About three months ago, after clearing JLPT N3, which is considered a good level in Japanese and gets you entry-level jobs apparently, I genuinely thought:
“Okay… maybe I can finally communicate properly now.”
Not perfectly, obviously. But enough to survive conversations. Enough to work in Japanese if needed.
And honestly, after spending so much time studying grammar, kanji, listening practice, mock tests, and trying to decode conversations like Nico Robin reading poneglyphs, passing felt huge.
For a little while, I was floating on confidence, right there on the ninth cloud.
Then work happened :)
And workplace Japanese humbled me almost immediately.
The Japanese I studied wasn’t the Japanese I started working in
One thing I didn’t fully understand before joining this environment is that there isn’t just one “Japanese.”
There’s:
- anime Japanese
- textbook Japanese
- daily conversation Japanese
- polite office Japanese
- technical Japanese
- client-facing Japanese
…and your brain has to switch between them depending on context.
At some point I realized:
I wasn’t learning “Japanese.”
I was learning multiple versions of Japanese depending on where I was and who I was speaking to.
And the workplace version felt completely different. Most of which still goes over my head in some contexts... but slowly, it's starting to make more sense.
Speed changes everything
The weird part is… sometimes I do know the words being used.
If someone says them slowly.
If I see them written down.
If my brain gets two extra business days to process the sentence.
But meetings don’t work like that.
Real conversations happen fast. People interrupt each other. A lot of filler words are being used. Topics shift suddenly. Technical terms that you wouldn't see anywhere else. And I am there like:
And I think what makes it even more chaotic sometimes is that Japanese is technically the 5th language my brain has had to learn and actively switch between.
So there are moments where I know the meaning… but my brain is stuck in a linear search through English, Hindi, Maithili, Marathi 😭
And then the Japanese word arrives 3 business days late.
In meetings, my brain is almost all the time like:
“WAIT WHY CAN’T I REMEMBER ANYTHING”
And then randomly on the ride home, I’d think:
“Ohhh yeah! That was the worddd T_T”
Passing an exam and functioning professionally are VERY different feelings
This was probably the biggest reality check for me.
Passing N3 gave me confidence, but working with Japanese clients made me realize something important:
Understanding a language academically and functioning in it professionally are two completely different skillsets.
Because communication at work isn’t just:
- vocabulary
- grammar
- translation
It’s also:
- confidence
- timing
- hierarchy
- listening
- reading the atmosphere
- knowing when to speak
- knowing how to phrase things politely (especially when hierarchy matters)
- understanding intent behind words
Being the junior-most person in the room doesn’t help either...
I’m currently the most junior person on my team.
Everyone around me already has N2 or N1 and years of experience working with Japanese clients.
Meanwhile I’m sitting there trying to:
- follow conversations
- not accidentally interrupt hierarchy
- not sound disrespectful
- not miss technical context
- and ideally not embarrass myself in two languages simultaneously
So naturally, I became quiet.
Most of my communication initially happened only when I had doubts.
And even then, I’d usually confirm with my team lead first before asking onsite members directly.
In my head, I thought:
“I should only speak when necessary.”
Which honestly came from fear more than professionalism.
But then one of the intermediary managers told me something interesting.
They said I need to speak more often. Not just for work. Even casually. Even directly with clients sometimes.
Because communication isn’t only about transferring information.
It’s also about building confidence and familiarity.
And my immediate internal reaction was basically:
“BRO WHAT DO I EVEN TALK ABOUT 😭”
These are people with 15+ years of experience. I’m here trying to survive keigo and system terminology while they casually discuss things I’ve barely even encountered yet.
But the more I thought about it, the more I realized something:
They’re not expecting perfection. They’re expecting presence.
Technical Japanese is its own universe
Another thing I underestimated was how much vocabulary changes depending on your field.
Studying for JLPT teaches useful foundations.
But work introduces:
- cloud terminology
- system vocabulary
- business phrases
- client communication patterns
- abbreviations
- polite corporate expressions
And suddenly your carefully studied Japanese starts feeling… incomplete again.
It’s honestly very similar to programming.
You can finish tutorials and understand concepts.
But production environments introduce an entirely different layer of understanding.
Passing N3 felt a little like:
“I finished the tutorial.”
Workplace Japanese felt more like:
“welcome to production.”
I also had to deal with momentum loss
Around this same period, life became chaotic.
Job switching.
Office life.
Adjusting to new environments.
Trying to manage multiple things at once.
And somewhere in the middle of all that, I ended up taking around a 2.5 month break from serious Japanese study.
That slowed me down more than I expected.
Coming back after a gap feels strange because your brain remembers enough to know what you’ve forgotten.
But honestly, I didn’t really have a choice at the time.
So eventually I just accepted it.
And I started again.
Now I’m back to studying N3 properly again while slowly moving toward N2.
