I am always impressed by anyone who can speak two or more languages. I know how much study AND practice is involved to reach a certain level. When Masami and/or I interview a potential new student, we ask, “How do you learn English now?”, the different answers are varied.
It reminds me of when I first arrived in Japan and talked to other native English speakers who have lived here for a long time. One of my first questions would be, “Any tips for learning Japanese?”. The answers to this are similar to Japanese students but commonly include a personally motivated medium.
Films, Music, Books, TV shows
Some methods suggested to learn Japanese were; watch an English language film I know well in Japanese, read Japanese children’s textbooks, read JLPT textbooks, watch Japanese dramas on TV, listen to Japanese songs, play Japanese video games, read manga.
All of the above suggestions are about input, listening and reading, which is only a part of learning. The advice was not to do all these things to learn Japanese but do something you enjoy so you will want to learn Japanese.
Japanese dramas don’t interest me, nor JLPT books, they are boring to me. Who wants to do something boring? One of the ideas suggested is interesting to me and, it is helping with my knowledge of the language. I have never grown out of playing video games and, now it’s assisting my learning.
Many years ago, I played Zelda: Ocarina of Time on my Nintendo 64, now I’m playing it again in Japanese, with a Japanese/English dictionary app to help with the language. As I need to understand the dialogue in the game to know where to go next, I want to know the language! Very motivating. By reading the text, I’m finding what words I already know, forgotten and, need to learn. Helpful.
How do you exercise your English?
TV is a great way to exercise your listening skills. Interested in real-life events? Watch the news in English and “assist” your listening skills by reading the Japanese subtitles. Prefer dramas? There are a few murder mysteries in English shown on terrestrial TV. Only a few TV programmes have the option of English dialogue which may not be to your taste, if so, DVDs are an alternative.
DVDs are a great way to be exposed to realistic dialogue, avoid films with made-up words, I’m looking at you Harry Potter! It’s overwhelming and intimidating at first until you recognise a word or two. Then a sentence, great! The beauty of DVDs is you can watch them in either the native language or Japanese, with or without subtitles in either language. If you had trouble hearing a sentence, go back and listen to it again, and again, and again. Very versatile.
There are many dual language classic books in Japanese and English. I know some of my students have enjoyed them. They are abridged versions of the originals so, it’s a chance to know the main story and a reading exercise.
Alternatively, sing, sing a song…There are many English CDs you can sing along to, choose what you like the sound of and try. The internet is a wonderful thing to find the lyrics and meaning of a song.
TV, DVDs, books, or CDs? Which medium motivates you to learn? How will you exercise your English?
【あなたの心が伝わるあなただけの英語】
英語でのコミュニケーションをあなたらしい英語で。一人一人のレベル、能力、興味に合った教材や方法での英語レッスンプログラムをオンラインで学べます。
”あなたの英語”でコミュニケートしたい方は、まずは無料カウンセリングをご予約ください。
