Japanese Speech help

Hi i am a native-english speaker from America.

I have been studying japanese language for a couple years. and i live in kansai. Though i can read advanced japanese with little problem, speaking is difficult for me.

My collegues and friends said when i speak i have 片言 and なまり. Though im not a native speaker i would like to improve this. When i speak japanese, i make pauses between phrases simply because i am piecing what i want to say in my head rather than naturally saying it, and i wonder if it just takes time. Additionally my inntonation needs work.

Are there any tips on how to fix this, or is it just patience?

I don't think having a foreign accent is necessarily a bad thing, unless you are trying to be perfect for some reason. The important thing is to be understood. Time and practice definitely helps, but it is possible that you can never speak 100% like a native. It's the same in learning any new language.

For fixing 片言 , again, time and practice is the key. The more you use it, the smoother it gets.

I was reading how Natalie Emmons (American girl who does the Trivago commercials in Japanese) learned Japanese (self taught) and was surprised to find that she practices by singing karaoke. How interesting!

Thanks. Sometimes i speak smoother than usual but I believe most of what you said is true.

I actually think Emmons sounds robotic when she speaks, this is maybe because she is speaking for trivago’s script.

In general practice will make you better. It might also be an idea to hire a teacher to work on some pronunciation. Maybe ther are some vowels that you consistently get “ wrong “. (Vowels tend to be the hardest for English speakers).

For fluency our teachers in school had us repeat OVER (ie not AFTER) the text listened from a CD. There are specific text books for pronunciation but I guess a normal book with its CD as a starter could do.

And congratulations to your reading skills!

Enjoy your life in Japan!