In two months time I'll be in Japan for a sojourn of around three weeks, during which time I'll be staying with my penfriend (who's learning English).

Around 3-4 months ago I finished RTK1 and I'm set to finish the core6000 list just before I leave, but having only spoken a few sentences in conversation before, my speaking is generally terrible. To quote another japanese friend online who takes japanese classes just for the college credit, after I tried conversing for the very first time, "your pronounciation is alright but your conversation is worse than the people in my class" (who've been doing it for a year or so), which is no surprise, but it still knocked my confidence some, lol. Then again, I was nervous too...

My listening is okay. I've always watched anime and stuff... these days I guess I understand 50% of what's said in non-technical anime, but only in something like Chi's Sweet Home do I understand close to all of it. ;;

Will I be okay when I go to Japan? (Will I die?) Has anyone else gone at a similar stage? I'd use skype more to practice but the fuzzy audio is unhelpful...

I mean you will most likely not be good at the start, right? Because nobody is really good at pronounciations at the start or perfect speaking at the start. But I think you will find you will learn to speak quickly but you might have a rough start. But I think in the end it will work out okay for you!

Well of course you will be OK, 99% of all westerns that visit Japan know with luck 2 words (konnichiwa and arigatou xD). So its more of a question what you want to get out of the trip. If you want to have fluent-like conversations in Japanese with your friend... well you can start panicing now. But if you both want to just get better at speaking each other's language whilst enjoying Japan... you will be settled

Start practising conversation then - you'll never get good till you try. It'll be more beneficial to get the basics out the way now, then use your trip to further your skills.

If Skype is a problem, use sharedtalk, or find a real flesh & blood conversation partner on gumtree. Dunno where you live in the UK, but there are hundreds of willing Japanese in London.

dizmox Wrote:Will I be okay when I go to Japan? (Will I die?) Has anyone else gone at a similar stage? I'd use skype more to practice but the fuzzy audio is unhelpful...

Yes, you will die. Japanese will stop the circulation of blood in your brain and you will die slowly and painfully.

Shadowing a TV show or sentences from the core 6000 could help. Do it everyday for a set amount of time.

Also, I think you should either get on skype or don't. Don't use the audio quality as an excuse. We all know why people avoid the skype, you can't hide it.

I haven't done this yet, but in your case, I'd live out of a good phrasebook to start. Speak as much as I could and ignore English. Basically, what Benny does:

http://www.irishpolyglot.com/about/en/

Theory says that your conversation will catch up to your understanding surprisingly fast, but you need a place to start and there's nothing wrong with getting the basics well nailed down before you move on.

Haha, okay I'll give Skype another shot. I always repeat the core 6000 sentences. =)

This is my first time being somewhere not knowing any fluent english speakers, so I'm quite excited. ☆

As I am in a similar situation (going in two months), I started a similar thread some time ago. Sadly, I don't have the time now to find and manage real language partners but the phrasebook idea seems good one and comes up here and there.
So I asked this in the other thread too (with no answer): Can someone suggest a good phrasebook? Perhaps without Romaji and Kanji?

Try to use Japanese as much as you can while you are there. When I went for two weeks, I was utterly surprised at how LITTLE I actually needed to use Japanese. I was alone most of the time, and stayed with an English-speaking friend for part of the time. I don't think I learned a single thing language-wise over the entire 2 weeks.

^Same. I got a lot of immersion though.

^same same. I told myself I would never come back until I had gotten better at jp and could make better use of my time there! Leave some extra space in your suitcase and use the trip as an opportunity to stock up on materials you can use for learning back home (manga, mags, DVDs, music, books, etc).

dizmox Wrote:In two months time I'll be in Japan for a sojourn of around three weeks, during which time I'll be staying with my penfriend (who's learning English).

Around 3-4 months ago I finished RTK1 and I'm set to finish the core6000 list just before I leave, but having only spoken a few sentences in conversation before, my speaking is generally terrible. To quote another japanese friend online who takes japanese classes just for the college credit, after I tried conversing for the very first time, "your pronounciation is alright but your conversation is worse than the people in my class" (who've been doing it for a year or so), which is no surprise, but it still knocked my confidence some, lol. Then again, I was nervous too...

My listening is okay. I've always watched anime and stuff... these days I guess I understand 50% of what's said in non-technical anime, but only in something like Chi's Sweet Home do I understand close to all of it. ;;

Will I be okay when I go to Japan? (Will I die?) Has anyone else gone at a similar stage? I'd use skype more to practice but the fuzzy audio is unhelpful...

As others have stated, practice speaking as much as you can, until the day you finally leave (well, and after, too, since you need to speak in Japan as well). If you already have a good foundation as it is, I think it will come to you rather quickly, as long as you are practicing regularly. If you have the money, I recommend a tutor.

I also think your skills will improve the more you practice speaking Japanese. I read a study sometime ago that said the biggest factors in language learning were listening and using the mouth and vocal chords to produce sounds.

coverup Wrote:^same same. I told myself I would never come back until I had gotten better at jp and could make better use of my time there! Leave some extra space in your suitcase and use the trip as an opportunity to stock up on materials you can use for learning back home (manga, mags, DVDs, music, books, etc).

Rawr same! A soon as I returned from Japan I started RTK and am now on KO2001! Those pesky Japanese speaking people won't get the better of me next time I come back!

I think this proves one thing if you want to get good at something you need to practice it !!

But I wouldn't be too concerned. You are way ahead of probably 96% of foreigners who travel in Japan. They get on alright. Since you have some idea of the meaning of a lot of kanji that will help you a lot as you travel around. Also although you probably can't have a fluent japanese conversation, no doubt you will be able to handle the basic questions and answers you may need during your travel !