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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 15 มิ.ย. 2024
- #japan #japanvlog #vlog
This is Why Learning Japanese in 2 Years Was a Bad Idea. I learned the Japanese language on my own in only two years and studying hiragana, katakana, kanji, romaji, and kawaii words was getting to me. This video is about why in Japan you should not learn Kansai dialect Tokyo dialect Kansai-ben Japanese language in Japan how to learn Japanese in 2024 Learning Japanese and other various keywords. SUBSCRIBE!!!!!1
In this Tokyo vlog, I'll share why learning Japanese in 2 years was a bad idea. Watch to find out my experience and tips for language learning! 🇯🇵
In this video, I'll explain why learning Japanese in just 2 years was a bad idea. Trust me, it's not as easy as it sounds! Whether you're a language learner or just curious, you'll want to hear this cautionary tale. If you're a Japanese beginner, this is great for you.
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クリーム is cream, not claim. クレーム is claim/complaint
Bruh I'm a fraud
@@BecomeAnything. I was going to say the same thing but then I remembered how many words I learned incorrectly. It doesn't change the point of the video which is well taken.
@@BecomeAnything. No, but you're not about N2 level 😘 You either got it or you don't
@@POLICESTARBODYCAMS tbf JLPT is not the greatest test to define your Japanese skill, it's way too differ from the Japanese people currently are using
@@BecomeAnything. Bro studied on luodingo 😂
Im 64 years old and have been studying Japanese for six months. I find it very interesting and it keeps my mind active. My trip to Japan last year was amazing and I wanted to learn more about the culture and language. I enjoy it and I’m having fun with it. I don’t expect I’ll ever be fluent, but that’s ok. It’s not a waste of time!! Any endeavor to learn is not a waste of time!!
absolutely agreed. i hope my video didnt give the impression that i considered it a waste of time, but that it takes a lot more time than most i've seen are willing to put in to reach their goal.
also i think it's awesome that you're joining the game at 64, it's very inspirational. I can only hope that I have the discipline to keep myself sharp past like age 30 haha
thanks for sharing your story!
Totally agree I'm 56 and I began studying Korean one year ago and japanese this year and I'm very happy and like both languages, I don't have any expectation to be fluent and it doesn't matter if take me many years I will learn until I can and wanted because I enjoy learning languages and keep my mind active. I already speak Spanish(my mother tongue) English and French.
Try to study more Kanji like writing them down, understanding how they are made etc. That's a very good memory exercise.
Try to study more Kanji like writing them down, understanding how they are made etc. That's a very good memory exercise.
You got the right mindset my dude! 頑張ってください！
“ the abyss looks back with cold, dark, meaningless eyes”😂😂😂
Instead of discouraging me from learning Japanese, this video just made me think about how valuable time is.
Like the vlog style by the way, I think the cuts are a bit too frequent, but that's just my take, other people might like it.
Hell ya. I think the main goal of this video was to warn those who are not serious to avoid wasting time, and a calling for those who have made up their mind to the extreme. Only the people most motivated won't be discouraged by this video.
Nah the cuts are perfect. No need to change it.
@@BecomeAnything.even if im not serious it’s better than spending my time on tiktok or instagram
14:30 we dont do things because they are easy. We do them because of the challenge.
that's the type of mindset it takes !
Japanese gets pretty easy later on tbh. I never thought it was difficult anyway. I just consumed a ton of content and now books and series are not that hard to understand.
3 years of study for those who may ask.
yeah it's much easier past the learning curve
Any tips ?
@@Luckydaze Depending on your personal goal and how much invested you are to learning Japanese I would suggest different approaches. Why are you learning Japanese and what is the end goal?
@@SakugaMeister I have Japanese friends and I would like to speak to and understand them clearly
@@Luckydaze If you live in Jaoan jist hangout with them you will learn naturally. If not then, I suggest starting to listen Japanese as much as possible. That's it really, there is no secret to learning languages other than immersing yourself. You can use textbooks but only in the first 2 weeks or so just so the entry is a bit easier but I wouldnt recommend them, they are boring plus they teach really bad japanese.
Good luck!
Not trying to be billy badass or anything but I’ve trained in martial arts my whole life and what it’s taught me is how to be consistent, be patien, and to enjoy the journey. I love the idea of learning something that can never be mastered. There’s always something new to learn. That’s how I feel with martial arts. So I see Japanese as something that I’ll never be able to master but it just makes me love it more. It’s the mountain that never ends but the views just get better and better
You don't have to try to be a billy badass, you ARE one!
Nah but I love that mindset, that's currently where I am with TH-cam right now. It's given me a constant hunger for more, and even knowing that I may never be full, I strive forward every day. Japanese for some is much the same, but for those who just want to "know it" and move on, it's one hell of a chore haha.
best of luck on your martial arts and japanese journey, you definitely got the right headspace for it and this was an awesome comment
Billy's been training in the martial art of Gator wrestling since he was born to his parents who shared the same name before they were married. 😄
Excellent mindset, I'm enjoying these small language understanding wins along the way and try not to think too much about how much I don't know
English has kanji. It's called english spelling
Nah that's romaji
I caught myself in the thought, that even in languages, where writing better represents how the word is said, like Russian, in the end you end up reading words as a whole without paying attention to the letters it consists of. So you essentially learning a word in a written language. So it is not dissimilar to what you do with kanji words. It's just a pain to lookup :) As a multiple readings of a kanji, I've heard advice to not to learn kanji separately and to learn words instead. You eventually learn separate kanji as a side effect and it would help you to lookup and even read new words that share kanji with ones you know
Tru tru
Woah, I've actually never thought of this before, I think you're completely right! @@EvGamerBETA
If only it were that simple.
