How Long Does It Take to Learn Japanese

I’m guessing you’ve clicked your way to this page because you’re hoping to learn how hard Japanese is. In order to answer this question, you’re going to need to identify two significant factors. The first is what your native language is, and the second is how strong your motivation to learn Japanese is. As a language expert, LingoDeer would like to help you from a theoretical point of view.

Actually, the amount of time that it takes to learn Japanese depends on the level of mastery that you want to reach. To give you a good reference, though, the US Department of State says that it will take approximately 88 weeks of learning, or 2200 hours, to be able to fluently understand and speak Japanese.

Two Key Factors Decide How Hard is Japanese

First of all, the first factor is important because the closeness of your native language to Japanese can determine the relative difficulty of learning the language.

For example, as a native Chinese speaker, the numerous vocabulary in Japanese that originates from the Chinese language gives me a greater learning advantage over other language speakers. I would suspect that you, dear reader, are probably an English speaker. It’s true – English and Japanese are indeed very different languages, but please don’t get frustrated too soon. Actually, you have much more of an advantage in learning Japanese than you can imagine.

In fact, except for a few languages in the Sinosphere countries (Chinese, Korean, Vietnamese), English is the most related language to Japanese. Am I kidding? No. There are a large number of English loanwords in modern Japanese, which means that you can easily comprehend many Japanese words.

The second question is more complicated. Have you ever wondered why some people are multilingual while others fail their French exams in middle school? Contrary to what many people think, linguistic talent doesn’t play a prominent role in language learning. 

Robert C. Gardner is a pioneer in the field of Motivation for Second Language Acquisition. He discovered in the 1950s that what determines language achievement depends on the strength of motivation for the target language. 

In short, how fast and well you can learn Japanese relies on the strength of your willingness to learn it. Just as Ralph Waldo Emerson said, Enthusiasm is the mother of effort, and without it nothing great was ever achieved.

How Hard is it to Learn Japanese for English speakers?

According to the US Department of State, Japanese is a Category IV language, right next to Chinese, Korean, and Arabic. Category IV languages are languages that are exceptionally difficult for native English speakers to understand.

This makes Japanese a pretty difficult language to learn, especially for those who aren’t familiar with a second language. If you want to truly master Japanese, you’re going to need to take the JLPT N1 test, the highest-level Japanese-language-proficiency exam which tests your ability to understand Japanese in a wide variety of complex situations.

According to Coto Academy, for those who have an understanding of Kanji (we’ll get into this later), you can expect approximately 2150 hours of study time. For those without an understanding of Kanji, you can expect approximately 3900 hours of study time. 

One entire year is about 8760 hours. Therefore, you would need to put aside just under 45% of your year to study Japanese if you wanted to take the N1 exam within a year, a feat that is extremely difficult to accomplish, if not impossible. 

However, passing the N1 exam within two to three years is a very feasible accomplishment! There are many stories of beginners who passed the N2 exam within 1-1.5 years and then went on to pass the N1 exam a year after that. 

Is learning Japanese going to be a tough challenge? Absolutely. The N1 exam is one of the toughest language exams out there. But if you put aside the time to learn Japanese every day, you can become fluent and ace the N1 exam within a few years! 

Learning Japanese as a native English speaker 

Now, the reason learning Japanese as a native English speaker can be so hard is because of the lack of familiarity between the two languages. Japanese does not incorporate the same sentence structure, grammar rules, or writing style as English does–and the same goes the other way around.

However, this does not necessarily mean that Japanese is entirely harder than English. For example, Japanese phonology tends to be much simpler than English phonology. Japanese only has 5 vowels and 13 consonants while English has 12 vowels and 24 consonants. 

But other areas, such as Japan’s writing system, can be harder to learn. Whereas for English, one can simply memorize how the letter looks, Japan’s writing system combines three different writing systems from around the world: kanji, hiragana, and katakana. 

What exactly is kanji, hiragana or katakana? Check out this interactive page with click-to-play audio and explanations from LingoDeer. You are also recommended to read this article to learn the difference between hiragana and katakana.

How Much Time Should You Spend Learning Japanese?