Much slower than before maybe.
But with a much more realistic understanding of what “knowing a language” actually means.
What changed most wasn’t my Japanese. It was my mindset.
Before this experience, I thought communication meant:
“Can I form correct sentences?”
Now I think it means:
“Can I help the other person understand me comfortably?”
That’s a completely different perspective. I’ve also realized listening matters far more than I originally thought. I mean I've always been a good listener but reading between the lines in corporate is still something I need to get used to maybe.
Sometimes understanding intent is more important than understanding every individual word perfectly.
And sometimes confidence matters more than perfect grammar. That realization changed a lot for me.
Still a long way to go
There are still meetings where I feel lost.
Still moments where my brain freezes.
Still situations where I replay conversations afterward.
But weirdly enough, I’m not discouraged anymore.
If anything, this experience made the language feel more real.
More alive. More connected to actual people instead of textbooks and exams.
And honestly? That makes me want to master it even more.
So yeah… workplace Japanese humbled me
Fast at that. But honestly, I am grateful for that too.
Because confidence built only on exams was always going to be fragile.
Now the goal feels different.
Not:
“pass the next level.”
But:
“become someone who can genuinely connect, communicate, and work comfortably in another language.”
That feels much harder. But also much more meaningful.
And honestly, if you're about to start working soon... just know this:
It probably won’t feel anything like you imagined it would.
Not the language. Not the pressure. Not the communication. Not even your own confidence.
Some things will humble you faster than expected. Some things will confuse you. And some things you thought you were “bad” at will slowly become strengths over time.
But I guess that’s also what makes the whole experience real.
And now I’m curious… Have any of you gone through something similar?
Doesn’t even have to be a new language specifically.
Maybe your first job humbled you.
Maybe moving into a new environment changed how you communicated.
Maybe you realized “knowing” something and actually using it professionally are two completely different experiences.
How did you adapt to it?
Top comments (41)
Japanese is difficult, even for Japanese people. It has too many kanji, and they are hard to remember. It also has hiragana and katakana. But English has only 26 letters, so it’s much easier. Good luck on your Japanese learning journey! 😀
Thank you WDH! Especially for always letting me talk in Japanese with you so I could practice haha! I know I must sound really bad but I am even worse in real life conversations 😭 So thanks alot for putting up with that.
Yes, feel free to use Japanese when chatting with me. The more you use it, the faster you can learn. 😸
I never know you even start to speak Japanese! I once took a JAPN course and it turns out to be the most difficult language to learn. It's not the way you speak/write, but many ways of writing it in the same context like you mention on "I was learning multiple versions of Japanese depending on where I was and who I was speaking to.".
Japanese is a language that has many branches to go from. I hate doing Kanji since it is a mix of Chineese and Japanese Symbols, which I had trouble getting a grasp on.
For you question, you have to observe the environment before you adapt. You can't simply adapt right away without knowing who you are surrounding with. It will come naturally, at least for me whether it is quick or slow.
Glad you are doing well! Great work! Also, anything from Virtual Coffee?
Hey there Francis, yeah I totally agree with that, and it does need to come naturally for me to be able to call myself a bilingual engineer right.
And I hope you're doing well too, thanks alot!
And also thank you for inviting me to the Devengers page Im still trying to get the hang of it all lol
And no I haven't received any updates on the virtual coffee thing sadly, I don't even know what is supposed to happen next, maybe you could guide me through that if I'm missing something, over this weekend or friday?
Thank for checking up on that!(人 •͈ᴗ•͈)
Hey Aryan! You should be able to get an email from them saying that you got off the waitlist. I can check up with them and will let you know! Thanks :D
Yeah the last mail I got said I am on the waitlist when I first registered but no updates since... Do let me know if you find something new, thank you so much for your help man!
Hey Aryan! I talked to the leader of the group and mentioned that you got accepted. Was wondering if you received any email about you getting off the waitlist?
Hey Francis! Yes! I got the mail and links to join the calls on Tues 9 am EST and Thurs 12 pm EST, I am hoping to join you guys soon, I've been sick recently but I am hoping that maybe by next week tuesday I will be able to join you guys. Really Looking forward to it! Also thanks a ton for talking to the group leader for getting me through the waitlist!!! Appreciate it! ヾ(≧▽≦*)o
Thank you for sharing your journey, it was a super interesting read! Great comparison of tutorial vs production environment 😃
Wishing you all the best with your Japanese! 🌸
The experience that similarly humbled me was writing... I always considered myself good with words, and even won some writing contests. But trying to write a book was a completely different experience from writing short forms. Getting all the plots together, keeping the reading pace, character development... having all this in proper shape turned out to be much harder than I imagined. I got discouraged for some time, but I hope to get back to writing soon.
I think it is a universal thing. Courses give you a way in, but they are only a starting point. It doesn't matter how advanced they are.
