Join Our Newsletter
  • Visit Our Store
  • Come Write for J-List!
J-List Blog
Visit J-List - Your Favorite Online Shop and Friend in Japan
  • Featured
  • News
  • Gallery
  • Product Reports
  • Your Friend in Japan
No Result
View All Result
J-List Blog
  • Featured
  • News
  • Gallery
  • Product Reports
  • Your Friend in Japan
No Result
View All Result
J-List Blog
No Result
View All Result

Thinking in Japanese (or English, or Whatever)

Peter Payne by Peter Payne
14 years ago
in Your Friend in Japan

One of the holy grails of speaking a foreign language is thinking in your target language, a process that seems unattainable at first, although it’s really not. Like most Japanese people, my wife has a great knowledge of the inner workings of English grammar and structure, having studied 8-10 years before she went to Wisconsin and California to study in the U.S. She made a Japanese friend in Los Angeles who knew almost no proper grammar, who got by with half-formed sentences that weren’t grammatically correct, and often my wife would think to herself, “What is she saying? Doesn’t she know she needs to use the past perfect tense there?” when hearing her friend speak. The funny thing was, her friend got much better at English, able to use the language more naturally in a short time, while my wife was stuck over-thinking and translating in her head from Japanese — so it seems there’s something to be said for not over-burdening your brain with a lot of grammatical rules. In my own case, I found memorizing “base sentences” that I could swap out the subject, object, verb etc. in was helpful, and I treated each new kind of sentence as a mathematical formula until my brain had internalized it naturally, which helped a lot. If you want to make 2011 a year of learning Japanese, browse our Japanese study supplies.

It’s every language learner’s goal to think in their target language.

Tags: Japanese languageLearning JapaneseTeaching English (ESL)

More Posts Like This

When The Subtitles Substitute Name For Onii Chan
Your Friend in Japan

Onii-chan, No! When Translators Don’t Follow Japanese Naming Conventions

by Peter Payne
7 months ago

How do you feel when you're watching anime and a character uses an honorific like "Onii-chan," but the subtitles use...

Japanese Is Similar To Spanish Blog
Your Friend in Japan

Why Is Japanese So Similar to Spanish? Let’s Compare Both Languages!

by Peter Payne
9 months ago

Everyone knows that Japanese is a hard language to learn, right? But I found it surprisingly easy, partly because it...

What Does Bitch Mean In Japanese

Bitch Means What in Japanese?? Nine Times Japan Changed the Meaning of Words

11 months ago
Watashi No Shiawase No Kekkon

‘My Happy Marriage’ is a Serotonin Boost For Your Brain

2 years ago
Learn Japanese Through Anime! Otonari No Tenshi

Learn Japanese With Anime! Otonari no Tenshi-sama Edition

2 years ago
Does Sarcasm Exist In Japan?

Does Sarcasm Exist in the Japanese Language? Let’s Find Out!

3 years ago
Next Post
Rwcnbc W

Panty & Stocking with Ecchi Jokes

Trending Today

Yandere Dark Elf Episode 1 Featured Image
Featured

Yandere Dark Elf, Episode 1 — Love Heavier than Chocolate Melons!

2 months ago
Re Ri Haruka Riri Photo Book
Photobooks

Haruka Riri’s New Photobook Is Here – Let’s See What’s Inside!

4 days ago
Spring 2025 Ecchi Anime Web Cover
News

Spring 2025 Ecchi Anime and Where to Watch Them

3 months ago
Konata Watches Hentai
Your Friend in Japan

Why No Netflix of Hentai? 5 Reasons Why Legal Hentai Streaming Faces an Uphill Battle

2 days ago
Megami Magazine And The History Of Anime Poster Magazines
Your Friend in Japan

Anime Posters and Pantsu: How Megami Magazine Shaped 25 Years of Otaku Culture

6 days ago
Get the Newest Figures from J-List - Your Favorite Online Shop and Friend in Japan
I Am Not An Angel By Moe Amatsuka
Photobooks

Let’s Look Inside The New Moe Amatsuka JAV Photobook!

by Peter Payne
June 21, 2025

Let’s Look Inside The New Moe Amatsuka JAV Photobook!

Makina-San a Love Bot?!, Episode 11 — Makina’s an OnlyFans Girl

Old Demons and New Angels in New Panty and Stocking

Yandere Dark Elf, Episode 7 — Hot, Sweaty Nursing!

The Best of Alina Becker Cosplay

  • Facebook
  • Twitter
  • Discord
  • YouTube

© J-LIST. All trademarks, characters and images are property of their respective owners.

No Result
View All Result
  • Featured
  • News
  • Gallery
  • Product Reports
  • Your Friend in Japan

© J-LIST. All trademarks, characters and images are property of their respective owners.

No Result
View All Result
  • Featured
  • News
  • Gallery
  • Product Reports
  • Your Friend in Japan

© J-LIST. All trademarks, characters and images are property of their respective owners.