Hi! I'm currently studying Japanese but I have a real problem with speaking Japanese. I tend to freeze up when people ask me a question in Japanese and I never have any idea how to reply. I would understand the question but would be too scared to answer. Any tips on how to get over this? Thank you
First of all, I highly sympathise with you. I also have similar problems regarding speaking with people in Japanese. I go blank.
Secondly, I apologise for how lengthy this reply will be, as well as how long it has taken me to respond. I have not been well lately, so I have only just finished writing this reply!
Hmm, but - firstly, it might help to find out what’s causing you to freeze up when having a conversation in Japanese. According to here, there are three main components of foreign language anxiety:
Communication apprehensionthe anxiety experienced when speaking with or listening to other individuals.
Test anxietya form of performance anxiety associated with the fear of doing badly, or indeed failing altogether.
Fear of negative evaluationthe anxiety associated with the learner’s perception of how others may negatively view their language ability.
I have trouble with similar issues to the third (a fear of embarrassment) in general, so I suppose - for me - it is for that reason! But I’ll give an example of a time where I changed my mindset about things and it helped:
In oral exams/interviews and am far too shy to say much if anything at all, too worried that my teacher won’t understand me or I’ll use the wrong word/terms, etc. For this reason, I only managed to ever scrape a passing grade each time.
However! This year, I had this confidence that, no matter how terrible(/embarrassing) it will be, it will allow me to pass the module than if I were to not go at all. That’s all I focused on.
As always, I was so nervous. But~ I spoke the most I had ever done during any of my exams. I thought, “I may as well! Got nothing to lose. Gives me time to just practice talking with somebody”. I ended up getting a B+! I have NEVER in my entire life got anywhere close to that for an oral interview before. Ha ha! (Actually, I had a roleplay exam afterwards and was so~ lost that I got my usual mark. [Cries]!).
With that in mind, I say just go for it no matter how scared you are!!
And if you feel you didn’t do it to the best of your ability, no worries. You’ll get better with the practice! So don’t be ashamed of being slow, pausing and/or having to speak in simpler sentences than you think you should be. Just make your first goal… to say something, ha ha! And then slowly work from there.
Also, I think a lot of people have been there. Particularly if the people you are speaking to have been learning a foreign language themselves. So I’m sure they are likely to understand where you are coming from and even feel the same way (e.g., it’s very common for people to understand more than they can say).
Might also be worth stating that I think it bothers the speaker WAY more than the listener when the speaker struggles to speak. So don’t worry about that too much, if you are!
Here is a list of things I gathered for myself that I think might help:
Practice speaking out loud by yourself everyday. The more you use it, the more comfortable you will be when speaking it with the people you meet. Also, repeating the new sounds of a language makes them less foreign to you and more natural over time.→I think this helped me the most, personally. I also talk at the radio and TV a lot (ha ha!), so I’m currently working on restricting this to Japanese.
Record yourself. Get used to the sound of your voice speaking a second language, as well as practise your pronunciation. Recording yourself will likely be uncomfortable at first, but the key is practice and repetition.→I admit, I don’t do this often at all. However, I listen to myself as I talk and repeat words until I think I’ve said it in a more Japanese accent. Apparently, my accent has slightly improved, so I’m guessing it’s working.
Do something new in the language every week. Take baby steps. Practice doing one new thing every week. →E.g., my current challenge is to try and describe films every week (as in, whether the acting was good, etc, not a synopsis).
Get a conversation partner. Before you speak in front of a large group, find a conversation partner with whom you can practice. You can even do this on Skype. Go ahead and tell the person that you are nervous and that your goal is to become more confident. Once you admit it, the hold that fear has on you may weaken.→Sometimes I tell people straight off the bat if I don’t feel confident of my abilities in something. That way, I can never feel too bad if it shows as they already knew it was a possibility, ha ha.
Listen carefully to how they [= those you talk to/on TV/etc] pronounce words and phrases and try to mimic what you hear. You should pay close attention to the differences between the language when spoken by different genders. Some words and phrases may be different. →I repeat things that I have heard on Japanese TV a few times, mimicking their reactions and how they say things. I also note anything down that I keep hearing but don’t understand.
Practice using different phrases and words by role-playing scenarios
If you know certain topics are likely to come up in conversation, do some studying beforehand to put phrases and vocabulary related to that topic into short-term memory. There are a lot of stock and predictable questions - be ready not only to answer, but to elaborate. This will not improve speaking skills, but it will facilitate ease of conversation.
Be familiar with the correct use of conversation fillers.
Don’t be discouraged if you make mistakes, even if people laugh when you mispronounce words or use the wrong phrases. Mistakes can be made so that you don’t make them in the future. 失敗は成功のもと (You learn from your mistakes!).
Remind yourself of your motivation for learning another language. The only way to truly improve in a second language is by using the language. So, remind yourself that you will just have to speak your second language while feeling nervous. Allow those reasons to motivate you through your anxiety.
Feel afraid, feel nervous, feel anxious… all of that is human and completely normal. Practice the language anyway, while feeling those things. Go for it!
Key point: Repetition and practice are important!
I really hope that some of this helps! Ultimately, I think it’s all about building up your confidence. Once that starts improving, you’re experiences with having these conversations should improve too and I really hope it does.
If you can remember to, let me know of your progress over time! =D x.
I encourage you to find a native-Japanese speaker; a friend or a teacher or some other kind of person who would be willing to help you. Then, MAKE MISTAKES. Loads of them. They’ll help you fix it.
I would like to recommend the Shadowing Japanese books as well for speaking practise, particularly for getting used to casual speech and speaking at speed.Shadowing: Let’s Speak Japanese! (Beginner to Intermediate Level) w/CD
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