Learning Japanese can be fun and easy: Think like a Japanese!
I believe a very important part of learning Japanese includes how you think. When you wish to formulate a sentence in English you don't think in Spanish, do you? If you do, I suggest that you stop doing that😂. You think in English to speak and write in English. Many Japanese learners tend to think in English while speaking and writing in Japanese. ダメです。Don't do it. You are hindering your ability to perfect your Japanese, instead, try thinking like a Japanese. Hence, the title.
So, why did I say that it will hinder you perfecting your Japanese? Well, look at it this way, the time it will take you to think of a thought in English and translate it to Japanese will take twice as long compared to simply thinking in Japanese from the start. Pause for a second and think of something, just a random sentence like I want to buy a new bag and then try to translate it into Japanese. Now think in Japanese and try to formulate a sentence or two, you might struggle if you're new at it but like anything else practice makes things cement, wasn't it faster than translating from English? Yep. Told you!
I am not versed on the linguistical terms but I can definitely guide you to the places that are, so to help bring my point across you can read a post from FluentU Japanese Language and Culture Blog they speak about how thinking in Japanese helps you to transition from passive vocabulary to active vocabulary. Which is moving from a weak point, knowing words and their meanings but struggling to formulate them naturally within a sentence (passive) to now being able to articulate more efficiently and use these terms naturally (active).
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References
Thinking in Japanese: A Beginner’s Guide. (2017, September 6). FluentU Japanese. https://www.fluentu.com/blog/japanese/how-to-think-in-japanese/#:~:text=Another%20important%20reason%20you%20should,you%20to%20reach%20fluency%20faster.
-All images and GIFS were created by me with aid of Canva-
I believe a very important part of learning Japanese includes how you think. When you wish to formulate a sentence in English you don't think in Spanish, do you? If you do, I suggest that you stop doing that😂. You think in English to speak and write in English. Many Japanese learners tend to think in English while speaking and writing in Japanese. ダメです。Don't do it. You are hindering your ability to perfect your Japanese, instead, try thinking like a Japanese. Hence, the title.
So, why did I say that it will hinder you perfecting your Japanese? Well, look at it this way, the time it will take you to think of a thought in English and translate it to Japanese will take twice as long compared to simply thinking in Japanese from the start. Pause for a second and think of something, just a random sentence like I want to buy a new bag and then try to translate it into Japanese. Now think in Japanese and try to formulate a sentence or two, you might struggle if you're new at it but like anything else practice makes things cement, wasn't it faster than translating from English? Yep. Told you!
I am not versed on the linguistical terms but I can definitely guide you to the places that are, so to help bring my point across you can read a post from FluentU Japanese Language and Culture Blog they speak about how thinking in Japanese helps you to transition from passive vocabulary to active vocabulary. Which is moving from a weak point, knowing words and their meanings but struggling to formulate them naturally within a sentence (passive) to now being able to articulate more efficiently and use these terms naturally (active).
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
References
Thinking in Japanese: A Beginner’s Guide. (2017, September 6). FluentU Japanese. https://www.fluentu.com/blog/japanese/how-to-think-in-japanese/#:~:text=Another%20important%20reason%20you%20should,you%20to%20reach%20fluency%20faster.
-All images and GIFS were created by me with aid of Canva-
i am probably the only thing stopping myself from thinking in Japanese because i'm so use to thinking in English and translating and whatever. but you made a valid point and i have been giving myself 2x the work because i couldve been simply thinking in japanese and speaking. certainly if i did that earlier then my japanese speaking skills wouldve been at a higher level than it is rn
ReplyDeleteNever really thought about how important it is to think in Japanese I'll put it into practice now because it truly would help improve my proficiency
ReplyDelete