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2007-01-02 07:19:04 · 6 answers · asked by gogogo 3 in Travel ➔ Asia Pacific ➔ Japan
Took me a few months, I was a volunteer missionary and was fully immersed.
By a year most of the Mormon missionaries are fluent in Japanese. It takes a lot of study and you cant be afraid to open your mouth.
If we go to a country that doesn't speak English we go to a language training center, Japanese speaking missionaries are there for 2 and a half months, then we go off to Japan, where we continue to learn. By a year most of us are fluent and can chat no problem.
2007-01-02 12:11:05 · answer #1 · answered by twikfat 4 · 1⤊ 6⤋
Well. There's a bit of a trick here.
Do you mean speaking Japanese?
OR
speaking AND reading Japanese?
It's two different things really.
I can believe someone can pick up spoken daily conversation, and specialized lingo for their field of work, missionary or otherwise, in a year of immersion.
I would have a lot of trouble believing someone could also be able to learn the 2000 basic kanji in their more common permutations, plus of course, the hiragana and katakana, and be able to read a newspaper within 1 year, even with immersion.
I know some people who have gotten to that level after 2 years in Japan, but they almost always have studied Japanese before arriving.
Anyone who has some dedication can readily do it in 4 or 5 years from square one.
I've been here over 5 years. I can read a newspaper slowly,
I have good listening. Can't speak well, because I spend most of my time teaching English and speaking English.
I don't have dedication.
2007-01-04 22:12:28 · answer #2 · answered by Ken O 3 · 1⤊ 0⤋
There is no way you are fluent in less than a year, NO WAY!! Even if you live in Japan for a year you can't be fluent. And even if you say you are fluent, you probably don't understand the culture because Japanese are very modest and people who actually are fluent will say they are maybe 80-90%. Generally, if you live in Japan it takes 3-4 years to really become fluent. Maybe 2 years if you study like 4 hours a day and speak it all day every day and have a knack for learning languages.
2007-01-03 10:19:46 · answer #3 · answered by jimiyash 4 · 2⤊ 0⤋
I'm still working on it. Sometimes I work on improving a lot, other times I plateau.
It's been 4 years. It took 2 years more or less to get to intermediate so that I could hold my own.
2007-01-02 23:06:42 · answer #4 · answered by sksogang 3 · 1⤊ 0⤋
two years
2007-01-02 23:43:48 · answer #5 · answered by michinoku2001 7 · 1⤊ 1⤋
as long as the amount of determination and effort you have
2007-01-03 03:55:40 · answer #6 · answered by John Doe 2 · 1⤊ 1⤋