I'm new

[ekach3288]

Hi, I'm new and I don't really know how does this work. I already finished Absolute Beginner S.I. but I don't have a way to practice, I work at a hotel's restaurant and yesterday I had my first japanese couple to attend,(I'm waitress) all my japanese phrases hide deep inside my brain! I just said "Oishii"when the steak was on the table but I couldn't speak anything else,I was pretty blocked! I'm sure this is because I have not practice. I listen the Audio Lessons, I play flashcards daily, I take around 2 hrs of japanesePod each day between the videos and the tools and I love it but I still afraid to speak. Is there somebody who can tell me how these forums works and how I could practice a little bit . Thank you!

[jaehwi]

Hi ekach3288,

first of all welcome to the JapanesePod101.com family! Let me start by saying DON'T WORRY! I can understand you 100%. Every time I try to learn a language at the beginning it's like this. If I suddenly need to say something, my brain gets completely blacked out... blank and I cannot even say a word right, even the basics!

It takes time. The whole language learning idea is basically training your brain, to think, work, react in a completely different way than the one it's used to. Those "language reflexes" will come in time.

As you said, you just finished Absolute beginner. It will take a bit more than that to get more comfortable with using even the simplest phrases naturally. So don't worry!

My advice, is to keep studying here but when you are not studying, for example in the metro, relaxing at home etc. try to revise. Train your brain into recalling things you have learned.
Something that I do and helps is this: I think of a situation that might happen to me and I would have to use that language. It could be me in a restaurant, at the airport... anything. So I come up with a scenario and try to think what would I say, how should I behave, how to be polite etc.

In that way my brain gets "trained" and gets prepared for a similar situation that might happen in the future! During that process I might want to say something that I don't know how, so I make myself grab a dictionary, search or ask someone. I think it's a good way to practice at this stage.
You will get better trust me!

Don't forget that in case you have any questions or concerns, you can post them here and we can help you! This is why the comment section is for!

Good luck!

Stefania/JapanesePod101.com

[mmmason8967]

Hi, I'm new and I don't really know how does this work. I already finished Absolute Beginner S.I. but I don't have a way to practice, I work at a hotel's restaurant and yesterday I had my first japanese couple to attend,(I'm waitress) all my japanese phrases hide deep inside my brain! I just said "Oishii"when the steak was on the table but I couldn't speak anything else,I was pretty blocked! I'm sure this is because I have not practice

Happened to me, too. I met a Japanese girl at our local animal shelter and was very excited because the Japanese population where I live is approximately zero. And then I couldn't produce a single word. You have my sympathy: my own experience was nothing like what I thought would happen if I ever met a Japanese speaker! At least you know it's not just you...

[ekach3288]

Thank you for your words Stefania, I'll keep studying and I hope more japanese tourists come to my work, maybe little by little I will start speaking fearless. Right mmmanson, good to know that also happened to you it's very difficult to start, isn't it? well, let's practice. But tell me something, after all, did you speak with this japanese girl? did you have another chance?. Now I made some dialogs as Stefania recommends and I'm waiting for the next tourist to speak a little bit

[mmmason8967]

Right mmmanson, good to know that also happened to you it's very difficult to start, isn't it? well, let's practice. But tell me something, after all, did you speak with this japanese girl? did you have another chance?

Our local animal shelter is quite well respected internationally and they frequently provide training for people who work with animals in other countries. The Japanese girl worked at an animal shelter in Japan and was visiting for a two-week course. Yes, I did talk with her, and her English was very good: I suppose it would have to be if she was to learn anything by visiting England. The reason we got talking is that I'd taken my dog with me, and he's a Shiba Inu, a native Japanese breed and not very common in England. She was greatly entertained by the fact his name is Shiro, which is a Japanese boy's name (the guy who wrote Ghost in the Shell is called Shiro Masamune), but, as I'm sure you know, it's also the word for white. And he's a black Shiba. We (my family) chose his name before I started learning Japanese, so we had no idea it had another much more obvious meaning.

Part of the reason I never tried out any Japanese was that the Japanese girl spoke very good English. And the other part was that, like you said, I was completely blocked. I'd often imagined what I'd be able to say to a Japanese person if I was lucky enough to meet one, but when it actually happened I couldn't think of a thing. It was a bit depressing, and I started to wonder if I'd really learned any Japanese at all.

She is the only Japanese person I've ever met. I sometimes suspect that the area I live is actively avoided by Japanese people!