Hey, I just saw this video and thought it was good. Studying Japanese does require "studying" before just input. That's probably the most efficient way by far. I don't know how I would have gone about learning Japanese without reading the instruction manual first. The reason I tell Japanese people just to immerse is not because I think Just immersing is the best method, but because they study English from elementary school till high school and never actually immerse with real input. Your video made sense of why I think people studying Japanese should study more than Japanese people studying English (because Japanese people have already studied tons of English).
Nick has a great point here. Most of the native Japanese people I know have more than enough of an English base to "just immerse". Even by the time they're in high school. And to add to this, if we're talking about young children, "just immerse" is probably the ONLY way you're going to get them into a language. I tutored a 5 year old Japanese child back in the day who was ONLY allowed to watch English TV and play English video games. He wasn't allowed to do either in Japanese. His English was AMAZING. It should be noted that he lost most of that ability in elementary school due to lack of interest/embarrassment at being "different". But it was still very impressive.
@@ToKiniAndy PLEASE help! ive been using your videos and things to get grammar and other things down, but i cant find a solid place to study adjectives and verbs for completely free! i recently went over genki with one of your videos, and it helped a whole lot. so today, i thought i would practice building sentences, but the SAME PROBLEM happens- i need a free way to learn adjectives, nouns, and verbs! do you have any recommendations there that are free?
Yes, my sister has been watching anime and played games in Japanese a long time. She still can't speak Japanese although she can understand several phrases and can read Katakana really well from seeing character names in games. Definitely some degree of formal and structured study is needed.
I was able to master all grammar points up to N3 within 2 years of daily 1-2 hours of actual study; I spent the rest of my time watching Japanese TV/ movies/ dramas. I'm now approaching my 5 year mark and gearing up to take the N1 test this winter. I know around 11-12k words now but the grammar points just keep getting more difficult. Difficulty comes in the form of it not being used too frequently and therefore it's easy to forget. I have never lived in Japan, I have 0 Japanese friends, this was all done in my room as a hobby while I finish up my engineering degree.
@g_rr_tt wow congratulation i learning since 3months every day about an 30min -1hour and i see its not enough for making fast progress but better slowly and steady i guess. Did you try voice chatting or something like this?
I love the "immerse" idea. I just need to learn enough that I can actually understand anything being said. Otherwise, it doesn't seem so different from random noise.
Whilst I completely understand what you're saying. I do think that even if it's just "random noise" you are still listening, your brain is still trying to understand or hold that information in. So whilst you might not be able to understand anything, you might subconsciously pick up a word or two here and there, or remember how a certain word is pronounced, so it does absolutely have some benefits. As long as your brain is "on" in the sense that you're not heavily distracted by something else, then just listening to a TV series/podcast/video/music/whatever is quite beneficial.
I just came back from my dream vacation from Japan for two weeks. I've been trying to study on and off for about a year solid and I will say that I already knew 3x more than I ever thought I needed. Sure, there are other scenarios (like working there, watching anime, etc.), but I got through the entire trip on very few words including buying groceries, food, and making others laugh with a couple of jokes. They were SO appreciative of my knowing ANY amount of Japanese and I even got a Nihongo Jiozu by an old taxi driver in my very first few hours. I was so happy and grateful to everyone I met and it boosted my confidence for the entire trip. TLDR: No matter what your level is, don't think you're not doing well. Any input and learning is one step closer to your goal. Always try your best and I assure you that you'll succeed!
"Always try your best and I assure you that you'll succeed!" I get where you're going for from this, but I find the idea "Anything worth doing is worth doing badly" useful. By which I mean: that just because you're not capable/willing to do everything you want to on a day doesn't mean it's not worth doing to a lower level. A lot of people (myself included) get caught up in perfectionism because we don't see our work on a given day as being "our best" and the idea of being allowed to do something to a level that isn't "our best" is revolutionary.
Thank you for this comment, I am planning on going to Japan in one year and I am so nervous that I won't be able to learn enough Japanese. This makes me a feel a little better!
@@tree_anna Don’t worry, I went just a few weeks ago and pretty much only knew “daijobu,” “arigato”, the super basics, and it was fine lol. Especially if you’re in Tokyo, it’ll be a real challenge to find someone who only speaks Japanese there lol. Of course I would recommend knowing as much Japanese as possible before going there, I wish I did, but it usually isn’t necessary for a holiday.
This is my 30th month of studying Japanese ~1 hour/day and I'm just starting to be able to read NHK Easy and Satori Reader without having to look up the words every 3-4 sentences and I'm just now realising that it's not really the lack of time or effort that's been stopping me - I've just been learning the wrong stuff. For over 2 years, I've been mostly just memorizing kanji and words while doing some Duolingo lessons on the side, but whenever I actually wanted to read or listen to any Japanese I could barely understand anything. A few months ago I decided to watch Andy's Genki playlist to try improving my grammar a bit and it suddenly felt like someone opened a floodgate - now I'm able to understand around half of what I'm hearing and most of what I'm reading, the particles have stopped blending with the words and recalling the meanings of everything became so much easier, since now I can understand the context of the surrounding sentence. So, dear reader - if you're like me and you don't see much results despite pouring a ton of hours into learning Japanese, maybe take a step back and make sure you're touching all the bases and diversifying your learning methods instead of hyperfixating on just one or two aspects.
This is just what i needed to hear seriously thank you. I also started with Duolingo and Busuu about a year ago. Now I've been touching grammer through other sources on occasion while absolutely blasting kanji with Wanikani for a few months now. It's cool to recognize so many new words that i see in passing from reading or hear in anime, but it currently still feels like the particles and words are just indistinguishable most of the time right now. I haven't been able to figure out where i should put more effort otherwise.
@@izmypockyI don't know what your resources are like, but if you can make audio flashcards that will probably level up your whole game. It did for me, like MASSIVELY Omg.
Around 9 month in. My kanji is around n4ish, but my vocab and grammar is laughble at best. same with my speaking (i strugle with making the sentence), and my hearing, but my reading is quite decent
Very solid information in this video! I definitely appreciate you pointing out that even the most ardent "Immersion-only" people likely did not get where they are solely via immersion, it's one of my pet peeves with the Japanese learning space online.