Japan is my 3rd foreign language and I can say from experience that those official sites telling you how long it takes to learn a language aren't really a good point to start off. How long it takes for someone to become fluent depends entirely on each individual. It also depends on whether you find the right resources quickly and if you have enough motivation to practice regularly.
yeah for people who find good resources and are motivated to do the research it's very inaccurate, but sadly the average person doesn't. I'll make videos about what I used soon and hope that can help most learners
Those stats are for people enrolled in a pretty standardized, pretty intensive and full immersion type curriculum. There's going to be wildly more variation among people out doing things by themselves. You'll get everything from the obsessives sinking hours and hours into it every day to the people who think Duolingo will get them there.
Chinese learners laughing at Japanese learners complaining about Kanji 😂
AND I RESPECT THEM BECAUSE THEY ARE LEARNING THE GREATEST MOST BEAUTIFUL LANGUAGE SPOKEN BY THE GREATEST PEOPLE 🇨🇳🇨🇳🇨🇳
@@BecomeAnything. Building that social credit score huh?
@@briddenattech did he mean he is a learner of chinese, and thus japanese kanji is less demanding than what you would have to remember when doing chinese in comparison
@@ambarvalia9757 Almost certainly not. Hanzi is at least consistent in pronunciation. The 'onyomi' pronunciation is based on the Chinese sounds they make, but as they were mapping an already existing alphabet system onto a completely different language, the characters often have the same meaning, but with completely different sounds... making kanji a much MUCH more complex system.
My personal, bias opinion, kanji is actually my strong point. I completed almost all N2 Kanji/vocab, N5 in speaking/listening comprehension.
EDIT: Nothing to be said for the Chinese tonality when pronoucing words. Most people say Japanese is easier to learn for speaking/listening, but much MUCH harder to read/write.
@@briddenattech well that is one facet. however chinese also has tones and multiple readings for the standard chinese
I'm newly married to a Japanese woman and we plan to move to Japan in about 5 years (we live in the US now). I'm just starting to learn the language...yep it's hard! She told me it will take decades to become native-level...
She is indeed correct. Although if you are VERY active you can achieve that level in 4 or 5 or 6 years with intense MIA/AJATT. Learn to enjoy the journey, not the destination and you won't fail.
@@BecomeAnything. thanks
It doesn't take Japanese people decades to reach a native level and they're learning mostly passively. Yes, it's difficult to learn a new way of thinking and a new language, but if you practice a lot and surround yourself with Japanese media and content, you'll be fine :)
I live with my Japanese in laws. No kids. No brothers or sisters. I have to learn Japanese to speak with them.
The more I learn, the deeper I am able to connect with them and make the relationship meaningful.
But....I'm stuck on weather, food and schedules....stuck on a loop. It's so hard to dive deeper....I really want to for the sake of my family...
Holy crap, the Videos are so enjoyable to watch.
I'm currently learning Chinese, but I always enjoy watching People in Japan. After I watched the video, I think in the Future I'll probably go through the pain. But until then, I would've already mastered a lot of other Languages.
Haha glad you enjoy them, and yeah if you feel a calling to learn then go for it but its definitely a time sink. Being familiar with
Hanzi meanings will help a lot tho
Hi from Fukuoka 👋 I really like you video cutting style!
I've always wanted to go to Fukuoka!! thank you for watching and leaving a nice comment :)
skill issue japanese is easy if you just grow up there
yeah I literally just get mogged every day by japanese ppl when they see my studying
And if you just live with japanese, without having the pressure to learn it complete as fast as possible. Just live your life using/listening japanese, it will get better over the years.
oh then let have a call kid
man you made a really high quality video, I like your style
thanks so much!
3 years into my Japanese language learning experience and I can say it was worth it. I want to go to a language school in Japan next year to really immerse myself in the language.
go for it !
3 years and you want to go to school????
@@TragicGFuel Well, japanese language schools here can only take you so far. and even with my self studies, I'm only N4. so I want to immerse myself in the language 100%
@@jadthecat387 3 years and *N4?*
Did you mean to type N2 or N1?
Because N4 is something people achieve in a couple of months. I'd say 7-8 months at the latest, if you have very little time or are not comfortable learning.
@@TragicGFuel I go by what my school says. of course I know that such progress is too slow so I wanna take a real JLPT test to see my real level
474th sub here. I stopped learning japanese years ago but now I decided to learn this language again. I want to become fluent in a year
it's totally possible. idk what your definition of fluency is but look up "ajatt" and "sentence mining", it's useful tools and i promise you can do it with them. glad this vid could push you in the right direction, you got this!
Lol 1 year? good luck mate im 7 years in have N1 which doesnt even measure your skilll level. i can perfectly communicate with my Japanese gf and friends, read all kanji and im still far from fluent and basically dumb af when they start to speak kansai dialect
Can you make a video on how you learned Japanese? Thank you! Also the quality of your videos are really nice 💗 keep up the hard work !
it's on the way :) thank you for the kind words !
I hope you blow up man. This content is looking really cool and its all so well shot!
Thanks so much. I hope we do too but just thankful for all we are getting right now 😭
Congrats sir, your vid hit like a truck.
I'm planning on living in Japan in the next years, and I'm totally decided to keep going on learning, your video simply stated perfectly what I believe about Nihongo study, but also gives even more value to this decision, and tests the limit of the one who's passing trough these issues rn.
Also I'm really impressed by the editing, the cuts and all, must have taken a lot of time and editing, nice damn job!
I was a bit worried the message wouldn't go through right, so I'm relieved you heard it well. i made it just for people like you, so if youre still determined enough to jump in the abyss then you're already halfway there
And even after all 17 min, i still use my one and only brain cell to push through kanji lol, great video, really enjoyed.
Found your channel by pure chance, imma stay here, excited to see you next video!
lol at least you have one brain cell left I'm currently running on empty
glad to have you here now! thanks for the comment :)
As I just got out of my online Japanese class, this video weirdly made me feel a lot better about my apparent lack of progress. Or, perhaps, this was the 4D chess of motivational speaking all along!
It could be 👀 only the most determined will see it.
