I’ve been studying Japanese for a year and a half (on and off) I am better at writing Japanese than speaking. I’d say I am a low intermediate in written but for some reason, in spoken Japanese I feel like a beginner when I’m clearly not. It feels like I am not pronouncing correctly, as if I am stuck and don’t know what to do next because I know my grammar like that’s out of the way but it’s just my vocab. I think that might have something to do with why I am not progressing, it’s just not good enough. When I try speaking in Japanese nothing comes out I mean apart from very basic words but it’s like I can’t make a sentence but that’s not the case when I am writing. Also with vocab, sometimes I want to say a word and I just can’t seem to remember it but if I see it written down I remember it and know what it means like why is this happening? What should I do and how can I improve my Japanese?

I really understand the frustration and difficulty felt when someone who is learning Japanese and then also won’t be able to pronounce the words properly or if I can say not be able to frame sentences correctly.

1. Study less and practice more 

The best way to improve your speaking skills in any language is to practice speaking. Studying has its benefits and is necessary to help you learn new expressions and understand important concepts, but for every new word or sentence pattern you learn, you won’t fully appreciate and understand it until you’ve heard it multiple times in the wild and used it yourself.

When you’re studying your butt off, it’s easy to forget that a language is a skill, not just a collection of knowledge. You need to apply that knowledge in order to improve the skill, so keep studying, but make sure you spend more time talking and using what you learn, than revising what you’ve learned by yourself. If you’re in Japan already, this is easy to do. It’s just a matter of going outside and making friends with non-English-speaking Japanese people and talking with them regularly.  It takes a bit of courage, but look around in your area for clubs and groups that gather regularly over a common interest and join in the fun.

2. Make time instead of trying to find it

While I highly encourage people to learn Japanese through self-study, the lack of a structured program can cause your progress to stagnate if you’re not organized. If you say that you will study and practice your Japanese when you have time, that time never comes. There’s always some other distraction or something else to do that’s seemingly more important. If you’re serious about improving your Japanese skills, you have to make time. Schedule it in, and don’t let anything else get in the way.

To make the process even more effective, you should spread your efforts evenly throughout the week. If you’re going to spend, for example, 3 hours a week studying or practicing Japanese, it’s much better to do 30 minutes a day, six days a week than to cram it all into one session on a Sunday afternoon. I dare say one of the biggest reasons that improvement is slow with most scheduled language programs is that there is too long of a gap between classes. Instead of spending half your time trying to remember what you learned a week earlier, study and practice your Japanese in short, frequent bursts so that everything you learn remains fresh in your mind.

3. Read out loud

If you’re listening to a lesson and reading along, read out loud. Then re-read and speed up your tempo. Do this again and again until you can speak faster. Try your best to pronounce the words correctly, but don’t obsess about it. Read swiftly, emote and put some inflection on the sentences. Reading aloud helps to train the muscles of your mouth and diaphragm to produce unfamiliar words and sounds.

4. Review again and again.

This is the key to perfection, and we can’t emphasize it enough. Most learners don’t review! If you review and repeat lines again and again, you’ll be speaking better, faster, and with more confidence.

5. Practice Every Day

The most important tip? Just practice daily. Your speaking practice should be front and center. Talk everywhere about everything.

6. Make Mistakes

Don’t over-focus on getting the finer points of grammar or choosing an unusual phrase to describe something basic. Those skills will come in time. For now, just communicate as well as you can without being so conscious of “getting things right”—let yourself naturally grow as a speaker. In other words, don’t be afraid to make mistakes!

And the mistakes you do make? Good for you! We all make them! Don’t fret over any of them. Learn from your mistakes and celebrate your successes. They’re both a part of the learning process.

Learning Japanese may seem like a daunting task, but with the right approach, it can be a very enjoyable and rewarding experience. By applying the six points outlined here, you can make the most of your language-learning efforts, and hopefully come to realize that Japanese isn’t as difficult as everyone thinks it is.

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