense to you. Brown talks about how cognitive psychology research shows that “meaningful learning” is when new material relates to something you already know. The process is one of building or expanding.

So that is a big-picture approach to learning a foreign language. How about what that means in more practical terms? How best to schedule your learning?

An August 2016 article in the journal Psychological Science may provide some advice. The research team led by Stéphanie Mazza showed that practicing a foreign language right before you go to sleep, and reviewing the same material right after you wake up, is better than going through a lesson upon first waking, and then repeating it before going to sleep. In other words, learn, sleep, learn again is better than learn, go through your day, learn again, and then sleep.

So, you have a meaningful context, and a schedule. What about the language itself? What makes Japanese so difficult?

Consider that it has three writing systems. The first writing system you learn is hiragana. Hiragana is about as close as you get to an alphabet in Japanese. Hiragana is often used for children’s books, verb endings, and sentence particles. Remember konbanwa?

The image below shows what konbanwa looks like in hiragana.

As you can see, it resembles cursive. Each hiragana symbol represents a syllable. You can sound out unfamiliar words, much as you would in English.

Then, you learn katakana, which is often used for foreign words, or for emphasis. For example, in the image below, Madison is written in katakana.

Note that the di sound in Madison is written with two symbols. Computers or block writing will separate out the di sound. However, when you manually write out madison in katakana, the smaller of the two symbols is put a little bit under the larger one.

Finally, you learn the kanji. Kanji consists of thousands of characters that represent nouns, verb roots, adjectives, and so on.

An important kanji to learn is in the image below.

This kanji is pronounced nani (nah-nee) and means...what? Seriously. It means what.

That is all just the writing system! What is spoken Japanese like? We’ve all heard Japanese before, and may recognize that many sentences end in desu, desu ka, -masu, or -mashita. What is the pattern?

Without going into too much detail, what you are hearing are verbs, or their respective conjugations. Japanese sentences often end with the verb. Instead of saying, “I live in Madison,” you say, “watashi wa madison-ni sundemasu.” Literally, that translates into “I, the subject of this sentence, Madison, object of this sentence that pertains to the time or place of the subject, live.”

Think about that for a moment. Imagine thinking of subjects and objects, and then the verbs that show relationships or action. Thing thing happen!

Given all the time you need to learn this complicated language, what tools might you use?

If you have a phone, you can download a program called Duolingo. It is free, supported by advertising, and offers Japanese, German, French, Latin, Welsh, Navajo, and so on. While it is a free way to get you started, the retention (in my experience) is only okay.

If you want to expand on Duolingo, I recommend Pimsleur. Pimsleur is an audio-based program. You can get the CDs from the library, or download the MP3s. You listen to a conversation, and then a coach will guide you through the dialogue. For the most part, it is call and response.

What next? You’re using the free app on your phone. Pimsleur is teaching you how to order beer. I suggest finding a meetup group where you can with native speakers. In fact, I go to a Japanese language meetup group at the University of Wisconsin.

It was there that they recommended a workbook - Japanese From Zero. This book shows you how to read and write hiragana. It also flat-out tells you the grammar rules.

With these four tools, the Japanese language took on a new depth. The Duolingo lessons began to remind me of words I had learned on Pimsleur. When I listen to the Pimsleur lessons, I can almost imagine how the words are spelled in hiragana. Speaking with native Japanese speakers, as well as other American learners, encourages the formation of new, original sentences, not memorized ones.

To summarize, learning Japanese will take well over a year, even if you devote several hours per week. The language is best acquired through meaningful context. Ideally, lessons occur right before bed, and are repeated upon waking.

Japanese has three writing systems, and a different word order than in English. This requires the learner to memorize thousands of symbols, and think about topics in a different sequence.

Fortunately, there are many tools to help you learn. Some of them are free. Others cost a little money, and some involve spending time talking with native speakers.

Domo arigato gozaimasu