How to Learn Japanese: 6 Simple Steps to Turn Slow & Painful Study into a Fun & Interesting Lifestyle

*What does OMOSHIROI mean?

I got some REALLY RUBBISH ADVICE from my mentor – a very experienced teacher – when I first arrived in Japan. Or so I thought…

So, it was a sunny September morning and I was in the staff room preparing to teach my first EVER group lesson. Honestly, my mind was as blank as a squeaky clean blackboard.

Feeling steam billowing out of my ears, I begged the teacher to tell me what exactly I should plan to do.

‘Oh, just make it OMOSHIROI*’ she offered, breezily.

No shit, Sherlock! I thought. But how on earth was I going to make learning a booooring foreign language OMOSHIROI for 30 kids stuck at their desks, inside four walls?

Little did I know that what she said was actually PROFOUND advice - and I was about to spend the next 20 years of life searching for the answer.

*Omoshiroi 面白い/ おもしろいis a Japanese word that translates as both ‘fun’ and ‘interesting’.

So, how is it possible to turn slow & painful study into a fun, interesting, funny and amusing process?

Making learning Japanese fun and interesting is very much about embedding the language learning, and both types of culture, into your own life.

• Are you a complete beginner in Japanese?
• Are you stuck somewhere on the pesky old intermediate plateau?
• Nearing that elusive peak of ‘fluency’?

I believe that stepping back and checking that learning is still ‘omoshiroi’ is the secret to success.

I have defined 6 simple steps to OMOSHIROI learning, which I can’t wait to share with you in this series of podcasts!

Start uncovering your UNIQUE visions, goals and tactics to learn the Japanese that YOU WANT!

To grab a copy of the playbook that accompanies this series, click here:

The OMOSHIROI Method Fill-in-the-Blanks Playbook

Visit JapaneseLondon.com to get more info about learning Japanese, and enjoying a Japan-full life in London.

Vanessa connects learners with 1-1 native speaking Japanese tutors for private lessons and runs the Japanese London Conversation Club.

She also blogs about Japanese living in London, and can be found on Instagram, Facebook and Twitter.

Yoroshiku onegaishimasu. ♡