Yeah, I guess people feel like it's better for their "brand" to lie and say they JUST immersed. But in the end I think it's counter-productive and ruins the trust people had when they find out the truth. But alas, people will be people. Thanks for watching! 😊
@@ToKiniAndy the reason their slogan isn't "immerse and study" is because if they said that, then people will think that studying is just as important as immersing, and then whenever they have the chance to immerse, they'll just delay it and study instead, and that will lead them to studying lots and immersing none. Which, btw, is the opposite of our goal, immersing lots and studying a little.
Can you point to some prominent examples of TH-camrs saying they "JUST" immersed? Because ironically it seems this channel and yall are overinflating the issue...I haven't found a single resource, guide, internet persona, etc saying to only immerse. Everyone recommends grammar study on the side, everyone recommends using anki.
I have been “trying” to learn Japanese for about 5 years, which mostly means I’ve had several times over the years where I’ve started, spent 2-3 weeks of 2-3 hours a day, then completely burned out, stopped studying entirely, and forgot everything. ADHD man… My new schedule is 30 minutes a day. It’s not much, but it’s reasonable, achievable, and most importantly I’ve only missed 3 days in the last 60. Id like to reach an N5 level by the end of my first year, which means I’ll need to pick up more later, but for now slow and steady wins the race.
same situation here (minus the ADHD). After about 3 years I'm on attempt number 4. But every time I restart it goes way faster than last time. The amount of progress I've made in 2 weeks took me about 3 months on my first attempt. The foundational knowledge really does stick with you.
i also have been "trying" for like 6 years. i was somewhere on akin to n5 level on 22nd of january i have downloaded anki deck (jlab beginner guide) w anime and dorama audio bits, grammar explanation (tho i dont really read into it, i afterwards go to tae kims guide). the guy who made the deck said that there around 800 words i think? which is not enough at all so i also use some renshuu while watching smth haha i almost finished the deck, i studied with it for an hour a day, and i understand some japanese videos with basic speech pretty well i think. i should watch more vids at this point, keep repeating hard cards on the deck and im pretty sure i will get to my goal at the end of march, which is to be able to listen to japanese with a bit or no concentration. i dont go for speaking bc i learned to speak english w/o trying lmao, it took me a while though, a year or half a year maybe? didnt try speaking much for most of my english understanding life
I've been trying for a while too. No ADHD but I do have executive dysfunction. For the last week I've been studying an hour+ a day just reviewing. I'll hopefully do the same next week before moving on to new content.
LOL MvJ said he only "watched anime" but on a new interview video he ended up saying he studied a lot of grammar, pitch accent, etc for a long time because he didn't knew anything it because he "just immersed".
I'm finally being able to Immerse a little, but this conveyed my feelings about all the trolls yelling Immerse. I'd try it and get frustrated because I understood so little, then I look words up, get told I shouldn't by the same trolls. I just doubled down on the "Boring" vocab, Kanji, and sentences until I felt ready and finally reading is a bit more fun. I will note, studying grammar. Personally I've found studying sentences where I know all the vocab with just one new grammar point feels like the best to me. Studying grammar points directly out of context feels a lot harder than kanji or vocab. So if anyone is struggling with that like me, get a sentence you know everything else with a translation.
I agree that studying vocab AND grammar within the context of sentences or paragraphs is FAR better than studying them on their own out of context. =) Glad I was able to put your feeling into words. 😊
I'm someone who doesn't really like to set specific goals for myself when it comes to learning, because I don't really want the pressure and potential disappointment that comes from failing. I started learning Japanese maybe two months ago and I've stuck with 15-25 minutes of Kanji and 45 minutes of vocab/grammar per day. That's light enough that I have been able to stick with it and make it a habit. I don't really care what level of skill I'm at X amount of time from now, because at the end of the day I'm improving myself and that's good enough for me. Thank you for all your videos, they have been very helpful!
As long as you know kana well before you move on one hour is fine for starters you will find it will be easier to study longer when you can comprehend more of the vocab.
The points you make are very important, especially in regards to immersion. Having that base of knowledge makes immersion so much more efficient and meaningful (and therefore potentially more fun). Without it it's very easy to get super frustrated and burn out. Speaking from experience there.
Yes, some people are a bit misleading about what they've done. I fully expect they also claim they woke up with their hair like that, too. Instagram ready, that is.
I think the best way for a non Japanese speaker to learn Kanji is through meaning inside words. For example 明日 (ashita->tomorrow) means 明るい日 (akarui hi-> a bright day, an encouraging day) because we expect the best for the next day of our lives 😁
it could work but learning from word for word translation is actually extremely tedious in my opinion it can actually seriously burn out the person too
etymologically, 明 means tomorrow on its own because it's the day followed by one round of the sun and moon. 日 (day) would be the redundant part, technically.
I have been going through WaniKani for awhile now. According to the site, I have learned 883 vocabulary and 290 Kanji. I am far from done, but I feel like I have something of a foundation to work off of. Grammar is where I am weak, so I am going through Tae Kim's Grammar Guide. Once I am finished, I will try reading a manga with Furigana for the first time with reference resources at hand. Looking forward to it!
You are the ONLY one on TH-cam who REALLY and SMARTLY answered those questions. I speak french english spanish german and arabic. And started russian, japanese chinese and korean chinese helped me learn japanese kanji and japanese did the sane for traditional chinese korean and japanese have similar grammar rules and so on.. Studying and commitment are the only things that work. And because I am a mother of 3, i have only 2/3 hours a week per language So when I hear fulltime Students struggling just wanna tell them, shut your phones and STUDY 😅 Japanese is easy to understand by listening BUT the kanji is really challenging. Good luck for ALL
I've been studying for 6 months using Genki and having once weekly evening classes. I also have speaking sessions every week (I try and have 2 x 30m weekly) and try to study 90 minutes 6-7 days a week. I'm starting to get somewhere and am loving it! We do one Genki lesson per month which is a reasonably mild pace (good for people who have to work during the day). I am looking to maybe get a 1 on 1 tutor to speed things up a bit over the summer months. Great Language to learn! I find it is a challenge but not as amazingly hard as some people say - the tricky bit is the very different sentence structure to English and the levels of politeness. Also, don't try to rush things - there is so much to learn you can easily burn yourself out and give up, but sticking with it in the long run is fun and i can see it paying off.
