Now, I don't have any experience with gap years, but I wanted to make this post because I have been planning my gap year to Japan! In two years when I am 18 is when I will be going, so it is a long way away, even so I'm extremely excited!
The benefits of taking a gap year are pretty obvious (immersion being the biggest one, total immersion) so i won't go into them, instead I'll post a few things to help you.
The first thing is, Japan is a part of the Youth Mobility Scheme, so if your country is too (if your country needs to be, I'm not 100% sure) then you should definitely check it out, the UK is.
If you are considering studying there here is a link to a university there that deals well with foreign students: http://www.global.tsukuba.ac.jp
If you have a bachelors degree you should consider going with the JET programme http://www.jetprogramme.org/ It's very good its worth reading about!
The last thing i will say is find stuff that you like, stuff that you want to to, the kind of lifestyle you want and work out your time in Japan according to that!
Sorry i didn't have much to say on the topic but it's something I wanted to cover!
This posts random Japanese is: 好き - Liking/love (Note that 好き is an adjective in Japanese rather than a verb), pronounced 「すき」 Or to the romaji users "suki".
Everyone hits a wall every now and then, it's only human. If we feel like we are making no progress or we are seriously stuck on something, it's only natural that we get disheartened and may want to give up. However, even if you want to give up now, do you really want to give up in the long run? The answer to that is no, no you don't (I hope) so how can we get past this "motivation slump"? Well if there is no will, there is no way, for starters, so you have to want to continue to begin with.
Next just try some of the following:
Review why you want to learn Japanese.
Imagine the feeling and benefits of becoming proficient at Japanese
If you're into it try to read some manga or watch some anime (in Japanese)
Listen to some Japanese pod casts and watch Japanese shows
Get a Language exchange partner (more info here: http://theroadtojapanese.blogspot.com/2011/10/language-exchange-partners-and-how-to.html)
Try to make your methods of learning more fun!
They are but a few things you can try to get yourself back on track, but remember everyone's different, these are things that have worked for me!
This posts random Japanese is: 僕 - I/me (Sounds masculine so is mainly used by males ), pronounced 「ぼく」 Or to the romaji users "boku".
This is a video made by a friend of mine on youtube, this video serisouly is a goldmine for Japanese Learners, he also has a lot of other really good videos on his channel, you should deffinately check this video and his other videos out, and subscribe for more content! (He also has music on his channel if your into that).
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MZp1nraUPPs&feature=bf_play&list=FLUOiVNaIMHgB86KR3zGXqGw This posts random Japanese is:
何で - Ｗｈｙ？ (Not to be confused with 何で whic his what wit hthe particle 「で」 ), pronounced 「なんで」 Or to the romaji users "Ｎａｎｄｅ".
Vocabulary... Expanding your vocabulary is a very important and time consuming task when learning Japanese, it will allow you to understand more. There aren't just one way of saying things, in most cases there are more, if you only know how to say something only one way, your understanding of Japanese will suffer. Just think of how many ways you can say "I went to the shops and bought a rubber", I can think of lots, for example; "I travelled to the store and purchased an eraser". These two sentances mean the exact same thing, the only difference is the second one has four words that are different to the words in the first. This is why you must learn vocabulary.
Now the big queston, "but how?!" Well, let me help you there, I suggest getting yourself a beginners Japanese dictionary (if you don't already have one) and to carry it around in your bag with you, through out the day. As you go about your day, always think "how do I say this in Japanese?" If it is a single word then use your dictionary to look it up, the act of doing this will help you remember the word as you actively experience it and then manually look it up. If it's a whole sentence, go for it! Although you will need to have at least basic grammar down.
Of course you can also look words up and write them down when you are studying too. Whatever floats your boat!
And now for a new section to my posts, "Random Japanese". Here I will psot a random word, or gramatical point etc. in Japanese, who knows you might learn something!
This posts Random Japanese is:
日本語 - Japanese (As in the language), pronounced 「にほんご」」 Or to the romaji users "Nihongo".
Language exchange partners are an excellent resource, why? With them you can improve your spoken abilities, you're written abilities as well as learning more colloquial terms and casual ways of speech to make you sound more like a native, rather than a formal robot. As well as begin a great way of improving your Japanese (or any other language for that matter), you may also make a valuble friend and might even be able to send things over to each other from your home land, things like magazines, books, even food are fun things to send over that can actually help your language learning.
However finding a language exchange partner is not always easy, first where do you find one? Then how do you get people to accept you? Well to find one I recommend going here or here. Both are great ways to find, language exchange partners, foreign friends or pen pals.
Ok so now you're on the site you might have found a few people you would like to approach but now what? Simple, explain a little about yourself, but don't go into too much detail, include your name, your age, your country of residence and basic interests and likes. Try to sound friendly and inviting but not obsessive or like your looking for a relationship. I have heard that Japanese girls in particular are afraid of western males adding them and looking for romance, I have actually seen on some of their profiles specifically stating "no romance". Not I'm not sure why you would want to go on a penpal website looking for a girlfriend anyway, but regardless it seems to have become an assumption about western men, so try to sound like a friend and not a pervert (not that that will get you anywhere with any girl anyway, but y'know what I mean). After you have sent a message all you can do is wait, don't pester them, just wait for a reply, if they don't reply move on, you should send out quite a few messages to increase your chances of getting a reply. Good luck :)
