皆さんよろしくおねがいします！
日本語を三年間くらい勉強した後、今年の９月からは初めて日本に留学することになりました！とはいえ、留学の後のことがとても気になります。私の学士は留学と同時に終わるので、日本の大学でマスターに進学しようかと考えています。
しかし、今までは大学で日本語を専攻にしたので、マスターの入学試験は相当難しいに思えます。大学では日本の文化と歴史に関する講義を受講したものの、「日本語過程」はタイトルの通りに主に日本語の習得に集中しており、日本史専攻の日本人学生と比べると私の日本の知識は相対的に薄いです。しかも、漢字の書き方を疎かにしたので、当分は筆記試験は私にとって至難の業と言えます。
にしても、日本の大学に入学できた外国人を見聞したことがあります。だから、このRedditにはそのような方がきっといると思い、皆さんの経験の話を聞かせていただきたいです。
So I dropped learning Korean to focus fully on Japanese a while ago but, as I got very good at Japanese and was forced to learn some basic Korean again to pass an exam at university recently, I thought it might be interesting to dedicate some time to learn Korean again.
Therefore I thought about some study method based on my previous experiences learning languages in order to progress in the most optimised way.
1 Study grammar as little as possible
Korean grammar is relatively similar to that of Japanese and, thanks to the Korean exam I talked about earlier, I was forced to learn the basic grammar rules. However, I believe it is better to learn about grammar as little as possible. I got this belief from my experience in learning Japanese where I learned most of the important grammar points from my native language instead of acquiring them up naturally. The result is that sometimes when I create a sentence I end up wondering about the grammar rule instead of just using the instinct I developped from thousands of hours of input. Therefore I ironically still get perplex with some basic grammar such as when to use the particle に or で while my instinct is able to guide me with some more difficult grammar points or on the appropriate use of vocabulary. For this reason, I will try to acquire Korean grammar naturally through input and create flashcards for unknown grammar points but I shall never look about stuff like how and when to use such grammar point in my native language. If I get really confused about something, i might eventually look for explanations in Japanese since it is closer to Korean and therefore more prone to explain Korean grammar accurately.
2 No reading
Unlike Japanese pronunciation, Korean pronunciation seems quite challenging to me as a European. Therefore, in order to avoid fossilising in my brain some distorted pronunciation I will avoid reading entirely until I get to an advanced level. I will therefore do all my input with visual or audio content so I can listen as much as I can and gradually get a grasp of the correct pronunciation.
3 No output (whether it is written or spoken) until I reach an advanced level
In order to have an instinct to form sentences that are natural, I will avoid any kind of output until I get really good at understanding the language. Again, this is to avoid fossilising some false patterns and to speak as naturally as possible.
Has anyone tried to think in Japanese in order to improve their output ?
Well, I did , and here's my review of this study method (not sure if it can be called a study method though)
So I had already been thinking about the strategy of thinking in my target language in order to make the language more fluid in my brain and, therefore, to improve my input, when I was actively learning English a few years ago. However, I never quite seemed to actually switch my thought process to English and ended up thinking it was impossible to think in another language than your native language.
Still, while learning Japanese, this idea of thinking in Japanese came to my mind again. I remember very clearly this era in my Japanese learning that probably all learners experience at some point where you can actually understand speech pretty well but you can't speak. So, during these moments when I felt too bad about my speaking compared to my listening, I would have this idea that maybe if I started thinking in Japanese I could make the language more fluent in my head. But I lacked vocabulary and always ended up switching my thought back to my native language.
However, after hard core input, learning a lot of vocabulary and practicing output, I eventually became able to actually talk in Japanese in a way that felt much more satisfying to me. But, since I don't have the opportunity to talk to Japanese people every day, I sometimes had time where I wouldn't speak in Japanese for a rather long time. And when I would speak again, it would feel much harder. So one day after a disappointing call with a friend, I thought "now that I have much more vocabulary and input, how about trying to think in Japanese again?"
And from this time, I didn't stop thinking in Japanese. Of course, there are still moments when my thoughts naturally come out in my native language like when something sudden happens and my mind is reacting to it. However, whenever I am actively thinking about something, I force myself to think about it in Japanese. And I managed to keep this state.
I am quite satisfied with my results cause I recently had a Japanese oral exam and I spoke really well although I hadn't actually spoken to someone in Japanese for a long time. Of course, I don't think this method replaces real output but considering that most Japanese learners don't live in Japan, I believe it is an amazing method to improve fluency. I would only recommend it to advanced learners though.
Anyway, have you guys ever tried thinking in Japanese ? And if so, what do you think about it ?