It sounds like you're steadily moving forward, which is excellent! I agree that there is no need to rush! For a large amount of people, rushing just takes the joy out of it anyway! 😊 I wish you luck with your 1 on 1 tutor!
I can teach you if you want . I did my genki 1 and 2 2 years ago and I have already completed my JLPT n3 (currently studying for n2) I started learning Japanese in 2021 so I think my progress is good since I am a college student right now aswell but yeah if you want then I can tutor you
Thank you, Andy. I want to see myself as a person who is dedicated to studying, but I feel like every so often I need another reminder that I have to really make sacrifices if I want to make progress.
Great video Andy! I like your response to "just immerse" type of people😂👍 It's the same when people say that living in the country automatically makes you fluent (or having husband/wife/bf/gf from that country). -Victor
I've been doing the blended approach that you recommend. I'm working through the Genki textbooks while using your online course and meeting with an italki tutor about once a week and doing anki everyday. During work, I listen to Japanese podcasts and youtube videos for the immersion approach for about 6-7 hours. TH-cam channels like yours, Japanese with Shun, Yuyu's Podcast, Real Japanese with Mika, Cure Dolly and anything I can find in Japanese I'll listen to. If I'm going to watch a movie at home I'll watch something that's in Japanese. I agree that the approach you recommend is the best. Thanks for recommending the free graded readers, I've been looking for something like that to practice reading. I love the channel and all the content, keep it up!
Just the discussion on the average hours to get to only N3 was enough to kick me into stepping up my study game. Thanks for giving the hard numbers and facts there, it motivated me
Ive been very casually learning for a while now but i always get a thrill when listening to Japanese and have words I understand jump out of the rest of the noise. It inspires me to keep learn more.
This is such a great, realistic look at what it actually takes to learn Japanese. Something that new learners need to seriously consider before taking the leap into Japanese. Really appreciate the word on Immersion as well. I know when i first started, early attempts at immersion we the most UNENJOYABLE times i had learning japanese. Even when id look up every word in every sentence i still wouldn't understand because of my lack of grammar! Now immersion is the most enjoyable. For me it was after about 2k vocab and after Genki 2 grammar that it started to feel enjoyable. Oh and btw, you can tell Andou that a new studio used the Paragon assets to make a remake called Predecessor. Its EA now but will be F2P at the end of the year. Definitely scratches that itch!
Thank you! I'm so glad to hear you're enjoying getting into immersion stuff now! It really is a joy being able to understand the "real" thing. 😊 And thanks for the tip on Predecessor! I had followed that for a while years ago, but I haven't looked in a long time! I'm glad to hear that it is coming together. I'm sure Ando-san will be psyched to give it a shot. 😉
I hit a wall in my studies, and felt like crap about it so I took the weekend off. I needed this video. Helped me put some realization back in my head. Time to hit it again!
I'm about seven months into studying Japanese, with weekly two hour online classes with a native speaker. We're working out of Japanese for Busy People. I think the key to study is to be gentle with myself, find forms of study that click with me, make a sustainable plan, and stick to it. For me, that's refining an Anki deck with JFBP vocabulary, key sentences, grammar examples, and *dictionary forms of verbs added*, which I review every day. Since our kanji study in class isn't sticking in my brain, I've been using WaniKani to learn kanji, and since I want to be able to write, Ringotan on my phone for writing practice. And I watch two episodes of anime a day while exercising on my indoor bike, or if I walk for exercise, I'm starting to listen to beginner podcasts in Japanese. I also watch various videos on TH-cam, including your excellent videos, Andy!
Hey, I know this is an old post and something that may be a bit of a dumb question. When just beginning, having absolutely no knowledge of the language, while watching an anime for example, do you start with the subtitles on and then try to slowly phase them out?
I'd already finished GENKI 1 (with help of your videos btw - fabulous) however I had to quit it for more than year. Now I'm back at it, and GOD DAMN my memory still serves a bit. I hope there are some new videos and stuff for me to sink my teeth into. Cheer man.
I've been following wanikani for about a year and a half and only just started properly on grammar, but my schedule unintentionally ended up like you recommend here. I do 30mins of wanikani before and after work, I listen to Citypop during work (probably doesn't help much) and dribble in some genki when I have a spare moment and then I am currently playing through the Yakuza series in the evenings.
Andy, you are the greatest teacher I have ever had. Thank you for giving us a realistic lens of the learning process of Japanese. I love your humor and jokes that you add into your content to keep everything interesting. I don't think people understand how much you are pouring into your videos and I'm continuously blown away. I love your learning framework, because it works for more than just Japanese learning. It works for all learning. Always appreciating your wisdom keep it up!
I managed to scrape by the N3 test after about a year. Really gotta second that remark about needing focused study to get a base before diving into input. Japanese-language media is great for running into a lot of words and grammar structures very quickly, much faster than a textbook chapter or blog post. But if you can barely parse a sentence, if you have to spend a lot of conscious effort on kanji recognition, pronunciation, sentence structure, inflection, context, and all that, juggling it in your limited working memory, you're not gonna learn very much from it!
Awesome video, I agree with you for the most part, I think the reason people say "just immerse" is not only because of disregard of regular study (which can be immensily beneficial), but more so because many people put off having fun in the language until they feel "ready" and this "readiness" will never come. I for example also started with textbooks and premade Anki decks, and still think it was the right choice, but now I am mostly immersing and looking up things along the way and adding it to my Anki deck and it's really fun. I am about between N3 and N2 level and I think most people at that level would not start immersing (at least I wouldn't if it wasn't for the huge immersion community pushing the idea of the importance of input), the thing is with N3 to N2, you understand most words when watching basic anime or reading manga, but a lot of the meaning still goes over your head, like there might be a 3 to 4 sentence streak where I understand 100% followed by 5 other sentences where I understand like 20% (I don't mean the words but overall meaning), it's still really fun though. but most people I know would shy away if they don't at least understand like 95%, so they keep forcing themselves to solely use textbooks and the like in the hope that they will reach this level, and that's why so many quit before reaching any significant level in my opinion.