Great video! I'm currently in the process of transitioning from N2 to N1 myself.
best of luck ! its a very difficult spot to be in
no it going to take a decade or more to learn it well and still you will not fully know it, stop listening to what books say stop trying to rush it and just enjoy life instead of stressing over where your at, you will progress slowly and naturally in time
yeah books are pretty useless ngl
@@BecomeAnything. who needs reading skills :D
natives don't fully know their language, no one cares about fully knowing a language that's practically impossible and pointless
Whilst studying my kana I stumbled onto this video. Loved it! fml at the ending lol
keep it up, i remember when I was studying kana.. takes me back. but yeah if you're down to get a microchip in ur brain then that's a different story 😭
Well, I speak Portuguese, English and French, but in the process of learning French I lost my passion to learn languages. I had to learn French to live here in Québec, BUT since I was a kid I wanted to learn Japanese, I've been postponing it since then. I just started, like 2 weeks ago, I feel I'm in the right track again, maybe what I needed was a good challenge, and it seems that I've found it xD Thanks for the video!
it's considered one of the biggest challenges in language learning. seeing how you've picked up some other languages I think you got it! best of luck on the journey
So glad this Chanel just popped up on recommendations, TH-cam finally got “1” right 😂💀
haha that means a lot
Good video man rather interesting.
thanks so much, glad u found it interesting
Good video, this needs more views! :)
thank you! whether or not it gets more im glad u found and enjoyed it
On my second and last week in Japan, bouta go home tmrw, so I've been getting a lot of Japan related videos recommended on my TL
Really glad I stumbled upon your channel cause I really respect the amount of effort you've been putting into them
I believe you got a lot of potential so you earned yourself a sub! Looking forward to more content being put out from you 🙏🙏
that means so much! glad you like the videos
I think the best thing to say to a new learner is to basically expect to hit a massive grind right after they learn kana and some basic grammar. I'm still weighing up whether or not I want to learn this language, and haven't studied any of it yet (not even kana), but I like the sound of a challenge. I'm not even a weeb. My favourite food is from japan, so I just want to be able to go to japan and order food and maybe hold a conversation. Nothing too crazy. I like how the N1-N5 system is laid out and it almost gamifies the grind a little. Maybe I will start today.
Bro your actually funny thank you for making these videos
glad you like them !
The effort u put in to change the background for the video, every 10-20 secs, so cool
gotta keep that retention graph up somehow haha
happy to hear u appreciate it, means a lot
after coming to Japan after learning japanese for 1 year only, i regretted that i did not learn more japanese lol after moving back to my home country i sticked to learning it everyday until i come back to jp
don't stop studying either, japan is a whole different experience if you speak the language. can't wait to hear when u make big progress!
Thanks for the laughs 😂❤
If you accomplished this much Congrats on your progress!!
I'll probably share this to anyone I come across who is interested in Japanese
sharing is extremely helpful so I appreciate that ! glad I could make you laugh too
Thank you Man for saving my time, i will rather increase my knowledge in other languages that i know.
because i'm losing time on japanese.
I like the language, but i'm moving really slow...
I had the exact same thoughts on this for some years now...
you confirmed it, thank you. :)
glad this video helped your situation!
good luck with the content you are trying to put out man. pretty sure you are gonna kill it
that means a lot to hear I appreciate it
congrats on 200!!, when youre good you can do what xiaomanyc does and pretend your a tourist then start speaking fluent japanese that would be great content
WHITE GUY SHOCKING LOCALS IN RURAL JAPAN (HE GAVE ME KEYS TO HIS HOUSE)
@@BecomeAnything.would watch/10
Today has been a hard day, woke up fatigued and couldn't focus on studying at all- ended up skipping study for the day. I have been studying every single day, sense this March. Haven't missed a single day. I'm exhausted. My anki is constantly filled with new words, and I still don't know anywhere near 40% of the language. Outside of this study period, I have been studying with a native teacher once a week for two years. Still nowhere near able. What's my level? I failed N5. Genuinely fuck N5. After that painful failure, I have now grinded up to a level of N4+. The N4 words I'm "supposed" to learn will rarely appear on daily conversation, however. Most of my energy was spent on studying "miscellaneous" words like lessons in school, animals, electronics, emotions.. which for some reason on this level are not taught. Instead you have to learn 回覧 and お見舞い... I can't remember the last time I saw those. What have I seen though? 感情、期待、調査、魔法、試し読み et cetera. None of those are taught in this level. I feel horrible but I've reached too far to stop, I hope to one day learn this language - and may god bless me with a better day tomorrow, if not tomorrow, to return back to a happier mood as soon as possible, and continue studying.
yeah i really think the JLPT system is only bound to discourage most people because they spend more time for less results. dont get too let down by one day of missing though, ive been through that too where i miss one day and decide to just stop altogether because i lost my streak. dont make that mistake, just find a way to refresh your mind, watch a simple TV show, do something fun and easy, and just enjoy knowing how much progress you've made thus far. thats a good way to get back into it
Lolz great video. I'm at the N5 going on N4 level now. It's great to know that I will still feel like an idiot two years from now, but at least I'll be able to watch shonen without subs hahaha
yep and I will also feel like an idiot 2 years from now 😭
Yo dude, this video is Amazing, especially considering that your channel is new. All the best for you. Underrated channel for sure.
That means a lot ! thank u :)
Nice video. I can relate. But I enjoy studying the language as its a challenge.
It's considered the most challenging language so learning to like it will get you very far
about 10 months in and honestly it hasn't stopped being fun when I can't wait to go to japan and troll natives by making them think I don't understand them then busting out some top tier verb conjugations
xiaoma style behavior love to see it
The way you describe standing on the edge of the abyss, as the universe stares back with its uncaring eyes, is so much gold. It's how I've felt learning any language. The world is vast, and when you begin to realize how little you know, that's when it starts to eat at you, and you feel the desperate hunger for more, and/or you run in fear from it. I'm at the spot where I'm beginning to have the kana right, and have begun adding kanji. I think there's a lot of context use in Japanese, so having a teacher, or at least a native speaker to help provide context to make things make more sense.
