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1. Ambush Yourself with Japanese in the Morning<\/h2>\nWake up to a Japanese alarm<\/h3>\n
If your phone is your alarm clock, download a song in Japanese<\/a> that you like.<\/p>\n Once you\u2019re even half-conscious, you\u2019ll be singing along in Japanese as you jump out of bed.<\/p>\n You might have to switch it up occasionally, but if you\u2019ve got a really good one, you better believe you\u2019ll have it stuck in your head all <\/em>day<\/em>.<\/p>\n Think about those first thoughts that enter your head in the morning.<\/p>\n From confused dreamscapes to semi-conscious obligations of the morning routine, there\u2019s a constant stream of thought occurring as you go through the motions.<\/p>\n This is a hard one to get used to, but as you input Japanese material, you should be consciously thinking in Japanese sentences<\/a>\u2014which is easy to get started with when thinking about routines.<\/p>\n For example:<\/p>\n 30\u307e\u305a\u3001\u6b6f\u3092\u78e8\u3044\u3066\u3001\u9854\u3092\u6d17\u3063\u3066\u3001\u671d\u3054\u98ef\u3092\u4f5c\u308b\uff08\u307e\u305a\u3001\u306f\u3092\u307f\u304c\u3044\u3066\u3001\u304b\u304a\u3092\u3042\u3089\u3063\u3066\u3001\u3042\u3055\u3054\u306f\u3093\u3092\u3064\u304f\u308b). While chowing down your Apple Cinnamon Cheerios, you can get a Japanese podcast<\/a>\u00a0in your ear, review your textbook unit from yesterday with the CD or listen to Japanese newscasts<\/a>.<\/p>\n You can even pull out your phone and spend 15-30 minutes on an app.<\/strong> Leave some time for a review session, or add new words to a flashcard deck and review them when you have more time.<\/p>\n These days, you can use YouTube\u00a0and the internet as a whole to access a huge variety of\u00a0Japanese TV shows<\/a>, suiting everyone from anime lovers<\/a>\u00a0to soap opera addicts.<\/p>\n “Pok\u00e9mon” and “Dragonball Z” might be the reason some of you first got interested in Japan. Don\u2019t forget that now.<\/p>\n Revisit your old favorites armed with pen and paper.<\/strong><\/p>\n Of course, just kicking back with an anime in the background isn\u2019t going to work wonders for your Nihongo<\/em>. It\u2019s all about active watching.<\/p>\n In other words, watch a show with the intention of picking up new vocabulary.<\/p>\n Strive to jot down around 10 new words or phrases each episode.<\/strong> Incorporate them into your growing vocabulary. If you try to learn these words, you\u2019ll be able to pick up on them the next time they come up in conversation.<\/p>\n Language learning is all about spaced repetition and TV series are perfect for this.<\/strong> The same words and lines come up regularly. Hearing the same voices over and again will allow you to get accustomed to the pronunciation and speed of a few different people over a number of weeks.<\/p>\n Below are some recommendations:<\/p>\n There are many more options out there! Take a look at our full-length post on\u00a0learning with dramas<\/a>.<\/p>\n Listening practice<\/a> is absolutely key. We pick up foreign vocabulary through music for the same reason that we remember the lyrics of English songs: music is catchy.<\/strong><\/p>\n Choose songs that you enjoy listening to and presto! You’ve got a useful listening exercise that won\u2019t be a total chore.<\/p>\n The hardest part can be finding music that you like and that\u2019s the right level for you. There\u2019s no point starting out listening to a rap so fast that you can\u2019t pick out a single word or even tell that it’s in Japanese.<\/p>\n Try ballads, pop songs, or TV theme tunes, which tend to be slower and make it easier to distinguish individual words. All else fails, track down some children’s music!<\/p>\n Lots of YouTube videos have lyrics written in\u00a0kana<\/em> or romaji<\/em>, and a good exercise is to try to sing along with the music, karaoke style. Hey, consider this your formal training for the day you finally end up visiting Japan. Karaoke is unavoidable!<\/p>\n Here are some of my favorites for learning with:<\/p>\n To all those Disney lovers out there: you know the songs by heart in English, so why not try them out in Japanese?<\/p>\n To maximize your learning, you should look up words that you don’t know in your\u00a0Japanese dictionary<\/a> and then enter them into a flashcard app<\/a>.<\/p>\n Another option is FluentU<\/a>. FluentU<\/strong> takes authentic videos\u2014like music videos, movie trailers, news and inspiring talks\u2014and turns them into personalized language learning lessons.<\/p>\r\n <\/p>\r\n You can try FluentU for free for 2 weeks. Check out the website or download the iOS app<\/a> or Android app.<\/a><\/p>\r\n P.S. Click here to take advantage of our current sale! (Expires at the end of this month.)<\/a><\/i>\r\n<\/p>\r\n \r\n\r\n \r\n Think about your daily routine in Japanese<\/h3>\n
\n(First, I\u2019ll brush my teeth, wash my face, then I\u2019ll make breakfast.)<\/p>\nAdd some Japanese to your breakfast<\/h3>\n
2. Watch Japanese Television<\/h2>\n
Anime<\/h3>\n
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J-Drama<\/h3>\n
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3. Listen to Japanese Music<\/h2>\n
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