The amount of time you spend learning Japanese depends on your goals and your circumstances. If you’re looking to become fluent in Japanese within two years, then you would need to spend about 5 hours each day learning Japanese before taking the N1 test. (this is assuming you need 3900 hours to become fluent)

I recommend studying one or two hours every day minimum if you’re looking to take one of the Japanese Language Proficiency tests in the coming years. For the hardest tests of the JLPT, which are the N2 and N1, I recommend that you spend as much time as you can permit each day to learning Japanese since the N2 and N1 exams truly test your understanding of Japanese. 

If you study for only a few hours a day, there’s a good chance that you’ll be ready to take the N5 test after a year, which would guarantee minimum fluency. 

Best Resources to Learn Japanese

There are plenty of great resources out there to use if you’re looking to learn Japanese on your own. We are primarily looking at online resources which specialize in teaching Japanese.

Tae Kim’s Japanese Grammar Guide

Tae Kim’s Japanese Grammar Guide is the perfect free resource for those who prefer a more traditional sense of learning. The PDF itself contains 352 pages of information pertaining to Japanese grammar and vocabulary. You can also find it on both the Android and Apple app store and on Amazon as paperback. 

LingoDeer Japanese Course

Lingodeer Japanese course provides bite-sized lessons and structured learning. So beginners will not be overwhelmed, while at the same time learn Japanese effectively. The learning tips before each lesson pushes you in the deep end with the grammar but almost imperceptible as the streak goes and level build-up.

   

Lingodeer’s audio material could rival any textbooks’ MP3, and it is even easier to use because you can choose the audio speed you like (in IOS), another customize option is about Japanese writing system display. The course originally has all the content in romaji, hiragana, katakana and kanji. You can choose to turn off the romaji, if you want to focus on the Japanese writing system and memorize kanji.

It is also practical to practice conversation. The story module after each lesson review and extend the vocabulary you have just learned in authentic conversation. Travel phrasebooks and fluent modules provide useful phrases and sentences in a specific scene. So it allows you to practice applying what you’ve learned into practical situations created by native speakers.

LingQ

LingQ gives access to thousands of hours of Japanese podcasts, audiobooks, courses, and more. You can learn Japanese through their courses and then apply it by listening to one of their podcasts or reading an audiobook.

LingQ also introduces you to Japanese culture, politics, sports, and entertainment so that you can immerse yourself within the world of Japan. 

JGram

JGram is another Japanese grammar database, but this one is specifically designed for every JLPT you can take. For each level of the JLPT, there are different grammar points which you can go over.

JGram provides an explanation for each grammar point on the JLPT, including tons of sample sentences provided by other users. This is an older site that uses the old levels of JLPT 4-1 instead of JLPT N5-N1, but the grammar is still the same.

Tips for Learning Japanese

While Japanese may be hard, there are a great number of ways in which one can make learning Japanese an easier experience. In fact, applying all these tips together can make learning Japanese more fun than it needs to be tedious. 

Learn Japanese From Manga, Anime, and Other Resources

While in traditional Japanese courses, you may learn simple sentences, greetings, and sayings, anime and manga disregard those who are not fluent in the language. This forces you to truly apply what they’ve learned if they want to understand what’s going on. 

A word of caution should be noted, though. While Japanese can certainly be improved through anime and manga, it shouldn’t be a primary source of learning. You can find great anime and manga which can be applied to real life, but most shows and series aren’t appropriate for most of the situations that you’ll be put in.

Thus, as an avid learner of the Japanese language, I recommend that you turn to a reputable online course, a course which can prepare you for many of the different scenarios you’ll face in the real world. 

How to Improve Japanese With Anime and Manga

How exactly do you improve your Japanese with anime and manga, though? First of all, improving your Japanese by watching anime and improving your Japanese by reading manga are completely different. 

One question you should ask yourself is, “Does the anime represent real-life situations well?” A good example would be Kaze ga Tsuyoku Fuiteiru, a show about preparing for a marathon that could very realistically happen in real life. 

The trick behind improving your Japanese through anime is not just watching the anime itself, but how you watch it. Instead of viewing an episode, watch one time through with the English subtitles on. After a period of time, come back and watch the same episode–this time with no subtitles. After a while, you’ll find that this method will help you parse together spoken Japanese!

