So you are going to Japan!
Congratulations!
You have probably started planning the trip and telling everyone what you will do and see and want to experience. You may be going to the big city or you may be heading for Mount Fuji, whatever you do, use this fabulous opportunity and speak, speak, speak and you can start doing that speaking now. Speak as much as you can before you go!
Join our online conversation club events!
Too shy?
Well, you have a mirror, right? Well, what is wrong with talking to yourself? If you are too shy to speak to others in Japanese then record yourself or practice by speaking to yourself in the mirror!
So now you need to know what to say…
I want you to imagine your trip…
You get on the plane, eat a bit, sleep a bit, watch a few TV shows or films and then you arrive in Japan. Now, you do realise that once you get out of the airport and away from the tourist information desk, you will need to speak to someone, at some point, probably in Japanese…you know that right? Well, let’s start preparing!
First step:
Imagine you have left the plane. You have all your baggage and you are leaving the airport. What do you need to do as you leave the airport? Do you need to get a taxi to your hotel? Catch a train to your planned lunch location? Or maybe you just want to find the nearest Pokemon card seller or even the closest maid cafe 😉 What question do you need to ask to get there? Do you know this vocabulary in Japanese? No? Start figuring out the question and start studying it now!
A: Write down your first question in English and a list of two potential answers in English, be specific.
- Example Question: Where can I catch the bus to Tokyo station?
- Example Answer 1: Go to bus stop 6
- Example Answer 2: Please wait here
B: Now write the same question and the answers in Japanese – do this without checking a dictionary or Google translate! (If you don’t know Japanese at all yet you can use Google translate). Try to guess the words and write them in whatever script you can manage; Romaji, Hiragana, Katakana or Kanji! If you end up only writing nouns, that is fine, you can build around them. If you only write the question word, that is fine too, the point is to find out what you know first.
- Example Q: Tokyo, station, bus, where / Tokyo とうきょう (東京)、eki えき (駅)、basu バス、doko どこ
- Example A1: Go to bus stop 6 / basu バス, roku ろく(六), iku いく(行く)
- Example A2: Please wait here / koko ここ, matsu まつ (待つ), kudasaiください
C: Now try to write out your complete question and two answer sentences in Japanese.
- Example Q: Tokyo eki basu wa doko desu ka? とうきょう えき バス は どこ です か。 東京駅バスはどこですか。
- Example A1: basu noriba rokuban ni ittekudasi. バス のりば ろくばん に 行ってください。 バス乗り場六番に行ってください。
- Example A2: koko ni mattekudasi. ここ に まってください。ここに待ってください。
Congratulations! You have passed stage one. You are leaving the airport!
A: What might the next question be that you need to know? I am guessing the price of something! The bus fare, accommodation cost, the first hour in that cat cafe 😉 Write down your second question in English and a list of two potential answers.
B: Write the same question and the answers in Japanese – Remember to test yourself before Googling. Find out what you know first!
C: Now write out your second complete question and your two potential answer sentences in Japanese!
Congratulations! You have passed stage two. You are able to manage your money and watch what you are spending. This is important because you don’t want to run out of funds before the end of the holiday!
What is next? You decide, where will you go? What will you do? Write out that third question as above and figure out what might be within the two answers. Go through steps A-C again.
D: Once you have a list of three questions and six answers and you have done your best to work out how these questions and answers appear in Japanese, post them in the group here for our Japanese teachers to check and give feedback.
(I will be posting my sentences above as I need to get them checked too!)
E: Once you have feedback and corrected sentences from our teachers…
F: Learn what you have been given.
You have just received a completely bespoke list of questions for your trip! You chose these questions, they relate to you and what you want to do on your trip, you can’t ask for better than that! You could do an imaginary walk-through and write out your entire trip this way if you are dedicated enough. Feel free to post more questions and answers in here.
Hopefully, you get the idea. I want you to visualise your time in Japan. Imagine you are already there. Where are you going? What questions you might need to have ready to ask. What answers you need to prepare to hear. Yes, you cannot plan for every eventuality but you can go prepared and if you learned all you can learn based on you potential activities, just imagine how much vocabulary you will have when you arrive in Japan!!!
Happy travelling!
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