Even native speakers can make errors when they never have been introduced to a specialised part the language. Academic language is different from law language, and so on.
Languages are also living because new emotions or situations happen and we want to communicate them.
And there is also influence from people outside of the language, that for some reason or another is picked up by native speakers.
It is both frustrating and wonderful at the same time. It is a lifetime of learning.
I couldn't have put that in better words myself David, I totally agree with your point, and it indeed is a lifetime of learning like so many more things in life.
I had a similar experience trying to learn Korean for a trip I planned in 2019, though not as amplified as your experience because sadly my trip got canceled due to COVID, so I never actually made it to Korea.
But even from studying it, I started to understand what you mean about a language not being just “one thing.” There’s the textbook version, the casual version, the polite version, and then the cultural context behind when to use each one.
Honestly, I think that’s one of the most beautiful things about languages like Korean and Japanese. The respect, hierarchy, and social awareness are built into the language itself. But yeah, that same beauty can also make the barrier to entry feel much higher when you’re just starting out. and haha I love your response to it. Accept that one day you will look back and be like yeah... I remember when all this was so hard but now it makes sense.
Yeah so you know what I mean right? No doubt there are a lot of beautiful things about the languages, which makes it all worth it.
Like you will be studying and randomly find one random cool fact lol. And the friends you make along the way are just the cherry on top.
For me it's these 2 things that help me get through with it and stay consistent.
Really glad that you could relate to this on a deeper level Mary! I'm also planning on starting Korean after I'm done with Japanese, so maybe you could help me get started sensei haha ( ╹▽╹ )
Yes def, happy to share notes :)
passed N3 and had this same reckoning. the test teaches you the language. clients teach you the culture.
Facts man, can't think of switching jobs till I clear N2 atleast so I have a better understanding (and pay too lol)
N2 is the real threshold most job listings actually cite, so that instinct is right. the grammar walls are brutal but once you clear it the cultural fluency part tracks way faster.
This really resonated with me! The point you made about learning "multiple versions of Japanese" is so real — most language courses sell you one clean version of the language, but the workplace has its own dialect entirely.
What struck me most is your observation about real-time conversations: knowing the words when written down vs. when spoken fast in a meeting are two completely different skills. That gap between "studied knowledge" and "live usage" is honestly one of the hardest parts of any language, but Japanese takes it to another level with keigo and all the unspoken cultural expectations on top.
The fact that this is your 5th language and it still humbles you says everything about how unique Japanese is — not just linguistically but culturally. It's not just a language, it's a whole communication philosophy.
Thanks for being this honest about the messy middle of the learning process. Most people only share the wins. 🙏
The messy middle is the canon event required to get the big wins... Atleast that's what I think and I have been through some if not many such learning journeys and honestly I enjoy them more than the win itself, they have a different kind of thrill to them. I also like people who share these journeys of them leveling up, the entire messy middle and everything. Cuz win or not, the path to becoming better, in itself is such a beautiful experience, it's almost addictive.
Yes, exactly. I'd be delighted if you read my articles and offered me advice. I'd also just like to ask you how you found working with Japanese clients.
I am a little caught up in work but I definitely hope to get some time over the weekend and definitely read your articles.
And just to make sure we on the same page did you want to know how I got into becoming a bilingual engineer or how do find the "experience" of working with them?
First, I'd like to know exactly what your field of work is, then how you started working with them—how did you find that job? Also, I'd appreciate some advice since I'm a complete beginner.
I am currently working on the Mainframe technology for Japanese clients, before this I was a regular SDE at a small startup with a really low salary and half a month in I received a call from this HR at this MNC and after 2 weeks of waiting I got the offer and coincidentally the result of my N3 also came through, I had never been happier/proud than that moment. Anyways so, after a month I get onboarded and work starts, so everything happened really fast considering where I was a few months ago... So I didn't really find this job rather the job found me lol.
Aa for the advice, I think it's really simple, set goals, break them down to smaller daily goals, be gritty enough to reach those goals for yourself no matter what kind of day you're having and et voila, one day you're doing what you always were, just getting paid as well for it.
Also I found some time and read your blogs, first thing that caught my attention was that you've been posting at a higher frequency, first thing I'd do is slow down and focus on quality than quantity, maybe 1 blog per week?
One thing you do really well is make technical topics approachable. The short paragraphs, clear structure, simple analogies, and beginner-friendly explanations make your articles easy to read even for someone encountering the topic for the first time. Your titles are also good at creating curiosity and getting people to click.
If I had one suggestion, it would be to lean more into your own experiences and stories. I found myself wanting to know more about what specifically happened in your projects, what mistakes you made, what surprised you, and how your perspective changed. Those personal details are what make a post memorable and give readers something unique that they can't get from a general explanation elsewhere.
