5 Tips to Start Thinking in Japanese

The secret to learning a language is to think directly in it, but what would it mean to think in Japanese? It involves being able to speak and understand words in Japanese from your own mind without doing a mental translation. In other words, you simply think and know the meaning of a word in Japanese without needing the translation into your own language to come to mind.

Thinking directly in Japanese will help you understand various expressions and phrases that cannot be translated literally. It will also help you see the world in a different way. For this reason, we have put together five tips to help you start thinking in Japanese and greatly improve your learning of the language.

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1. Read Japanese material every day

The big secret to learning to think in Japanese is to research, read books, news, conversations and dialogues in Japanese on the internet. How do you do this the right way? Start by choosing familiar topics, ones you have already read about in your own language or know something about.

Read the entire text without translating, even if you do not understand some words. After reading everything, choose a few unknown words and look up their meaning in a dictionary. Expose yourself fully to the Japanese language by absorbing content; for a start, short stories with audio, as in the Tadoku method, work well.

2. Watch and re-watch episodes of your favorite anime and doramas

Turn on Japanese subtitles in the video and watch episodes that you already know or that are easy to understand. The goal is to understand the words and phrases in Japanese without thinking in English. Then try to remember some words and expressions and look them up carefully in the dictionary. The article Can you learn Japanese by watching anime and dramas? goes deeper into this habit.

3. Converse in Japanese

Another thing that will help you think in Japanese is simply conversing, whether with friends, through messages or even alone. A few minutes every day go further than one long conversation a week, because repetition is what fixes what you have learned. Say out loud the words and names you encounter around you every day; when you want to keep a dialogue going, use Japanese conversation questions.

4. Use apps on your phone

You can use the many apps that teach Japanese to grow your vocabulary. Remember not to push yourself too hard or use exaggerated methods of memorizing grammar and vocabulary. Use these apps in a relaxed way so you do not get bored and end up memorizing nothing. A scheduler like Anki can plan the reviews for you.

5. Seek out content

The internet is full of content to learn Japanese. Follow channels and live streams about the language or about Japan, and choose formats that really interest you. Connecting with other learners and reading and listening regularly will help you think in Japanese, and tools that bring Japanese into your daily browsing, like this selection of browser extensions to learn Japanese, make that easier.

For now, one or two tips are enough. Pick the habit that fits your routine best and keep it for a few weeks: what starts as an exercise turns into a habit, and that habit is what makes Japanese surface in your mind on its own.