An App To Talk To Random Japanese People With Ease
You want more spoken practice without having to pay money, or go to Japan, or make friends, or leave your house. You’ve tried contacting people on social networks, but you just want something simple. Press a button and start a conversation.
The Japanese App 斉藤さん (Saito-san) has been gaining steam lately, with over 10,000,000 users, and the ability to do exactly what you want.
Start the app, take on the role of an anonymous 斉藤 (the most common last name in Japan), and press the call button. You are then connected to another random person using the app to have a free phone call to talk about whatever your heart desires.
People use the app simply because they want to talk. And now you can be one of the 斉藤 group.
Why you should use this right now:
1. It’s anonymous and private. You don’t have to give away any identity.
2. It’ll ease up speaking nervousness. You can hang up any time. You don’t have to worry about what to say, as it’s just a start and stop conversation.
3. It’s all Japanese. The other person will have no expectation of you speaking English.
4. If you hit it off with your 斉藤, you can become friends through the app. Expand your Japanese network.
5. You can use video and chat features
A few downsides though you should be aware of:
1. There have been some major connectivity issues recently with calls cutting out and errors popping up (it’s nowhere near as good as something like Line or Skype). This needs to be resolved as it can be discouraging to use with these problems.
2. While most people use it for its intended “chat with a stranger” purpose, there are the usual “internet perverts” who find their way to the app. Use your best discretion. Don’t use the video option just to be safe, and never give out personal information.
3. Since it’s random, your experience will significantly vary depending on the luck of the draw.
Start talking today?
I think it’s fun to try. Maybe not a long term solution, but something to test out some speaking with. Have any of you had any experience with this app or similar ones? Thinking of trying it out?
Check it out here:
Google Play
Apple Store
Founder of Jalup. iOS Software Engineer. Former attorney, translator, and interpreter. Still watching 月曜から夜ふかし weekly since 2013.
Look up Chatpad! It’s the same thing but in an IM format.
Sorry if this is not the right place to ask this, but since both are about listening to native japanese then I can´t be so wrong… I hope haha
So, I was looking through the net in my search for something I could watch without subtitles (something really hard to achieve, since I have to write either in spanish or in english)and I came across this page: http://wilsonjj.me/jptv/
All you do is click in one of the streaming options and you are set to watch some random chanel.
Now, my question is… Do you think watching this in the earliest of stages (as in my case) is good?
I´ve been watching anime and listening to j-pop for a good time now (without actually trying to learn it, though)and I can pick up a word or two, so do you recommend using that link as input/listening material?
Thank you for the wonderful blog!
Hello, I haven’t checked your link so I can’t comment on if that channel should be watched or not.
However, right before I started to study Japanese, I fell into a trap where I would watch and listen to a ton of material, sometimes with subs sometimes without, and I somehow convinced myself I was studying. You might not be going through this same situation but, there is a huge difference between actively studying and just watching/listening to stuff without that real, true and honest active study component. Combined, they are a massive force to be reckoned with, just don’t forget to actually study.
So to specifically answer, if you can combine real true and honest active study than yes, watch it (unless it ruins your motivation then stop immediately).
Thanks for the reply!
I have just started to actually study japanese, since all I did before was sit down and watch anime or listen to j-pop for the fun of it,reading the subtitles/lyrics instead of truly trying to understand what was being said.
However, now I´m mixing in some ¨active studying¨ time. I just got Anki, some textbooks, some audiobooks and a lot of will to go through them all!
Still, as an auditive learner, I do need a lot of hearing practice. That´s how I learned English!
I was just wondering if watching/listening to that channel could be good because I remember reading somewhere in this blog that you should always do passive listening with material you already listened to actively…
In that case, I think it would be good. If I could make a small suggestion though, what I’ve found to be even more beneficial is to watch something (drama, anime, movie or variety show episode) once with subs (if a beginner), rip the audio (so you can’t see the video anymore) load it up on a mobile device if possible, and then just listen to that one episode over and over and over until you get tired and then do it all over again.
Also, there are tons of articles on here about listening, don’t be afraid to comment on old articles everyone will still see your comment on the front page. Good luck!!!
I’ve been having a good experience with this app so far.
My favourite feature is ハラワタ中継, where people broadcast their voice or video doing whatever and inviting all kinds of conversation from their audience. The audience communicates through text, and the broadcaster response through voice or video. I like this, as my listening is not good enough for a one-on-one conversation, and I can type in my comments, and listen to what the broadcaster will say about it, if they decide to say something about it. It’s been really good practice.
wait so how will this work? i dont understand
In that case, I think it would be good. If I could make a small suggestion though, what I’ve found to be even more beneficial is to watch something (drama, anime, movie or variety show episode) once with subs (if a beginner), rip the audio (so you can’t see the video anymore) load it up on a mobile device if possible, and then just listen to that one episode over and over and over until you get tired and then do it all over again.
Well, that targets something completely different than this app, but you don’t have to convince me about the power of immersion :P
I just tried it, but it is 2017 now, tried about 40 times but everyone is so quiet and end up hanging up immediately, the number of perverts seeemed to increase too. Anything good for 2017 annonymous like this?
That’s a shame that it went downhill so quickly. The only thing that comes to mind is HelloTalk, but that’s really for language exchanges (and lessons), and not so much just talking to some random Japanese person who has no desire to talk in English.
The old option used to be the Skype communities on Mixi. But with Mixi dying over the past several years, I’m not sure how common these groups are anymore.
It was available for my Moto z2 play, but now that I change my phone for an IPhone it isn’t anymore. Hope that changes, Hug from Brazil.
Maybe you could try Discord? This group seems very active: https://discordapp.com/invite/0eIsYvFQul270V1L