Technique to improve listening and speaking

Realism Wrote:

AlexandreC Wrote:

Realism Wrote:I rarely speak Japanese to anybody because I don't know any Japanese people where I live, and I can speak Japanese just fine. A couple of months ago, I spoke to a Japanese native on Skype and we could talk normal without any problem, she didn't have to slow down or dumb down her speech or anything.

[...]

I just listen to Japanese audio pretty much all day long and that's it really. I read Japanese websites as well, this is all I do. I can speak without any problem, no accent either.

Is this a joke? The idea that someone would speak a foreign language, let alone Japanese, to perfection ("no accent") without hardly ever practising it ("I rarely speak Japanese to anybody"; "I just listen to Japanese audio") is only conceivable if you are also claiming to be an extremely gifted language learner. Actually, this would go beyond any claim I've ever heard from the gifted polyglots I know or heard of.

No joke

You've never met any Europeans who could speak English almost fluently??

I mean, how often do they have to speak English in their everyday life?

Let's take the random example of a Swede or a Dutch person. Their language is related to English, they start learning it in school as a child, English music is heard on the radio all the time, English literature and movies is easily accessible and they most likely use English daily online. So the average adult might have been studying or using it for 10 or 15 years.

Now, Japanese, which would typically take 3 to 4 times longer than English, is another story.

You see, you said you spoke Japanese with no accent just from listening to Japanese. That sounds like a joke.