I read something about "leveling up" in life. If you are 20 years old, and you've spent your whole life speaking one language, you have 2 literal decades of language learning under your belt, with lots of public and private support to do so. After only a few years of studying hard, you still won't have had that support structure of constant immersion and home education for years before a public education took over the reigns. You've levelled up in Japanese past that of the language acquired by native speakers in the same amount of time (given they are infants incapable of speaking for years) to be capable of conversing and understanding what is going on around you.
You have this comparison in your head, but it really isn't fair to you to compare yourself to an adult who's spent their whole life learning the nuances of interaction in their home culture and language. It is much more accurate to compare yourself to a toddler or a small child, since you're working with a similar amount of time dedicated. But even that comparison is limited and really inaccurate at best. Just keep consuming media and learning like you did with English by constant exposure and practice. You will get to your goals in time. Maybe lots of time, but some things are worth it. You said you let your TH-cam ideas sit on the backburner for a while. Maybe this is time well-spent in pursuit of those dreams. But maybe it comes into play elsewhere in your life later, too. In a way you didn't expect.
I enjoyed this. I hope you enjoyed making it.
this was a very interesting read, you said a lot of things Ive sort of thought about but never quite knew how to put into words. even now, the deeper I get into the language I still keep telling myself I know even less and less, as you expand your input you realize just how many different specific words and phrases are used and it just feels like I only know 1% of the language now haha
but comparing yourself to the people the media was made for isn't fair, its like a 3 year old trying to understand Shakespeare
I'm glad you enjoyed this video, I'll have a lot more similar coming ! thanks for the comment :)
@@BecomeAnything. You know quite a bit. Gotta give yourself some credit. The hours didn't evaporate into the ether. You've acquired a level of skill in something many don't. It's something to be proud of.
Besides, English is another Cat V Language. It's the worst, and you're pretty fluent in that. That took years, quite a few of which were spent doing tedious work in a classroom, or at least reading and writing and memorizing things nearly constantly. And think of all the media you've consumed your whole life bringing you to this level. How many books did you read, movies did you watch? How many songs have you listened to and learned the lyrics for? Many things add to your fluency and immersion in the culture to create an enmeshment with the language that goes beyond grammar and vocabulary. You'll only keep getting better the more exposure you can get!
Good luck! You're far ahead of me on this Japanese Journey, but you've reminded me of why I'm trying to invest in this language again. So thanks for that.
Nice channel name, by the way. I look forward to more content.
Thank you for this information. I did study Japanese in college for a year and only dabble in Hiragana and Katakana, while also learning some grammar along the way. I totally agree with everything you have said. Japanese is hard. I also think it can be fun and rewarding given how you can be very expressive with what you can say. I also decided to learn it because i want to watch anime without subtitles ahahahahah. Can't wait to see more of your content sir. Look forward to seeing you speaking more Japanese.
Yep it's a struggle, I been there too. You gotta have a real strong reason to keep going every day but it's very rewarding.
thanks for dropping another comment! always looking forward to em
i don't know how this got reccomended to me but i watched the entire thing. I hope you'll make the videos you want now that you've spent all the time learning japanese!
imo you've already gotten the video part down, lets see if japanese can help you get more content out!
thank you!! I'm excited to see what type of content I can come up with here on out :)
Hey bro! Watching from Brazil here, haha. Loved the way you record the video, in random places and random positions lmao It's jsut perfect! Continue making content like that, it's very original! And even after watching your video I'll continue learning Japanese, I'm trying to get a software dev job there and I love the place haha
glad you liked it! and happy to hear that you got the drive to learn. I know a lot of people from Brazil here - yall are the most fun people ever and I was surprised to learn how much japanese is spoken there.
anyway sounds like you got the drive to keep learning so i believe in you, hope to see you here one day :)
I love how every sentence has a new camera angle
glad u like it ! Will be using it in future vids too
holy shit the "what you could do instead" part hit me hard
it be like that
Thanks! I wish I have watched this video when I started studying 18 months ago.
Haha same here to an extent, that's why I made it !
Realizing how long it is going to take to become even conversational was quite a shock. I've been studying every day for a little over two years, with a teacher - multiple teachers, actually. I love it, but I have had to embrace the fact that this is a giant mountain with no peak. But that's okay -- I only wish I'd started sooner. I started at 58, and I suspect I'll run out of life before I run out of things to learn about Japanese.
I'm 18 and I will run out of life before I run out of things to learn too. I think the ability to pursue knowledge despite knowing this is what gives birth to excellency. if you can find a way to get joy out of learning japanese then I think you got what it takes ! accepting that it will take a while is important tho haha
Loved the last sentence, but hey, even if AI can let us speak with anybody across the world without speaking their native languages, I still want to pursue my dream of learning Japanese ✌Actually, I've been watching/listenning to your video while doing my kanji exercises, lol, hope to watch more of your content to practice my japanese audio skills 💪 ánimo!
keep up the grind! if you are willing to learn despite it potentially being "rendered useless" by AI (which some ppl will think) then I believe in you and you got what it takes to learn
What a genuine and honest video, also nice style and play with the dark, lights and shades. Nice and chill narration. My story: always wanted to learn Japanese but started to learn Chinese instead. Everything you said about the Japanese learning process applies also to Chinese learning process. It's fun but the constant questioning if you made the right decision with learning this language is huge. I could've learned Spanish, Italian and Portuguese (all three easily) instead and what's sad about it is that my Chinese is still very miserable (let's say A2 level). Positive thing is that if I started to learn Japanese one day, I would already know the majority of Kanji so the learning process would be much smoother and quicker. Not sure what my motivation would be though. I wanted to learn Japanese when I was a teenager and was watching anime. That is not the case anymore. I still like the way the language sounds, sometimes I listen to some Japanese music but I'm not sure if that's enough of a reason to learn a language. The same with Chinese. Since my level is extremely low, I can't really use it and profit from it fully for example at work. All job opportunities come at higher level (at least B2) and I am far away from that! It was just recently when I came to my local Chinese restaurant and wanted to order beer in a bottle to take it home. My good friend Chinese owner didn't understand me even though he knows me and I always say the same sentences to him. So that was embarrassing, after learning Chinese for around 8 years or so 😅 (not continual, there were long breaks inbetween but still lot of time that could've been invested otherwise).
wow I was definitely able to relate to a lot of what you said haha. I'm in the opposite position, I wanna learn chinese just to say I know it but I don't have too many reasons. I guess what keeps me going is just the sunk cost fallacy, I've already put so much time in and already told people I'm learning, so i may as well just keep going.
best of luck on your own journey !
