does anyone think it'd be possible to learn a foreign language in 45 days fluently or almost fluent??

Question

I'm trying to learn Japanese in 45 days... it's sort of a project you could say. I'm doing 2 lessons of pimsleur/day, memorizing 45 Kanji/day (I already know the alphabets), and talking/e-mailing J-penpal, and gonna listen to/watch Japanese movies/radio/music... *remember I have nothing else to do.
Does anyone have any tips, advice, or language learning experiences to share???

Answer 1

Wow, more power to ya for trying! I can imagine your brain is gonna be fried! I've studied several languages including Japanese (not with as much of a fast-track intensity as you though). What you're doing is great as long as you don't get burnt out.
Pimsleur is good, and all of your other methods will contribute as well. It's great that you're attempting to immerse yourself as much as possible. Try to think in Japanese all day long as much as you can! When you look around at things in the room or do simple tasks try to say simple sentences in your head describing objects, what you're doing, etc. Put labels on everything in your house.
TALK as much as possible to your J-penpal! If s/he is patient enough to help you, you can try not only using the sentences you've learned but also making new sentences by substituting words and using different combinations. Ask your friend "Can you say it like this too...___ " (In Japanese it's " ___...kore demo ii?") or "Could you say it correctly for me?" ("Tadashiku yutte-kuremasu ka?") or "How do you say this?" ("Kore wa nan-te iu no?")
Also, I do recommend studying from a grammar book too because there are A LOT of differences between Japanese and English grammar, and some of them you won't pick up naturally. Trust me, having those things explained to you clearly in your native language from the beginning will make it a lot faster to learn correct grammar and be able to construct comprehensible sentences!

As for becoming fluent in 45 days, it depends on how you define fluency. It's humanly impossible to become completely fluent that quickly, but you can become somewhat fluent.

Ganbatte ne! (^_^)/
(Good luck!)

Answer 2

I'm taking Spanish. And although it's worlds away from Japanese I don't think it's possible to be almost fluent in any language withing 45 days. I've been taking Spanish for 2 years and I can't even come close to fluent. Talking with a pen pal will help a lot but it's still very difficult. And there is a difference between knowing a language and speaking a language. A family I knew moved from Germany and the woman refused to speak English and her nephew who moved to Germany refused to speak German. So when they got together one spoke German and the other spoke English. They had entire conversations like that. Neither of them knew the other language but they understood each other. And I don't advice the use of Rosetta Stone because it doesn't teach you to know the language. It only teaches you to understand the language. If you want to learn Japanese, it's going to take a a long time. If you want to understand Japanese, go ahead and use Rosetta Stone.

Answer 3

My brother went on a Mormon Mission to Japan.. He spent 8 weeks (56 days) at the mission training center MTC before leaving for Japan..

The program he was in was what called total immersion.. Meaning no one spoke to him in any language besides Japanese, no one listened to him unless he spoke in Japanese etc. All he heard day and night was Japanese.. When he left for Japan h wasn't completely fluent but he was able to be understood and able to understand most things..


When he returned 2 years later he was not only speaking Japanese but thinking in Japanese as well, when he left he was pausing to translate english to Japanese then speak when he returned he was pausing to translate Japanese to English then speak..

If you can enter a total immersion program you can be semi-fluent in Japanese in a matter of weeks.. You need a spoken language clase because memorixing from a book can only get you so far when a language is spoken there are nuances and you only get them in spoken form..

Good luck.. I am sure if you put your mind to it you can be semi fluent in 45 days..

Answer 4

The only way possible is to live that time in an invironment where only that language is spoken. That is how my brother learned German in 30 days.

Answer 5

Stick with the Pimsleur to start with. As you presumably already know, they won't take you that far, but as far as they take you they will take you extremely well.

Good luck!

Answer 6

Best of luck. You sure will need it.