Introduction: 

Learning a language can be fun and challenging at the same time, but many people can’t or don’t want to invest in courses or lessons inside a classroom. By studying the basics, practicing the language, and exploring Japanese in new ways, you can experience the joy of learning a new language.

1. Identify Your Goal – And Focus:

You do not need to know every word in the dictionary, and you don’t need to write in perfect calligraphy.

For example, if you need to learn to speak Japanese (perhaps to communicate with family or take a trip), do you really need to spend time learning kanji at this stage?

Yes, you will need to learn a certain number of kanji at some point if you want to become fluent – but they are actually not essential to everyday (spoken) communication, and you could save yourself a whole lot of time and stress by postponing that part of Japanese.

Similarly, if you need to learn Japanese for business, focus on learning vocabulary relevant to your field of work. Many Japanese courses start with words related to travel and tourism, which may be a waste of time in your case.

2. Learn The Most Common Words First:

Learn the words that actually come up the most in everyday conversation, and you’ll be on the fast track to being able to communicate in Japanese.

Have you ever come across a crazy word in your Japanese textbook and thought ‘why do I need to know this? I never use this word in English!’

Well, if you want to learn Japanese fast – just don’t bother! The language police aren’t going to come after you for not learning every single word in the dictionary!

3. Make Use Of Japanese Words You Already Know:

There are hundreds, if not thousands of Japanese words that are borrowed from English. So if you learn to recognise and make use of these words, you’ll automatically have a huge vocabulary!

4. Listen, Listen, Listen

Play something Japanese all the time.All the time. Music, radio, movies, it doesn’t matter – but Japanese should be the new soundtrack to your life.Lots of listening to authentic Japanese can really improve your pronunciation and intonation. Plus, it will help reinforce new vocabulary and grammar points that you’ve studied.

5. Watch Japanese anime, movies, and drama serials. Listen to Japanese songs

It doesn’t matter if you don’t understand a thing these movies or songs are saying at first. Watch them with subs, never dubs. The whole point of watching or listening to a truckload of Japanese media is to train your ears to get used to the nuance of the language.

6. Swap Out Your Everyday Habits With Japanese Ones

If you’re serious about learning Japanese fast, you need to make some drastic changes. The good news is, you don’t have to change up your lifestyle – just switch out the language!

7. Use Mnemonics

Mnemonics are memory devices that help you remember something. A mnemonic could be a story, picture, or even a song! They don’t work for everybody, but if mnemonics work for you, this can be a super powerful way to learn a language fast.

8. Stop Being A Perfectionist

When you want to learn Japanese fast, you simply can’t be a perfectionist.

It’s important to get over your fear of making mistakes. The more mistakes you make, the faster you learn. That’s because you’re putting in effort, and you’re hopefully learning from your mistakes and correcting it the next time.

9. Speak As Much As Possible

Speaking of speaking…Speaking is great for fast learning because it forces you to Think!

You can’t just coast by passively when you’re having a one-on-one conversation with someone. When you are actively using the language for yourself, you’ll learn twice as fast – and remember things better too.

It’s important to get as much speaking practice as possible, right from the beginning.

10. Think In Japanese:

Training yourself to think/speak to yourself in Japanese is a great way to squeeze as much Japanese as possible into your day and review what you’ve been learning. You can do this right from the beginning of your studies, even if it’s just naming things around the house or describing your dinner.