刘娜, I’ve been playing Japanese radio while driving lately to try this “passive listening” method. Do you think it works?

The effectiveness of passive listening is actually debated. If Japanese is just background noise and you’re not focusing on understanding it, the effect is indeed limited. Like you said, it’s hard to really remember what you hear.

Yeah, that’s what I’m worried about too. A lot of the time I have no idea what they’re talking about.

According to second language acquisition theory, effective language input has to be “comprehensible input.” In other words, what you hear needs to be within your range of understanding for your brain to absorb it effectively. If you’re just listening to a bunch of things you completely don’t understand, the effect is definitely not as good as focused study.

So what should I do then? I can’t stay fully focused on studying all the time—and I can’t exactly stare at a textbook while driving!

I’d suggest listening to things you’ve already studied, like the audio from Japanese TV dramas or movies you’ve watched. That way, even if you don’t understand every word, you can still recall the plot, it won’t feel too boring, and your brain will subconsciously process the language again and deepen your impression.

That’s a great idea! I’ve been watching a Japanese drama recently—I can try downloading it and listening to the audio.

Exactly. Or you could listen to Japanese songs and hum along. That helps you get familiar with pronunciation and intonation, and you can learn some new vocabulary too. The key is finding a method that suits you and practicing consistently to really improve your Japanese.