I'm just now starting to learn japaneese and I have 2-4 hours a day to study I just don't know where to start or what tools to use. I'm just focusing on memorizing hiragana and katakana. Ok i just watched your video on what you would do differently learning japaneese and it was a BIG help. Thank you
The funny thing about your schedule is that I am currently doing the exact thing for vocab and kanji. At the beginning, I actually learned more grammar than vocab, which in hindsight might have been a bad idea, because little to no vocab means I can't use the grammar I have learned. Now that I'm learning vocab in fairly regular intervals, I'm starting to understand more and more thing without additional grammar. Of course eventually I should revisit the grammar section, so that I can communicate more and more complex ideas. The book "Remembering the Kanji" is definitely a great way for, well, remembering the kanji in an easy and orderly fashion. Weirdly enough, I kinda enjoy writing Kanjis from time to time. Makes me feel smart in a way. Still kinda amazed on how fluent I became in English without actively learning the language outside of school(german speaker here btw.) Ps. That sure was a good video, love the little tid bits where you speak to your alter ego, makes the video less stale.
I started learning Japanese in July for a first trip to Tokyo in mid-November. So I have 4 months to become fluent! Actually my target as ever, is to be a good tourist, as I am in a handful of languages. Of an age where I'm not into pop music or video games BUT I do know how to sit and read books! I'm enjoying Netflix content, though my listening comprehension (vocab) is very low at present, so each phrase or word recognised is a triumph. Anyway, most importantly, learning Japanese is a delightful way to spend time. Flash cards are a big help for learning Japanese characters. My old unused business cards have a new purpose. Thanks for the advice. I'm enjoying your channel, especially the Genki workthrough.
Ive been studying 3 months straight for minimum of an hour up to several hours if i habe it in my. I trird every resource i can get my hands on. If something clicks I rotate into my activities. Its so fun because stuff I'll hear in a game ill instantly recognize what theyre talking about. When 3 months ago it all sounded like nonsense. Dedication is the key!
The reason you need longer than half an hour is you will forget what you studied a year ago with such a slow rate. 3 hours is already a lot for working moms. One hour isn't bad at all. I don't see how you can separate kanji and vocab. Do them together for twice the power. But there are some words lacking kanji. I'm a very busy person, and I think anyone can do an hour per day. Don't be lazy! Also don't take that too hard. I do around 20 minutes on kanji and vocab, 20 minutes on grammar, and 20 minutes reading on the train. I add new vocab from the reading on my phone app. I study that list any time I have to wait somewhere. Unknown amount of time, if there's any left!, for watching music vids, etc., preferably with Japanese subtitles. Variety is the antidote to boredom.
I am learning Japanese and watched other videos as well but they were giving me nightmares that, learning Kanji isn't easy, it will be hard and it demotivated me but after watching you, I felt boosted and I will give my best to learn Japanese. Thank you for sharing.😀
As someone who's been extremely frustrated by my progress after three years, this video is invaluable. Thanks for the vid and for your other follow-along vids for the Genki textbook!
This has been such an encouraging video. Whenever I ask pros in anything how long it took them to get good at what they are, they always dismissively answer that it "just takes as long as it takes", instead of giving me a gave of whether I'm practicing/studying properly to be at the same level they are after the same amount of time it took them to get to their point. But this video alleviated a lot of my fears that I'm not at a level I should be at with japanese after several years of casual studying. It does feel better knowing that I'm at actually a pretty good level and could easily progress with more consistent dedication, rather than me just being stuck in an educational rut. Thanks for the video! :D
Thank you for this video. I have been studying Japanese for the past 5 years. I think my prime time was during pandemic. Those 2 years gave me a lot of time to study and improve. I had classes and such. However now with work and all I don’t have a lot of time. But I’m sure I can find 2 hours out of my day. I’m writing the JLPT N4 in December this year. 50 days left. I’m not really confident as I was for the N5 exam two years ago. But I want to give it my best!!
I’ve been learning Japanese for a few years now and I feel like I haven’t gotten very far. I took a bit of a break but have been working hard at it! I learned hiragana and katakana in a few days and I’m using wanikani and flash cards for kanji. It’s very difficult but I haven’t given up!
Finally, a realistic advice on learning Japanese. I'm not a regular here in your channel but since I got the guts to take N3 exam this July without my usual online classes, I found your channel (actually found again but that was few years ago 😅). Your N3 videos are actually my first guide on how I should self-study. Last month, I religiously watched the Quarter playlist every night after work. It was informative and fun, yet, I discovered that I had this 1 hr and 20 minutes attention span. Since some on the playlist are longer than that, I really need to resumed it by the next night. After that, I rewatched it but this time, I took notes on it and finished after it after a week. More or less, I finished those procedures by two weeks. Not sure if that slow but for me it's quite right. Totally agree with all you said here. From the learning time needed to be "fluent" in Japanese in 3 months which some of my acquaintances claimed to be possible 😅 which I don't quite believed in. Up to the immersion part which I havr quite integrating on my everyday life. For the immersion part, what I am doing are: - Listening to Japanese songs (this is the most consistent activity that I really enjoy doing) - Watching anime and Japanese shows (another enjoyable activity for me) - Study grammar and kanji after work (1- almost 2 hours depending on my energy and attention span) - Listening to podcasts and asmr (sometimes) - Watching TH-cam videos of Japanese seiyuu or game streamers (enjoyable but not an every day activity) - Have 会話 with a local Japanese every week Not sure if I am doing right but so far my main goal is to balance my "have fun while studying" the Japanese language.
@@southcoastinventors6583 Whoa! Great idea! Recently I’ve attempted the Hamasaki Ayumi song EVOLUTION at karaoke, and despite having listened to it for YEARS now, I couldn’t get through bits of it, as the language wasn’t clear (also, it’s *fast*). I’m going to try working up a translation to get more familiar with the song overall, and maybe attempt it again sometime soon!
