Learn to speak Japanese

1. 1

   Week 1: sounds and greetings

   Say hello (こんにちは) and thank you (ありがとう) until they feel natural. Learn the sounds that differ from English, and say ten short sentences about yourself. Japanese puts the verb last and marks each part of the sentence with a small particle such as は, を or に. Rebuilding sentences makes that order familiar, and saying them aloud gets the rhythm right. Pitch accent matters, so listen closely.

2. 2

   Week 2: everyday requests

   Learn to order, ask the price, ask where things are and say you do not understand. Build each as a full sentence and say it three times.

3. 3

   Week 3: questions and answers

   Practise question words and the answers to them. Listen to each Japanese sentence first, then say it, then compare.

4. 4

   Week 4: short exchanges

   Chain sentences into a mini conversation: greet, introduce yourself, ask a question, answer one. Record yourself and listen back.

Japanese is written in the Japanese script. You learn to read it alongside speaking; you do not have to master it first.

It takes longer than European languages. You face a new writing system and an unfamiliar word order. The sounds themselves are friendly, with few of them and no tones, so speaking is a good place to start.

A good first target sentence: 駅はどこですか。 (Where is the station?).

• Ten to twenty minutes, same time every day.
• Say everything out loud, even when alone.
• Learn whole sentences, not isolated words.
• Repeat yesterday's sentences before learning new ones.
• After a couple of weeks, find a conversation partner or tutor and use what you have practised. At 30 minutes a day, Japanese reaches working proficiency in roughly 12.1 years, and you will be speaking well before that.