Studying Grammar

日本人みたい！(にほんじんみたい！)

Or, “You’re like a Japanese person!”

That’s what Japanese tourists said to me the last time I was in Bangkok.

In fact, I started studying Japanese just before I turned 16. And when I landed in Japan at age 17, I was holding conversations in Japanese with my host family.

By the time I returned to the states a year later, I had internalized Japanese grammar and Japanese mannerisms, and was speaking naturally with zero grammatical errors.

Now, I’m not telling you this because I’m trying to brag. I’m telling you this because I know you can learn to do the same thing yourself. With the right approach, anyone can learn to speak Japanese naturally and correctly.

My approach was simple:

1. Learn the “big picture”—that is, learn grammar.
2. Practice speaking…a lot.

It’s no secret that many people hate grammar. If you’re not one of those people, congratulations!

But if you are, let me explain why the big picture is so important.

5 Reasons You Should Learn Japanese Grammar Early

Whether you hate grammar, love it or don’t care, learning grammar first will save you lots of suffering later on. In fact, the sooner you understand the big picture, the easier it will be to assimilate the rest of the language. Here’s why you should learn Japanese grammar early:

1. So you can speak naturally.

But if you don’t learn grammar, you could end up speaking spaghetti. The longer you go without studying, the more ingrained your mistakes will become. In ESL, these are called fossilized errors

Internalizing grammar as early as possible will prevent these errors and give you the possibility of speaking effortlessly and naturally.

2. So you can read and write properly.

If you get to the stage where you’re studying kanji but don’t have a grasp of grammar, you’ll only make things more difficult for yourself.

As with speaking, when you learn grammar up front, you’ll increase your chances of being able to read and write naturally.

3. So you don’t struggle.

Grammar is the big picture of a language. Without the big picture, the various elements of a language can appear disconnected and daunting.