Tips for getting over self-consciousness when speaking Japanese?

Konata

Hi guys,

Just wondering if anyone has any tips or experiences with getting over a "fear" of speaking Japanese (or any foreign language really). As some of you may know, I'm currently studying Japanese in DCU. My problem is that I'm much MUCH better at writing and reading Japanese than I am at speaking it and the main reason for this is that I get incredibly self-consciousness whenever I have to speak. I'm afraid to say anything as I fear I'll be wrong and possibly ridiculed in class. I'm even worse when it comes to speaking to other Japanese students and I'm terrified that next year I'll be too shy to do much speaking when I'm in Japan!

So yea, it's something I'm trying to work on myself at the moment but if anyone had any tips/ideas etc I'd be really grateful

fanki na pengin

As hard as this may sound Konata.....you just have to be prepared to make mistakes - and lots of them. From my experience, it's the most difficult part of learning a language, and a barrier to you learning the language itself if you don't pass it.

Put simply, if you don't start speaking it, you are leaving out one of the main tools you should have to in communicating with Japanese people. And if you think about it....that's why you started to learn, yeah? (I'm assuming!)

To put it even more bluntly, just start speaking and **** everyone else. People will not ridicule you in class. If they do, don't waste your time acknowledging them, or giving them any of your time (time you could spend speaking the language! ^_^).

Less blunt and more precise, listen to any corrections your tutors/lecturers give you. They are there to make sure you are speaking properly, and they will (SHOULD) be correcting you. It's an invaluable resource that will be lacking in Japan. Most people there are too polite to correct you ( and.....I'm definitely guilty of this with regards to English :P).

Is it possible for you to schedule a regular 15/20 min time slot with a tutor/lecturer (preferably native Japanese) where you only speak Japanese? It could be something as simple as saying to them 'I'm going to come once a week with a topic to discuss with you in Japanese'. If not a teacher, maybe a student? Then you could reciprocate with English.

Best of luck! Remember, it's the hardest thing to get over with language learning, but nothing compares to the satisfaction of saying something in Japanese and being 100% understood!

PS 久しぶり！元気？

Vojera

fanki na pengin wrote: »

Is it possible for you to schedule a regular 15/20 min time slot with a tutor/lecturer (preferably native Japanese) where you only speak Japanese? It could be something as simple as saying to them 'I'm going to come once a week with a topic to discuss with you in Japanese'. If not a teacher, maybe a student? Then you could reciprocate with English.

+1 to this. Back when I was learning French (regrettably mostly forgotten now), I had a half hour a week with a French woman who was over here doing teaching experience and it was really helpful, both with my speech and my comprehension. I got lots of tips on how to sound more "native" and it helped take the fear out of me a fair bit. I noticed that in France (and I'm sure it'll be the same in Japan), people were mostly really appreciative to hear me make the effort and were very patient. No one laughed either. At the same time, as Fanki Na Pengin said, I didn't get much correction from talking to "normal" people either. But I think practise speaking is the most important thing. If your grammar or word order is a bit off then people will usually still get your meaning, so don't worry that you'll be incomprehensible.

Konata

Thanks for the advice guys I'm a bit of a perfectionist so the thought of saying things wrong is a bit scary - however I know that I can't get better unless I practice! I'm glad to hear people don't make fun of you if you say something wrong. When I think about it, I'd never ridicule someone for saying something wrong in English! You'd just listen carefully to make sure you understand them.

There's tandem learning once a week organised by JSoc in college but I've never gone due to said self consciousness. However, I'm thinking of making a promise to myself to go next semester. It's just for an hour, once a week but I'm sure it'd be a huge help. Gonna try and be brave

fanki na pengin wrote: »

PS 久しぶり！元気？

あ、元気です！おかえりなさい！
今たくさん勉強があるから一月で試験があります。大変です！

fanki na pengin

わああああ！

はい、わかりました！お疲れ様です！がんばってください！＾＿＾