I don't do that much about my speaking and listening skills except for duolingo which contains podcasts and speaking sentences. Are there any japanese apps/websites that could increase my speech and listening?
At least for the listening part. Just subscribe to a few channel centered around what you like and watch them a bit everyday or from time to time at the beginning. Japaneses also use a lot of subtitles, so if you can get what they say you can fall back to the subtitles.
The biggest advantage is that if you make into a habbit, then it's not different from a native speaker just enjoying content. And that's also how native learn new words and maintain their levels. It's also so much more natural than learning from apps.
Just don't forget to practice speaking like me ; ; Right now, I can decently understand a lot of conversation but because I avoid speaking for a long time (compared to listening), I often freeze because I'm searching for the most natural one. It's almost like my speaking skill decrease compared to before :v. Also I became lazy... Since it's more "fun" to learn that way. I'm currently undoing that and restarted to learn kanji "formally" because my main problem is vocabulary right now.
Also, I started when I was not even able to understand 10% of the conversations most of the time. But now, I can can roughly understand 90% most of the time (except when there too much words that I don't know). I also had to try multiple time before it became a habit but it was worth it :3
For the speaking part, I recommend just going into a japanese english exchange community. It's free and there will be plenty of people that will want to help you. And also understand your struggles =p
Listening is easy. You just find some content on YouTube that's around your level and watch it. As Shamugan said, find something you actually like.
Speaking is a lot more difficult. Here's some options:
Make a Japanese friend or two - pretty much the best option.
Apps like HelloTalk (or language exchange communities in general) - if you don't mind talking with strangers.
Apps like italki - you pay... so they can't ghost you 😅
And if you happen to be a massive introvert...
AI chatbots - just to practice forming sentences without pressure.
Shadowing - repeat what you hear out loud.
Narrate what you're doing - just describe what you're currently doing or thinking, out loud.
Honestly, the best way to get better at speaking is to be an extrovert and find Japanese people to talk to. Nothing beats that. I guess you don't really need to be an extrovert, it just helps a lot...
Im using teuida for speaking and i think it is really helpful because it is an interactive app and there are so many revises. That is why it will be really beneficial for our japanese speaking skill
In addition to what ギョルギ九十三 said, for all the massive introvert, I recommend VRChat too (you can play it on desktop). There is a world named EN-JP language exchange and when you go there, there is a setting "Just listen" if you don't want to speak for now. And there are also of japanese or english speaker that just come there to listen first.
In the japanese worlds, there are also of people that don't speak. They usually have 無言 in their status or 無言です in their profile, which just mean that they are silent. Some world also have that tag.
So, if you want, you can also try that. No one will pressure you to talk and you can try to speak when you are ready :3 But otherwise, you can just listen. I also almost never been to a japanese world without at least one person that don't speak at all. It's just normal there.
Thank you all SO MUCH, received different answers and not the same XD !!! @Shamugan "Japanese english exchange community" could you list me some of them? So like immersion you said in VrChat do you need to have some equipment or something like that? @ギョルギ九十三 : How will I be able make Japanese friends if they don't answer and think of me as a stranger? Is helloTalk safe and secure? I am indeed an introvert, but while speaking I find out that my sentence mostly is flat as in accent and nonchalant. That's normal right? @Hirarusan13 : I found out that app is mostly for speaking korean. Any tips to make japanese friends through social media, cuz I have never been through any of them .
HelloTalk is as safe/secure as any other mainstream app. It's kinda like social media, but for language learning. I've said this before, but these platforms work in a way similar to dating apps. You have to present yourself in a way that makes people want to interact with you.
One challenge is that English is in high demand, so people lean towards native speakers (even if your English is C1/C2).
The thing is, I don't have much experience with language exchange communities, so I can't really help you with the details. In my mind, if you clearly show that you're there to actually learn, you'll find people.
I think it's way more about social skills than language ability. Those skills are very much language agnostic (carry over). You don't need perfect Japanese (or English) to make a good impression.
PS: Someone with more experience can give you much better advice.
Oh I see! It's something like if I know English and want to speak japanese and that japanese person wants to learn English I can talk to them it's like a profit for both of us to learn English and japanese. Im pretty sure my English is above because of good scoring in English grammar and I read books every day to enhance my vocabulary.
Thank you all SO MUCH, received different answers and not the same XD !!! @Shamugan "Japanese english exchange community" could you list me some of them? So like immersion you said in VrChat do you need to have some equipment or something like that?
"English-Japanese Language Exchange" literaly on discord =p. It's the biggest and I think it was originaly a HelloTalk or Italki community? I'm not sure since I never used those but someone told me something like that. There are a few other ones but I don't know if I can recommend them. Best is to just type "EN-JP", "English-Japanese", etc on discord, take a peek and see for yourself. Also, I don't what is your mothertongue but I also found a few in my mothertongue, so you can try that too.
As for VRC, no you don't need anything =p. Just a computer. You can install VRChat from steam too if you have steam.
Something you can always do and will help as well: Writing.
Of course writing (choosing words for something you want to say) doesn‘t have the same effects as speaking (choosing words in little time), but it makes you use your vocabulary. Even if it‘s writing two sentences at a time. You will find yourself looking for words and improve over time.
If you find someone to check your sentences, that‘s even better.
I have been seeing all the websites provided 🤔 and all have both pros and cons while I am finding which best suits for me. HelloTalk is popular I have seen..
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Hi I have the same question just to tell you guys here’s my email if you want to contact:Leo.skender.@iCloud.com