I've been studying Japanese off and on for about ten years, and my listening comprehension and speaking ability are rather poor. I can read well, but I guess I'm just so shy that I've avoided like, actual human contact. What are the best ways to get better in these areas?

How good is your reading?
Can you read manga and novels in Japanese?

You can watch Japanese TV dramas.
These days that have Japanese subtitles for most new dramas.

The subtitles are exact word-for-word transcriptions of what the actors are saying.
Since the actors are speaking all of the words, it's great for learning conversational Japanese.

You can find the current Japanese TV dramas for this season here:
http://wiki.d-addicts.com/Currently_Airing_JDrama

You can download them here:
http://www.d-addicts.com

Subtitles (English and Japanese) are here:
http://www.d-addicts.com/forum/subtitles.php

Light hearted comedy and family dramas tend to have the easiest dialogue.
But, as always, you should watch what you enjoy. As long as you like it, it'll keep you motivated.

Thank you for the recommendation. I have been watching doramas in Japanese for some time, with Japanese subtitles. They help more with my reading comprehension than my listening comprehension.

Any other recommendations?

Check out the list here and go to the Listening section for some free materials.
http://forum.koohii.com/showthread.php?tid=4133

If your Japanese is good enough, have you tried understanding dramas without subtitles? You could also cover up the subtitles, try to listen, then look at the subtitles.

There are also listening comprehension books with audio too, though I haven't used any myself. Check out White Rabbit Press or The Japan Shop and see what they have.

I'd recommend what jishera says but I would read the subtitles first, watch a bit, read the subtitles if there were bits you didn't catch and then watch the next bit.

The best way to learn how to speak is to talk to people. Constantly. Speaking is a muscle. If you don't use it, it atrophies.

Simplest method: find some people who speak Japanese, and talk to them on a regular basis.

No matter how much I listened to Japanese, or how much I read, I never could magically start speaking the language properly until I went over there and started talking to people on a regular basis. (In other words, I had no choice, and couldn't fall back on English, which is a terrible habit of mine.)

I can't help you with your shyness, but I can tell you this: all of the Japanese people I met were honestly appreciative that I could speak the language, even if I was a bit bad at it, because they knew I was making an honest effort to learn their language and get better at it. If you can convey that attitude, you'll be fine.

Ask around locally to see if there are tutors who can help you get started, or you can try language exchange, and there's always Skype for tutors and language exchange as well. Search in the forums. People have posted links for that kind of stuff before.

Also: ditch the subtitles the first time you watch a show. Watch it the second time with subs, then go back and watch it without. Should make a huge difference in your comprehension.

For listening comprehension, there's also the podcast thread:
http://forum.koohii.com/showthread.php?tid=5572

Radio broadcasts are especially good because it's all voice and no subtitles.

I'm really surprised that you've listened to drama (with Japanese subtitles) for a long
time and have poor listening comprehension. By now, listening
to natives speak at natural speed shouldn't be hard. And you can
SRS all the drama vocab. So you should be familiar with most
daily conversation by now.

I'm also assuming you've finished RTK1. If you haven't, get it done ASAP if you can.

For speaking, you'll just have to find some japanese friends
and speak with them. If there is a local Japanese society/organization
in your area, join them (even if it means you'll be the only non-Japanese,
which is actually the best possible situation for you).

There's no point in complaining about being a poor speaker if
you don't make an effort to make human contact. Just do it.

Skype is also a good place. Lots of Japanese looking for language partners
on Skype.

pudding cat Wrote:I'd recommend what jishera says but I would read the subtitles first, watch a bit, read the subtitles if there were bits you didn't catch and then watch the next bit.

If the focus is to level up your listening, I'd focus on the listening first, and only falling back to the Japanese subtitles when your listening has trouble.

rich_f Wrote:The best way to learn how to speak is to talk to people. Constantly. Speaking is a muscle. If you don't use it, it atrophies.

Simplest method: find some people who speak Japanese, and talk to them on a regular basis.

No matter how much I listened to Japanese, or how much I read, I never could magically start speaking the language properly until I went over there and started talking to people on a regular basis. (In other words, I had no choice, and couldn't fall back on English, which is a terrible habit of mine.)

I can't help you with your shyness, but I can tell you this: all of the Japanese people I met were honestly appreciative that I could speak the language, even if I was a bit bad at it, because they knew I was making an honest effort to learn their language and get better at it. If you can convey that attitude, you'll be fine.

Ask around locally to see if there are tutors who can help you get started, or you can try language exchange, and there's always Skype for tutors and language exchange as well. Search in the forums. People have posted links for that kind of stuff before.

Also: ditch the subtitles the first time you watch a show. Watch it the second time with subs, then go back and watch it without. Should make a huge difference in your comprehension.

Nice advice, I'll follow this. I think you've hit the ball on the speaking part. I still struggle with speaking even though my reading/listening are at a high level. My got tells me, the only reason why I got good at those were because I constantly put in time to learn them. Speaking and writing are the same thing, put in the time and you will get there.

Cyborg Ninja Wrote:I've been studying Japanese off and on for about ten years, and my listening comprehension and speaking ability are rather poor. I can read well, but I guess I'm just so shy that I've avoided like, actual human contact. What are the best ways to get better in these areas?

I think you already know the answer.

Unless your expectations are incredibly modest, you will not improve significantly unless you start using the language. There are self-talk exercises you could do, such as this one (http://how-to-learn-any-language.com/for...alk#325750), but you will eventually need to get out there and use it. Your weakest point is oral production, which is a lot more demanding than written production, and when this improves, your understanding will also improve.