Reflections from a Lifelong Language Learner
Cracking open my first Japanese textbook felt magical, mysterious, and completely overwhelming. This was years before the dawn of the internet so there were no audio files I could access for Japanese in 10 minutes a day. It did, however, come with many sheets of label that I could stick all over our home so I could learn the names of different things I might encounter on my 2-month long exchange program with Youth For Understanding. With no audio to guide me, my 16 year old self had to just do my best as I was without a teacher, tutor or even a language coach. By the end of my homestay with the Katsukawa family near Osaka, I had adapted a wonderful Osaka accent much to the chagrin of my Japanese professor in college who hailed from Tokyo. Today I can look back on nearly 40 years of learning, using and teaching the Japanese language.
If you’re setting out on your Japanese journey, or if you’ve hit a plateau, here are five reflections that might be the boost you need.
1. You Don’t Have to Master Everything at Once
Here’s the truth: fluency isn’t a light switch. It’s more like building a puzzle with no picture on the box. Initially, I thought I needed to know all the grammar before I dared to speak. Fortunately my host families in high school and college encouraged me to try even if I was unsure. Those immersion experiences put me in situations where I needed to interact with non-English speakers and some how communication happened. That the goal – to negotiate meaning as we attempt to communicate with others. Japanese, like any language, is a climb, not a leap. Little by little you will make it up that hill.
You don’t have to be great to start, but you have to start to be great.
Zig Ziglar, American author
2. Hiragana and Katakana Are Non-Negotiable
My initial introduction to the language was through romaji, but once I arrived in Japan, my host family was eager to help me learn hiragana. I still have the red shitajiki pencil board they gave me with the hiragana chart on one side and the English alphabet on the other. I did not learn to read or write katakana at that time. My Japanese college course was very different. It used the audiolingual method which meant I was to reproduce my daily drills exactly like the audio tape. This meant our textbook Japanese: the Spoken Language was written in a less well known romaji style. For example Shi was written as SI and Ja was ZYA! While I will use some of these variations when I am teaching my classes to help them understand conjugations, it is not what you will find on signs in Japan. Later in that first semester we received the field test version of Japanese: the written language. This book started with Katakana. This is very different from how most Japanese language programs begin, but I can see the value in it.
So can we just avoid the kana (hiragana and katakana) and stick to various styles of romaji? No. For one thing it helps you to leave behind what you think about a language when written in letters. Seeing how kana work in the language will give you much more insight into the Japanese language and the culture. It will be subtle at first, but as you gain skill in reading and writing the kana, you’ll start to see other relationships.
My favorite book for learning the kana is Remembering the Kana by James W. Heisig. Over the past few years I’ve had a wonderful correspondence with him, so I’m a big fan. This book is a bit different than the usual kana workbooks. It is more like a “find your own adventure” book where you will jump around observing connections and relationships between the different kana. Seeing how they are similar or different can help you learn faster. Along with this book, I recommend flashcards, mobile apps, or old-school writing drills.
If you want to master writing kana quickly, I recommend Happy Lilac’s free worksheets:
3. Kanji Isn’t Just Memorization—It’s Meaningful
Kanji used to look like abstract art—beautiful, but baffling. What clicked for me was realizing they aren’t just characters; they’re mini-stories packed with logic and culture. There are some resources for Japanese learners that help to see this development from picture to kanji, but I recommend the Bone Oracle database by my friend Richard Sears. Richard is an expert in China on Bone Oracles from over 4000 years ago. Copy and paste the kanji you are studying into the search box and in most cases you’ll see the development from the origins to the standard character.
Another method for acquiring kanji is to learn in order of use. These are called Frequency Lists. I like the order of kanji that the Marugoto series uses. Rather than beginning with the standard Sun, tree, and book (日 木 本) the Japan Foundation chose to begin with Water, Fish, Meat and Eggs (水 魚 肉 卵). Why? We all must eat, and some of us have dietary restrictions due to health or lifestyle choices. Being able to see what is in the food you buy is one step closer to independence while living in Japan.
A third method I enjoy is also written by James W. Heisig: Remembering the Kanji. This 3 volume set helps you learn nearly 4000 characters quickly by applying various mnemonics that are based on your own life experiences. I must admit though that I had a difficult relationship with this book at first. I wanted it to be my way and easy…. But I had to learn there is a special format that is the key to unlocking this skill. Once I let go of my way and tried I was amazed at what I learned. There is also a companion website, kanji.koohii.com that will help you that is based on the Leitner method of memorization.
Tip: One kanji a day keeps the overwhelm away. Write it, read it, use it, spot it.
Starting in June I will be releasing my 5-minute Kanji Training videos on Youtube with worksheets available on my patreon. These are based on the kanji in order of grade school learning and using a set of workbooks I brought home from Japan back in 2014. These are no longer published, but I think we’ll have some fun with them. I’ll start with Grade 1 and hope to finish filming through Grade 6 this summer.
Learning another language is not only learning different words for the same things, but learning another way to think about things.
Flora Lewis, New York Times international correspondent
4. You Will Sound Awkward at First (And That’s Normal)
Awkwardness is part of the process. You are making sounds you have never made before. Using a grammatical order that is just as uncomfortable. And all the while you feel you are speaking as Yoda devoid of subjects and pronouns. This feeling is not failure. One way to counteract this uncomfortable feeling is to do role-plays. Workout how you might approach a situation and what words and phrases you already know that can help you negotiate meaning in your conversations.
I know many students (ok, I was one of them) that find the pretend situations a bit childish and not important, but they are. Your brain does not know this is fiction, so when you roleplay, you are developing the skills and muscle memory to react and respond to similar situations. Nearly every textbook features a role play situation in its lessons. I prefer the Marugoto series and there is a roleplay component there, too. The online roleplay site works well for people studying on their own. There you’ll be able to select which speaker you are and turn subtitles on or off, romaji or kana, etc. Give it a try and let me know how you do.
Want more? Check out my post: Why Role-Playing Isn’t Just for Travel Phrases.
5. Cultural Context Is Your Secret Weapon
Learning Japanese without cultural context is like dancing without music. The pauses, the ambiguity, the social cues—they’re not side notes, they’re the score. Once I started tuning in, the language finally made sense. Many textbooks also have cultural insights for each chapter. Don’t skip that part of the lesson. It’s there for a reason so think about why the authors chose to let you know this information. I personally believe is it also vital that you pay attention to this because the language you are studying is from a culture vastly different from your own. They way you use a gesture may not be the same in Japan. I still remember the first time my high school host mother held her arm in front of her and waved her hand up and down. Walked backwards thinking she was waving me away…. No… she was asking me to come to her.
Culture hides more than it reveals, and strangely enough what it hides, it hides most effectively from its own participants.
Edward Hall, cultural anthropologist
Final Thoughts
You’re not late. You’re not too old. And perfection is not the goal—progress is. Japanese is learnable at any stage of life, and it can become a deeply personal, joyful pursuit.
If any of these reflections resonated with you, I hope you’ll take them as a gentle nudge forward—toward a kinder, more sustainable way to learn Japanese.
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And if this post helped you—or reminded you of your own learning journey—I’d love to hear your thoughts in the comments.
Or share it with someone who might need a little encouragement today.
You’re not behind. You’re just getting started—with better tools this time.
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