Why you should speak to natives from day 1

Hey KoreKara Squad,

Lots of learners put speaking on a pedestal. They put so much pressure on themselves and their output that they forgo speaking for years. By putting off output for so long the idea was that you can avoid all the awkward conversations, forming bad habits, and embarrassment that comes with early output. Thousands of hours of input would lead to native-like output spilling out of you. I disagree. Not only is output early on necessary but it doesn’t have to be terrifying if you just ease into it.

💡 Tip of the week

If your goal is to become fluent in Japanese, output is absolutely required. Many methods advocate against early output, but the truth is it will always feel uncomfortable and early when you get started.

With that being said, I’ll share the three phases you can go through to make the transition to fluency a lot smoother.

Phase 1: Speak in English

You don’t have to wait until you are at an intermediate level in Japanese to speak to natives. In fact, you can make Japanese friends without speaking any Japanese at all. Just speak in English. This is actually super underrated because although you will be getting minimal Japanese exposure, it will increase your motivation with learning the language. You will understand more of the culture of Japan and you’ll also get small opportunities to test out new words you learned.

Phase 2: Bilingual conversations

As you start immersing, you’ll find that your comprehension will improve a lot faster than your speaking ability. What you can do at this point is to engage in bilingual conversations with a native speaker. You speak English, they speak Japanese. The benefit of this way of conversation is that you can have more depth in your conversations which will improve your comprehension and give you more opportunities to pick up phrases and expressions. You’ll also be able to form deep connections with your Japanese friends.

Phase 3: Japanese only

As you gain more confidence in forming full sentences you can start to throw in full sentences in here and there. You’ll quickly spot holes in your Japanese when you don’t know how to express something, and you can either look it up later or ask them on the spot how it would be said.

If you find yourself not progressing, or not being challenged, seek them out. Constantly push yourself out of your comfort zone to make progress.

The only way you will be able to speak is by having conversations. There is no way around it. No shortcuts. Speaking is a necessary part of language acquisition. Go out there, speak some Japanese, and make some friends. That’s what it’s all about.

📺 Immersion of the week 

Haruの日本語 hosts a weekly podcast where she mostly monologues about various topics from anime, disaster prevention strategies in Japan, and recent trips she has taken. What makes her content so great is that her episodes are completely subbed in English and Japanese. This lets any learner of any level crack into her content and be able to understand it. If you’re having difficulty understanding try watching through in English and then go back through with Jp subs and see what you can pick up on.

✍️ Kanji of the week

根 meaning perseverance or stick-to-itiveness. 詰める has many meanings but in this case, it refers to doing something completely and continually. Always push yourself to reach new heights and keep at it. It can be easy to reach basic conversational fluency but if you keep pushing yourself you’ll always find there is more to learn.

🗣️ What did you immerse with this week?

What did you do this week with Japanese? Reply to this e-mail or come share in the KoreKara Club! Always super motivating to see you guys work towards your Japanese goals.

We’re having our monthly call in 2 weeks if you want to come and join in!

See you next week!

Eric