Now would you say this is a criticism of learning Japanese or the n5 to n1 system? I’ve been studying Japanese for maybe about 2-3 months but am still getting off the ground and from what I gather most people see the n1 especially as not worth it and those tests as a bad measurement. Maybe the metric shouldn’t be testing but what you’re able to accomplish entirely in Japanese?
the tests are meant to estimate what you can accomplish based on your score, which uh yeah horrible measurement system haha.
it's mainly a criticism of the traditional route of learning japanese
as someone that's been learning Japanese for 10+ years but probably only actively studied Japanese for 4 years in school (first year of high school to graduation), I haven't studied in a long time, I just do things I like in Japanese (play games, read manga, watch tv shows) and I've learned a lot. Learning isn't a race, there's almost no finish line per se. Just have fun and try learn passively too. If you make it a chore or rush it you're gonna have a bad time.
facts
I graduated from engineering school this year and I studied Japanese for fun when I got bored of studying the equations, I thought it was pretty fun, maybe I don’t see the big deal😂
I also am bilingual English and Spanish. I can pronounce most sentences in Japanese as fast as natives😂 I think I’m just lucky
yeah if you speak spanish you may be pretty used to the sound because the vowels are very similar sounding
I started studying it recently, and so far I'm having fun doing so. About 2 or 3 hours a day. This video doesn't scare me away lol. Being able to communicate at least a bit when I finally get to visit Japan will be worth it.
It is definitely one of the most satisfying processes I have ever done in my life. But the sad part is the more you know, the more you realize you don't know and the more you realize you want to know. ); (bjorn editor here)
Good content!
thank you !
what if I just learn japanese without any kanji? Is it possible to speak with someone at a good level of understanding w/o knowing any kanji?
You maybe be fine talking with someone. But if you got to read stuff... Then you're screwed.
It's certainly possible. About 90% of the population in any country, including Japan, was illiterate before 1900, and they got by just fine.
@@noseboop4354 that is actually crazy, to be required of such an INSANE amount of study to just be able to read... that must be a really sad childhoods w/o being able to read anything but simplest fugirana kids books
I would heavily dissuade you from that thought. By stunting your ability to read you will not be able to interface with signage, manga, internet posts/forums/comments, learning material for natives or written by natives who don't know english, menus, computer interfaces, etc. Essentially you won't be able to read. Ask yourself what you're really gonna do with the hours of study because if you want to just visit japan you can get by with relatively nothing. If you're gonna be having decent conversations with natives you're going to be interfacing with the culture or environment a little more in some way no? I promise you your brain and everyone else's has the ability to pick up kanji much more strongly than it seems. I especially take umbrage with the fella above me pointing out illiteracy in centuries past. We don't live in the same world anymore, and the japanese in particular have streamlined any way to avoid talking to people if possible. Some people there live their life through vending machines, convenience stores, and restaurants with tablets and automated serving processes by now. And just by the way, back when the USA was especially up in japan's face occupying this and that there was concern over the the use of kanji and talk of dropping kanji and revamping the writing system. They tested literacy and found out they were totally cracked with it. I don't remember the percentage but even today they lead the world in literacy rates. There's no reason to be afraid of kanji. If you're serious about the language you will have to read it. Otherwise just learn sumimasen and arigato gozaimasu and use that to travel.
This does explain why in spite of how much I've learned over the past 5-6 years I'm still not content and keep going. The abyss fully has it's grip on me. Help.
Wish I had the answers 😭
As someone who's been learning Dutch, French, and Japanese for the past few years, it's true that learning germanic and romance languages takes less time and faster acquisition, but I feel like knowing Japanese has more practical value. English is the lingua franca of Europe, so most places in Europe will be able to accommodate english speakers, in fact if they sense you're not a fluent speaker, they'll switch to English, which gives you less opportunity to practice the language. Whereas in Japan, on average there's far less people who are able to speak English to a conversational level. Being able to speak Japanese in Japan has helped me far greater than being able to speak French/Dutch in France and in The Netherlands.
Yeah that's true and honestly I think it's sad that English became like that. That's why I like being in Japan, their culture still revolves around their language and while English is kinda being forced into it, it's much less than those counties so far.
thanks for the comment, u made some good points !
Funny thing it goes both ways, Japanese is one of the hardest languages to learn for native English speakers, and English is one of the hardest languages to learn for native Japanese speakers, for mostly the same reasons (very big grammatical and cultural differences). Japan has consistantly scored among the lowest in Asia on standarized English tests.
Been studying Japanese for over a year now. I'm 34 with 2 kids and very little free time. If I can go back I would definitely not do Japanese. By far the hardest thing I've done is try to learn this language. But now I'm at a point where it's like, I'm in too deep. I do love seeing my progress and mostly have fun while studying.
Great Video, good luck with this TH-cam path. I'll be checking in for more !
yep haha at some point the sunk cost fallacy takes over and you just gotta keep going
best of luck with japanese while raising kids though, i can barely do it in college so kudos for that. thanks for dropping a comment and glad to see you'll stick around !
¿Do you find work in japan as a foreinger? I'm studying japanese for getting a japanese scholarship in a few years and i dont know how if im going to find a job in there or if its a better way to learn more of the language living and studying there.
it's much harder to get a job if you go for the same thing that japanese people do. you have to specialize in being a foreigner otherwise they'll just take a japanese person that can do it better because they're more familiar with the language and culture. that's why teaching jobs are so common, or just any general manual labor job is common with foreigners. convenient stores are pretty accepting as well though
@@BecomeAnything. Thank you for the advice man, ¿do you think this could change in a few years with the decreasing population problem?
