How Can You Learn Japanese As An Adult?

A lot of people want to learn Japanese, but they feel they are too old …but this isn’t a problem. You can absolutely learn Japanese as adult.

The only thing stopping you, is you. So long as you put the time and effort in, you can learn Japanese so let’s go through how this is possible.

You Can Learn The Same Way As A Child

When people think about language learning they always say “it’s easier for a kid” which is kind of true, but there is also nothing stopping you from learning exactly as they do.

Children learn by just listening to a lot of the language and slowly figuring everything out and eventually they start copying what they hear.

A lot of this is done subconsciously, but this ability does not go away, you can still do this as an adult.

You too can sit back and do lots of listening and absorb the Japanese language. It will take time, but it will work. If it can work for a small child, it will work for you.

This Is How You Can Learn Any Other Language

I think it is important to note that Japanese is no different than any other language. You can learn any language by following the same principles, just listen to a lot of the language and allow it to absorb into your brain.

You will need to do some conscious studying on top, but really just getting a lot of input in any language will help you learn it.

People think Japanese is much harder and that isn’t true, maybe it is better to see it as “more different” You may have to put more effort into understanding it compared to French, but that isn’t because French is easier, it’s just less different. There are lots of shared words for example, which doesn’t happen in Japanese …but really the principles of learning are universal to any language.

Just give it time and effort and you will see results.

You Have The Advantage Of Being An Adult

While you might think a child has the advantage when it comes to Japanese, they don’t. You need to remember that you can already comprehend things, and this makes things so much easier.

When a baby is learning what the colours, they need to see each one and have it pointed out that they are different and then have it explained to them that each one is different. If you have watched kids learn, this does take a while and they get confused between things for a while.

You don’t have this problem. You can already comprehend what “red” means and then all you have to do is be told what this is in Japanese. Of course trying to memorise that is never instant, but your comprehension of the concept is.

Although regarding memory, you are again aware that this needs to happen. You can actively try and memorise things. Kids are oblivious to all this and they only remember things because they end up hearing it repeatedly. You will also need to hear things repeatedly, but the difference is you are conscious that this needs to happen.

You also have the advantage of being able to comprehend grammar concepts and you can actively study these. These can sometimes leave you more confused, but overall this will speed up your understanding.

A child will subconsciously learn how to use grammar through trial and error and repeat exposure. You need this too …but you can be consciously aware of what is going on and notice the structure and this will help you understand faster than a child.

There Are Disadvantages

While I can sit here and say you have the advantage over a child, the stereotypical statement that “It’s easier for a child to learn a language” exists for a reason. You may have some advantages, but the reality is that there are also plenty of disadvantages too.

The most obvious is that you just don’t have the same amount of free time a child. A little baby can sit all day and listen to their mother speak Japanese to them. Pretty much every waking moment they are having the language poured into their head …you get to study for an hour, after a long day at work. It really isn’t the same.

You also have the problem of your native language. While I have said having comprehension of the world already is an advantage, it is also a disadvantage.

When a child is discovering the world they are linking whatever small bits of language they have to this, which is very powerful. The child is born empty as such, and is slowly uploading Japanese into their brain as their native language, which is going to result in them only knowing the world though Japanese. You can’t do this as you have English in the way. You are always going to have both languages battling it out and in the beginning your native language is going to be a lot stronger than your Japanese and this can slow you down. 

Immersion Is Key

I have already touched on this, when saying you should learn like a child … but really I can stress how important immersion is.

You really need to be listening to as much Japanese as possible. While this does benefit small children, it also massively benefits you too.

While you will need to use other techniques on top, such as learning vocabulary, you will need to focus a lot of immersion too, it really is key to your success as an adult learner.

(You can read more about – How Do You Maximise Your Language Learning Immersion Experience?)

Traditional Lessons Are Still Fine

While immersion is super important, this doesn’t mean that traditional lessons are a waste of time, in fact they can be very helpful.

As I already explained, you can comprehend things as an adult and traditional lessons play into this. You can sit down and learn about some grammar point and after half an hour you will fully understand what is going on. A small child is never going to be able to do this.

However, it is important that you then take this information and lookout for it occurring in the wild …which means, can you spot it in your immersion. Once you start doing this, things will really click and your progress will be much faster.

 (You can read more about – My Free Japanese beginners Course)

You Need To Accept That You Will Face Failures

When you are learning Japanese as an adult, you need to accept there will be a lot of failures. You are going to misread kanji, forget things and generally suffer from all sorts of confusions and mistakes …and this is fine.

When you look at kids don’t care about this. They mess up all the time and they just move on like it never happened. Over time they slowly learn from these mistakes, but either way they don’t make a big deal out of it.

Adult are not the same, they get very nervous about making mistakes. We all want to be perfect and no one likes the feeling of failing, but we need to accept that this is going to happen. Japanese is hard and we are still learning and have very limited experience, so we should not beat ourselves up about it.

If we can overcome this, we will have a lot more success with Japanese.

You Need To Be Consistent

Really the secret to seeing success in Japanese as an adult is being consistent. If we look at children, they are consistent, even if they don’t realise it. They have no other option but to listen to Japanese and reply in this language. It is all they know.

You are going to have to actively try and study consistently, otherwise you will just default to using your native language and this will not progress your Japanese.

Learning this language is going to take a long time and a lot of effort and really the only way you can make sure this happens is to be consistent. You should really be trying to study as often as possible.

The more you can do and the more you can be consistent, the better your results will be.

(You can read more about – How Often Should You Be Studying Japanese) 

You Can Still Go To Study In Japan

You also have the option of moving to Japan to study. We often think this is something only students can do, but the reality is that you can go at any age.

You will end up in a sort of Japanese school and while the experience is not the exact same as a child growing up in Japan, it can be a very powerful experience.

Unfortunately this option is not going to realistic for everyone, life does tend to get in the way when you are an adult, but if you have the option, you should really go for it.

Conclusion

Hopefully now you can see that learning Japanese is possible as an adult. You just need to treat it like any other language. Focus on immersion and also use the advantages you have of being able to comprehend things and you will see results.

It is still a slow process, but really you can learn just as easily as a child. The end goal can be the same, even if the journey there is slightly different.

(If you are looking to learn Japanese, you can follow my plan –  Learn Japanese – The Plan For A Complete Beginner)