How can I learn Japanese fast?

[shyerychen8350]

How can I learn Japanese fast? I will go travel to Japan next month.

[istephenyu8790]

What are your goals?

If more interested in being able to read signs, get acquainted with the hiragana and katakana alphabet, hiragana first. Try the video lessons called kantan kana in the absolute beginner. Learn the sounds, and look at the corresponding roman letters to get a sense of how the word is pronounced. Then listen to how they are actually pronounced since the japanese pronunciation has its subtle differences. After that, start reading a lot of it, and avoid looking at romaji.

For speaking, just go to absolute beginner lessons for some basic phrases, they are pretty clear. . When japanese speak in their normal speed, it's pretty fast so i wouldn't set high goals on listening.

But for listening, do some research on common mistakes gaijin (foreigners) make when speaking. Such as how pauses and pitch are important and ignored alot by foreigners. I wouldn't have high expectations on listening though, just say yukkuri onegaishimasu to ask someone to speak slower. I think you'll how to say that phrase in one of the video lessons (titled three phrases to use in the classroom or something?)

And if you know some chinese, you will already have some headstart on kanji.

But don't try to cram it. It won't help in the long run.

[community.japanese]

shyerychen8350-san, istephenyu8790-san,
kon'nichiwa!

Thank you very much for a kind help and great advice, istephenyu8790-san!

There's no shortcuts to master a language; if you need some basic Japanese for your travel next month,
there're some "survival course" and travel conversation. We also have some lessons focused on
convenient expressions without going deep into grammar.

Hope you can find our lessons useful for your study

Natsuko(奈津子),
Team JapanesePod101.com