Love this channel! Why didn’t I see this before? Been studying Japanese for one year now : Japanesepod101, Japanese for Busy People Level 1 (Romaji) and now just completing the same text in hiragana. Also like the Kana phone app. Broke my leg and had to cancel my upcoming trip to Japan, so will have some extra time on my hands. I have a Sensei who is helping me through the text, but I really think the missing piece is a conversation partner. Thanks for so many great learning tips!
I'm taking an upper level class this upcoming fall and need to brush up on many kanji and vocab this summer in preparation. This video has helped me to get motivated and a sense of what I need to do! ありがとうございます
Watched the video to find out I’m already doing the recommended schedule😅 glad to know I’m going something good with my time. 90 minutes of targeted study with about 90 minutes to 2 hours of immersion
This is fantastic advice. I did Remembering the Kanji first, then Genki. Now I'm starting to read manga and I only have one chapter left in Genki I. It's a bit of a struggle to immerse but I can still enjoy it at my current level.
I've been in Japan for 5 months now and I think I've masteted ありがとう. I'm currently taking a beginners class at the OCAT in Namba twice a week for a couple of months. I bought the Genki books to learn from as well. My issue is staying focused and not burning myself of by studing for hours at a time. I do use Duolingo for anywhere from 15 - 60 minutes everyday though.
Every one is different. But, I will say this, my comprehension and reading has accelerated immensely in the 2 months I have been using Satori reader. The key is to turn off all furigana, and to have it set to standard Japanese setting. Also, I listen to the chapter (without looking at it) before trying to read it.
This actually makes me feel a lot better. I'm coming up on my 2-year anniversary of studying Japanese last month, and it's getting me a little down that I'm not even N5 level yet. Close, but I'm not there yet. However I was also a glutton for punishment and started learning when I had a one-year-old to take care of, and now I'm about to add another kid to the mix. So for the past 2 years my time to study has been limited to an hour or less, and I haven't really found a good way at all to immerse with how little I know. Sure I can put on a podcast or something and just listen to the language, but mostly it feels like just gibberish and I don't feel like I'm actually gaining anything from it.
It's kind of amazing that you can study for an hour on ANY day when you have kids! So kudos there. Something that can help with "immersion" is perhaps like the free graded readers on the Tadoku website. They have audio for most or all of the stories. You can even get the OtoNavi app, which has all the audio for the Genki graded readers (although I don NOT recommend purchasing the books themselves). This can be a way to expose yourself to more Japanese which should actually be fairly understandable! Thank you for watching! 😊
@@ToKiniAndy Haha, it's true. 😂 I'm very lucky though in that my now 3 year old seems to want to learn too. Right now besides some basics (colors and numbers) she just mashes Japanese sounding syllables into made up words and tells me it means X or Y in Japanese, lol. Thank you so much for those resources! I will definitely be looking those up tonight. I'm really looking forward to your Kanji content too. Keep up the great work Andy (and everyone on your team). 💕
this was an amazing video and i'm really happy that i've already been doing this. its given me motivation to know that i am progressing well currently :)
Really great advice, thank you :) I am one of those people who took the "just do some anki and immerse" advice to heart in the beginning. I really wish I had studied grammar a bit more seriously at the start as I could have prevented some headaches when reading manga for the first time!
I did 2 years of Japanese language classes in college and we went through Genki I and II. Now 2 years since then I’ve lost a lot of it as I have only been half assing the core 6k vocab deck in Anki. Starting from graduation to now, I’ve been through 4,700 of those, but I remember like maybe 200 of them. I tried to read Nichijou and play Recollection in Japanese yesterday and could not understand anything at times and a bunch at others. I basically need to go refresh my grammar and vocab and go try reading and playing again
I learned conversational level Japanese in 5 and a half months through Anki flash AND Immersive input training. I'm by no means super fluent but I can both understand and speak Japanese at a decent Input/Output speed. I also have a decent vocabulary of common words and even rarely used words.
I've been studying japanese for about 8 months and as for now and I feel that inmersing the most important now. But the first months it wasn't since even for easy children books there were tons of vocab I didn't know. I still do Reviews using Jpdb and Anki and plan to do this for a long time. For grammar is VERY important to use guide, videos, or anything until you get to N4-N3 grammar points. I misregarded grammar initially and If I didn't the first step to inmersing would have been easier. For Kanji I don't study it at all, I learn words and only bothered to learn the radicals(not all of them). Because of this my kanji recognition is worse but I have more time to do anything else. About this I feel that studying kanji or not are completely valid options and either way is OK. As for inmersing I watch what I want and use JPDB premade decks to study the vocab I don't know (I still don't consume media that is too hard since I won't have fun that way) Now I'm pretty glad with my progress and I will continue to do this. I think this video is accurate and the amount of time studying is what really makes a big difference. This is only my experience and it may not suit to others, so please do your own research and study the way it works for you.
I'm so happy after watching this video, I can't thumbs up it enough. Hey, Andy, where can I send you 100 long-stemmed red roses? "I'm not ToKini Andy, and I approve this message!"
i’m in japan right now! i plan to actually immerse fully or almost fully (i still consume most of my daily guilty pleasure comforts in english), and bump up your schedule’s time frames from 30 mins to 1 hour or even 1 and a half hours. I’m already at N3 now, but I want to be an academic weapon. みんな、頑張って！
Amazing video. Really sets goals straight. My wife and I are planning to move to japan for some contractual careers. It’s extremely important to learn Japanese and I think it’s best to get small doses and fit in Japanese anywhere that I can even with calendars and things of that’s sort.
Fantastic stuff, Andy. The last mention about staying on a schedule, and being willing to chip away at it continuously is so very important, and such a gold nugget of information for anyone!
