I might be moving to Japan, and I have some questions!!

[Ginger91]

These are questions I have for Anton that has stayed in Japan for a considerable amount of time/lived there. I'm going to be living in japan, not like on the military base surrounded by Americans so I'm curious of how much Japanese knowledge I need to know to get around Japan and to communicate with Japanese people. Since my sponsor has had an interview with them about getting a job I'm going to start studying Japanese so I need some help.

 

I heard that in order to get around Japan easily you need to know 1000 of the most common words, the writing systems (hiragana and katakana, basic kanji), and basic grammar. Is this true?

 

Should I buy the Genki 1 & 2 books or just self study? Also, what textbooks do you recommend?

 

When you ask Japanese people questions (as a foreigner that does not look Asian) are you more likely to get answers in English or will they answer you in Japanese?

 

Those are all the questions I have right now and I'm pretty excited to study Japanese but I don't want to waste time and study the wrong things and not things I will use in real life

[doki-doki]

100% Learn Hiragana & Katakana

Learn some basic Kanji that is common in Japan

 

I recommend Genki 1(high priority) & Genki 2 if you have the time

Also, here are some great online resources to aid you along the way: 

 

Tae Kim's Guide to Japanese

 

 

JapanesePod Lessons

 

Imabi

 

Jisho (Online Dictionary)

[Twice snatched my weave]

idk as i haven't lived there but i've travelled there and not very many people speak english lol, it's even difficult to find places with english menus unless you're in a tourist area.

 

edit: also, i'm lowkey jealous because japan is a super cool country

[Taelent]

I heard that in order to get around Japan easily you need to know 1000 of the most common words, the writing systems (hiragana and katakana, basic kanji), and basic grammar. Is this true? 

You should be able to get around with knowing the bare minimum of Japanese. From personal experience Tokyo accommodated non-Japanese speakers really well but you shouldn't take this for granted. I would recommend that you at LEAST learn your Hiragana and katakana before you get to Japan (and maybe some basic Kanji as well).

 

Should I buy the Genki 1 & 2 books or just self study? Also, what textbooks do you recommend?

Why not self-study using the Genki books? 

 

When you ask Japanese people questions (as a foreigner that does not look Asian) are you more likely to get answers in English or will they answer you in Japanese? 

They'll probably answer in English most of the time unless you happened to ask someone that doesn't know English. When I lived in Tokyo, cashiers/waiters would speak to me in English before I could even get a chance to say anything to them in Japanese.

[Akaya]

It depends a lot on where you are living. Again touristy/international cities like Kobe, Kyoto, Okinawa, Tokyo, etc. there are quite a few people who know some English and English in the train stations. But the smaller the city, and especially if you are in the countryside, you need to know quite a bit more. Your job also depends on how much Japanese you need. However, major food chains generally have pictures that you can point at and ask for it, so pretty simple Japanese. I made it around just fine with only 2 months of learning beforehand, and of course you improve while you are there using it.

[Ginger91]

It depends a lot on where you are living. Again touristy/international cities like Kobe, Kyoto, Okinawa, Tokyo, etc. there are quite a few people who know some English and English in the train stations. But the smaller the city, and especially if you are in the countryside, you need to know quite a bit more. Your job also depends on how much Japanese you need. However, major food chains generally have pictures that you can point at and ask for it, so pretty simple Japanese. I made it around just fine with only 2 months of learning beforehand, and of course you improve while you are there using it.

I'm going to be in Kanagawa prefecture, which is an hour south of Tokyo I think. There's a naval base right by there but idk if that means people are going to be more accustomed to English people or not lmao.

[Akaya]

I'm going to be in Kanagawa prefecture, which is an hour south of Tokyo I think. There's a naval base right by there but idk if that means people are going to be more accustomed to English people or not lmao.

I mean people do leave the bases at times, but in my experience most Japanese citizens weren't the most excited about using English even if they all have learned some of it, because they are embarrassed about their accent and/or don't want to mess up.

Some random things I can think of from my year in Japan...

I really benefited from having an electric dictionary that had a kanji drawer to look up kanji if needed, but I'm pretty sure they make those as phone apps as well, so I would look into something to do that.

Grocery shopping is only hard if you have to find what you are looking for by name instead of look or if you have to check the ingredients because of allergies. Interacting with a cashier doesn't take too much talking, but some places don't have free plastic bags, so it's best to bring your own.

Daiso is a beautiful place, and some of the best dollar store merch around.

Make sure you learn how to be polite in the culture, because that's big on what kind of impression you leave on people.

Greetings, what you say when you or others leave the house, and numbers are most important to start language wise, and definitely get your katakana and hiragana down to start.

[victaorious]

Not a lot of people know enough English to actually help you, though the people who work at train stations and such should be able to speak a little. In my experience if you ask in Japanese, you'll get an answer in Japanese, if you ask in English you will get a reply in English (if they can speak it!!!)

 

I'd recommend you learn as much as you can possibly cram in before you go. As someone who lived there 4 years my advice would be, learn hiragana and katakana for sure, learn all your basic verbs and how to conjugate them for past tense, basic sentence structure including particles which is hard for English speakers at first but you'll get it eventually, and lots and lots of vocabulary.

 

Btw I had some co-workers who spoke zero Japanese before going and they somehow made it, you'll just have an easier time if you speak it.

[Sergeant_Im]

If you try to speak English to a Japanese, make sure use simple words. Don't go full sentence like you would talk to someone who is fluent. Eventhough they initiate the conversation in English, most of the time they can only use or understand simple keywords.

 

That was a tip given from a friend of mine who used to study in Japan.

 

Other than that...

https://justinlau15.wordpress.com/2014/09/23/japlish-not-engrish-the-hybrid-language-of-japanese-and-english/