@@guillermodobler6031 who knows because at that point there's also AI to worry about with jobs
@@BecomeAnything. Of course, that's not good for me either, and have you ever had to negotiate by showing that you know Japanese to get them to let you rent or do something?
i love japanese 💛
honestly i dont regret starting on japanese almost 4 years ago. its the only language i find interesting, fascinating even. i feel like my time is well spent whenever i study or immerse myself
really i dont think japanese is that hard to learn, just time consuming. theres so much material (anime, manga, games, etc), im definitely not running out of content to get immersed in
living in japan or communicating with its people isnt really my goal, i just like what theyre producing, and thats fine by me
my opinion? try it, maybe youll love it. especially if its on your mind often or if it ignites some sort of spark in your brain. and if you give up? try again maybe. i gave up on japanese at least twice before finally committing
of course you dont have to bother if you don't want to, that's a viable option too 👍
anyone can learn a language ✌️
real spill
After watching this video I am even more willing to learn it and I am learning it every day bit by bit! Just want to make sure, you said that you could learn only 30% of native japanese speaker, but you meant in those 2 years am I correct? There is a way to surpass even that, there has to be right?
I just mean by N1 level it's approximately 30% of the vocabulary and language skill a native would know. but then again, languages aint math so don't take it too literally, it's mainly just to show that even the highest score on JLPT isn't that good haha
glad to see your motivated though, i believe in you if nothing else!
I just have a question. I am a korean american and while i can barely speak it, i have been exposed to it as a child and have a basic fundemental understanding of the language (I can hear and understand basic conversations). I was wondering if you knew whether that would be of any assistance in my learning of japanese since I really want to learn the langauge
yeah honestly I'd just move onto learning as many words as possible. the foundation is just a matter of being able to learn a new word so if you can do that then you're pretty set
You have high school energy in the way you think about things, you really reminded me of people I knew back then.
I have some advice, it seems like you've been passionate about studying Japanese. A better way than studying a language is to acquire it. Other people talk more about this on TH-cam if you're interested. Like you correctly identified that studying kanji readings isn't the optimal way to learn, but rather learning words.
Secondly, learn the framework to put words into. People use their preexisting frameworks from their native language and put foreign words into them and it leads to problems. When 文法 rhymes with うんこ in your mind it's not a good sign. Unless you meant 運行. Learn building blocks of Japanese, kana rhythm: th-cam.com/video/J_HLY0Rss-g/w-d-xo.html and pitch accent: th-cam.com/video/K8E-cU19PMsU/w-d-xo.html19PMs Good luck.
wow please call me anything but a high schooler this is the worst hate comment ive ever gotten
anyway this video honestly doesnt represent my japanese journey. you actually gave very good advice, especially acquisition vs learning and pitch accent and mora. this video is just a play on how long it takes to "traditionally learn" japanese, the way ive gone about learning japanese is not represented in this video at all. i havent even spoken the language more than a few times lol i just stay quiet and ajatt with flashcards
like i said tho, good advice just please dont ever say the word "high school energy" in this comment section again lmao
As a Spanish speaker, French is way harder to pronounce than Japanese. Spanish and Japanese share similar pronunciations. The A, I, U, E, O vowels are pronounced the same. So are the Rs and Ts. While it’s harder for me to learn Japanese grammar than French (and also understand), I find I can speak Japanese more fluently and with much less of an accent than French. Strange, isn’t it?
yeah i learned spanish a while back and the pronunciation for japanese came easy to me since i was familiar. it is strange how that works
@@BecomeAnything. Yup, ha! 😁👍
I don’t know how long to say I’ve been learning I’ve been off and on learning Japanese for 3 years but after that 3 years I stopped completely for 2 years and started again and am taking it very seriously I’ve passed n4 in a month in a half so would it be accurate to say I’ve been learning for a month and a half seeing how when I was studying on and off I couldn’t even read a babies book
thats faster than average actually
Not only is Japanese considered by the FSI a very difficult category V language, it gets an asterik, denoting "a language that's more difficult for native English speakers than other languages in its category". So more like category V+.
oh hell na
There is actually no such thing as category V. It's a myth that spread widely on sites claiming to quote the FSI for some reason, but if you look carefully at FSI primary sources you will see that category V has never existed.
When you look at the abyss, abyss looks back at you. 😂
I am not discouraged x) I see it as a fun and rewarding thing to do. I speak french and english currently and learned a lot through my english learning journey about how to go about learning a new language. Also im skipping kanjis because f.. that aint nobody got time for that x) im not planning to live in japan, my life is in quebec. I just want to be able to interact with and understand japanese people. Also im recently single, live far from families and friends because of work so i have a lot of time to spare. I got nothing to lose and i dont need to improve my job situation so like :p
hell yeah, that's what it's all about. it really is fun though, ive learned some french and spanish before but japanese is just different, something about the way it sounds and looks makes it a blast to learn. hope you keep up your studies!
everyone should view learning as a journey so that they appreciate the ups and downs of it.
well said
I'm only a year in, but this is such a vibe. This is the language I want to learn though. Hoping to make the move one day myself 🙌
yeah man hope to see you here one day! sounds like you got the right mindset to learn the language so you should go for it, once you move here it'll be so rewarding being able to understand what's around you
@@BecomeAnything. First visit is going to be in a couple weeks actually! Looking to get some serious language immersion in.
@@mdb39602 Brooo that's so exciting I hope you have a blast, the nightlife here is next level so you'll find some ppl to chat with for sure
I'm thankful for this video. But yeah, I can't give up. I'm gonna live there sooo...yeah....
don't give up then you got this
I am learning it because when I visit next year, I want to be immersed as much as possible, so I guess N3 level, but I know that is a bad measuring stick for proficiency, as my nihongo sensei tells me at least.
yeah but if you are able to pass an N3 practice test you're probably gonna be able to get around. its definitely not a good measurement for general proficiency but its something at least lol
giving up on the right time is honestly the best you can do when learning languages…I spent two years in Russian with zero improvement and I understand the feeling of the time wasted without moving a bit…i felt the most freedom in my life when I dumped the Russian mess…I’m intermediate in Spanish now after six months!!…
Haha yeah. Thats the thing is a lot of people criticize us for taking this stance, but we are really trying to say that if you are not serious about learning a language for many many years very seriously it would better for 90% of people to just stop while you are ahead because you will just come out of it with little to nothing as brutal as that sounds.
