{"id":10549,"date":"2022-08-22T15:14:47","date_gmt":"2022-08-22T06:14:47","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/toranomon-ls.com\/?p=10549"},"modified":"2024-05-13T14:46:44","modified_gmt":"2024-05-13T05:46:44","slug":"can-i-self-study-japanese","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/toranomon-ls.com\/ja\/can-i-self-study-japanese\/","title":{"rendered":"Can I Self-Study Japanese?"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Most people who move to Japan are interested in learning Japanese, but many may be hesitant to fork out a lot of money for lessons. The question is \u2013 can you study and learn Japanese all on your own?<\/p>\n\n\n\n<div style=\"height:12px\" aria-hidden=\"true\" class=\"wp-block-spacer\"><\/div>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>What are the good things about studying by yourself?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<div style=\"height:12px\" aria-hidden=\"true\" class=\"wp-block-spacer\"><\/div>\n\n\n\n<p>There are some benefits to studying alone. These are:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<div style=\"height:12px\" aria-hidden=\"true\" class=\"wp-block-spacer\"><\/div>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\"><li>It\u2019s cheaper<\/li><li>You can go at your own pace<\/li><li>You can choose the materials that work best for you<\/li><li>It can be more efficient for learning vocabulary<\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n\n<div style=\"height:12px\" aria-hidden=\"true\" class=\"wp-block-spacer\"><\/div>\n\n\n\n<p>We actually recommend that you self-study vocabulary. You can use flashcards, a smartphone app or whatever works for you. After all, if you simply hear the vocabulary in a class and never revise it at home, it will be hard to retain the words. A good language class won\u2019t spend a lot of time on vocabulary, but more time on output, so it\u2019s good if you can devise a system of self-studying vocabulary.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<div style=\"height:12px\" aria-hidden=\"true\" class=\"wp-block-spacer\"><\/div>\n\n\n\n<p>You can also practice listening at home by yourself, by listening to podcasts and watching Japanese TV shows with subtitles. If you\u2019re interested in podcasts but want more support, <a href=\"https:\/\/toranomon-ls.com\/ja\/worshops-japanese-podcast\/\">we do offer a podcast workshop that you can take at your own pace. <\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n<div style=\"height:12px\" aria-hidden=\"true\" class=\"wp-block-spacer\"><\/div>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>What are the bad things about studying by yourself?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<div style=\"height:12px\" aria-hidden=\"true\" class=\"wp-block-spacer\"><\/div>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\"><li>It might be harder to feel motivated to keep up the study<\/li><li>You rely on strangers and the internet to answer your questions<\/li><li>You might lack structure and learn in a disorganised manner<\/li><li>It\u2019s hard to get good speaking practice in<\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n\n<div style=\"height:12px\" aria-hidden=\"true\" class=\"wp-block-spacer\"><\/div>\n\n\n\n<p>Grammar can be self-studied, but you may have many questions and the most efficient way to have these answered is by having a teacher to ask. We find that the best thing to do regarding grammar is to preview the grammar at home, and then practice it in class with a teacher whom you can ask for help. If you don\u2019t preview, it\u2019s okay, but you might end up too confused to practice it properly in the class, so it\u2019s good to have all your questions ready at the beginning.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<div style=\"height:12px\" aria-hidden=\"true\" class=\"wp-block-spacer\"><\/div>\n\n\n\n<p>If you take private lessons, you can prepare written practices for your teacher to correct, so that your lesson can be spent mostly on what you cannot self-study \u2013 speaking. Even in a group class, you should aim to practice speaking aloud as much as possible. This is impossible when self-studying, as even if you find a friend to talk to, they are not a teacher and can only take you so far. \u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n<div style=\"height:12px\" aria-hidden=\"true\" class=\"wp-block-spacer\"><\/div>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>What is the best way to master Japanese?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<div style=\"height:12px\" aria-hidden=\"true\" class=\"wp-block-spacer\"><\/div>\n\n\n\n<p>Overall, we recommend a mixed approach. Find a class that is right for you, whether it is a group for the social aspect, or private if you need an individualized plan. Use the class to ask questions and gain confidence speaking, along with practicing the correct pronunciation. From your teacher you will learn \u201creal\u201d Japanese, the speech people use in every day life.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<div style=\"height:12px\" aria-hidden=\"true\" class=\"wp-block-spacer\"><\/div>\n\n\n\n<p>Then practice your self-study skills by learning vocabulary, kanji, katakana and hiragana at home. Practice listening through podcasts, TV or music, practice reading through children\u2019s books, or adult books or newspapers once you reach that level.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<div style=\"height:12px\" aria-hidden=\"true\" class=\"wp-block-spacer\"><\/div>\n\n\n\n<p>The more advanced your level, the more you can self-study, by finding friends to converse with in real life, joining groups that operate in Japanese, and so on. But if you are new to Japan without much language skill, <a href=\"https:\/\/toranomon-ls.com\/ja\/japanese_program\/\">it\u2019s best to join a class<\/a> in order to gain a solid foundation in the language first. <\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Most people who move to Japan are interested in learning Japanese, but many may be hesitant to fork out a lot of money for lessons. The question is \u2013 can you study and learn Japanese all on your own?<\/p>","protected":false},"author":9,"featured_media":10550,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[336],"tags":[58,56,21,57,24,54,55],"class_list":["post-10549","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-learn-japanese","tag-beginner","tag-flashcards","tag-japanese-basics","tag-japanese-class","tag-learn-japanese","tag-self-study","tag-study-japanese"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/toranomon-ls.com\/ja\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10549","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/toranomon-ls.com\/ja\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/toranomon-ls.com\/ja\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/toranomon-ls.com\/ja\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/9"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/toranomon-ls.com\/ja\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=10549"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/toranomon-ls.com\/ja\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10549\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":10551,"href":"https:\/\/toranomon-ls.com\/ja\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10549\/revisions\/10551"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/toranomon-ls.com\/ja\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/10550"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/toranomon-ls.com\/ja\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=10549"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/toranomon-ls.com\/ja\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=10549"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/toranomon-ls.com\/ja\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=10549"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}