How to improve my Japanese writing skills?

Improving any of the skills that you have already acquired is done through practice. There is no denial in the fact that thorough practice is the key to excellent results. Without practice you will not make progress. But you also need to understand what are some of the right ways to channelise the efforts that will help you improve your skills. In this blog, we will be discussing ways to improve your Japanese writing skills.

A Lot of beginners find the task of writing very daunting, however, it is the most essential activity. You must consciously develop the habit of writing from the beginning. That’s the only way you will not find writing daunting at the later stages of language learning. You can tackle this issue by maintaining a journal from the beginning itself. You can make a simple journal or you can incorporate fun element such as drawings and stickers or different coloured pens, anything that interests you in order to make writing fun and easy. This will engage you as well as ease out the boredom from this mountain of a task. Many learners skip this part and later regret skipping it. Hence for better writing skills, it is important to start from the beginning itself.

Another important area you may need improvement to be able to write effectively could be vocabulary. Achieving full familiarity with a language requires learning the language as well as routinely applying what you learned by listening, speaking, reading, and writing. You need to expand your vocabulary simultaneously. Some people learn basic words but never try to increase their stash of words through learning or reading different things. While books remain an indispensable source of knowledge another way to achieve this is with the help of numerous online tools and sites, for example, online dictionaries that will help you read and watch Japanese books, comics, movies and above all Manga and Anime. There are also sites that will help you connect with native Japanese speakers for language exchange as well as sites that can help you with correct your writing.

Learners often think that when we talk about learning a language we mostly focus on the vocabulary or basic expressions or phrases. Yes, it is important to learn the basic phrases and work on expanding your vocabulary, but what is also important is to get your hands at Japanese grammar and structure. You need to be thorough with grammar topics, syntax etc in order to frame meaningful sentences. If you do not know the right words you will not be able to arrange them in a way where they are meaningful. If you feel you are not thorough with a grammar topic, in particular, revisit it and practise it again. Seek online help to understand it better, in absence of a trainer or classmate. Practice it with a lot of examples and in this way, you will have a fair idea of the grammatical structure followed and an understanding of the rules used. You can watch movies, read magazines, newspapers, simple books to reinforce your understanding of sentence formation and grammar rules. It will also prepare you to incorporate more sentence structure and vocabulary into your Japanese knowledge. And give you more versatile use of all the words you are learning and practicing.

As the said earlier practice is the key. Learners skip this in the initial stages of learning because it seems like a daunting task but later regret it. There are so many apps out there that focus on daily lessons designed to fit a pace that the learner is comfortable with. But if you want to really get a hand at Japanese, I suggest practising Japanese and studying it for at least 30 minutes a day. Aim for more study-time whenever you can, but the study doesn’t mean you have to mug up the words and phrases, you can focus on the entertainment part, making it fun like indulging in some games or writing competitions. Write essays and articles on any topic you come across. If you have a friend who is also learning Japanese, you both can come up with creative ideas to practice writing.

Japanese may be a complex and tricky language to learn and master, but it is certainly not impossible to learn. It takes practice and consistent effort to achieve your goals in life. And when it comes to writing, you cannot expect to be perfect at writing without practising it daily, thoroughly. Keep revising topics that you have learnt earlier on a daily or weekly basis as you move from beginner to advanced levels. And you will ace the language in no time.