One of the hot topics of discussion among polyglots around the world is “When is the best time to start speaking?” Opinions range from ‘speak from Day One’ to ‘just focus on Comprehensible Input and after a number of months, you’ll naturally start to output.’ I am not aware of any specific research on this topic, so caveat all the following as my opinion, based on my experience.
I lean toward the “earlier is better” camp for several reasons. For one, my goals for Japanese have always been about communicating with other people to be able to live and work in Japan, so for me, the sooner I got used to speaking the better. Second, I wanted to build good pronunciation early on, i.e. develop the muscle memory needed to pronounce words with unconscious competence. Last but not least, in my experience, this helps shorten the time required to start thinking in Japanese.
Leave Your Comfort Zone
No mistake, it can be nerve-wracking when you’re preparing to speak to someone in a new language for the first time. The reasons vary but underlying all of them is fear. This can surface as negative self-talk (“OMG, I’ll sound like an idiot”), worry that you won’t be understood, or simply stressing over not being perfect. That last one is very common among people who’ve studied languages academically, where you lose points for making any sort of mistake.
So let me ask you: when you speak your native language, do you speak perfectly all the time? Or do you make grammar mistakes, use the wrong word, stop mid-stream and begin your thought over again? I’ll bet it’s the latter, so congratulations, you are normal!
The most important thing is, when you speak, is your message received by the listener? The Message Is The Main Thing. If a stranger walked up to you and said, “Stomach empty. Eating place where?” would you know what he meant? Message received. There is nothing wrong with “Tarzan Speak” when you’re getting started. Sure, you can polish it up as you gain more experience but internalize the idea that if your message is understood by the listener, that’s the win. 100 points. A+.
Remember, speaking is a complex combination of cognitive, linguistic, and physical motor skills (articulation). You can’t study your way to speaking well with a textbook, you need to get out and start doing it.
Tactics
Following are some low-stress, low-risk tactics to help you get started with speaking and develop good habits along the way.
Limiting Beliefs and Liberating Truths
First, strengthen your mental game by giving some thought to your “limiting beliefs” and “liberating truths”, as I learned from master coach Luca Lampariello. What limiting beliefs could be holding you back? An example from Luca of a common limiting belief is, “If I make a mistake while speaking Japanese, I’ll make a fool of myself.” Write yours down. Then for each of them, also write down a countervailing liberating truth, such as, “People are generally exceptionally forgiving of language mistakes, so long as you’re making a genuine and honest effort to speak.”
If you catch one of your limiting beliefs popping into your head, interrupt the pattern and reflect on the corresponding liberating truth.
Focus on Good Pronunciation
Especially early on, before a bad accent takes root, it’s a best practice to work on that with a native speaker who can coach you. Sometimes you might get lucky with a random language exchange partner, but I have found that most people are pretty shy about correcting you along the way, better to do this with a professional. Sites like italki.com are wonderful for finding such coaches at a reasonable price, but you do need to tell them up front exactly what sort of help you are looking for.
In this case, much like Japanese people have a hard time with the English letters “L” and “R”, for example, 日本語 has some sounds that are not found in English and it pays to spend time purposefully practicing them to nail them down early. In particular, pay attention to ら, り, る, れ, ろ, りゅ, and りょ. Less obviously, there are some subtle differences in ひ, ふ, and を compared to how they are usually represented in beginner’s textbooks. Find a coach and ask them to help you polish those sounds. A few 30-minute sessions with a good coach can make all the difference in the world and set you up for continued success.
Fear Inoculation
I have a friend in Japan who told me about always being berated by his private tutor, “It was all ‘wrong… wrong… wrong’ non-stop.” Not surprisingly, he developed an immense aversion to speaking for fear of being judged. He needed a way to move past that fear.
One way to inoculate yourself to that fear response is to confront it head on and, starting small, say something (anything!) in Japanese to someone in a controlled environment. If you have the luxury of being in Japan, for example, store employees are expected to interact with you, so they make fine unwitting participants in this exercise. Stick your head into ten shops and just ask them what time they close.
If you’re not in Japan, is there a locale nearby with Japanese-run stores or restaurants? Many large cities have a local “Japantown.” Same practice: ask what time they close, how much something costs, where’s the bathroom?
Barring those options, see below about Language Parties.
It doesn’t matter one bit if you understand their response or even if they understand your question. It’s about getting used to the discomfort of speaking out loud to natives. Once more, with feeling: the point of the exercise is to become comfortable being uncomfortable.
K.I.S.S.
When you’re getting started, keeping it simple is always as good rule. When you stop midstream to recall conjugations or grammar rules, you are literally using a different part of your brain from that which produces speech. To avoid such context switches, rather than struggling to figure out how to come up with perfect, literary-grade sentence structure, just break down what you want to say in small, easy sentences. Rather than, “Some day when I save up enough money, I would love to get myself a nice Maserati,” try “I like Maseratis.” “I will buy a Maserati some day.” “First, I need money.”
Self-Talk
You can practice speaking simply by talking to yourself in Japanese. Narrate your day out loud and if you find you don’t know a word or some specific piece of grammar, just keep going and say the word in English or find a way to talk around it. For example, if you don’t know the word for restaurant, say “place where you can buy and eat food,” (in Japanese, of course 😁). If you don’t know that exact verb conjugation you’d like to use, just use one that you do know. Make a mental note of what you’re lacking, then look up the vocab or grammar you need later, possibly with the assistance of your tutor. To this day, I still talk to my dog a lot in Japanese, he doesn’t seem to mind.
Voice Messages
Apps like HelloTalk and Tandem enable you to find language exchange partners with whom you can send messages and make calls. You can use the messaging feature to send voice messages! The nice part about that is you can review them and re-record as many times as you like before you finally press send. This is a great way to start having spontaneous “conversations” without the added pressure of trying to do it in real-time. HelloTalk also allows you to make publicly visible posts that contain voice messages and the whole community can provide feedback or responses.
Language Parties
HelloTalk and Tandem also have group conversation functions where anyone can join in. These are really low-stress environments where you can participate or not to the extent you are comfortable. Join any of the active sessions – you default to “listen only” mode – then when you’re ready to say something, you can do so with the push of a button.
For a more personal vibe, Meetup.com is a great tool for finding in-person language exchanges. Just create an account, plug in your location, and search for “Japanese language.” I’ve met a lot of very nice people and learned a ton about real-world, authentic speech by attending the plentiful sessions in Tokyo.
Laugh
失敗は成功の元です。Failure is the foundation of success
An interesting Japanese cultural phenomenon is that they often laugh when they are nervous or embarrassed. Take the same path and learn to laugh at your own mistakes. I make them, native speakers make them, so will you. So what? Laugh it off and move on.
They say it takes ten thousand mistakes to achieve fluency. Start making lots of mistakes.