{"id":176593369,"date":"2019-03-18T12:13:19","date_gmt":"2019-03-18T19:13:19","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.lingq.com\/blog-new\/?p=176593369"},"modified":"2025-05-19T11:27:14","modified_gmt":"2025-05-19T18:27:14","slug":"how-long-does-it-take-to-learn-japanese","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.lingq.com\/blog\/how-long-does-it-take-to-learn-japanese\/","title":{"rendered":"How Long Does it Take to Learn Japanese?"},"content":{"rendered":"

\u3053\u3093\u306b\u3061\u306f\uff01My name is Sami; I was born in the United States and had never left until, about four and a half years ago, I went to Japan to spend my second year of university abroad. Today I live in Taiwan and use Japanese everyday\u30fcI\u2019m nowhere near being bilingual, but if I woke up tomorrow and could only speak Japanese, my life would continue on basically as normal. <\/span>
\n<\/span>
\n<\/span>The story isn\u2019t quite that simple, though. My second language is Spanish and I originally planned on going to Mexico, but after finding out that I couldn\u2019t, a dart and a globe sent me off to the land of the rising sun. Although it\u2019s a very important part of my life today, I originally went to Japan sheerly because it was cheaper than staying in the USA\u30fcupon arriving I didn\u2019t even know that sushi or Pok\u00e9mon were Japanese. <\/span>
\n<\/span>
\n<\/span>It was, genuinely, a start from zero.<\/span>
\n<\/span>
\n<\/span>Today I\u2019ll retrace my journey and share what made Japanese click for me so that, hopefully, you\u2019ll finish with a better idea of where you are and where you\u2019re going.<\/span><\/p>\n

How many hours does it take to learn Japanese<\/h2>\n

I\u2019d really like to lay out some concrete numbers for you, to tell you that you\u2019re this many hours from a nice conversation or that many years from eating Natto without plugging your nose, but the good and bad news is that no matter what I say, your mileage is going to vary. <\/span>
\n<\/span>
\n<\/span>I wish I could just refer you to people who are smarter than me, but that doesn\u2019t necessarily solve all of our problems, either. While the JLPT association itself estimates that it will take <\/span>around 900 hours to pass the N1<\/span><\/a>, the US government suggests <\/span>a much more conservative 2,200 hours<\/span><\/a> and a study of full-time language students in Japan found that, for students with no prior background in Kanji, <\/span>passing the JLPT N1 took 3,000-4,800 hours on average.<\/span>
\n<\/span>
\n<\/span><\/a>What I can tell you is that, regardless of where you fit into the mix, it\u2019s going to take time. Depending on what you want to do with Japanese, <\/span>it could take more or less time<\/span>. The quickest route possible is to figure out what you want to do\u30fca bigger task than it seems\u30fcand focus on making consistent, active steps towards getting there. Fluency is a big goal comprised of many separate skills and you\u2019re much closer towards confidence in any one of these individual skills than you are to fluency.<\/span>
\n<\/span>
\n<\/span>Wherever you\u2019re going, step one is finding your thing and doing it.<\/span><\/p>\n

Pro-tip: An easier way to read Japanese<\/h3>\n

Reading Japanese can be tricky, especially if you’re a beginner. After learning hiragana and katakana<\/a>, you’ll be able to start reading beginner content<\/a>. However, you may come across kanji once-in-a-while which can disrupt your flow, especially if you have to stop and look up the word in another dictionary. That’s why there’s LingQ to help you read Japanese easier:
\n-LingQ allows you to look up words with a single tap
\n-You can choose a variety of dictionaries
\n-Text-to-speech allows you to instantly hear how the word is pronounced
\n-Blue words you come across are “new”, tap them to turn them into yellow words and save them for review<\/p>\n

\"Learn<\/p>\n

LingQ comes with 100s of beginner lessons that include both text and audio so you can listen to the transcript as you read. This means you can improve your listening and reading skills at the same time, all in one place.<\/p>\n