I've been going at it now for about 4-5 months with a combo of TokiniAndy/Wanikani/Bunpro - really not making a lot of Genki progress (lesson 4 after 4 months) but Wanikani and using Bunpro to get my vocab down for the Genki lessons is helping me get ahead of the curve a bit - I'll catch up on my grammar here in a few weeks
my journey started a month ago and to be honest, so far ive gotten comfortable with the hiragana alphabet where they dont look strange to me anymore but like letters. tht's pretty good I think but...the more I expose myself to immersion, the more im realizing I already know but just needs reinforcement. which makes me even angrier at myself for moving so slowly! which motivates me to do more. like you said I have days ehre I am lazy, but I will try to force myself as you recommend at least 15-20 mins and see if that makes me less angry with myself haha. thank you for your advice !
Hey there Andy, thanks for another great video! I'm currently preparing for the N2 this July wish I could have showed this video to myself a long long time ago when I first got interested in learning Japanese. For a little over a year now I have been studying Japanese every day at a language school here in Japan. Before I moved to Japan, I learned all of the N5 kanji and about half of the N4 kanji using WaniKani before starting Minna-no-nihongo 1 here in Kansai. In the US, I realistically only had time to learn kanji during the day, but knowing the kanji that I did before getting started in the textbooks was an amazing way to start my time as beginner student and if that's all you have time for, I agree that Kanji is a great place to start. After 9 months of mainly studying with textbooks while watching anime in my free time, maybe understanding 50% of it, I passed the N3 in December. Watching anime, reading graded readers, and spending as much time with the content outside of my 3 hour classes everyday made all the difference in my speed and comfort levels when taking the test. Almost exactly as you mentioned in the video, only after passing the N3 and grinding textbooks did I stumble into the immersion community and I found myself feeling as though immersion was becoming a more tangible and productive option for me as I prepare for the N2! It took some time, but I would not be able to sit down and watch anime without having to look things up constantly or just feel frustrated if it wasn't for the concerted effort I put in in the beginning making use of various textbooks, learning grammar and vocab, and studying Kanji literally everyday. For anyone interested, after over a year of studying Japanese (to at least some extent) every day, my routine now consists of going to class in the morning for three hours (which was way more productive during the N5 and N4), making sentence flashcards based on recommended grammar from the shinkanzen master grammar textbooks per my JLPT level, completing my wanikani reviews and anki flash cards (throughout the day), and then watching anime and shows as actively as possible and making anki sentence flashcards for words and phrases that I don't know or want to learn! I do have to work on top of this as well, but I think it goes to show how much you can fit in in a day if you're willing to put in the time! I think at the end of the day, as long as you are disciplined and actively spending time engaging with the language, even 5 minutes a day, that alone is えらい in itself! To all those who think they can't do it or simply don't have the drive or the time for that matter, it will indeed take time, but you don't have to do it all in 6 months. I think once I was okay with that idea, I was really able sink into getting started!
Congratulations on the N3 pass! I wish you luck as you go for N2. It sounds like you have a system down that will allow you to pass with flying colors. 😊 I hope that the methods you detailed can help someone who reads your comment in the future! I love your last few lines too. Accepting that it's going to take some time can really allow you to get down to business, and stop worrying about time frames and rushing to the finish. It's actually a really fun experience slowly unraveling a new language. It's like opening up the map on an open world game, slowly but surely, and seeing your progress. Thanks for watching, and for telling us about your experience. 😊
I'm an English-Portuguese speaker and along with your videos (and the videos of many other channels) and some android apps that comes with japanese dictionaries I managed to learn a lot haha... Started about 2 months ago and in the very first month i managed to learn to read all kanas. Since last week i boosted my study time to 3+ hours a day and i felt a huuuge impact on the amount of stuff in learning... just a little bit worried whether I'll be able to keep studying this much a day when i start going back to school lol Oh and by the way, I'm loooving your genki videos they're so good!
Thanks for this video! I've been studying on and off (mostly off) for about 5 years and looking to get back into it. I do, however, want to balance this with other activities and life. My physical health is very important to me as I age, so I know that I will struggle to sit at my desk for my 9-5 job and then spend another 1-2hrs sat at my desk afterwards studying. I need to find time to go for a walk or work out. I also live on my own so I have to do all the chores in the house, all the cooking etc. My social life is also very important to me so I'm not feeling isolated. It's a fine balance! But I don't have an hard aim with Japanese really, I don't intend on living in Japan or doing any JLPT tests. I'm just interested in the language and want to challenge my brain a bit, so I have less pressure on me to study. Maybe my aim is just being able to hold a simple conversation with someone or be able to read a children's book or something.
Thanks for putting this together! I've been learning Japanese on and off since 2019 and have hardly progressed because I begin to over think things like time management for learning/studying. I have started up again and have been using your videos. Thanks for all you do!
I've been using Cure Dolly's lessons on TH-cam for grammer + Anki to begin learning Japanese since the beginning of the year and while my constancy has been shakey and my time relatively limited (less then 2hrs of study a day) what I have learned so far has made my recent attempt to start immersing enjoyable compare to if I tried without even a little knowlage before.
I started learning Japanese in August for school, and this seems like something I would like to pursue! I spend some of my time on the weekends studying ahead of my class and I am always looking for tips n' tricks on how I can develop my speaking and reading skills. Unfortunately, I don't really practice my intonation much (or speaking in general) because I'm very conscientious about the way I sound, but I know I must get over this for the sake of my education! Also, it seems scary to me that if I only expose myself to Japanese material for only 30 minutes a day that it would take me over a year to learn N5 Japanese (although results vary per individual). Lastly, this is more of a question statement, but I waste a ton of my life on TikTok (due to ADHD) so if there is a way to personalize my feed to be Japanese orientated, at least I can waste my life in a somewhat useful way
I did a month long cultural exchange school in the north of Japan(Akita-ken) in February. Since Winter 2021, I've done some async remote JP courses at my local community college, only a couple hours a week(and your videos on Genki). That immersion was much more valuable and useful because I had put in the time in grammar and vocab (I'm bad at kanji). I had colleagues for whom this was their only exposure and let's say they didn't have as easy a time. Or knew obscure kanji but couldn't formulate "I eat." They were freaked out when told we had to give a speech at "graduation." I was excited for it as I'd had to give a oral presentation every term for the courses I was doing (and did for the course back home that I was talking while in Japan). Immersion from zero never worked for me. Flashcards are the quickest way to make my mind wander. I had the benefit of having learned another language before JP to pull in the techniques that do work. I appreciate that you aren't as prescriptive on things as other folks I've seen around these parts. There's a difference between this is what worked for the TH-camr through brute force, sheer will, and TIME vs this is the best route. Small request for Tokiandy.com : Can we possibly get all the graded readers as a single download? Either one massive PDF file or all of the files together in a zip? I've been on a slow travel ([US] trains and buses) kick lately and commuting into work more and I want to try to use the time for reading.
