Hello! I am terribly sorry if this is posted somehwere, but I am in need of some help. I have been studying Japanese for 4 years at an American university, and made the unfortunate realization that my program is too easy and I am nowhere near a level I should be. I was wondering how those who self study practice listening and speaking? Is there a place I haven't heard of you can practice speaking with people?

I'd greatly appreciate your help!

If you've studied at a University there should be conversational clubs that you can participate in.

As for me, I hardly practice at all and so it's a weakness of mine, but occasionally I'll Skype with some friends I've met on Lang-8.

practicing listening is one of the easiest things.

Just go to youtube and watch random Japanese videos about anything. And listen and listen and listen.

Or watch anime or drama without subtitles and just listen and listen all day long.

Speaking, go to sharedtalk.com and find someone.

Maybe it's me, but watching meticulously sound-edited drama/anime/variety using headphones/speakers does feel a lot different from just talking to someone. I tend to miss a lot of words in conversation whereas media seems crystal clear.

kainzero Wrote:Maybe it's me, but watching meticulously sound-edited drama/anime/variety using headphones/speakers does feel a lot different from just talking to someone. I tend to miss a lot of words in conversation whereas media seems crystal clear.

Sure you need to use various sources and of course real conversations are necessary, but if you're at almost zero then a basic foundation can be pretty much anything, can't it?

TwoMoreCharacters Wrote:Sure you need to use various sources and of course real conversations are necessary, but if you're at almost zero then a basic foundation can be pretty much anything, can't it?

yup!

i was hoping that since OP was university educated that it's not almost zero.

i attended UCLA's convo club a year ago which mixed japanese with english speakers and there were a number of good speaking japanese students. the club was open to anyone, which was good since i already entered the workforce several years ago.

i think there's a number of things in conversation that differ from drama/anime/TV that could be relevant to OP's goals. depends on what you wanna go for. definitely not trying to say "yo don't do drama/anime" but that there are pitfalls/deficiencies to watch out for. there's also a number of advantages (convenience, the ability to rewind, good/great pronunciation, entertainment) as well.

If you're familiar with the Genki textbooks, someone created a website that loosely follows Genki 1, called http://mykikitori.com/

They have 12 lessons with several exercises for each one at two different speeds. There is also a quiz that you can take to evaluate your level of understanding at the end of each exercise.

It is very textbook-y though so if you prefer more natural sounding conversations I would go with random Japanese youtube videos/dramas.

[s0apgun]

Try Manga. It's written in a way very similar to conversational Japanese. This allows you to digest it at your own pace which then will make understanding conversations easier.

Try everything that's been suggested I say. People say things like "Don't listen to anime/dramas/whatever because it's not real Japanese". Then they often suggest that you have to spend time with Japanese native speakers. Well what if those native speakers were all young girls? Girls use feminine speech, and you're a male. Might as well throw away textbooks that are too polite, and don't read any books that are older than a decade.

Every field has its own special use of the language, learn from all kinds of different sources you enjoy and you'll be able to tell the difference between them.

kainzero Wrote:yup!

i was hoping that since OP was university educated that it's not almost zero.

Yeah its wrong to assume that just like that, but I get that impression from someone who looks for ways to learn outside the classroom in a serious way for the first time.