Can I learn Japanese in a year

Now I know what your thinking and I know the answer is no but hear me out first.

So I am a high school student and I've been learning Japanese for a year (half way through now) properly now which includes study and that but I have also been learning it on and off for the past 3 years as well except my Japanese is still not good at all and I still only know basic stuff but for quite awhile I've been planning to do an exchange and would love to do one to Japan. Seeming it's 2016 and I would most likely like to do one In 2018 if possible I would also like to do an exchange while I'm still a high school student myself so I was wondering how roughly 18 months of hard studying would get me and if it would get me to a level good enough for me to get by and be able to have basic conversation with a host family and peers as such. I'm not asking to be fluent I'm just wondering if it'll get to me a reasonable level of understanding of the language and enough to be able to survive and still have a good time.

I know it's a long question and to anyone that reads it and can answer it THANKYOU! But I have one last part as well.

Now I know a lot of people are going to read this a still probably think that's not a long enough amount of time still and I know that also but I want to know what the best methods are for practising and learning. I'm doing Japanese classes pretty much every day and studying on my own but I know school classes can slow down the learning process as there are other students so I was wondering what methods were the best for learning and helped to learn and memorise quick and easy (although I know it's me very easy) especially with things like Kanji.

Any help or comment would help massively!

My non-Japanese spouse says by the end of one-year full-time language study "in Japan" he was able to get by in everyday conversation, but no further. Please note that this was when he was about your age, studied a bit in his country, then came for a full-time study in a Japanese language school, and lived in Tokyo, when not even the sign for "Tokyo station" in English was available (yes, many years ago). So even outside his classes, he was fully immersed in the local language. Compare that with a year and half in your own surroundings - you might get an idea.

With a high school exchange program, though, the school would not really expect you to be fully following their classes in the Japanese language. But it would be nice if you could have basic conversation with the host family, even if mixed with bits of English, while your peers would love to speak in English with you, so studying hard in preparation for your exchange would be useful in any case.

Are you taking classes now? It can slow down the process, but you can also interact with other students in Japanese, and get to see how others construct sentences, so that is a positive about classes too. People learn best in different ways, so there is no one answer as to what method is best :)

You don't need to be near native level in order to stay with a host family. Keep working at it but relax a little. :)

Hi!

You can become fluent in a year. As in, incredibly fluent. But the majority of people simply do not have the time, let alone mental ability (as in, they'd burn out from over study) and funds to do this.

You say you're learning 'properly' in high school - can you elaborate? Not all teachers are good teachers, sometimes they won't gel with your learning style and sometimes the curriculum is basic. For example, learning English in Japan isn't meant to get you fluent - it's enough to understand basic conversations. (So keep in mind your peers may not be fluent or may be too shy or not want to make mistakes and therefore not use English - they could also be fluent and not care about mistakes and chat non stop)

Basic conversations are easy and 18 months is a long time. (What do you count as basic?) Get yourself an app like duolingo or memrise or the sort. (I'm actually not sure if duolingo has Japanese but you get the idea) Learn basic phrases such as "I like", "Can I", "Let's" and so on. Google 'Maggie Sensei'. Chances are your hosts won't expect you to be fluent, and will expect you to be rough and fumble often - relax and go with the flow. That's part of the fun of an exchange!

Like I said before, classes aren't always good. What do you learn in your class? Knowing this can help us give you more advice. What textbook do you use? (Genki is a good and common place to start if you don't already have it) What do you study on your own? How are you already studying?

For me, I study by watching Japanese tv and listening to music. You need to watch a variety of shows to make it worthwhile, in my opinion. Some shows (anime) are hugely dramatised and people don't speak that way, but you can pick up common phrases very quickly. Getting involved in pop culture also gives you conversation starters!

I also do an online course through my job and study two textbooks a day (one chapter each per day) and go to classes once a week with a native speaker. I write down notes from all of these in one book - grammar is highlighted, notes are in a different colour etc. In another book I have kanji and vocab. I'm useless at kanji so I use a page per word. When I was in high school I made a bunch of flash cards and stuck them all over the house. Literally all over. I wouldn't let myself open the fridge until I read every card on it, for example. There were easily 100+ cards.

Now I use quizlet for my flashcards, but anki is also popular. I also record myself saying words and grammar points. I listen to these as I drive or as I do the housework. There are sites like lang8 you can use to write and have your work corrected. Try talking to people on twitter, make a studyblr and join a community so you have support.

Just remember to keep it fun and simple. Theres no point putting in tonnes of effort to get frustrated and hate the language. Remember that your goal is to have a basic conversation first - why not ask your teacher for extra resources?

Hello

Thankyou for the replies it's helped a lot. A few were wondering what exactly I'm learning in class and to be honest I don't know exactly how to explain what we are learning. Next year I will be studying it everyday in class but for its only 2 times a week which is not much which is why I try to study a lot at home. In class we don't do much as most students are at different levels it's quite hard to teach a class when some are more advanced than others.

Because most of the students are behind they still don't know stuff like Katankan which can be quite frustrating as it only took me about a week to learn it at the start of year but their will to not want to learn it means we are behind and I don't get to progress in new things so when I get home I feel I don't really know where to start studying or I don't know what to study first I feel so lost and confused I just don't know what should be first. Should it be things like basic survival stuff Eg: "how much is this" , "where is this" or is there a more preferable order to start learning.

I've learnt a bit already but mostly about Family,food,pets, basic conversations and pretty basic stuff like that.

in class I feel the way we have been learning things has been so muffled and jumping from subject to subject that it becomes quite confusing and hard to remember especially if we're talking about phone numbers one day and kanji the next. I just feel it's making all my work go out the window when I try to revise. Shouldn't there be some sort of flow or at least connection in the way you learn Japanese to at least make it all a little bit easier to remember or is it just how you unfortunately learn Japanese by doing random topics and subjects?

If anyone would like to also mention how they learnt Japanese themselves that would be greatly appreciated as well so than maybe I could get an idea on methods that worked good for other people (although I know everyone's different) I just feel maybe trying a different approach wouldn't hurt too much. Thankyou!

My daughter studied Japanese at High School. After the first three years and several visits to Japan she had a good command of the language but lacked confidence to use it whilst in Japan. In her fourth year she was able to go to Japan, homestay and attend a regular Japanese high school for 12 weeks, and whilst there were some subjects she didn't partake in, she was in others. When she returned her Japanese language was much improved and her confidence immensely so. After finishing high, she went to a 2 year total immersion course run by the University. Nowdays as an International flight attendant and regular visits to Japan, she is able to keep her language at a very good level. I personally don't think one year is sufficient for any language, but suggest by 2018 with consistent effort you will be fluent enough. If you can mix with some Japanese people in your town regularly and listen and talk I think it will benefit. Just doing the theory doesn't give a total approach, you need practical experience as well. Good luck.

How to learn by yourself? Dedication and blatant stubbornness - every day.

In my experience it is pretty much doing random topics as you said. You basically need to learn various vocabulary and set expressions for every situation you might find yourself in in Japan.
Do you use a textbook in class? Going through the chapters repeatedly in your own time, and especially listening to the CD over and over again is what I would advise.
If you don't have a textbook I can recommend "Yokoso!" but I am in the minority on this as it is quite an expensive one.

Undoubtedly you can learn the language in one year, the question is to what level.