This article is by That Japan Girl. She's very knowledgeable about Japan and the Japanese language. Find her links at the bottom of this article! Enjoy!
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When it comes to speaking Japanese, what makes the situation
difficult is exactly the thing that makes it so exciting. Another person is
there, listening to you speak, and responding to what you’re saying to them.
They can interrupt you whenever they want, cut you off and talk over you. They
can ask you to clarify something, to repeat what you just said or to start all
over from the beginning. They can talk fast or slow, shout or whisper, speak in
standard Japanese or hit you with that Kansai-ben.
Bottom line is: you’ll never know what flow a conversation
takes.
And that’s what makes it so exciting to speak Japanese!
Still, there are so many variables involved in conversation
that you really have to practice to get good at it. This means having real,
live conversations with actual Japanese-speaking human beings.
There’s just one problem…
What if you don’t
live in Japan?
For many of us, our current residence is not the Land of the Rising Sun. Many of
us are living and working outside of Japan. We have jobs we can’t leave,
families to take care of, spouses we want to be with, and a whole host of other
situations keeping us tethered to where we are now. And yet, we still want to
make Japanese friends. We still want to speak Japanese.
So what are you supposed to do?
Most of my Japanese journey I spent outside of Japan. In the
10+ years I’ve been learning the language, I’ve only ever been in Japan a grand
total of 13 months. I had passed the JLPT N2 before ever stepping foot on
Japanese soil.
I’m here to tell you that it’s possible to learn to speak
Japanese without ever going to Japan. You just have to get creative.
Here are six things you can try to make Japanese-speaking
friends in your country.
#1: Check your local schools
If you live close to any universities, then reach out to
their undergraduate or graduate office and see if they have a department for
East Asian Studies. If they do, they’ll probably have a Japanese department.
Many colleges and universities allow local residents to
participate in classes as non-degree-seeking students. This means that you pay
for the class and enroll as a student, but you won’t be getting a degree after
it. You’re purely in it for the educational experience. If a school near you
offers Japanese classes and is open to non-degree-seeking students, then you
might have found a quick way to make some Japanese-speaking friends.
You might think that there’s no way any school near you
would have a Japanese studies department, but don’t discount it until you try
it. You might be pleasantly surprised. Even some of the most STEM-oriented
schools (like the one I go to now, Georgia Tech in Atlanta) have Japanese
departments.
If there is no dedicated Japanese department at the school,
then there might be a Japanese club that isn’t as heavily publicized. Reach out
to the school’s center for student affairs and ask them if there’s an Asian
cultural interest club or Japanese language and culture club on campus.
#2: Look for local Japan societies
Can’t find anything at the university level? Then you might
have to look a bit bigger.
Start by finding your closest Japanese Consulate. They are
responsible for the Japanese community in a particular area. They perform a lot
of different operations, including local events, job placement, and even
scholarship programs. Call or check out their website to see if there is any
way they can connect you with Japanese speakers in the area. You can offer
yourself as a volunteer tour guide, interpreter, host family, or language
exchange partner.
If you’re in the States, I would also check and see if your
area has a local Japan-America society. The National Association for
Japan-America Societies (NAJAS) is committed to strengthening the bond between
the U.S. and Japan, including through language exchange and cultural events.
See what events your local Japan-America society has going
on. Don’t be afraid to reach out and ask for more information on how to get
involved in our local Japanese community. Check out this list at http://www.us-japan.org/resources/ussocieties.html to get started finding a Japan-America Society near you.
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| Japan Therapy: "I joined my local Japan Society and it opened so many doors for me." |
#3: Do an online language exchange
When I was studying Japanese on my own, I was always looking
for ways to connect with other Japanese speakers. One of my favorite activities
was talking to Japanese people online. MyLanguageExchange.com and iTalki.com
are the sites that I used the most.
While iTalki was completely free back then, they’ve upgraded
to a paid model where you can connect with qualified Japanese speakers who
won’t just talk with you in Japanese, but actually teach you the language. I
believe you can still find free conversation partners on their site, though
they do encourage you to pay for a teacher.
MyLanguageExchange can be used mostly for free. If you pay
for a subscription, you’ll get access to a few premium features, but you don’t
need to do that to find Japanese speakers to talk to. Just fill in your
profile, wait for requests to come in, screen them appropriately and make a
connection you’re comfortable with.
When you connect with a Japanese person through these sites,
you’ll be doing a language exchange, where you’ll be speaking both Japanese and
your native language. This is great because the switch to your mother tongue
can help ease your mind if you get overwhelmed after speaking Japanese for a
while. It’s also an excellent way to develop your bilingual code-switching
skills.