Reading interesting content kick-started my Japanese<\/h2>\n

My “thing” is reading<\/strong>, and both my approach to Japanese and my ability in it changed dramatically after discovering that. <\/span>
\nI finished my first year abroad in Japan at a solid N4 level and then went home where, very busy and without a Japanese program, I focused on building a strong vocabulary core and <\/span>learning the Kanji<\/span><\/a> with Anki<\/a> <\/span>because it was the only thing I felt comfortable doing on my own. <\/span>
\n<\/span>
\n<\/span>The following year I returned to Japan and was placed a few classes higher than I should have been. Noticing how much stronger my vocabulary was than all of my other skills, my teacher recommended that I start <\/span>reading in Japanese<\/span><\/a> so that I could pick up grammar in context. <\/span>
\n<\/span>
\n<\/span>Before long I discovered a training-wheels book called <\/span>Read Real Japanese<\/span><\/a> and I liked one of the stories inside, <\/span>Hyakumonogatari <\/span><\/i>by <\/span>Kaoru Kitamura, <\/span><\/i>so much that I brought my \u201cmaybe\u201d N3 Japanese to the head of the Japanese literature department and asked for recommendations. He read the story and told me that another author, <\/span>Yuuki Shouji<\/span><\/a>, wrote tons of stories with similar twists.\u00a0<\/span>
\n<\/span>
\n<\/span>I had previously plateaued so quickly because, even living in Japan, I didn\u2019t really need Japanese for anything. After finding \u201cmy thing\u201d, however, I suddenly found myself in a situation where I couldn\u2019t get something I really wanted without Japanese. That was all it took: my progress skyrocketed<\/strong>.<\/span><\/p>\n

Pro-tip: Find your “thing” (anime, drama, J-pop, and so on)<\/h3>\n

I’ve mentioned that my thing is reading, which is essential for learning any language. Now, your thing may not be\u00a0 Hyakumonogatari<\/em> by Kaoru Kitamura,\u00a0<\/em>and that’s fine. What’s important is that whatever it is you enjoy, incorporate that into your studies.
\nIf you want to read Murakami or Soseki in Japanese, for example, <\/span>hiragana and katakana<\/span> are your first hurdles to overcome. If you want to enjoy your favorite drama or anime, then you\u2019re going to need to <\/span>spend time actually watching anime<\/span><\/a> and <\/span>Japanese dramas<\/a><\/span>.<\/span><\/p>\n

LingQ is the <\/span>best way to learn Japanese<\/span><\/a> online because it lets you learn from content you enjoy!<\/span><\/p>\n

You can also use LingQ to import your favorite content and create interactive lessons. Below, I’ve imported the popular anime, Shirokuma Cafe<\/em> into LingQ. LingQ not only turns the transcript into an easy-to-read lesson but it also imports the audio as well. As you read, you can listen to the dialogue<\/strong>!<\/p>\n

\"Learn<\/p>\n

This guide to importing<\/a> explains how you can use LingQ to study using content you love, take a look.<\/p>\n

How I study Japanese<\/h2>\n

My schedule is a bit different now, given that I live in Taiwan and am focusing on Mandarin. Aside from that, my days look like this:<\/span>
\n9:00\u30fc10:00 is my commute to work. I use public transportation and spend this time reading.<\/span>
\nThe first half of my day is spent working freelance; I spend 30 minutes to an hour of this time <\/span>speaking Japanese with a tutor<\/span>. I take 2 or 3 lessons per week and meet with different people for different purposes. (This is new to this year).<\/span>
\nMy teaching day begins at 14:00 and I have a lunch break from 16:00 till 16:30, during which time I work through one lesson of a workbook while eating. My favorite ones are called <\/span>Drill & Drill<\/span><\/a>, which I used for both grammar and reading comprehension, starting from N5 and working my way up. Series by <\/span>Kanzen Master<\/span><\/a> and <\/span>Sou Matome<\/span><\/a> are also popular, so pick one that works for you. These are supplements: small, consistent things done to support another more important thing. In my case, that means understanding the stuff I\u2019m reading with less effort and more enjoyment. <\/span>
\n18:45\u30fc20:15 is my return trip home and, depending on my mood, I might spend this time reading, watching Japanese dramas or focusing on my current thing, Japanese comedy skits. One of my favorite groups is called <\/span>Unjash<\/span><\/i>\u30fcif you haven\u2019t tried Japanese comedy before, <\/span>check out this English subtitled version of Through the Paper Wall<\/span><\/a>.<\/span><\/i>
\nI spend a good chunk of time each day just\u2026 well, waiting. Walking to bus stops, waiting in line for food or the bathroom, killing a few minutes before class starts. <\/span>I give this time to Anki<\/a>, mobilizing time that would otherwise be wasted.\u00a0<\/span>
\nI struggle sleeping, so I also read for 15\u30fc20 minutes before bed. My \u201cbedtime book\u201d is something that I find easy and read <\/span>only<\/span><\/i> before bed. <\/span>
\nMany of my friends are Japanese students or Taiwanese people that speak Japanese, so if I go out with friends during the week, I\u2019m also practicing Japanese.<\/span>
\nAs I said before, my thing is reading, and after I discovered that, I built my entire schedule around it. This enabled me to make much quicker progress in the areas of Japanese that were important to me, leading to me spend more time in Japanese. Now that I\u2019m comfortable reading I\u2019ve moved to a different skill\u30fcpronunciation\u30fcand am focusing on that.<\/span><\/p>\n

