Can you learn Japanese in 6 months?

This is a question which seems to gets asked a lot, so I would like to answer it based on my own experiences with Learning Japanese.

The answer is yes, you can learn Japanese in 6 months. But also no, you cannot learn Japanese in 6 months.

I should probably elaborate. 

Now if we look back at this post, you’ll know that to learn Japanese (or any language) you need 4 things, and for YOU to answer the title question, you need to be able to assess each of them:

• Motivation
• Goals
• Time 
• Resources

Getting started is usually the hardest part. Set your expectations first then how to achieve them.

Definition of ‘learning Japanese’

Only you can determine whether it is possible for you to learn Japanese in just 6 months. For this particular take, ‘Goals’ is the very first thing you need to define, as everyone may have a different definition of what is ‘learning Japanese’. More often than not it’s not native fluency, instead being things like being able to converse socially or just get a job in Japan. Which one of the following would be your definition of what you want to achieve?

1. Speaking, Reading, Writing and Listening to a Native Level?
2. Passing JLPT N1, N2, N3, N4 or N5?
3. Just being able to scrape by in Japan whilst spending most of your time around people who speak your language?
4. Just being able to scrape by in Japan whilst working for a Japanese company?
5. Knowing some handy phrases for a holiday?

Which one of the above you select will determine how much time you will need. The higher the goal, the more time you will need and it goes up exponentially.  We shall revisit these definitions later once we gain some perspective.

All of the options except no.2 are difficult to define, so let’s look at the JLPT levels as a guide along with their estimated study times, as listed on the great site Japanese online institute:

JLPT levels detailing hours required and what you can expect to be able to do at each level

Now let’s take the hours required and see how they stack up as hours per day over 6 months:

• N5 - 1.6-3.3 hours per day
• N4 - 3.3-5.5 hours per day
• N3 - 5.5-9.4 hours per day
• N2 - 9.4-13.8 hours per day
• N1 - 13.8-25 hours per day

That gives us some real life perspective on the time required. The answer is A LOT.

Even N5 within 6 months is a tall order for anyone who works full time and has other commitments. For someone studying full time 7 days a week you could expect to reach N4, possibly N3 depending on your learning speed and will power. From my own experience I think most would have to target N4 as opposed to N3. Your milage may vary though and that is a key point - some people pickup and absorb things freakishly fast whilst others need things hammered in over and over for it to stick.

Is it achievable?

Having ascertained the time required for your goal, now you need the resources to achieve them. For the more casual goals such as basic phrases up to N5, self study with books or apps will suit you just fine, and are convenient to fit into your daily schedule.

Beyond that though, you need to get serious. You can use apps and books for a good few hours per day combined with other studying techniques, but really language school or similar would need to be on the cards if you are serious about both your goal and the short timeframe. 

Whether you are in Japan or around Japanese speakers will drastically alter your study speed as well, for the simple reason of being able to practice and gain feedback as opposed to studying in isolation. Immersion will help tremendously.

After all that, do you have the motivation to consistently study that amount, day-in day-out for 6 months?  Once again that is a question only you can answer. It’s easy to start out strong and motivated, but before long it will become a grind. 

So can you learn Japanese in 6 months?

My answer was yes and no, and hopefully you now fully understand what I meant. To round up, let’s look back at the definitions of what is ‘learning Japanese’ that we asked earlier on, and whether they are realistically achievable:

• Speaking, Reading, Writing and Listening to a Native Level? - NO
• Passing JLPT N1, N2, N3, N4 or N5? N5 or N4 - YES
• Just being able to scrape by in Japan whilst spending most of your time around people who speak your language? - MAYBE
• Just being able to scrape by in Japan whilst working for a Japanese company? - NO
• Knowing some handy phrases for a holiday? - YES

There are thousands of people out there who have learned Japanese to some degree and everyone’s path is different. If you are one of those people, please leave a comment with your story to help inspire others!