I found taking a college calendar and studying on days where class is in session, including summer and winter sessions is a great way to make solid progress while avoiding burnout.
I think that as long as you actually want to learn the language, you will be able to learn most of N5 stuff in a year or less. Duolingo and renshu is the basic combo I used in tandem with just writing and listening exercising. Duolingo is good for learning words (turn off romaji and LEARN HIRAGANA AND KATAKANA FIRST) and some kanji, but renshu is excellent at teaching grammar in an easy to understand format
I write and practice the language everyday while also watching TH-camrs like Sayaka and Let’s ask Shugo. I also listen to Japanese music and watch anime without subtitles. I also use doulingo but so far only for the basics and the kanji
i moved to Kochi in Shikoku in October. i'm a dependent, my wife is a JET and nobody wants to hire me due to my lack of Japanese (I was told i could at least work in the fields but no, they dont even want me there). I have really been struggling getting past the basics. I burnt myself out of Anki several times now, i have reconstructed my study schedule so many times that i spent a while just researching how to study because NOTHING STICKS. i am so frustrated, we really want to live here for the long haul and I have to learn N2 by the next 4 years or we go home. this past week i feel like i made a breakthrough and dropping my digital cards for handmade ones, but i also have felt this "breakthrough" feeling before and im honestly ready for my brain to fall behind again. I just wanted to add that everyone has a different way of studying, for me I have to get away from my phone/computer, otherwise i will be too distracted, so Anki is a no go at this point. Anyways, youre absolutely right there are so many influencers talking about immersion and completely glazing over classes and N5-N4 period where they were getting things going. I really appreciate this video, no new information for me but im sure its going to help out someone else.
Thanks so much. Your video was the incentive I needed. I started learning hiragana and katana with printed books about a year ago, then in November, I started wanikani and Anki. I thought I needed to wait to read even Tadoku Level 0. But I was slowing down in my study (partly because of lack of time, and probably because I needed more fun input, though I am part of these crazy people who do love grammar!!). So I am back in my learning schedule, thanks to you. I'm only in level 6 in wanikani, but having fun seeing the number of burned turtles going up! I decided to delete my Anki deck and restarted - I use the one for JLPT N5. I'm using your videos for Genki 1 for now - though I may end up with the book later on. I also daily use Duolingo (I know that by itself it's lame), but with all the other things I'm doing, it's actually very good, because I get more context, and it helps me memorize more vocab. And today, I have finally read my first Tadoku story - level 0. To maximize my use of Tadoku, I have checked the words/expression I didn't know and created my own Anki/Deck cards to retain this new vocab. My goal is not really to speak Japanese (am too old to go there), but to be able to read Japanese lit. I may remain all my life at the kid books level, but that's ok. I already know several alphabets (Hebrew, Greek, Russian), so at least hiragana and katakana are not too challenging. I am actually French, and a French online tutor, but I have been living in the US for 20 years, and am fluent. I can read several other Romance languages, so it's also easier to create mnemotecnics to associate kanji to some words I know in various languages. Much easier than if I only knew English! SO THANK YOU for your awesome input.
I think one of the biggest things with input, is repeating what is said in the show or reading out loud. Personally have found that just “watching” is harder for me to remember sentences or new words when I’m not saying them out loud. Though I have seen many TH-camrs says “Don’t Output” we all learn differently.
Every Monday I watch a new episode of 彼女が公爵邸に行った理由 and then read the manga that covers what happened in the anime. I don’t do any lookups I just notice what I do understand and particularly get excited when I see kanji/vocabulary with kanji from WaniKani that I recognize.
Outstanding video! Many thanks to the author of the channel for the recommendations! The problem with many people is that they want to take a "magic pill" or get "secret knowledge" and immediately have skills and abilities. However, the truth of life is that knowledge, skills, and abilities do not come by themselves. You can't learn a foreign language without doing anything, without wasting your time and effort, just like you can't learn to ride a bike lying on a comfy couch, listening to lectures and watching videos about "modern methods of learning" on a bike. To really learn something, you have to really practice every day. You're going to fall down while you're learning, and you're going to get bumps - that's normal! The ups and downs of learning are an integral part of our lives. Motivation from success and depression from failure will always be your study companions. However, every student has problems in his or her studies that he or she lacks the knowledge to solve. It can be: poor memorization of words; no progress in language learning; the student can speak, but does not understand speech by ear; misunderstanding of grammar; incorrect pronunciation, etc. Agree that a problem you don't know how to solve is very demotivating. In order to find the answer to our question we have to spend a lot of time to read videos, articles and books by polyglots. In today's world, we have to solve problems as quickly as possible. I don't have time to study and analyze a huge amount of information. My goal is to master the basic knowledge of a foreign language as quickly as possible and already start earning money effectively in the international arena. I settled on the practical guide by Yuriy Ivantsiv " Polyglot's Notes: practical tips for learning foreign language". This book is always in my bag. If I have a problem while learning a language, I quickly find the answer in this book. There are many different techniques and tips for learning a foreign language in Polyglot Notes. I have made my own individual schedule and plan for language learning. Now I know what I am going to study, how I am going to study, when I am going to study and what results I am going to achieve. No problem could stop me! With an effective language learning plan my professional skills are more and more in demand internationally every day. Friends, don't stop there! Everyone has talents that millions of people around the world need! Learn the language and make your ideas and dreams come true! Thanks to the author of the channel for the informative and useful video! Your videos motivate me.