\"Learn<\/a><\/p>\n

The Five Levels of Japanese Proficiency<\/h2>\n

Elementary proficiency<\/h3>\n

Reaching this level of proficiency means that you can navigate daily life and satisfy your needs without fear. You can ask any sort of simple question and also pick out the most pertinent, important information from the reply. Not a lot of conversation will be going on at this point, on behalf of a limited vocabulary and lack of important grammar points, but with a patient partner and some creativity on your end, you might just know enough to surprise yourself from time to time. <\/span>
\n<\/span>
\n<\/span>This level is roughly on par with the JLPT N4, so content wise, you should be looking to have finished <\/span>Genki I<\/span><\/a> and <\/span>Genki II<\/span><\/a> or <\/span>Minna no Nihongo I<\/span><\/a> and <\/span>Minna no Nihongo II<\/span><\/a>.<\/span><\/p>\n

How long does it take to achieve?<\/h4>\n

While your mileage may vary, my progress personally fell quite closely in line with the most conservative estimate from above, <\/span>suggesting 575-1,000 hours of study to pass the N4<\/span><\/a>. This milestone is also my most memorable so far as it came about in a crazy way: I had been walking barefoot and stepped on a bumblebee, whose stinger got stuck in the arch of my foot. It turned out to not be such a big deal, but while I was at the nurse\u2019s office, I ended up having my first genuine conversation. It was equally parts broken, meaningful and hilarious.<\/span><\/p>\n

7 months leading to The Conversation:
\n– 10 hours\/week of class = ~280 hours
\n– 1 hour\/day studying alone = ~200 hours<\/p>\n

Given that I was living in Japan at the time, I had also had daily opportunities to practice this basic grammar\/vocab by ordering food in the cafeteria, seeing signs in the subway and having to ask for directions in the city. Totalling all that would probably amount to another couple hundred hours.<\/span><\/p>\n

Limited working proficiency<\/h3>\n

This is essentially a mastery over whatever might be expected to come up in daily life, and that\u2019s a cool place to be. Most conversation becomes possible without significant strain and you can consume Japanese media with focus and patience, but you\u2019re not quite comfortable using all the grammar you\u2019ve learned and still find yourself missing words here and there. There is a long way to go, but you\u2019ve reached a level where you\u2019re independent enough to begin going off in your own direction. <\/span>
\n<\/span>
\n<\/span>ILR 2 proficiency is around the JLPT N2 proficiency with one significant caveat: the JLPT requires no production (writing\/speaking) whereas the ILR expects that you\u2019ll be able to handle most daily communication with confidence. Depending on how you\u2019ve been learning up until this point, you might need to put significant effort into conversation practice.<\/span><\/p>\n

How long does it take to achieve?<\/h4>\n

At this point, the study I referenced suggests that even quick students will struggle to hit this milestone in less than 2,000 hours. I feel like I was around this level upon leaving Japan for the second time, at which point I found myself able to read normal books in Japanese with a lot of effort and found conversations enjoyable. At this point Japanese was in a strange place for me: despite still being an incredibly \u201cforeign\u201d language, it was very much beginning to feel like a part of me. <\/span><\/p>\n