Another absolute BANGER
hell ya glad you enjoyed imma keep them coming
i realy love your personality and i am on n5 :D/:( LOL
KEEP going big bro :D/
aw this the nicest comment I've gotten thank you so much
Keep pushing through, just don't let yourself stop and I promise you'll get good !
Good video brother
appreciate it !
Really nice video, I didn't know it was that difficult. I mean, I just learned some of it for fun and was thinking about diving in. Kanji learning looks painful.
If not for the adoption of english in europe, I would definitely prefer learning 3 or 4 european languages instead of japanese, but, at the moment, I would rather learn japanese for watching anime or enjoing my holidays in japan than learn french or german for...what? Yeah they're fascinating and super cool languages, but I wouldn't really have a use case for them unless someday I decide to move there (which I doubt).
you should def learn the basics, the hardest part is just keeping up every day and being willing to put in the time if you choose to study rather than immerse. If you have a strong enough reason that's all it takes to push through and keep it up
10:34 a little edit mistake hehe.
Dude I’m loving your videos man keep it up 🔥🔥
I was hoping nobody would notice dang it
@@BecomeAnything. do you have a insta I can follow?
Hey, I just gotta ask this really quick... Are you by any chance of Finnish and or Scandinavian descent?
no clue haha
@@BecomeAnything. lol The ONLY reason I ask is because I am from a part of the United States that has A LOT of people who are of Finnish descent and for SOME reason you seem to talk like them an slightly look like them. Anyhow, haha carry on.
I am where you are, finishing up with N2, having learned a ton of kanji and still struggling at times. It's a tough pursuit for sure. But at the same time it is rewarding. I think too often people lose sight of the goal and get lost in the process. You can burn out fast on SRS. You can kill yourself trying to study, study, study. But once you reach this level it's totally possible to consume and enjoy content where you're still learning but actually having a good time. So that's what I've been focusing on. Reading books, watching movies, anime. It's a good place to be. Yeah it takes time, but to compare it with having accomplished other tasks isn't quite right. Although I totally get the insanity and doubt you feel lol
yea i think I'm just losing my grip on reality ngl i got way too many anki cards
@@BecomeAnything. Anki cards are like your dbz power level
MOST TRUE COMMENT I HAVE EVER GOTTEN LMAO
I wonder how many hours Japanese speakers have to put in to become fluent in English? 🤔
probably the same if not more
@@BecomeAnything.Bro English is the easiest language
@@hayabusa1329English is extremely difficult for Japanese speakers. That’s why very few speak English despite loving American culture.
Idk why but this video motivated me even more to keep studying japanese.
that was the goal, get the most determined to be motivated. best of luck !
I'm with you :)
THANK YOU
Mastering Japanese was so much easier back in the day when we only had to learn 1945 kanji. (Sarcasm intended) But seriously, I learned the meaning of the kanji and more importantly learned the components of the kanji first -- before studying Japanese (there was some overlap) and it took me 2 years living in Japan (and working) to get to N1 level. But N1 level is far from "mastering Japanese" I've learned way more AFTER passing the JLPT than I needed to know to pass N1. I agree with you that it takes a lot of time to get proficient in Japanese, but knowing kanji makes gaining vocabulary so much easier -- the first time I saw the word 糖尿病 I knew what it meant because I knew the kanji, even though I had never seen the word before (and at that time I didn't even know how it was pronounced). But again, if I could have all the time I've spent on learning Japanese and use it for learning Python or Web development or real estate or whatever, how different life would be. But, knowing Japanese is really really useful if you live in Japan -- both for convenience, for making your life richer, and for social reasons. If you don't live in Japan or have some very personal reason for learning it, I agree that spending that time is probably not worth it.
Deciding what to study next was always the hardest part of Japanese. Studying kanji meant I didn't make progress on grammar. Studying grammar meant my conversation skills weren't improving much. Besides front-loading my studying with learning the (English) meaning of kanji, generally following the JLPT curriculum seemed to work for me, and of course living in Japan I took all opportunities I could to hang out with Japanese people and use Japanese. If you just study but don't use it, it's like reading a book about playing tennis but never actually playing games. Of course you're not going to get good doing that.
Kanji are of course complicated, but there's a lot more logic to them than you would think. First grade kanji have a lot of "pictographs" 火 fire 日 sun 水 water (even though the "pictures" don't really look like the thing). But more complicated kanji usually have a reading and meaning component (for onyomi only). Yeah, it's complicated, but knowing the system makes it much easier than just trying to remember 2000+ kanji without systematic knowledge. Who would try to learn to read words without first learning the alphabet??
that's stupid to say there's 75,000 kanji. The hardest Japanese test (for Japanese language professionals, native speakers) has 6600 kanji on it (Kanji Kentei) and 99% of Japanese would never pass it. 99.99%. I think smart native speakers can read 3000 or a few more kanji, and if you know the systematic rules I pointed out, you can often read kanji you've never seen before. 鮟鱇 for example. never seen it? No problem. Maybe you can't write it, but you can read it and understand it even if you've never seen it.
Only 2-3 hours per day??? But going and hanging out with Japanese people for 2-3 hours a day in addition to studying with textbooks or apps or whatever for 2-3 hours a day would probably more than double your progress. If you live in Japan and want to get good at Japanese you definitely should do both.
