My fellow Assistant Organiser, Jeryl, has done some great work with his Colloquial Japanese Lessons series. Tsubasa, another Assistant Organiser, has also done some great work with his advice regarding self-studying tips for beginners of Japanese. I'll like to supplement their contributions with the Kotsu wo Tsukamu series.

Kotsu コツ means "knack" and Kotsu wo Tsukamu コツをつかむ means "get the hang of".

Learning a foreign language is a very personal thing. Either you find that you can pick up the language easily or you can't. It has nothing to do with your intelligence but rather, with how you learn it. Mastering a foreign language is about getting the hang of it i.e. once you understand something and can reproduce it completely and correctly, you have mastered the language.

The コツ that I'll introduce may not be orthodox, and learners may find them initially difficult to accept. That is fine. However, in this case, just ask yourself whether it works. I feel that they work due to their simple logic, and it also suits me Just try it for yourself!

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Do you believe that practicing your Japanese can damage your Japanese? You don't? Okay, please read this webpage then

I'm learning a few other foreign languages casually as I don't have the motivation to learn them seriously for now I remember there was once an acquaintance who asked me when will I start to speak one of the said foreign languages and I replied "Only when I can speak it fluently". I guess I had this コツ in mind when I said that

That's a very interesting article. I think the author's point is that we should endeavour to practice without making mistakes (and not that we shouldn't practice at all). It's harder to correct a bad habit later than to develop a good habit in the first place. There's a good quote that sums this up:

"Practice does not make perfect. Only perfect practice makes perfect."

Nat, it's

Perfect Practices make perfection! =p

I think my first Kotsu wo Tsukamu may go over the heads of some people... so I'll talk about simple stuff

Most Japanese learners learn their Japanese in classrooms so they'll learn what is typically called "classroom Japanese". This is unavoidable since I think it's important to build a solid grammar foundation. However, after learning the correct grammar, it's important to know how a native Japanese person will say something.

I first came across the Nihongo Notes series written by Osamu and Nobuko Mizutani when I was learning Japanese many years ago. Up till now, I think few authors have managed to explain spoken Japanese in clearer terms (if yes, please enlighten me ). Anyway, don't just believe what I say, and read the articles below for yourselves.

Classroom Japanese

Pg 120-1 (I can't remember which book it is...)

帰ったらすぐ電話します
(I'll call you as soon as I get home)

Mr. Takada wanted to have dinner with Mr Lerner to introduce him to one of his friends so he asked what evening he would be free the following week. But Mr. Lerner had left his engagement book at home that day, so he said

私が帰ったらすぐ電話します。
(I'll call you as soon as I get home.)

He thought that this was a perfect sentence but Mr. Takada still gave him the look that he always had when Mr. Lerner's Japanese was a little strange.

* * *

In this situation a Japanese would say

帰ったらすぐ電話します。

私が帰ったらすぐ電話します would mean either that "I" will call rather than
anyone else or that someone will call only after I return. In Mr. Lerner's case, there is no need to say 私, including it sounds either strange or misleading.

Another example: when serving tea, a Japanese would not say どうぞお茶を飲んで下さい. Just どうぞ or お茶をどうぞ is sufficient. どうぞお茶を飲んで下さい is used in other situation; the meaning will change depending on what word is emphasized.

どうぞ OCHA-O 飲んで下さい。
(Please have tea rather than something else.)
どうぞお茶を NONDE-KUDASAI.
(Please drink the tea rather than doing something else with it - throwing It away, for instance. )

Thus, when serving tea, it is correct to say どうぞ or お茶をどうぞ.

Speakers of English tend to think that they should use a complete sentence - complete in
the sense of the English equivalent - and try to say 私が帰ったらすぐ電話します or どうぞお茶を飲んで下さい. If they do this all the time, they give the impression either of sticking to classroom Japanese or being overly specific, boastful, or even aggressive. In order to properly communicate in Japanese, It is important to keep in mind that what seem to be grammatically complete sentences are not necessarily the best.

Natural Japanese

Pg 100-1 (Ditto...)

来ると言いました
(He said that he would come)

Yesterday morning Mr. Okada called and told Mr. Lerner that he was coming to see Mr.
Takada and him that afternoon. So he told Mr. Takada about it, saying

岡田さんが来ますと言いました。
(Mr. Okada said "I will come.")