Twelve months at home:
\n– 30 minutes+\/day practicing kanji\/vocab = ~ 200 hours
\n10 months in Japan:
\n– 15 hours\/week of class = ~600 hours<\/p>\n

This brings my official total to 1,300 hours. That being said, being the lone foreigner in boxing\/dance club, going out with friends and (painfully) beginning to read, I probably spent another 1,000 hours on Japanese during those last 10 months via immersion.<\/span><\/p>\n

Professional working proficiency<\/h3>\n

This is where things get serious: ILR 3 proficiency is the metric used when we talk about how many people in the world speak a given language. Being here means being able to say <\/span>I speak Japanese. Period. No ifs, ands or buts<\/span><\/i>. There will still be things you don\u2019t understand and things you don\u2019t know how to do, but you can build on the Japanese you have to figure it out. Perhaps it\u2019s apt to say that you\u2019ve indisputably attained a plot of land, but you haven\u2019t built a full house on it yet. You\u2019re missing a lot of rooms for lack of need and time, rather than ability.<\/span>
\nThe same caveat exists from before, that the JLPT doesn\u2019t test your ability to produce Japanese, gets bigger as we go on. This level of proficiency entails not only you<\/span> being comfortable with Japanese in a variety of ways, but also that the people you\u2019re communicating with feel comfortable with you. They\u2019re no longer talking with a foreigner, they\u2019re just talking with someone in Japanese.<\/span><\/p>\n

How long does it take to achieve?<\/h4>\n

I feel that this level is where I\u2019m at with Japanese, so from here on will be a little bit of speculation in addition to reflection.<\/span>
\n
\n<\/span>9 months in Russia:<\/span>
\n– 1 hour\/weekday practicing Kanji (morning commute; focus on writing) <\/span>
\n– 2-3 hours\/weekday of <\/span>extensive reading<\/span><\/a> (commute between classes\/home)<\/span>
\n– 5 hours\/week socializing with Japanese students\/Russian students of Japanese<\/span>
\n– 180 hours kanji + 450 hours reading + 180 hours socializing = 810 hours<\/span><\/p>\n

8 months in Taiwan:<\/span>
\n– 10 hours\/week of extensive reading (morning\/evening commute)<\/span>
\n– 2 hours\/week of 1:1 tutoring<\/span>
\n– 2 hours\/week of practice in workbook<\/span>
\n– 3 hours\/week of watching drama\/comedy skits<\/span>
\n– 320 hours reading + 64 hours 1:1 + 64 hours practice + 96 hours watching = 544 hours<\/span>
\n
\n<\/span>Total since beginning: 2,600 routine hours (I definitely did this) + 1,500-2,000 immersion hours = 4,100 – 4,600 hours, placing me once again <\/span>right within the conservative estimate from earlier<\/span><\/a>.<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\"Learn<\/a><\/h3>\n

 <\/p>\n

Full professional proficiency<\/h3>\n

In the previous section I mentioned having a plot of \u201cJapanese land\u201d and a house that was missing many rooms. By the time you get here, your house will have grown into a mansion: you\u2019ve got all of the rooms you need and more. You make virtually no linguistic mistakes (be they in pronunciation, grammar, sentence structure or vocabulary) and can fulfill basically any task smoothly without preparation. <\/span>
\nThat being said, you\u2019re still not quite being taken for a native speaker. The problem at this point isn\u2019t your understanding of the Japanese <\/span>language<\/span><\/i> but more often of Japanese <\/span>culture<\/span><\/i>. Your lack of understanding of some given specialized area of Japanese culture occasionally puts you in situations where, despite understanding everything that is written or said, you don\u2019t understand why it\u2019s funny, relevant to the topic at hand, or what it means . While the problem is occasionally what <\/span>is <\/span><\/i>said (slang, idioms or colloquialisms), it\u2019s more notably what <\/span>isn\u2019t <\/span><\/i>said (references to Japanese culture, history, etc, that are lost on you).<\/span><\/p>\n

