How long does it take to learn to speak Japanese fluently?

Japanese is an East Asian language spoken by about 128 million people, primarily in Japan, where it is the national language. It is a member of the Japonic language family, and its relation to other languages, such as Korean, is debated. Japonic languages have been grouped with other language families such as Ainu, Austroasiatic, and the now-discredited Altaic, but none of these proposals has gained widespread acceptance. Depending on the language you select and its relation to your native language, it can be harder or easier to learn. For example, if your native language is English, then Spanish or Dutch would be easier to learn because they are similar to English. The less like your native language your target language is, the harder it may be to learn. Now, of course, a lot depends on your learning goals as well.

So, How Hard is it to Learn Japanese? According to the US Department of State, Japanese is one of the hardest languages for English natives to learn. It doesn’t have many similarities in structure to English. They estimate it takes 88 weeks of learning, or 2200 hours, to reach fluency. That’s about a B2 level on the CEFR charts, or JLPT N2 level (conversational).

The truth? Learning Japanese takes as little as 90 days. We’ve seen plenty of learners start having in-depth conversations in Japanese at this time. Follow the right methods, and you’ll get there fast. The difference here are the goals you set. How long it takes to learn Japanese on average depends on if you want to learn Japanese for anime. Or are you learning to speak conversationally? Or to speak Japanese fluently? On a Reddit thread about how long it takes to learn Japanese, users shared that it took about 800 hours of study time to be able to watch anime with full comprehension. Others said it takes 2-5 years of effort to reach mastery, adding that you could survive in the language after one year.

In reality, You Can Learn Japanese to a Good Level After Just a Few Months.

Multiple learners have shown that it’s possible to survive with Japanese learnt in as little as 6 months; sometimes, 3 months with a conversational level (around A2-B1). 

How Long Does it Take to Learn Japanese on Average?

With consistent studying and speaking, for about 30 minutes to an hour a day, you could speak at a conversational level in Japanese in about 3 months. It’s all about using the right method, and I’ll say it again: speak from day one! You could start speaking Japanese right now. In fact, I encourage you to do so. The more speaking practice you get in, the faster you’ll learn Japanese. Here are the steps I recommend to learn Japanese fast.

Set a measurable goal for speaking Japanese

Your end goal matters. So decide what “fluent” means for you. If you want to understand anime in Japanese, you need to learn vocabulary specifically for that. And even the type of anime matters, too. Naruto uses a lot of “ninja speech” that’s harsher and less polite than, say, Sailor Moon.

Breakdown your learning into smaller daily learning bites

A JLPT N1 level or near-native fluency requires learners to know 2200 kanji, 10,000+ vocabulary, and hundreds of grammar patterns. Plan to break down your learning in shorter intervals if you are unable to concentrate or study at a stretch together. As an example, if you cannot commit to studying 60 minutes a day, then you’d need to break that goal down into daily chunks. 10 new kanji a day, 30 new words, 1 new grammar pattern… Divide it up based on how much you know you can fit in a study session. Or, divide weekdays into learning kanji, vocabulary, and grammar.

Speak aloud, speak a lot

Look for a Japanese conversation partner in and around your neighbourhood if you do not find one you could also look for one online however please ensure that you find a Japanese speaker with native fluency so that you can learn the accent, pitch, tone, honorifics etcetera of the language from them 

Immerse yourself in Japanese learning 

Japanese is an honorific language. The cultural insights and mannerisms, can’t be learnt from textbooks. Hence, I recommend you watch the news, talk shows (they’re full of pop culture references), and read Japanese articles online, on boards or on social media. Try reading news in Japanese while drinking your morning coffee/tea. Watch Japanese movies with English subtitles and English movies with Japanese subtitles, listen to Japanese songs on Spotify playlists and listen to all the relevant audio resources that you can find online for Japanese to learn better.

Make Japanese a way of life

You can listen to a podcast in your spare time, walking a dog, washing the car, on your way to or from work. Use Flashcard apps such as Anki that rely on a Spaced repetition system to help you memorize and recollect faster. 

Japanese is an agglutinative, mora-timed language with simple phonotactics, a pure vowel system, phonemic vowel and consonant length, and a lexically significant pitch-accent. Word order is normally subject–object–verb with particles marking the grammatical function of words, and sentence structure is topic–comment. There are so many variables when it comes to learning how to speak Japanese. But with the right study habits, effective time management, and consistent commitment, you can learn to speak conversational Japanese in as little as 3 months. 

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