I'd also recommend experimenting with custom thumbnails. They don't need to be perfect, just having a consistent visual style will help your posts stand out, and you'll naturally get better at making them over time.
Overall, you've already got strong readability and a good teaching style. Adding more personal experiences and a bit more visual identity could make your posts even more engaging.
This hits every domain, not just language.
Exams feel like tutorials with clean inputs. Work is production: fast context switching, edge cases, and humans who don’t wait for you to translate in your head.
That gap is where real skill is built.
Totally agree.
I passed N1 and it's still like that for me. I can watch an anime and understand close to 100% of it, but when I talk to a new person or watch a VTuber or something "natural" like that, I'm down to more like perhaps 60-80%.
It's really just a matter of having enough duration of the right kind of practice. If you work in that context every day, you will get good fast. I bet you're already a lot better than me at actual business Japanese.
Whenever I'm learning anything that takes a long time, I try to remind myself that "if I put in the time, I will get good". It's as simple as that, as long as you're practicing the right thing. It's often been observed that the successful people are those who show up every day, not the most talented ones.
Apparently, the abilities to understand formal and natural speech are less linked than one might expect, at least for some languages. I learned German a long time ago and studied at university in Germany, and I recall the gap being much smaller. I was better prepared with all my practice from just watching the news and listening to audiobooks.
I'm learning French now and trying to focus more on natural speaking input, and a lot less on news and audiobooks and other "formal" input. French is also famous for having a big gap in this respect.
How did you adapt to it? Put in the time, and you will get good
N1???!!? You are way better than me what you talking about, but yeah I'll agree to the other part, as humans we adapt to the situations we are put in so yeah I do think it's good but honestly me studying Japanese day in and out like before would be a lot faster but then again it comes with tradeoffs of being unemployed.
and wow you have a nice arsenal of languages there... I myself tried learning French back in school but it just didn't sit right with me (felt too difficult) so I quit...
"Put in the time, and you will get good" I myself live by something similar; "we often overestimate what we can do in a day and underestimate what we can do in a year" so yeah I will continue on this journey and catch up to you soon haha! Looking forward to more of your stories, your name's Randall right?
Yep it is.
I find French pronunciation pretty tough, but reading and listening is coming to me a lot faster than with Japanese.
N1 is a good milestone, but it's not as strong as people often think 😉 I'd say it's about 9th grade reading level, so there's still a lot of room to grow even beyond N1.
Good luck!
I studied English at school and university for 15 years. I knew the grammar, the words. I was able to understand some things on the TV, and songs. And one day my roommate asked me to translate a Yu-Gi-Oh card description. I tried, and he asked me: "you have studied English for so many years, and you can't translate this?" I felt stupid. At that point I had no real conversation with real English speaking person.
And one day, that moment came. I had a job interview, with a really nice guy, from France. His English was not like any other English out there. And my English was so different from any other English out there as well :D :D I was so nervous, that my body produced something toxic that destroyed my t-shirt. Not kidding. The human body is amazing....
A few months later, we got used to each other and worked really nice together.
And between English and English: I thought I know English, and one of my friends gave me a technical documentation of a ship engine! What the hell was this?! I did not see any known English word in this book. All of it!
Later, me being around 38 I decided, that it is time to learn German. I already know English (do I really know it?!) , I understand a little bit Russian, but the German was something cool. Most of my colleagues were German at that time, so I thought it is a good idea. I invested 800 days of my life for this. Not missing a single day, browsing at Duo Lingo. At the end I found, that I am too old for this. My brain was not able to free some space for anything meaningful in German. And the difference between, German, and German, and Tyrolean German are so far away that, that I thought I am too old to start this journey again.
Everything is pro-activity and practice. Be in the action, seek the discomfort. Yes, it is easy to be in the corner and be quiet, but this will not make you a good Japanese speaking professional. The good thing is that you are outside of your comfort zone and you (I guess) have no other choice. So everything is a matter of time and effort :)
This was such a fun read 😂
The Yu-Gi-Oh card story and the ship engine documentation perfectly capture something I've been slowly realizing lately:
Knowing a language and using a language are two very different things.
I had a similar experience with Japanese. Passing exams and learning vocabulary gave me confidence, but the moment I had to use it with actual clients, accents, speaking speed, industry terminology and context suddenly entered the picture 😭
And you're absolutely right about technical language being its own universe. Sometimes I understand the Japanese being spoken, but then a single technical term appears and my brain just leaves the chat.
Also the "seek the discomfort" part really resonates with me. Looking back, most of my biggest improvements happened after situations I was nervous about beforehand.
So for now I'm embracing the awkward phase and hoping repetition does its thing 😆
Thank you for sharing your experience, and honestly, 800 days without missing a single day is insanely impressive regardless of the outcome 👏 I too had a 1000 day streak in duolingo at one time after which it felt useless to continue since higher levels require dedication to a different kind of study material.
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