How long does it take to achieve linguistically?<\/h4>\n

Linguistically speaking, I don\u2019t think that I\u2019ll reach this point until after I\u2019ve worked in Japan, in Japanese, for a year or two. There are two major problems I see preventing me from being there now: confidence and need.<\/span>
\n<\/span>
\n<\/span>While I\u2019m confident that I can consume basically any information or discuss any topic, I\u2019m not so confident that I\u2019m ready to rest the face of a business on this ability. Furthermore, I\u2019m already proficient enough that I can do whatever I want in Japanese without much effort, from conversing to creative writing. The problem is more about being able to do all the things I haven\u2019t yet had a need or cared to do because Japanese exists only in my social and personal life, not my professional one. <\/span>
\nFrankly speaking, most people don\u2019t have any need to speak a language this well. I\u2019m confident that I never will, either, unless my livelihood depends on it. Why spend a lot of time and money making a super model train set if you don\u2019t actually have any trains?<\/span><\/p>\n

How long does it take to achieve culturally?<\/h4>\n

Culturally speaking, the issue becomes one of breadth. I don\u2019t really care about the history of Japan, I can\u2019t name all of the prime ministers or the scandals associated with them, I don\u2019t really understand the loss of identity Japan must have underwent as it became westernized and there are a million little things like this that I don\u2019t even know \u00a0I don\u2019t know about. I\u2019m not really interested in these things, but if I want to get to this level, I\u2019ll need to learn about them, anyway. <\/span>
\n<\/span>
\n<\/span>Before getting to this level, you should pretty much already know <\/span>what<\/span><\/i> to say. This level is all about really understanding exactly how you should say it and why you should say it like that so that you can do it smoothly, without explanation, no matter what \u201cit\u201d is.<\/span><\/p>\n

Native or bilingual proficiency<\/h3>\n

A person on this level of proficiency has total fluency, period. While it might be obvious that you\u2019re foreign, you\u2019re somehow accepted as being also Japanese. Whether the topic is car engines, baking, a sitcom from the 80s or stereotypes about the way that old ladies in Touhoku talk, there is basically no difference in asking you vs asking a Japanese person. Your proficiency in Japanese is equal to, if not greater than, your native language.<\/span><\/p>\n

How long does it take to achieve?<\/h4>\n

Again, the problem here is of the incredible depth involved.<\/span>
\n<\/span>
\n<\/span>Linguistically, it isn\u2019t enough to know how to say anything and everything with ease, a native speaker can say one thing in ten different ways on the fly depending on the nuance they\u2019re going for. If in the last level we had a fully developed Japanese body, in this one we\u2019ve become a contortionist.<\/span>
\n<\/span>
\n<\/span>Culturally, I don\u2019t even know how to discuss this. Somehow you need to come to understand what it means to be Japanese without actually being Japanese: to understand life in a way that Japanese people grew up experiencing collectively, whereas you began just peeking in from the sidelines. <\/span>
\n<\/span>
\n<\/span>Japanese people spend their lifetimes becoming Japanese\u30fcwhether they\u2019re six or sixty\u30fcand the only thing I feel comfortable saying is that this level of proficiency takes a lifetime. <\/span>If your life isn\u2019t Japanese right now, you\u2019ll have to grow a new one to reach this level.<\/b><\/p>\n

Conclusion<\/h2>\n

In discussing how long it would take to learn Japanese, I\u2019ve frequently referenced this idea of <\/span>need<\/span><\/i>. After all, we don\u2019t necessarily <\/span>want to speak Japanese<\/span><\/i>, we want to do (thing) for which Japanese is a perceived medium. I believe that each person will learn Japanese as well as they need to, whether this need comes from environmental pressure, a need they\u2019ve created for themselves, or a lack thereof. <\/span>
\n<\/span>
\n<\/span>The quickest way to discover how much Japanese is necessary to fulfil your own needs is simply to jump right in and discover how deep the water is.<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

\u3053\u3093\u306b\u3061\u306f\uff01My name is Sami; I was born in the United States and had never left until, about four and a half years ago, I went to Japan to spend my …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":176593377,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[40],"tags":[86,105],"class_list":["post-176593369","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-learning-japanese","tag-basic-japanese","tag-english"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nHow Long Does it Take to Learn Japanese? – LingQ Blog<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"How long does it take to learn Japanese? Here's a complete guide that outlines the different stages, amount of time, and what needs to be done. 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