If you are planning a visit to Japan or you plan to live in the country for an extended time you are probably wondering just how much Japanese you will need to pick up in order to get and around.  Should you pick up a phrase book, take a lesson, or just wing it once you get here?

I have lived in Japan for 10 months now and my Japanese ability is limited to say the least.  Can that be frustrating?  You bet!  Do I wish I had a greater command of the language? Yep!  But do I really need to know more that a few phrase to get by?  Not really.  I say this with mixed feelings as I know that I am missing a lot by not speaking the language but it’s just been so darn easy to not make the effort.

My journey with the language and the country itself began more than thirteen years ago when my husband and I spent the better part of four years living just outside of Tokyo.  When we decided to make the move we were very nervous about learning the language and picked up a few books on the subject, some conversational in nature and others of the phrase book variety. I studied them but was soon overwhelmed by the immenseness of the task and settled on memorizing a few phrases before we got on the plane.

Once I got to Japan I wrote a letter to my Mom telling her, somewhat tongue in cheek, that I had all of the important phrases down pat.  I could say please, kudasai, thank you, domo arigato gozaimas, and “where is the bathroom”, “toire doko des ka?”.  She got quite the laugh out of the letter but those really are some key phrases that I find very handy to have under my belt – even thirteen years later.  I have since added a few more to my repertoire but sadly, not as many as I should have by now.  I always say that my Japanese ability has increased by words and not phrases and I am often hesitant to speak more for fear that I won’t understand the response that I receive.

Depending upon where your travels take you in Japan you don’t actually need to know much Japanese to get around, especially in the larger cities and touristy areas.  Bilingual concierges are available at most hotels and many places commonly frequented by foreigners. English brochures and signage are common – the English may not perfect but the point is usually understandable.

My recommendations for the tourist are a little less burdensome than those I would offer someone who is planning for a longer term stay.  For the tourist remember the three phrases above – they are very important – trust me.  In addition to those I would add excuse me, sumimasen and I’m sorry, gomen nasai.  Being polite is appreciated in any language.

When you first arrive you will find that you do a lot more listening than speaking and that is still the case for me.  Read through the phrase book that you purchased or simply the section that is usually presented in most guidebooks on Japan.  Use them to familiarize yourself with some of the vocabulary but don’t stress too much over grammar and sentence structure.  You can always pull out your phrase book as needed – there is no shame in that.

One thing that helped me to listen more effectively is to know that the subject of the sentence always comes first.  Let’s take the phrase “where is the bathroom” as an example – in English the subject, in this case the bathroom, is at the end of the sentence but in Japanese the subject is toire and the direct translation of “toire doko des ka?” is “bathroom, where is it?”.  It’s all very logical and it makes picking things up a little easier, for me anyway.  I don’t have to guess when a sentence has ended I just listen intently at the beginning.  I don’t always know the details of what is being said but I can often determine the subject of the conversation.

For someone who is planning for a longer term stay the basics remain the same but I would also recommend learning the kana, katakana and hiragana, two sets of symbols representing the various sounds in the Japanese language.  That may sound daunting but there are only 46 basic characters in each set which can be easily memorized in a short period of time.  Although it is usually recommended to learn hiragana first, I actually memorized the katakana before the hiragana – why you might ask?  Katakana is used to depict words of foreign origin of which there are many in the Japanese language.  My logic was that if I can identify a word written in katakana I would be able to test and apply my knowledge better than if it were a Japanese word in hiragana (with a limited vocabulary in Japanese words how would I know if I got it right?).  Knowing katakana has helped me decipher many a sign and identify many products in my local supermarket and is more prevalent that I would have guessed before memorizing it.  Real Kana has tables of both for hiragana and katakana and is also a great online tool that will assist you in your memorization efforts.

I freely admit that I have been very lazy in my approach to learning more Japanese but my limited language ability hasn’t been a significant detriment to enjoying my life here.  The one regret that I have is that without better language skills I am unable to ‘talk’ to many of the great people that I have met, and that have helped me, during my stay.

For another great take on How Much Japanese? take a moment to read through Moving to Japan Tips: The Language Question at Narrative Disorder which is written from the perspective of an expatriate assigned to Japan.

Image Credit:  Personal Collection

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