Step 1: Move to Japan
Step 2: Talk with the natives
Step 3: Repeat step 2

I actually am in Japan. For reals.

Jobs are available for new grads with no experience for the first time in years. I still do not know much Japanese but Skritter has helped me recognize many kanji. It's not too beneficial, though, at least so far.

You started from scratch after landing in Japan and are able to make progress in conversation right away? That's pretty cool. Are you finding it easy to pick up the pronunciation accurately?

Welcome to Japan!

I thoroughly recommend you stay away from language classes if you can, and turn on the TV.

www.ajatt.com

Yeah I'm in the process of a similar journey. It's nice to see another foreigner trying to learn the language as many give up quickly or don't give it their all. Icecream is right though, the only way to really learn a language is to just SPEAK!!! There is no substitution for that and there never will be.

I'm not sure exactly what it means to "know" Japanese though. Everyone has their own goals. I met a guy from Vietnam who has been here in Japan for about the last decade and claims to have "mastered" Japanese. For all intensive purposes he has, but then when one of my Japanese friends tried to speak to him in polite Japanese he threw him for a loop. I think everyone has their own goals in mind, but learning never stops. Not even for natives! Skritter has been helpful to solidify my kanji knowledge, but it's not the only tool I use and it can't be. I feel it should be used with other materials, especially materials that help you to use kanji in contextual settings within sentences.

Since nobody understood my post: It's an allusion -- almost verbatim -- to an old post I wrote on how to learn Chinese.

Learning another language mostly comes down to two variables: exposure and time spent studying. That's really about it. No gimmicks. Some methods work better than others but nothing will take the place of hard work and concentration.

@ nick
No. My "conversations" are simple phrases that I have memorized. No real thought is taking place. To study I listen to a lot of podcasts and repeat words until I can differentiate the sounds.

Several years ago I met a Hungarian guy in Guatemala. He had arrived not speaking a word of Spanish or English, and (naturally) nobody spoke Hungarian. When I met him he'd been there for six months (studying intensively at my Spanish school) and he was FLUENT. Not that he didn't make mistakes - he made mistake after mistake, and was very bad about listening to his teachers' feedback - but he was able to have rapid conversations and communicate extremely well.

In one way he was lucky that he spoke such an unusual language (for Guatemala, at least) and didn't speak English, as that forced him to learn. I guess my worry with moving to Japan is that a lot of people would know English. I assume it depends on where you are?

James

A lot of people have studied English in Japan. I wouldn't go so far as to say a lot of people know English. But you are correct, you could get by in Japan without ever speaking Japanese.

@ jww1066

"I guess my worry with moving to Japan is that a lot of people would know English. I assume it depends on where you are?"

Not in my experience. The English level is low. Really, really, really low. Most educated people can read and write fairly well but their speaking ability is limited.

I have been to Tokyo a few times and each time only a handful of people could communicate with me on a rudimentary level.