If you want to improve your speaking skills, I suggest that you do some more writing. If you sit down and write out a speech, and then continue to edit it, while visualizing your speech, this will help you become a better speaker. And if you are having a coffee shop conversation with a friend and recall that conversation when doing your writing you will note that your writing looks more like a conversation or discussion, and your reader will notice this and they will enjoy it.

Writing in this way looks as if you’re speaking to the reader, and it is more pleasurable to read. If you doubt this go ahead read an article in a magazine and the articles that like, will be the ones in which it appears that the writers are talking to you. You can almost picture the person on the other side of the table having a conversation and makes you feel good you enjoy reading it. This is what I’m talking about.

Whether you decide to write to speak better, or use speaking to improve your writing, you will indeed end up doing both. The blurring of writing and speaking will improve your overall communication with the rest of the world. It will improve your telephone conversations so that you get to the point quicker and with more emphasis.

It will also prevent people from misunderstanding what you are trying to say. Writing skills help people in everyday communication. Those people who are really good speakers also note that their writing starts improving because when they speak to people they watch the facial feedback, and they start to understand which types of sentences and words provoke the proper reaction, and by using this knowledge to improve their writing; they find their skills expand exponentially. I hope you will consider blurring your speaking and writing communication skills.

Many will say they are really good speakers and yet, they feel they are very poor writers. Many extremely good writers exhibit very poor speaking skills. For instance, if you watch C-SPAN book review you will see some of the best writers you could ever imagine are not very good speakers all. And yet sometimes you see a very good storytellers on the book review channel, which has written a very good book.

Before I started doing a lot of writing, I was a very good speaker and having dabbled in politics I’ve given quite a few speeches in my life to audiences of all sizes up to about 1000 people. And I’ve done many TV interviews, one of which was seen by 60 million people. I always considered myself a very good speaker for some reason, perhaps all the practice I got in my own business, but never really considered myself a very good writer.

One day I realized that writing and speaking are very similar and if you write as if you are talking to a group of people or an audience you’re writing takes on a whole different shape and meaning. And believe it or not it is even also better received. For some reason people like to be talked to or converse with the writer. If you write as if you’re having a conversation with them they are more apt to read what you’re writing.

This is why writing and speaking go hand-in-hand, even if you often observe people that are good at one or the other, but not both. A very good writer can become a very good speaker or a very good speaker can become a very good writer. This is because the skills involved are methods of communication and our language. I hope you will understand this and think about it on a philosophical basis because I guarantee you it will either improve your writing or your speaking, or both at the same time.

When you are learning Japanese what you are really thinking of is speaking. You want to speak for sure but to have a conversation you need to be able to listen well. How many times have you been abroad and made an attempt to speak and been completely confused by a torrent of words coming back to you from a native speaker. So to learn how to write and speak Japanese you need to listen.

To actually have a conversation in Japanese you need to listen and listen hard. To do this you need to spend time practising your listening skills using a number of resources.

Passive resources for improving your Japanese listening skills

I use radio and television in the background to support my language learning. So instead of just switching on to the usual English channels I consciously choose to put on a Japanese speaking station. What you gain from this is a good ear for the way the language sounds. You will also pick new vocabulary and colloquialisms that will not be in a text book.

Active resources

Most of my DVD collection has subtitles and audio in a choice of languages. I often use this feature to acclimatise my brain to listening. The subtitles also help to confirm what you are hearing. You can rewind back and check out certain phrases. You are really checking your hearing out with this exercise. Of course you may have to do this alone as other people might not appreciate what you are doing.

There are many Japanese language courses on CD and MP3 that I have playing in my car wherever I go. I do not worry about doing the course material while I am driving but use it as listening practice. You do need a fair few to stop this being boring. I am reasonably fluent in Japanese now but even when I was just starting out I would listen to the beginners and advanced vocabulary CD’s for the express purpose of improving my listening skills.

Friends who speak the lingo from Tokyo.

Live conversation is the unbeatable way to improve your learning skills. I have a Japanese friend who I spend time with not only because they are good company but also because they help me learn Japanese. I am also helping them learn English so it is a win win situation. You get coaching on your accent and practice listening in a natural environment that is non threatening.