This section will walk you through how to start having basic, caveman-like conversation in Japanese within one week of studying.

It may seem like having a 1-week conversation startup guide is conflicting with the advice that I've given so far in the guide (where speaking isn't really a requirement at all for the first year). But like I said, the sooner you start speaking regularly, the sooner your conversation skills will improve. It's as simple as that.

But having conversations in a language that you don't know is very, very intimidating. It's downright scary. Because of that, I can't really give you clear advice on when you should start practicing your conversation skills. I would say when you feel ready, but, realistically, you're never going to feel ready. I still don't feel ready when I have to make a phone call in Japanese, even though I've done it so many times before. The main reason that I created this series of lessons is that I wanted readers to have something to give them a little confidence boost for going into their first lesson. I hope that it proves useful to you.

Keep swimming!

Specifically, the Caveman Conversation Course Covers:

• Super basic greetings.
• In-lesson survival phrases:
  • “How do I say…?"
  • “What does X mean?"
  • “One more time, please."
  • “Please speak slower."
  • “Okay, I understand."
  • “I don't understand."
  • “In English, please."

To be completely honest, you don't really have to prepare at all for your first lesson, because that's your teacher's problem, but you'll probably have a much better experience if you do…