Originally published on metropolis.co.jp on August 2011
Just as a book on swimming would fail to prepare you for a dive off the high board, so are flash cards, study guides, and long hours of J-dramas unable to prepare you for the reality of everyday Japanese in Japan. But there is hope—in the form of many enterprising people willing to help you, and many free resources available to all.
Naturally Speaking
All of us were born into a world of language, and in truth we were exploring this world before then—German researchers have found babies develop their accent within the womb. Our brains quickly begin mapping the relations of the world around us, with specific areas adapting themselves to the recognition of faces, voices, things we can eat, and more abstract concepts like colors, numbers, and letters. Between these idea libraries and what is perceived through our eyes, between what comes in our ears and what goes out our mouth, lays a common set of brain mechanisms. Regardless of where we grew up or who our parents were, the sites in our brain used to govern speech, reading, and writing are fundamentally the same.
So if we use the same tools, why is it that learning Japanese can pose such a threat? Understanding the differences between Japanese and English might help reduce your anxiety.
The Problem with Japanese
It’s easy to point out that Japan has different vocabularies reserved for politeness and roughness, and that the social relations that dictate who should speak to whom and when can be confusing, but the difficulties that truly plague a new learner start much earlier, and on a far more concrete level.
When your average English speaker reads, the words travel through several parallel systems before we understand what’s in front of us. One channel processes a word visually for roots, prefixes, or suffixes to arrive at its meaning, while a phonological channel references the spoken sound of each word against its own library of sound-word-idea entries.
Anyone getting into the world of kanji will have felt frustrated both ways—an untrained eye must travel more slowly to discern and recognize the characters, while the lack of a fixed audible association means a whole part of your brain basically goes into panic mode—and that’s perfectly natural.
Oral communication presents the kanji problem from the other side: what exactly did that person just say? Did anyone write down how they spell their name? There’s a reason for all those subtitles on Japanese TV; just as there is for the obligatory exchange of meishi. Even if you’re able to catch the kanji somehow, it still takes time for your ear to train to Japanese sounds. Was that a cho or chou? How about su, zu, tsu? Your own pronunciation may not be a sticking point—there’s no rolling Rs involved, after all—but being able to form words speedily doesn’t mean you can distinguish them when others speak.
Taking English for Granted
It might also be of benefit to know that your brain is already wired to match a set of characters with an inexplicable sound. Consider the colonel in Colonel Sanders of KFC fame, or the bizarre word yacht. Mastery of hiragana allows you to reproduce any sound in Japanese, but it takes those studying English a while longer to know that good and food do not rhyme, that though, through, and cough don’t even come close, and that sometimes a leader can die of lead poisoning. Let’s not even get into how weird—or “irregular”—English grammar can get.
In fact, in many ways Japanese is more simple. Newcomers will quickly appreciate its lack of noun-verb agreement problems (the cat is blue vs. the cats are blue), and absence of bizarre verbs that must be memorized tense by tense, as is the case with the English verb tables.
Just like riding a bike or learning to handle chopsticks, these once-challenging tasks become routine with sufficient practice. Though our capacity for learning languages might decrease as we get older, our brains can still handle it. A person may be unwilling, but no healthy person is unable.
Eyes on the Prize
There are many reasons people learn Japanese, not least of which is getting your end away. However, there is one clear, overwhelming reason people undertake Japanese study: to get paid (SEE GRAPHIC).
38.3% of Japanese Language Proficiency Test takers responded that professional advancement was the reason for their study. Though the respondents of this survey did admittedly take that step to gain certification, nonetheless, even your average non-exam taking Japanese student might well have some kind of professional advantage in mind.
Those who shun the professional qualification route might not be doing themselves any favors in the job market, according to Bryan Darr, Education and Professional Development Coordinator for the Association of JET Programme Participants. “Relying on the hope that someone will give you a phone interview is foolish: most companies won’t have an HR department willing or able to give you an ability assessment. You have the certificate saying so, or you don’t—they’re not going to waste time.”
While competent Japanese is great for employees, it’s a necessary must for entrepreneurs. There are business groups and chambers of commerce, etc., who can help you navigate the necessary forms to become a sole proprietor or KK, open a bank account, and get your tax registration sorted. But it is ultimately your own responsibility to understand the text on your contract. Beyond that, good luck trying to find rental property at a fair price without a decent grasp.
How Can I Improve My Ability?
Review new material often, which can be as simple as reading the same page twice; it’s functionally little different than rehearsing for a speech. Experience it. Use the Japanese you already know well, but most importantly, find yourself in situations where you must use the Japanese you don’t.
A good friend of mine wished to improve his keigo (formal Japanese), so he volunteered to answer the phone at our office, and now his gracefulness is second to none. One coworker took up a job waiting tables to train her for her own upcoming restaurant.
Whenever possible, write with your hands—and see that your work actually is legible to other people. Writing demands awareness of each character’s rules of construction, allowing you not only to express yourself with a pen and paper, but also to read more quickly and accurately, and do so in spite of font or brush style. Computers and phones allow us to cheat out of actually employing this talent, but you’re going to lose confidence from locals when they see that you can’t write a thank-you note or even take a memo.
Returning to brain science for a moment, consider testing your own knowledge with a blank sheet of paper. After studying kanji or a new grammar construction, see just how much you can write from recall, and then repeat the study and blank-paper test once more. Recent findings in the journal Science show us that this “retrieval practice”—the act of recalling information from memory to the front of our mind—is an active mental process that directly affects our comprehension for the better. In other words, “use it or lose it!” has scientific backing. It might feel strange at first, but this method has been found to produce better results on tests compared to more traditional note-taking and repeated-
reading methods.
Language Schools
Nothing will replace the versatility of a trained instructor. Whether in a one-on-one or more typical classroom setting, your teacher will consistently be able to assess and challenge your existing levels, hold you to deadlines, and provide the support necessary to reach them in a way that no book, flashcard or software package ever will.
They will certainly inform you of any faux pas that you’re making, and aren’t about to let you represent them as a graduate until these concerns are addressed. There’s also something to be said for the boost in motivation that comes when we choose to invest our money along with our time in a venture, as we try to get the maximum return on our investment.
When selecting a language school, obviously concern yourself with location and schedule, but do your best to find out who your classmates will be—how wide is the range of language ability in your class? Perhaps the only thing worse than being in a class too far above for your comfort level is being in a class that’s too far below it. This can be a real problem when looking at schools on the cheapest end of the spectrum—a problem that also applies to volunteer classes. Making the best use of your time is just as (or more) important as making the best use of your money.
Japanese is infused with a social diversity that only life can truly teach you. How we chat with mates over beers is different from how we speak to a client. Learning how to navigate either scenario requires vocabulary knowledge but also the tone appropriate to that world. In any application, it’s the pressure and variance of actual life that will take your skill to a truly proficient level.