Improving your Japanese through manga is different. After combing through Reddit, looking at how different people improved their Japanese by reading manga, I found that the most effective way for most users was to just read! 

Learn about Japanese Culture

Another great way to learn Japanese language is to understand the culture. There are so many words associated with Japanese culture that a student won’t learn about when they’re studying Japanese. 

A great example would be martial arts. Japan is home to many different types of martial arts, including but not limited to karate, judo, aikido, iaido, and jujutsu. When you’re practicing one of these types of martial arts, you’ll be exposed to terms not normally covered in a standard textbook.

For example, in aikido, expressions like “Ichi-go Ichi-e” (each moment, always the first) and “Mannen Shohō” (Ten thousand years, first step) are learned by students. If you truly want to improve your Japanese, embracing different aspects of Japanese culture like their wide array of martial arts will introduce you to new terms, expressions, and sayings that you won’t find in a standard classroom setting. 

Find Someone to Speak Japanese With

In my opinion, this is the most important tip of them all. If you can find someone to speak Japanese with, then this will drastically reduce the amount of time it takes to learn Japanese. Like with manga and anime, you’re applying what you learn to the real world; but when you speak Japanese with someone, you apply your Japanese in a more direct manner.

What if I Don’t Have Someone to Speak Japanese With?

If you don’t have someone to speak Japanese with, that’s no problem! 

Not everyone has a language partner who’s available on demand, or you might not want to talk to a native speaker until you’re comfortable with your pronunciation yourself first. If that’s your case, the LingoDeer app allows you to practice speaking by shadowing its example sentences and dialogues. You can listen to the audio by read the native speaker, record your own reading and let the app play both to compare. This is a great way for improving pronunciation on your own.

You can always simulate a conversation between two people by yourself. While it may seem a little weird at first being the only talking, this still helps you apply what you’ve learned into the conversation and thus, helps you understand the language on a deeper level. 

How do I speed up the learning process?

Whether you are learning Japanese or any other foreign language, it is crucial to master the underlying mechanism of language learning. According to the second language acquisition theory, language learning is divided into two main categories and four branches:

input (listening, reading) 

output (speaking, writing) 

Therefore, no matter what method you use to learn a language, the above four dimensions need to be trained effectively for proper acquisition.

Browsing through forums such as Quora, you may notice that everyone’s opinion on the difficulty of learning Japanese and how long it will take to master is not quite the same. Answers vary individually because some learners have grasped the scientific learning methods and reached a high level, while some stay stuck in the mud.

Learning a foreign language is like climbing the Alps; courage and physical strength are the keys to victory. However, equipment is also significant, and it is almost impossible to climb to the top without suitable equipment. 

Many learners on the App Store reviews page describe LingoDeer as a good tool and an excellent teacher. If you haven’t tried it, give it a shot!. LingoDeer offers Japanese lessons in a fun way by incorporating O’Malley, J. M.‘s theory of language learning strategies. With the help of LingoDeer, you will be able to make progress in learning Japanese effectively.

Final Verdict: So How Long Will it Take to Learn Japanese? 

How long it takes to learn Japanese depends on how willing you are to learn the language. After all, learning Japanese is no easy task. There are three different writing systems that constitute the language, one of which you must master if you want to become truly fluent. 

There are over 10,000 words that need to be learned to meet the minimum requirements to pass the JLPT-N1 test and you’re going to need to put in countless hours if you want to be able to speak Japanese on a comfortable basis. 

However, learning Japanese isn’t as difficult as you might make it out to be. If you’re willing to put in a couple of hours every day, you can become fluent within one or two years, a reality that comes with almost any other language you want to learn.

Furthermore, there are plenty of online resources like the Japanese course offered at LingoDeer which make it faster to learn the language. You can always supplement your learning with J-pop, movies, manga or anime and finding a language partner on HelloTalk.

That being said, expect it to take a few years on average to truly become fluent in the language. Check out this guide for tips on how to get from beginner to advanced in Japanese. And if you need to just receive a basic understanding of Japanese, that could take just a couple of months.