Listening or Reading

How is your Japanese study going?

Please let me talk about how to study a language!


When we learn a new language, which do you think is important?


  1. Listening

  2. Reading






Maybe, the answer is 'BOTH'...





However, in my opinion, if we are beginners of the language, 'Listening' is a good way to get used to the language.

What do you think?



I am saying this from my experience of studying English.

In Japan, there are English education in junior high school and high school.
(Recently, they started to learn English also in elementary school. But when I was a child, I started to study in junior high school.)

However, generally, Japanese people can't speak English, even though we studied English so hard for more than 6 years!

I studied English in junior high school and high school, too.

But when I joined university, I couldn't speak English at all!
Also, my reading skill was not high...
My TOEIC score was 300...
(TOEIC : English test for non-native speakers)


Why does it happen?
Was it just because I didn't study hard!? hehe



I feel that it is because we just studied 'reading' or 'grammar' using text books.


After I joined university, I started to watch movie, listen to music, watch news, and spoke with English speakers.
I feel that they made my English improve so much.
They also improved my reading skill, and I could remember many words from conversation.

So I am thinking that if you want to get used to another language, you should listen to the language a lot (after remembering basic words).





Also, if you continue to study Japanese, there is a very very strong enemy against you.

Its name is....




"Kanji"

If you don't know what Kanji is, please check the article below:
  Types of Japanese characters >>

As I wrote in the article above, there are so many Kanji characters.
When you try to read Japanese documents, they always make you stop.


Learning a language takes a long time.

The most important thing is for you to continue to study.

If the study is so so tough and not interesting at all, it is almost impossible to continue.

That is another reason why I recommend you to watch movie or listen to music.
If you watch some action movie, maybe you can enjoy without completely understanding all the sentences.



When a baby is born, they can't read anything.
They slowly remember their own language by listening to their parents' words, watching TV, or talking with friends.
Regarding Japanese children, they start to study Kanji in elementary school, but they can speak Japanese before they start to learn Kanji.

Like that, if we listen to the language for a long time, we can get used to the language without thinking about grammar too much!




Indeed, when you study mathematics, maybe it is OK for you just to remember the basic principles.
All theorems can be logically introduced from definitions and principles.

However, when we study language, it is not enough to remember grammar and to think logically.

Even though there is no reason, if native speaker says "oh, maybe it's an exception", that means it is an exception!
There are many cases which have exceptions, like below.
  Months >>

So I am feeling that learning a language is not remembering, but getting used to.

To get used to, maybe listening is inevitable!
(Of course, both reading and listening are important.)



In this blog, I am mainly using Hiragana, instead of Kanji.
That is because I would like you to become able to listen to Japanese first.

If you become able to understand Japanese sentences by listening, you will have more ways to study!
(ex. Listening to Japanese music during walking, watching Japanese movie)

But no need to understand all sentences by listening!
Just understanding partially is enough to get used to Japanese!


Please try to search for the way to study, which is the best for you!

I hope your Japanese study will be a success!!!!!
Thank you for reading!