Mr. Takada thanked him and asked if the discussions would be over by five. He answered

終わりますと思います。

meaning "I think they will be finished."

Miss Yoshida, who happened to be with them, said that Mr. Lerner's speech was overly polite.
Mr. Takada didn't think it was polite; he said it sounded strange somehow. The two said they
would rather say

岡田さんが来ると言いました。

and

終わると思います。

* * *

In polite speech sentences usually end with ます, ました, です, or other polite forms,
but in quoted parts, plain forms are used as in 来ると言いました instead of 来ますと言いました. 来ますと言いました is grammatically correct and can be understood, but gives the impression of inadequate skill.

For example, instead of saying いいですと思います (I think it is good), it sounds better to
say いいと思います. いい人ですと思います (I think he's a good person) should be changed to いい人だと思います. This is also true when the quoted parts are in the negative; 来ないと思います (I don't think he will come) sounds better than 来ませんと思います.

Or, when reporting that you were asked or told to do something, rather than saying

来て下さいと言われました。
(I was told "Please come."),

it sounds better to say

来てくれと言われました。
(I was asked to come.)

or

来るように言われました。
(I was told to come.)

Therefore in reporting someone else's statements or telling what you think, it is recommended that you use plain forms instead of polite ones. It takes some practice, but when you do it, your Japanese will sound much more natural.

来て下さいと言われました。

来てくれと言われました。

来るように言われました。

I feel that these 3 sentences has quite different nuances. Especially the usage of "くれ", which (in my perception) is not just a "plain" form of "下さい". Can't explain it though.

Does the title of Kotsu wo Tsukamu 3 look strange? Ah, there's a logic behind it.

Materials in Japanese targeted at learners of Japanese at any level from beginner to advanced are usually "proper" written Japanese. These materials are either written by teachers of Japanese or taken from books, magazines, newspapers, etc. Of course it is important that learners understand what is "proper" written Japanese, but it's also very useful to know what the average man in the street thinks and writes, in order to gain a more rounded understanding of the Japanese language, people and society.

A great way to understand colloquial written Japanese is through reading forums. There are famous forums like 2ch, but like our local HardwareZone forums, the language used generally contains a lot of localised slang for different groups of people, which is not really conducive to what I have in mind.

In Singapore, Japanese natives have their own forum at お役立ち掲示板. Clicking the 意見・悩み link will bring you to a whole list of topics close to their hearts. As the Japanese population in Singapore are mainly male expatriates and their families, forum posts are usually written by their family members as well as locally employed Japanese natives who tend to be women. These people generally have at least a 専門学校 education, and many are graduates, so the level of writing is quite high. In fact, it's not an exaggeration to say that a learner will learn lots of new words he/she has never seen before in his/her "proper" written materials. I'm stating this from my own personal experience

Last night, I was going through the topics when I came across a topic entitled "シンガポール人と働くのは大変だ。" There were 27 posts as of today.

The Japanese are well-known for 建て前 so it's really refreshing to know their 本音 on a topic as interesting as this. Most posts are negative (as I expected) but the most important thing is that you get to read how they express their thoughts.

Readers are greatly encouraged to visit the forum themselves to read the topic and to learn lots of new words!

To be continued...

I think watching drama is a pretty good way of picking up infml. Japanese. However, one needs pretty good command of the language before that's possible. I suppose that would make it the preserve of JLPT1 students?

I don't konw if it'd be helpful, but I enjoy reading chiebukuro online.

I think watching drama is a pretty good way of picking up infml. Japanese. However, one needs pretty good command of the language before that's possible. I suppose that would make it the preserve of JLPT1 students?

You are right. Dramas are an approximation of everyday life so the language used in dramas are similar to what is being used in real life. As for needing a good command of Japanese, it's not a prerequisite at all. Dramas with Chinese subtitles e.g. the Rizun series drama DVDs & VCDs sold in Poh Kim are great for picking up colloquial Japanese. The subtitles done in Taiwan are quite accurate and as long as you understand Chinese, you can compare the dialogue with the subtitles and pick up tons of vocabulary as well as useful expressions.

As for 知恵袋, it's indeed a delightful read, and definitely very useful, as a wider range of topics are covered there.

keh han さん
thanks for sharing this. i haven't been popping into the forums for awhile now and your sharing has enriched me, somewhat ^_^