Will Using A Japanese Translation App Stop Me From Learning Japanese?
A Japanese translation app can be incredibly useful. In Japan the level of English isn’t great and Japanese is quite a difficult language for a native English speaker to master. Not only that but Japan is a fascinating country with an amazing culture and so much to see. So with that in mind lots of people are downloading Japanese translation apps to help them out.
However one of the big concerns of these apps is that fi you download one and start using it will it stop you from actually learning Japanese? Or could it harm your Japanese if you’re currently studying? The simple answer for that is no.
If the app could stop you learning Japanese then you realistically probably weren’t going to learn Japanese in the first place. People who want to learn a foreign language won’t be stopped from doing so just because they’ve downloaded a translation app.
In fact, a translation app could greatly help someone to learn Japanese. It doesn’t have to be you speak Japanese or you use the app, you can do both. When you’re out and about having conversations in Japanese you can use the app to look up single words and add them into your conversation. Then put your phone away and continue the conversation.
Also when you’re walking around Japanese and you see a word that you don’t know, you can use the app to find out what that word means and add it to your vocabulary list. Then you can look at your list later in the day and memorise all of the new words you’ve learned.
The only way that a Japanese translation app could harm your learning was if you were to use it instead of speaking. If every time you had the chance to have a conversation with someone you held up your phone to show them a typed out message and then asked them to type back their response then you might have problems. However, assuming you don’t do this there is no reason a translation app should harm your learning at all. It should really only help you to learn more and improve your Japanese.
Of course there are two main reasons people download one of these apps:
- To improve their Japanese
- To communicate when travelling around Japan
If you’re in the second camp then there’s nothing wrong with using one of these apps for a purely communicative function. It’s just important to remember that this isn’t the only way you have to use the app. And even if you’re not actively studying Japanese you can still use the app to pick up a few new words for fun.
So should I use a Japanese translation app? Yes you should! If you’re still not convinced then read here to find out why but hopefully we’ve managed to show you why it won’t harm your Japanese learning and how instead it can actually help you.
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