If someone moves to Japan then generally how long does it take before they start speaking Japanese? -

One of my friends just moved to Japan and I m just wondering normally how long it takes someone before they can speak Japanese and understand what people are saying? Thanks

i think within a month they can speak simple japanese and understanding what people are saying it will took u more than a month. as for me, i came to china without knowing a single word but within in 3 weeks i can speak simple chinese and still surviving.

about 2 to 3 month but with Rosetta stone you can pick it up a lot faster

As soon as they need to know where the bathroom is.

Bonjour ! Hi I m french and used to work in Japan for my government. In my daily life I used to read newspapers and translate them ok i have been studying japanese 2 years before at high level it depends of what you ant to do in japan hope this can be helpful to you now I teach french in Paris. fred@parisbypod.com

It depends how keen your friends is to learn. I have known people who have lived there 10 years and do not speak more than a few words of Japanese ; they were not interested in learning the language. I know others who have become quite fluent in about 3 years because they were keen learners.

It depends how much Japanese they already know, how involved they get in the culture, how helpful local people are, and how much effort they devote to learning it. Understand basic phrases like hello, goodbye, thank you, the train is leaving now, and ones that would be heard all around would come very quickly. However to actually speak and understand Japanese would take quite a while, with or without study. They d still do well with a dictionary and phrasebook.

if he s a student of japanese class... simple daily conv = in 2-3 mo. understand what people are saying (daily conv) = about 5-6 mo or more my husband could speak daily conv after 1 yr. but he was not student. i think same as another languages