How To Sound More Japanese

When it comes to speaking in Japanese, you will want to try and sound more …Japanese.

This is actually really important, the better you sound, the more clearer your words will be and people will actually be able to understand you, so while you might feel a little silly, you do need try and sound more Japanese.

So let’s look at some ways you can make this happen, luckily its not to difficult and really you just need to practice more to sound better.

Practice Your Pronunciation

One of the best things you can do for your speaking skills is to practice your pronunciation.

The reality is that Japanese uses a different sound system to English, and while it may seem similar …it is different and if you haven’t got this nailed down, you just don’t sound right.

You will end up pronouncing words in a slightly English sounding way and it just doesn’t sound good at all. If you want to sound more Japanese, use the proper sounds and you can make sure you are doing this by working on your pronunciation.

Little tweaks like this do make a huge difference so it is worth spending some time on getting this right. You are going to have to retain how your tongue and mouth work, so you can actually form the right sounds, so don’t be annoyed if you can’t do it right away, but keep working on it and you will get better.      

Try And Get Generally Faster At Speaking

The quicker you can talk, the more Japanese you will sound, and I don’t just mean the speed at which words can come out of your mouth, I mean more in the way that they flow.

As a learner of Japanese, you are just going to sound slow, there will be pauses, or you will stumble over words and just generally you will feel like your brain needs a few extra seconds to find the right words and to place them in the right order.

You will just sound like someone who isn’t too confident at speaking in the language and this will be really noticeable in the beginning as you will sound clunky.

However, when you start to get more comfortable, you are going to naturally speed up …which in turn is just going to help your overall speaking ability feel more natural, which in itself will make you sound more Japanese.

You will sound more like any other native speaker, and not a learner if you can match their speed.

(You can read more about – How To Speak Faster In Japanese)

Focus On Intonation (Pitch Accent)

A largely overlooked, but extremely important part of Japanese is the intonation that you use to say each word, which is also known as pitch accent.

Each word actually has a set pitch (there was 4 different ones) and if you get this right it is going to make you sound more Japanese.

You can still be understood if you get this wrong, but it will be noticeable …this is how the natives spot that you are not a native. Also for some words this is extremely import, as depending on what pitch you can use, it can change the meaning of the word, so getting this wrong means you end ups saying something different. 

(You can read more about – Should You Focus On Japanese Intonation (Pitch Accent))

Use Japanese Filler Noises

A simple, but effective way to sound more Japanese is to simply use the same filler words that natives use when they are pausing between words.

When you struggle to think of your next word in English you are likely to say “umm” …and while that is annoying, it is what all English speakers do. If you look at the Japanese they use things like  あの (ano) or そう(sou) in these instances.

The next time you are listening to someone speak Japanese, see if you can spot anymore of these fillers and then try and use them yourself, they will really change how you sound as you will now be constantly in Japanese, rather than mixing it with English …even if the English is just “umm” it does make a difference to how you sound as a Japanese speaker.

Spend More Time Listening To Japanese

If you want to sound more Japanese, you need to actually know what Japanese sounds like, which means you need to make sure you are listening to enough of it.

Hopefully you are already doing a lot of immersion and listening to a lot, but if you are not you need to. You are going to hear the language being used in all sorts of different context and you are going to hear all the different speeds and inflections and general flow of how the language is used.

Some of this will happen consciously, but there is a lot of unconscious processing going on too and the more you can listen to Japanese, the more your brain can determine what Japanese is actually supposed to sound like.

Speak More In Japanese

The real secret to sounding more Japanese is to speak more. The more time you can spend practicing, the better you are going to get.

Speaking is a physical act, so you actually need to get your mouth moving if you want to improve. The muscles that make the Japanese sounds are just like any other muscle and need trained to make them more efficient.

The more you speak, the more you will start to sound more Japanese. 

Talk To Yourself

An easy way to get more speaking practice is to simply speak to yourself. This can feel strange, but just go with it. Any chance you have, just start speaking out loud and saying simple sentences or even just practice your pronunciation of single words.

All this practice is going to add up and your mouth is going to get the repetition it needs to get comfortable with things and you will sound more Japanese after doing this for a while.  

(You can read more about – How To Practice Speaking A Language On Your Own (Without Mistakes))

Talk To More Japanese Natives

Of course actually speaking to Japanese natives is going to be helpful. I know this can be overwhelming, but it is one of the best ways to improve you overall speaking ability, let alone how you sound.

You can make friends on language exchanges while also practicing your skills, so this really is only a positive experience and the more you talk to these people, the better you will end up sounding.

Do More Shadowing

Shadowing is when you copy something you are listening to. The idea is that you copy a native speaker exactly, both the words they use and how they say it.

This is going to make sure you use the right pace and intonations and if you can copy them exactly …you are going to sound Japanese.

A lot of people find this activity boring or pointless as you are not really learning anything …but that isn’t the point. This activity is simply so you can try and get your voice to sound as Japanese as possible without having to worry about anything else. You just need to repeat what you hear and try to get it as perfect as possible.

Record Yourself Speaking In Japanese

If you want to actually make improvements to how you sound, you need to know how you sound.

You need to record yourself speaking Japanese and I know this is cringe …but you need to hear yourself. You don’t have to show anyone, but you do need to listen to yourself.

You won’t need to listen too much to hear how you sound and you are probably going to be disappointed. I know I was, but this is how you learn.

You have to be honest with yourself and if you sound like an English speaker, speaking Japanese It is okay if that is the case …as now you know that you need to change some things to sound less like yourself and more like a Japanese speaker and you can now go and work on these things.

Try And Fake The Accent

Another thing that you can do that is also kind of cringe is to fake an accent. You can also pair this with recording yourself and you will see the difference between your natural voice and a faked one.

I am kind of torn on this concept, as  I don’t think you need to be going around faking an accent all the time to sound more Japanese …but it can be a useful tool to let you hear yourself speak like this.

Faking an accent while by yourself is going to allow you to see how you should, or could sound and it sort of gives you something to aim at and work towards. Even if your natural voice doesn’t reach the same level of the fake accent, you will still improve and sound more Japanese after trying to sound more like this faked version.

(You can read more about – Should You Try and Get A Japanese Accent?)

Sounding More Japanese Will Take Time

I also think it is important to touch on the fact that trying to sound more Japanese will take time. Of course you can fake an accent right now, but if you want your natural voice to sound more Japanese, it will take time.

Just keep practicing and slowly you will get your pronunciation to a really strong level and you will be comfortable with speaking and you will naturally start to sound more Japanese, just be patient it will happen.