At first you and your Japanese friend exchange messages and
emails for a while. You might write your messages in Japanese only, or you may
both write in both languages. Once you’re comfortable enough, you can step it
up and video chat with them (with the camera on or off!). At that point, you’ll
work with your partner to come up with a schedule that works for you. Will you
just free talk in whatever language comes naturally? Do a half hour in Japanese
and another in your native language? Or alternate between a Japanese-only
session and a session in your native language?
While I was in college, language exchange was the method I
used the most to improve my Japanese speaking skills. I learned a lot from my
partners, and using both languages really helped my comprehension all around. I
highly recommend this practice for anyone looking to skyrocket their Japanese
speaking skills.
#4: Meet up with Meetup
Meetup.com is a website and mobile app that you can use to
connect with hundreds of local people who share your interests. Just tell the
app what you like, how far you’re willing to travel, and it will populate a
list with all the groups near you that you might be interested in. If you’re in
need of some new Japanese friends, then you can’t go wrong with Meetup.
Use the platform to find the Japanese language and culture
groups near your hometown. You could find out that there’s a dedicated
community of Japanese learners already in your area.
And if there isn’t? Then you can start one!
It costs a little bit of money, but trust me: the $15 a
month is worth it if the end result is building a community of Japanese
speaking friends you’ll have for the rest of your life. If money is truly an
issue, then you can ask members of your group to contribute monthly or yearly
dues to help cover maintenance costs.
There could be other people just like you in your area who
also want to speak Japanese with someone and wishes they were other learners
nearby. You can make a contribution to your community by fostering and growing
such a group.
#5: Get social
Thanks to social media, making Japanese friends is probably
much easier than you think! I myself have met a ton of wonderful people who
speak Japanese on Twitter and Instagram.
Twitter is one of the best places to make Japanese friends,
because you can talk to literally anyone in the world. Tweets are public, so if
you reach out to someone randomly it will almost always be welcome. It’s also
one of the more popular social media platforms in Japan, so you should find
more than enough Japanese speakers willing to talk to you!
Once you’ve built a relationship with a Japanese speaker on
social media, you can start to transition into more tangible forms of
communication. Ask if they’d be willing to hop on a Skype call with you, or
even join a Google Hangout where several people can practice speaking Japanese
together.
#6: Find the closest “Japan” to you
Millions of people speak Japanese overseas. You just have to
know where to go to find them. A lot of these people reside in what are called
“Japantowns,” local areas that are emblematic of the international Japanese
diaspora.
From Brazil to the UK to South Africa and more, these places
are living relics of centuries of Japanese emigrants settling all over the
world. If you can’t make it to Japan, the next best thing is to find the
“Japan” that’s closest to you.
Search online and see if your city has an existing Japanese
community. You’d be surprised where they’d be hiding around your local area!
If you can’t find any close by, then look at the next
possible area. Is it a country you can get to easier than Japan? Is it a few
states up? Maybe just the next town over?
If your choice in making Japanese friends is between going
all the way to Japan and driving a few hours up the coast, then you can imagine
what I think you should do.
Don’t give up hope if your search comes up empty the first
time around. You’ll usually need to do some extensive searching in Japanese to find these communities
made by-and-for Japanese people. But once you do find them, frequent their
shops, go to their festivals, and say hello to their residents when you pass by
them on the streets. Once you’ve become a familiar face, you’re sure to make a
few fast friends.
You can make Japanese friends, no matter where you live.
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| Japan Therapy: "A great place to visit for this is Disney World's Epcot. I spoke Japanese to the staff at the Japan area." |
You can make Japanese friends, no matter where you live.
Whenever I talk to Japanese learners, one of the complaints I
hear a lot is that they have trouble speaking Japanese. For learners who have spent time in Japan, they frequently
tell me that it’s hard to keep up with their speaking skills now that they’re
home. But being outside of Japan is no excuse.
In this hyper-connected day and age, you have the entire
country of Japan at your fingertips. You have the ability to find Japanese
speakers near you, and the desire to make lasting friendships with Japanese
people.
It’s not just going to happen on its own. You have to put in
the work. You’ll get out of it what you put into it. So pick something on this list and start making that effort
today!
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Thank you for reading this collaboration piece by Japanaya from the blog ThatJapanGirl. Please follow her blog and social media for more awesome Japanese and Japan content!
Check out my collaboration piece on her blog about Shojo Manga Titles for New-coming Readers.
ThatJapanGirl
"I'm a Japanese learner and blogger who helps INTERMEDIATE + ADVANCED learners use POP CULTURE to level-up their JAPANESE SKILLS. (And maybe even build a LIFE IN JAPAN!)"
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