The average length of time to learn advanced Japanese is 2-3 years. At the intermediate level, you can understand most of what your teacher says, and you can follow along with TV programs. When it comes to using the language with other Japanese speakers, however, you still have some limitations.
Japanese is one of the most difficult languages for English natives to master. This is because it does not have a lot of likeness in structure to English. Approximately it will take 88 weeks, or 2200 hours of studying, to become fluent. But this article shows tips and tools to expedite and make the process easier.
Learning Japanese isn't easy and it will take time. It's probably fair to say that you can expect a commitment of at least three years in order to achieve something resembling fluency. The average learner gets to the advanced level in three or four years.
Depending the length of your study time every day and how often you can practice alone, such as having speaking practice over Skype, listening to podcasts like JapanesePod101, reading and writing the writing systems, and actively trying to utilize kanji, you can learn intermediate level Japanese within 1-3 years.
Around 6-12 months is the average amount of time it takes someone who is starting from scratch to become somewhat conversational in Japanese. To become completely fluent, it takes native English speakers around 2 years with consistent study.
However, many experts believe it takes between 4 to 6 months of dedicated study to reach a beginner level. On the other hand, you can expect to spend at least 3 years studying to become fluent in Japanese with near-native level accuracy.
Even though Duolingo Japanese has been released for some time now, there are some phrases that do not seem correct or sound natural. This usually happens with plurals, particles, and certain inconsistencies that happen during translation. There are some words in Japanese that have no direct translation.
Across multiple sources, Mandarin Chinese is the number one language listed as the most challenging to learn. The Defense Language Institute Foreign Language Center puts Mandarin in Category IV, which is the list of the most difficult languages to learn for English speakers.
More job opportunities
The more experienced you are in a language, the better. But, even just knowing a little bit gives you something to talk about and makes it easier to approach native Japanese speakers. This can lead to improvements in your networking skills, which can lead to more job opportunities.
The Japanese language is considered one of the most difficult to learn by many English speakers. With three separate writing systems, an opposite sentence structure to English, and a complicated hierarchy of politeness, it's decidedly complex.
N3 is the intermediate level of the Japanese Language Proficiency Test and is described as the ability to understand Japanese used in everyday situations to a certain degree.
Study Hours Needed for N3:
For students with kanji knowledge, it takes 900 hours. Almost the same as a Spanish Food Le Cordon Bleu diploma – which clocks in at 879 hours. For other students it's 1325 hours. With this amount of time – you can become an architect – as that course takes 1500 hours.
With consistent studying and speaking, for about 30 minutes to an hour a day, you could speak at a conversational level in Japanese in about 3 months.
For the past 5 years of studying Japanese, I can say that 2 hours a day is more than enough to get you where you want. To give you a perspective on the matter, I would only study around one hour a day—every other day. If by 'fluent' you mean to hold a conversation, then around a couple of years.
There are more than 10,000 characters listed as kanji, which can be discouraging when thinking about learning Japanese. Yet in reality only around 2,000 kanji are used in everyday life.
If you know Japanese and have some experience living and working in Japan, you can find opportunities in your country. Whether you get transferred from the Japanese offices or you apply directly at home, you'll be at the front of the queue when it comes to getting the interview if your resume has experience in Japan!
1. French (Français) French is the most popular foreign language in India, and the reasons to learn French are apparent. With over 30 Francophone countries around the globe, It is spoken by roughly 300 million French speakers globally.
The good news is that you don't need to be able to read or write Japanese to enjoy Japan. Japanese people don't expect you to be able to read the Japanese language, and you'll find English-language signage throughout the country.
As of October 2022, Duolingo's Japanese course has a total of 6 units, broken down into a total of 131 skills. That means there are 655 crown levels in Duolingo's Japanese course — or 786 if you include the legendary levels. The exercises in the Japanese course are basically the same as in all of Duolingo's courses.
The full Duolingo Japanese course goes up to around JLPT level 5. You can always go back to any previous level, but you can't check out higher levels without passing the placement test!