My Process for Developing Japanese Writing Skill

One of my goals for June 2023 was to write in Japanese more. In ideating how this goal would be best achievable, I thought of a format that I call “カエルの日記” (Kaeru’s Diary). I’ve gotten into a groove in not only writing the entries, but also how I check them, and wanted to share in this post.

Why “Diary Entries”?

The main intention is to have some low-pressure excuse to write in Japanese regularly. I try to write about something different each entry, and having a fallback topic like “what happened today” keeps me from having to plot out something complicated. The goal is to write more entries, not necessarily write more complex entries. I have actually managed to stick to writing entries (7 of 12 days in June so far), and even have had a chance to get a small “workflow” for them. Some sample topics that I’ve covered are…

• New grammar I learned from non-textbook sources
• A movie I saw
• A public art exhibit in my city
• A trip to a friend’s solo exhibit
• Seeing the same movie again
• A Discord server I joined where people translate native materials together to learn Japanese
• A museum visit I went on
• A museum visit I’m planning on doing

My Process

1. Take some notes on the day-of so there’s some material to work with (also decrease burden of having to remember details).
2. That day or within the week, work on translating the notes into something that makes sense. Try to include recently used or difficult-to-use grammar and vocabulary.
3. Post them on HiNative to get some initial feedback and write a corrected version. While checking the feedback, write questions to bring up later for a tutor (or note why you think a correction was made to get confirmation).
4. Talk to the tutor to get corrections and ask questions.
5. Take notes from the tutoring session and file them somewhere appropriately.

I make sure to save the revisions I make at steps 2, 3, and 5 (and any future revisions as well). I like the record-keeping and want to see the progress I make with each batch of changes!

How I Work With Tutors

I’ve figured out that having 2 different tutors helps this process along. But why two? One tutor is my “Genki Tutor”; the one I use to get through my textbooks. The other is my “Translations Tutor”, who checks my writing and (once I’ve exhausted all writing in the backlog) any translations I do.

My Genki tutor speaks enough English for me to get out of a situation where there’s no mutual understanding and I can’t “dig myself out of the whole” without using English. I am trying to learn words that will assist with this (ie the Japanese words for “Antonym”, “Synonym”, “Verb”, “Noun”, etc), but for now I’ve found it’s just enough English.

My translations tutor is a professional translator. Because of this, I let myself use English in these lessons because I want to give as accurate context as possible, and want to make sure I’m getting the grammar correct. Additionally, a tutor with that command of English can understand expressions that usually only native speakers encounter, which can be very helpful when trying to convey meaning.

I found that it was difficult to convey what I try to say with my Genki tutor sometimes, but also that my progress in the textbook slows significantly if we spend all our time on correcting my writing. So, separating the two made the most sense.

Future Plans

I’ve noticed my confidence with certain grammar has improved a lot since I’ve started this project, as my only other “output” practice was speaking to tutors. Being able to edit and look things up instead of having to generate them on-the-spot as speaking requires has been very refreshing. If there’s a change I’m tempted to make sooner rather than later, is a list of grammar and words that I want to incorporate. But I’m worried that with a word list, I might end up forcing a word that doesn’t make sense. Regardless! This project has proven useful already and I’m excited to see the changes it has on my Japanese learning. (And there is a chance I post the revised entries in some form somewhere, just not sure where yet.)