Hang in there, because Phase #1 only has one more prep left: Speaking Prep!

When I wrote my first-ever guide to learning Japanese, I didn't include a Speaking Prep section. If I'm going to be perfectly honest, I did not give nearly enough attention to my speaking ability when I was at a low level of Japanese. As a result, my comprehension of Japanese was always much, much higher than my output ability.

However, I am still of the opinion that comprehension is always more important than output ability. One thing that I always found strange about websites and blog posts about learning languages is that they put so much focus on output. I suppose that this is to compensate for formal education, which tends to stack too much emphasis on input (according to many). I'm not sure that I totally agree with either viewpoint.

If you look at any well-established language school or university program, they will pretty much always say that they focus on the four pillars of language: reading, writing, speaking, and listening. There's a reason that they teach all four of those—they are the skills that you need to function in a world that only uses that language. (Small note: Typing and texting qualify as “writing,” too. I think learning to handwrite Japanese is a major waste of time, which I'll talk about later.) A person who is truly proficient in Japanese will have all of those skills, won't they? So let's just obtain all of those skills.

I like focusing on comprehension more, because I think that understanding what is going on around me will always be more important than accurately being able to express what I want to say. Not only that, but having super advanced comprehension is an awesome springboard into awesome output ability, because 90% of participating in conversations is being able to follow conversations. But what works for me may not be what works for you. Focus on whatever you want, but put in a long-term, consistent effort, and you will get the comparable results.

I think that a big mistake people make is equating output ability with speaking skills, which I think is not at all accurate. Output is being able to say things, but speaking skills are more all-encompassing, and speaking practice can be used to hone your overall knowledge of the language. As you speak, using grammar will help you remember grammar. Using new vocabulary will help you remember new vocabulary. And, perhaps most importantly, interacting with native speakers of Japanese will motivate you to keep studying, even when you feel like you want to quit.

In this section, I will list three Ninja Tools. Really, though, they are just gateways to speaking Japanese. The key is getting yourself into a situation where you can challenge yourself with some messed up, ugly Japanese as soon as possible. It can be so frightening to dive into Japanese conversations when you're still at a low level, and that's why it is very tempting to put off this stage until later.

The fact is, though, that you will never be “ready” to have a conversation in Japanese. You could just open up one of the dictionaries that I mentioned earlier, log into an online lesson, and go for it. That would be awesome! But if you need a little tiny tool belt before you do that, then maybe consider…