Your point that the time spent learning Japanese could be better spent on doing other things is well taken. As someone who has spent decades learning Japanese (while living here), I often think of what else I could have done with the time. I think for someone who really wants to be in Japan though, you could get very close to N1 and know 2000 kanji in 2 years, and have a good time doing it, and have a great sense of accomplishment. I don't know if N1 is 30% of what a native speaker knows, but I do know that it is nowhere close to what native speakers know. But it could be enough to make life in Japan convenient and fulfilling -- but not enough to work on equal footing with Japanese people in a Japanese company (but the pay sucks, so probably not what you should be shooting for anyway). Maybe a way to put it is to say: be aware of the size of your investment (your time) compared with what your returns are (the level of Japanese you achieve), which will be far from native.
For you, if you want to live here longterm, I'd say keep studying. If you don't, I'd say cut your losses and find a way out sooner rather than later. Time is limited, as you point out.
Good luck with your studies, and I hope you make the right choices and can be at peace with them. No matter what you do, you may find yourself second-guessing your decisions in the past, but all you can do is act in the present. Nice video.
Hello! (This is Bjorn here the camera man)
I have been learning Japanese for around 2 years and I agree with most of your points. I actually study a lot more than Corf does even since he gave up a bit recently. I closely follow and advocate for the MIA/Ajatt method. For it's adoption of Steven Krashen's "Comprehensible input hypothesis". As for your point about kanji being essential to easier creating a path to learn words I 100% agree with. Kanji is not something to fear, but its a tool that should be used to create ease for learning the rest of the language. For this reason kanji I have made my focus for a long time at the start and it paid off a lot because I can understand almost all 2200 essential kanji. Also since my approach is MIA I do a lot of watching content and create around 15 sentence cards a day. (Currently at 5k cards, but also know over 10k words.) Also Ajatt with MP3 etc. But STILL no where near native or even at a level where I can understand everything easily. Something language learning has taught me is that in order to become a master you need to enjoy the journey and not get so focused at the end. Because there is never truly an end. The #1 way to win is to not quit and be smart about the way you learn, not so much about how much you read textbooks and if you decide to study for 10 hours a day on a random weekend to "grind it out" like a lot of people try and do.
Anyways thanks for the comment, since Japanese is still a major goal in my life I liked reading what you had to say ^^
I’m currently 13 might start learning Japanese early since I wanna move to Japan when I’m older because it’s pretty boring in my area. Is there any good resources you recommend since learning languages is easier from the help of the internet?
alright I wanted to start at 13 too so imma give you the secret sauce
if you're willing to pay, use wanikani for kanji. it'll take you about 1-2 years of doing it every day to know every kanji but from there it's smooth sailing. it is extremely painful but very good start
if you don't wanna pay there's free anki decks that do the same thing
@@BecomeAnything. thanks bro
Welp guess I can't stop now. I understood half of the Japanese in this video :(
But hey, I have no life plans to go to Japan one day yet I'm on this silly journey. If you make it past the discouragement with little thought of doubt, then you know it's right to decide to continue.
keep going ! You are in too deep now
Its not about the end goal, but the journey and friends we make along the way 🤟
Hell ya that's what it's all about! 🤸
no matter how much u learn japanese ,no matter how much you are good at it ,they wont feel that u r one of us ,and this is the reason i lost my enthusiasm in learning japanese ,am living in japan for almost 5 yrs but still didnt cleared jlpt n2 ,you are right about the jlpt test its weird , i would pass if the test had interview instead of dokkai
yeah it sucks knowing there's always going to be a wall no matter how much history culture and language you know. you may just have to look at it from a different perspective if you still have the drive for learning japanese, the way I started to see it, not being japanese means i don't have to try to act the same as everybody else and i can use that to be more expressive in the language.
but yeah that's been demotivating for me in the past as well, and ive only been here 2 years haha. best of luck on your journey!
ive been thinking abt learning this language for a while, because eventually i want to visit Japan, maybe frequently if i ever can, i wanna be somewhat fluent by the time im around 20-22 (im 18 as of now)
but idk where or how to start :( i try to be consistent with the things i learn nowadays (mainly instruments) but i want to also learn this language for sure, i just need a little help 🥲
also this channel deserves to be bigger
just start with whatever you're willing to do. some options are textbooks, anki flashcards, learning apps (I recommend migaku or wanikani if you're willing to pay), or even youtube videos. as long as you're willing to show up every day to learn something new until you get a solid foundation, as long as you're getting exposure to the language there's no way to go wrong really
@@BecomeAnything. Thank you so much 🤧
@@BecomeAnything. also one last thing, its not that important how much time i put in a day right? i have free time but i dont want to overwhelm myself
damn his voice.. kawaiii
is hiragana nd katakana enough for living in japan or we need to learn kanji 😅
I am secretly an anime girl voice actor
and no, katakana will get you like 20% there because of loan words but the other 80% requires kanji haha
@@BecomeAnything. Damn so we still need to learn kanji to talk to strangers 😭
Honestly I'm content with learning just enough to stumble through ordering food at restaurants
that's where it's all at
From what I have seen you need to do learn and use properly about 20K words but honestly now with all the tools created to streamline the process it pretty easy and you have endless amount of content with a VPN and streaming. It is easy but time consuming but it still better than having to put up with terrible subtitles. Also Musk predictions are off by double or triple the amount of time. I would also mention that Pokemon is a great way to learn kana since they have spaces.
yeah 20k words is about where im planning on stopping, and there's a lot of big tools in the making right now making language learning exciting
@@BecomeAnything. I am going to be in the three year mark by the time I go to Japan in late September for 2 months so I hope I at least I will sound legible good luck to you and your channel.
Who would have thought that syd barrett was in japan all this time
goddamn it 😭
he died exactly a year after I was born so maybe im his reincarnated form ?
To be honest, effectively learning 2200 kanji in a year is motivational, not discouraging. If I thought it was possible, I would reconsider learning kanji.
yep never be afraid to push the boundaries either !
12:25 After 462 hours learning Spanish, you would most likely be at a workable but basic level, not a "very advanced level", and you would probably feel the same frustration with your Spanish level as you describe for your level in Japanese. There are no easy languages to learn, just hard ones and harder ones.
Facts
@@BecomeAnything.
Well not me cause I speak portuguese and I understand already most of the things that they say