Have you ever wondered how long it takes to learn Japanese? Is it possible to become fluent in Japanese with just a few years of study? What is the difference in time to learn Japanese compared to other languages like English? In this article, we will conduct a deep analysis and see what the average time spent to reach a certain level in the Japanese language is.
How long will it take me to learn Japanese? This is a common question that every Japanese beginner asks, but it rarely has a clear answer. It all depends on what you want to do with your knowledge of Japanese.
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Video – How Long Does It Take to Become Fluent in Japanese?
If you don’t want to read the entire article, we have a video discussing the topic:
I forgot to clarify in the video that N1 is an advanced content, but it is present for those who enter certain areas of college or graduate school. I went a bit far in mentioning a doctorate. It’s just not something that all Japanese people know.
How long will it take me to read or speak in Japanese?
Do you like data? I like numbers and data… With that in mind, without further ado, I will share a quick table of the time I believe is necessary to do each thing in Japanese. Throughout the article, everything will be explained!
| I will be able to | JLPT | In |
| read mangas | N4 | 2 years |
| read novels and games | N3 | 2 years |
| read websites and blogs | N4 | 2 years |
| read light novels and books | N3 | 4 years |
| watch animes and dramas | N3 | 2 years |
| simple conversation | N5 | 1 year |
| intermediate conversation | N4 | 2 years |
| advanced conversation | N3 | 4 years |
| type in Japanese (pc, cell) | N5 | 2 years |
| write Japanese by hand | N4 | 3 years |
| read and write 1200 kanji | N2 | 5 years |
How long does it take to learn to read in Japanese?
Knowing how to read Japanese should be your priority in your studies! Because this way, it will allow you to learn new words, grammar, and Japanese expressions throughout the absorption of the language.
If you focus on learning words and reading, you will be able to understand ideograms over time even without studying them in isolation for a year. You will only be able to read Japanese fluently with at least three years of study.
Some materials may be easier to read, such as children’s books, internet articles, and mangas. You can achieve such skills in two years, but if you want to read newspapers, light novels, and other books with more complete language, 4 years may be necessary.
How long does it take to learn to speak in Japanese?
Speaking in Japanese should be the second most important stage of your learning. Always read aloud to practice your pronunciation. At first, it may be difficult to understand the pronunciations of the Japanese language, but they are very easy.
Speaking Japanese is 100 times easier than speaking English; the hardest part is dealing with accents. Japanese phonemes generally do not change, there are fewer syllables than in Portuguese, and their pronunciations are easy. In less than a year, you will already be speaking basic sentences.
Pronouncing Japanese may be easy, but speaking grammatically correct sentences can be confusing for those who have a language with a completely different grammar. You might spend about 2 years to be able to maintain a conversation in Japanese.
How long does it take to learn to write in Japanese?
This may be the most time-consuming process in learning Japanese. Writing is not so essential today, so we always recommend ignoring this part or leaving it for last, as I can hardly remember the last time I wrote something in Portuguese on paper.
If you have a basic understanding of the Japanese language, you may be able to write texts by typing on a keyboard in a few years. Even if you don’t know all 2000 ideograms, you will have a certain notion of when a word is using the correct ideograms.
If you are studying to write Japanese by hand, if you study every day, you can achieve such ability in about 3 years. I don’t believe you should worry about this; nowadays, even native Japanese people struggle to write correctly.
The time of traditional methods
A Japanese person spends their childhood exposed to the Japanese language and goes to school every day where they are exposed to traditional conversations and exercises. Japanese schools want to teach Japanese in the same way it is taught to a native, who spent their childhood exposed to the language. This is practically impossible and takes too long.
According to research from the JLPT, foreigners take exactly this time to reach each level of the Japanese language:
| LEVEL | JLPT | HOURS | YEARS 1H/D | YEARS 2 H/D | YEARS 3 H/D |
| HAVE A BASIC UNDERSTANDING | N5 | 600 | 1.6 | 0.8 | 0.5 |
| USE IN DAILY LIFE | N4 | 1600 | 4.3 | 2.1 | 1.4 |
| BE ALMOST FLUENT IN JAPANESE | N3 | 3300 | 9 | 6 | 3 |
| BE FLUENT IN JAPANESE | N2 | 6100 | 16 | 8 | 5 |
| FOR COLLEGE AND GRADUATE SCHOOL | N1 | 8000 | 20 | 10 | 6.6 |
Other research states that Asians who already use ideograms and grammar similarly take half this time. For us Brazilians, things may be easier than for Americans, since our syllables and phonemes are similar to those of the Japanese.
According to the table, a foreigner can take up to 20 years to reach Level 1 studying one hour a day. It is worth remembering that if a person does not continue studying, using, or reviewing what they learn, they may easily forget. If you study Japanese, make use of it in your daily life.
The time it takes to learn Japanese
The time you will spend to achieve fluency in Japanese will depend entirely on you and your immersion in the language. It is not enough to just take 30 minutes a day to study Japanese and not expose yourself to the language at other times. You would take more than 20 years to learn Japanese or any other language studying less than 1 hour a day.
Of course, not everyone can take 2 or 3 hours to study Japanese every day. Therefore, these people should expose themselves to the language through books, music, animes, videos, websites, and conversations with natives. I made a table below that shows how each activity can help in learning the language and the power it has.
| ABSORBING CONTENT BY | RESULTS |
| LISTENING TO JAPANESE | 1x |
| READING JAPANESE | 2x |
| WATCHING IN JAPANESE | 1x |
| CONVERSING IN JAPANESE | 2x |
| MEMORIZATION (Anki) | 3x |
| JLPT + GRAMMAR + EXERCISES | 1x |
The table shows that studying the traditional method with grammar, kanji, and exercises may be less effective than using spaced repetition programs or even reading and conversing in Japanese. People need to know their priorities when studying a language; sometimes leaving writing, which almost no one uses, aside can accelerate Japanese learning by 100 times.
Japanese is not as time-consuming to learn as some think. Sometimes it can even be easier than English and other languages because of the pronunciation. It all depends on the dedication, motivation, and ability of each student!
With this in mind, do not worry about time and focus on learning Japanese in the way you desire and find best. I hope you enjoyed this short article. We appreciate your comments and shares.
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