Acquiring Japanese: What Are The Best Methods For Teaching This Difficult Languages?

Whenever I tell someone that my degree is in Japanese, I usually get the same response, `Oh wow! That must be so difficult, I could never do something like that.` the response is the same no matter how intelligent or skilled the person is - I`ve even had this response from bilinguals! 

So I would like to address just why Japanese is seen as difficult, and which teaching approaches are best. First of all, Japanese is no harder to learn than German. I`m serious(and the sentence structure is even similar!). The main barrier that scares people off is the Japanese scri pt, which uses Chinese characters. Yes, it does take a lot of time and practice to master this scri pt, although there are shortcuts and tricks that make the process much less daunting (and even enjoyable!) which I won`t go into here. The actual language itself is a different matter, and the teaching methods recommended by Alessandro Benati in his book `Japanese Language Teaching` could be applied successfully to any language teaching, in my opinion. 

The main theory the Benati puts forward, is the `communicative approach`. This involves exercises and role play using everyday events that the learner can relate to, and has some invested interest in to a certain degree. For example, it`s great to be able to talk about school subject, politics and Japanese culture, but what students really want (or even need) to know, is how to make friends, how to navigate day to day life and activities, and how to discuss shared interests (and no, I`m not talking about how `my mother is tall and has brown hair`, one of the few German phrases I remember from school, and one I have never actually used in Germany). By basing grammar instruction and exercises around these types of subjects, the learner is more connected to the subject and the will to communicate what they want to say helps to drive home the grammar and vocabulary that they are learning. 

Benati also talks about `input flooding` - literally flooding the learner with a lot of sentences that use the grammar point they are trying to learn. Seeing the grammar used in many different situations helps the learner to better digest the grammar and understand it contextually. It`s probably important to mention that quite a few Japanese textbooks are still in the `drills` mindset, that is to say, they teach a grammar point and then make you repeat it twenty times. Input flooding may seem similar to this, but the difference is that the grammar point isn`t isolated, it`s included in a fully formed, usable sentence that makes sense to the reader. In my experience, drilling can be useful at first, but as the learner develops a deeper knowledge of the language and how it works, the communicative approach is much more fruitful. 

Benati also warns us to never underestimate the effects of the teacher`s criticism. Working to solve a problem is a great way to engage in a language, and this is strengthened by minimal strictness from the teacher. If the teacher is too quick to correct, this will only discourage the learner and also put them in a mindset of needing perfection. I cannot stress enough how important it is to NOT be perfect! Perfection is impossible, even for foreigners who have lived in Japan for years. Learning to communicate and use a language is more important than learning how to be perfect, and teachers need to positively reinforce this. Learning Japanese is a fun journey and should (hopefully!) feel like that for the learner, if they are not feeling this, then the teacher may need to reevaluate their approach.

I am trying to incorporate a communicative approach in my own tutoring sessions, and this involves a lot of personalised approaches for each student, to make sure that they are getting the right experience for them. I encourage anyone who is thinking about learning Japanese to not be put off by the scri pt or the foreign-ness of the language, if taught correctly, learners can make strides towards fluency in any language.

References:

Benati, A. G. 2009. Japanese Lanuage Teaching: A communicative approach. London: Continuum.