Introduction

So you want to learn and improve on your Japanese speaking skills, right? Well, it’s good to know that you are making efforts to enhance and improve your Japanese skills in order to meet your set study goals. 

Before you can become fluent in speaking, you have to improve your listening skills first.

Most Japanese language students find it easier to write than to speak Japanese. This is because putting the right Japanese words together to make a sensible statement can be tricky. Also, when a learner starts to learn the Japanese language, they usually start off with reading and writing vocabs. Most of their study time is spent reading, and the only time they have to practice speaking is the few minutes left from their allotted study time. So, if you find out that you spend most of your time reading and writing instead of speaking, you may never get to improve your speaking skills unless you do something about it.

Talk to native speakers. 

As a Japanese student, if you are fortunate to have native speakers around you or better still you live in Japan, then you have the opportunity to brush up your speaking skills. Don’t confuse fluency for mastery. Why? You may ask. Mastery has to do with knowing all that there is to know and be 100% perfect in skill, and I’m glad to let you know that it is impossible to learn every single thing in the Japanese language or any other language. You can only become familiar with words you are exposed to mostly on a daily basis.

Connect with a language exchange student online 

This is another way to brush up your speaking skills. There are a lot of websites built for the sole purpose of language exchange programs. There, you can find several native speakers looking to learn English or your native language, and both of you can learn from each other. This way you can easily learn to hold conversations and also get corrected each time you make a mistake

Read aloud 

This is a practical method of improving your Japanese speaking skills. Reading aloud, especially to yourself, gives you the opportunity to listen and correct yourself when necessary. This way, you are unconsciously enhancing your Japanese speaking fluency.

Don’t adopt a new studying style

Stick to your old and effective style of studying that has delivered your results earlier. If you get to learn easily while reading aloud or by practicing in writing, simply practice it to learn and speak Japanese quickly. 

Go on to listen to Japanese audio anytime and anywhere

Stuff that we hear again and again gets easily stored in our memory box. Try to listen to Japanese audio as much as possible to be able to speak fluently. This may result in a dual benefit of improving listening skills along with getting versed with the language. The finest ways to get the hold of Japanese is to practice the process of hearing, understanding, and finally speaking. Try to memorize what you heard while watching a Japanese movie or a TV show like news or you can make a keyword list that you can go through frequently. 

Embrace your mistakes

Don’t let embarrassment stop you from learning what you are supposed to. Each time you speak and make a mistake, that’s an added opportunity to learn better. If you are scared of being laughed at whenever you make mistakes, laugh at yourself first! This will help you put away every ounce of shame or embarrassment and get you to learn what you need to learn. Remember, don’t be afraid to speak because of fear of making mistakes. Fear is just an illusion of the mind.