How To Speak Japanese 3 - 5 Tips For How To Study Japanese In Your Busy Life

Do you feel like it’s too difficult to fit Japanese study into your busy schedule?

When you have very little time to study, it can seem like you don’t make any progress at all, or even that your Japanese actually gets worse!

Most textbooks and apps don’t tell you how to manage your daily practice time.

In fact, in my 20 years of Japanese teaching experience, I’ve found that almost all people who choose to learn Japanese are extremely busy. 

So, if this is you, don’t worry! If the people I’ve successfully taught Japanese to were all very busy, that means you can reach your language goals, too.

In this article, I’ll give you 5 science-backed methods for maximising your limited practice time, so you can achieve higher levels of fluency even if you’re time-poor.

These tips have helped many of my students, from university students to business leaders around the world.

Here are my 5 tips for how to study Japanese when you’re busy:

1. Revise new expressions within 24 hours
2. Study while you do repetitive tasks
3. Set alarms for regular study times
4. Write down your goals by hand
5. Visualise your goal to keep your motivation high

1. Revise new expressions within 24 hours

Is it hard for you to remember new vocabulary, expressions and grammar points?

Don’t worry, just revise them within 24 hours and you’ll remember them just fine! Here’s how it works:

Hermann Ebbinghaus, a German Psychologist and pioneer of memory studies, discovered that you normally forget 50% of new facts after 1 hour, 70% after 24 hours, and almost 100% after 1 month.

However, if you revise new expressions within 24 hours (and especially if you revise them 3 days in a row), they’ll get stored in your long-term memory!

So, every time you learn something new, revise it 3 times and you’ll see a huge jump in your progress. You don’t have to wait until you’ve finished the revision cycle to add something new, but when you do, make sure you revise!

2. Study while you do repetitive tasks

If you’re really struggling to find time, you can study while you do repetitive tasks, or while going about your daily life.

For example, you can: 

• Set a screenshot of your new expressions as your phone background or lock screen
• Write new expressions on post-it notes and put them on your fridge, on your doors, in your bathroom and on your desk
• Record audio of the expressions and listen to them while you’re brushing your teeth, having a shower and commuting

Read them out loud every time you see them. Imagine yourself saying them while you’re listening to them. Get your brain and mouth used to cooperating and integrate them into your life (even if it’s just for 3 days each).

You’ll be amazed at how much you can learn even when you have next to no time to study!

3. Set alarms for regular study times

One of the best ways to be able to integrate and use your new expressions is to repeat them in a model conversation every day.

I wrote about the importance of using audio in your speaking practice in my article ‘How To Choose The Best Materials For Learning To Speak Japanese.’

Set an alarm to practice speaking at least once a day. 

Or, you could add the going through a model conversation to an existing habit. For example, you could do your speaking practice and repeat after the model conversation right when you wake up or go to bed. 

You could also run through the conversation when you eat breakfast, lunch and dinner.

The key is to make it a regular habit, part of your daily routine.

That way you’ll see yourself getting closer and closer to your goal of Japanese fluency.

4. Write down your goals by hand

It might seem strange, but writing down your goals helps a lot. This method isn’t wishful thinking - it’s actually scientifically proven.

A 2007 study by the Dominican University of California showed that learners who write out their goals by hand are 42% more likely to achieve them!

This is because writing things out by hand is more stimulating for your brain than typing.

Here’s how to take full advantage of this psychological mechanism, and how I’ve applied this research to learning Japanese:

1. Write out your Japanese learning goals by hand. Put your goals on your desk or where you can see them every day, and read them out loud for even more stimulation!
2. Write out your daily plan to achieve your goals, including specific lesson numbers in your materials. If you can, include some spare time in case you need a break. Make sure the goals are achievable but just a little challenging
3. Mark your daily goals as ‘completed,’ or give yourself a sticker (or whatever you like!) whenever you get through them. This takes advantage of the dopamine mechanism in your brain and helps you stay motivated. Don’t sweat it if you don’t reach your daily target - you can catch up in your scheduled spare time or by using the methods I’ve mentioned above
4. Join a community where you can meet other dedicated people who are also studying Japanese, and encourage each other to reach your goals! Learning partners and accountability are great ways to find motivation and track your progress

5. Visualise your goals to keep your motivation high

Visualisation is another scientifically-backed method that will keep you motivated and focused on achieving your Japanese speaking goals.

Imagine how it will feel to reach your goals. This feeling will motivate you to keep practicing, even when you’re busy.

When you feel motivated and relaxed, you learn far more effectively than when you feel stressed, worried and unconfident.

So, focus on the future you - the you that has already achieved your goals. Achieving them becomes just a matter of time!

There you have it: 5 tips for how to study Japanese, even when you’re busy.

I use these methods in my private lessons, as well as in my online course, Master Speaking Japanese, to help my students progress an average of 3.7x faster, and to speak Japanese with an average of 400% more confidence (according to a recent survey I conducted).

One of my busiest students was so proud of himself when he visited a friend in Tokyo who told him he’d never met a Japanese learner whose progress had been so dramatic before. The most amazing part of his story is that he started learning Japanese as an adult with no previous experience in learning foreign languages!

If you want to hear more about these methods in-depth, I’m hosting a free webinar on How to Speak Japanese for Beginners on March 6th. There are only 150 places available, so if you’re interested, sign up now to secure your spot!

Mineko Arai

Hello! I'm Mineko Arai. I’ve been teaching Japanese for about 20 years. I was a lecturer at top UK universities like the School of Oriental and African Studies at the University of London, the University of Sheffield, and King's College London.

I was also employed by the British Foreign and Commonwealth Office to prepare diplomats for postings to the British embassy in Tokyo.

I'm now the director of the Arai Academy of Japanese Studies. The academy has provided corporate training to the British Museum,  as well as executives and business leaders at companies like Deloitte, Sony, Dentsu and Mitsubishi UFJ Bank.

I was also voted #1 online tutor at Vidalingua.

I have an MA in applied Japanese linguistics from the School of Oriental and African Studies at the University of London and an MBA in Education Management from King's College.

Most textbooks and courses lock you in to stock examples and phrases, which are unusable, and sound stiff and unnatural. However, the Master Speaking Japanese course empowers you to say exactly what you want naturally and fluently from the very beginning! Get started for free!