Why is learning Japanese so hard for English speakers?

I started teaching Japanese in Brisbane two years ago. Since then, I have been teaching Japanese to various students aged 5-55+ years old, from beginner to advanced level. And I realised Japanese is such a complicated language!! Let me explain why I think learning Japanese is complicated.

1. Characters -Hiragana（ひらがな）,Katakana（カタカナ）,Kanji（漢字）

First, Japanese characters. Some of you who are learning Japanese have already experienced that remembering characters is not easy. We have 46 characters of Hiragana（あいうえお、かきくけこ、さしすせそ、たちつてと、なにぬねの、はひふへほ、まみむめも、やゆよ、らりるれろ、わをん）. And then even after remembering ひらがな、we need to remember 46 カタカナ（アイウエオ〜ワヲン）. If you have been to Japan, you might have been surprised that the menu consists of カタカナ, like アイスコーヒー (Iced coffee) or オレンジジュース (Orange juice). And we also have Kanji, which is frequently used. Common-use Kanji is around 2000+. Wow, I think if I weren’t from Japan, I wouldn’t be able to start learning Japanese because it sounds like hard work, haha. But don’t worry, reading and writing Japanese are a bit challenging, but if you want to talk with locals in Japanese, it won't be difficult if you follow the right direction. And that’s what most people who are travelling to Japan are seeking to learn.

2. Particles -を、に、の

Particles are confusing for Japanese learners and sometimes make them less confident when speaking. It happened to me as well when I was learning English. I worried I might have used the/a/is/are incorrectly. But I would like you to think again. Even if your particle is wrong, people can still mostly understand you. So, in my Travellers Japanese Course, I always teach you useful phrases first without explaining grammar rules, such as how to use particles correctly, until you are confident speaking those phrases. Once you can use those phrases, including the particle, unconsciously, I will teach the particles. It’s much easier for you to understand why, in this situation, you can use this particle. I used this technique in my private lessons for beginners, and many students found it easier.

3. Sentence Structure and Grammar Complexity

Japanese sentence structure is very different from the English structure. Sometimes it’s the opposite of English. Let’s see the simple one sentence. For example, if you want to say I eat apples. In English, subject+verb+object, but in Japanese (subject)+object+verb, like (Watashi wa ringo wo tabemasu. ) And we mostly skip the subject, which also might be confusing for English speakers. But once you get used to it, it won’t bother you. You can just change the subject or object, or verb words according to what you wanna say.

In the travel course, I will give you some role-play practice. So each time you repeat, you can get used to it.

4. Pronunciation

Honestly, pronunciation for each character is not hard. It’s very simple. However, I believe tone is a bit difficult. It is very different from English. Now it makes sense to me why I was struggling to speak English. When I talked in English, sometimes my friends didn’t understand what I wanted to say. I was very surprised because what I said was the same as what my friend said…. But that’s okay. As for the pronunciation, you can improve by listening to a lot of audio and repeating phrases several times. That’s the short way to speak naturally.

5. Various ways of speaking -casual to polite (Keigo)

Japanese is a very unique language in terms of the variety of ways of speaking depending on the situation. This is because we use language in context. If we talk to the person for the first time, we use polite language. If you use casual language first, we feel a bit awkward and sometimes scared. So it is always good to learn polite language first. However, we also have a very, very polite language, which is called Keigo. Keigo is used in the workplace or in customer service. So you might hear a lot in the restaurant, hotel, or station. You don’t need to speak Keigo fluently, but if you can at least listen and understand, you can answer in Japanese. That’s why role play practice is important, such as booking a restaurant, ordering and asking questions, so that you can hear what the staff will be saying.

6. Vocabularies

Lastly, vocabulary. Every language has so many words. I remembered when I was learning English, I bought a lot of vocabulary and idiom books. It was not easy to remember new words constantly all the time because it was not fun, and if it’s not fun, I was distracted easily and couldn’t memorise things. I remembered only 1 day and forgot after the exam. Therefore, based on my experiences, I won’t teach just vocabulary. I always combine vocabulary in a sentence. So that you can use those phrases in your travel naturally. In that way, it is very distinct from learning from the app by yourself, like flashcards, which won’t help you build confidence.

For example, even if you know chopsticks: Hashi, it would be hard to ask Do you have chopsticks? If you are not used to using Do you have ~?

Of course, learning any other language is not easy. I was struggling to improve my English so much because I grew up in Japan and there were few opportunities to speak or listen to English, and even though I was good at English as a subject when I was a high school student, I was never confident speaking English. I think the most powerful tool is to embarrass yourself. Because when you make mistakes, your brain never forgets. The mindset is always important, even if your Japanese is not perfect, trying and error, and people will appreciate your effort, and it would be so rewarding if locals understand what you want to say through Japanese.