I thought my previous comment long, so decided to break it into two separate posts. My current learning experience covers a wide range of content/apps/textbooks/etc. I spend a little time each day writing kanji/kana, some textbook time, and at least one show without subs. I’ve also read (“stumbled”) through numerous novels/manga (currently reading Yotsuba To, so thanks for that!!), and have picked up a few Switch games in Japanese. I also have loads of Japanese music on my phone that I play in the car (Buck-Tick and Sakamoto Kyu being two of my favorites). I could go on and on but this is long enough I think! Thanks again for all your work in the field - it’s helped point me in some awesome directions as I try to better my fluency!
"You're not going to go very far in Japanese. And it's fine. You don't have to. What you have to do however is be honest with yourself." 1000x this. Took me years before was at peace with this simple statement. Now, whatever and whenever I learn is just an added bonus to the rest of my life and I'm aware that it's certainly not going to make me fluent anytime soon, but I don't mind it.
I live in a town with lots of Japanese expats and made various contacts and friendships through common friends. My prime goal right now is to get to a very basic conversational level, which I understand corresponds somewhat to N3. I'm starting with Hiragana accompanied by Genki (and your video lessons on it, that works better than just reading for me). I got in touch with the language much earlier, since I'm consuming quite some Japanese music for years. While that didn't really have an impact on understanding without the foundation, it did help a lot with pronounciation and flow. Where I see some other fresh students stumble across grammatic patterns because they are so foreign from their own language, they "feel right" to me, probably because I was hearing them all the time. I'm not sure if I want to commit to Kanji right away, more interested in conversational purpose right now. I wonder how fast I'll get there. So far, I'm enjoying the grammar, as it seems much more straightforward than e.g. French or German. My main weak point is memorizing vocabulary. Was never good at it. Need to find a method that works for me 🤔
All good points. I feel like the community that swears by immersion and nothing else isn’t aware that you have to have a very specific brain for this to actually get you anywhere. Learning can be fun but it’s still learning. Immersion is a great tool but it’s most useful when you already know the basics.
I know 3 languages and learnt English mostly myself. I’m currently studying Japanese :). From my experience, language learning is a never ending process. The more time you spend learning it, the better you’ll get. I see people trying to speed run learning a language but yeah that won’t really work out unless you’ll somehow remember all word you memorized in 3 months. Just be patient and give some effort everyday. At least that’s what worked out for me.
Hey, I just saw this video and thought it was good. Studying Japanese does require "studying" before just input. That's probably the most efficient way by far. I don't know how I would have gone about learning Japanese without reading the instruction manual first. The reason I tell Japanese people just to immerse is not because I think Just immersing is the best method, but because they study English from elementary school till high school and never actually immerse with real input. Your video made sense of why I think people studying Japanese should study more than Japanese people studying English (because Japanese people have already studied tons of English).
Nick has a great point here.
Most of the native Japanese people I know have more than enough of an English base to "just immerse". Even by the time they're in high school.
And to add to this, if we're talking about young children, "just immerse" is probably the ONLY way you're going to get them into a language.
I tutored a 5 year old Japanese child back in the day who was ONLY allowed to watch English TV and play English video games. He wasn't allowed to do either in Japanese. His English was AMAZING. It should be noted that he lost most of that ability in elementary school due to lack of interest/embarrassment at being "different". But it was still very impressive.
@@ToKiniAndy PLEASE help!
ive been using your videos and things to get grammar and other things down, but i cant find a solid place to study adjectives and verbs for completely free! i recently went over genki with one of your videos, and it helped a whole lot. so today, i thought i would practice building sentences, but the SAME PROBLEM happens- i need a free way to learn adjectives, nouns, and verbs! do you have any recommendations there that are free?
@@sonicthesillyAnki is great for vocab, but it has been a while so did you find anything?
Yes, my sister has been watching anime and played games in Japanese a long time. She still can't speak Japanese although she can understand several phrases and can read Katakana really well from seeing character names in games. Definitely some degree of formal and structured study is needed.
@@goyam2981 Depending on what anime she watch, some anime characters don't speak natural Japanese. But I wish you and your sister good luck!!
I was able to master all grammar points up to N3 within 2 years of daily 1-2 hours of actual study; I spent the rest of my time watching Japanese TV/ movies/ dramas.
I'm now approaching my 5 year mark and gearing up to take the N1 test this winter. I know around 11-12k words now but the grammar points just keep getting more difficult. Difficulty comes in the form of it not being used too frequently and therefore it's easy to forget.
I have never lived in Japan, I have 0 Japanese friends, this was all done in my room as a hobby while I finish up my engineering degree.
それは凄い。いつか日本で働いてください。
Good luck to you man! I hope I can be as self disciplined as you when I start learning Japanese.
@g_rr_tt wow congratulation i learning since 3months every day about an 30min -1hour and i see its not enough for making fast progress but better slowly and steady i guess. Did you try voice chatting or something like this?
What do you mean by “1-2 hours of actual study”?
Just to let you know even if you finish jplt N1 you will still not understand 50% of the japanese language. So dont be shocked its normal
basically what I got from this video is to shave off several mindless hours of gaming/watching youtube I spend daily and instead actually study
I guess boiled down that's a main point for sure. 😊
I'm watching Japanese youtube content nowadays, even tho I barely understand them, it helps me study it, and loved how some of them have JP subs
@@ToKiniAndycan I play the games in japanese?💀
I mean he's not wrong :')
@@shinsoatimakuI guess it can be interesting
I love the "immerse" idea. I just need to learn enough that I can actually understand anything being said. Otherwise, it doesn't seem so different from random noise.
Whilst I completely understand what you're saying. I do think that even if it's just "random noise" you are still listening, your brain is still trying to understand or hold that information in. So whilst you might not be able to understand anything, you might subconsciously pick up a word or two here and there, or remember how a certain word is pronounced, so it does absolutely have some benefits.
As long as your brain is "on" in the sense that you're not heavily distracted by something else, then just listening to a TV series/podcast/video/music/whatever is quite beneficial.
Yeah I've been listening to random noise for a couple of weeks and all I hear is like random grammar like まで
I just came back from my dream vacation from Japan for two weeks. I've been trying to study on and off for about a year solid and I will say that I already knew 3x more than I ever thought I needed. Sure, there are other scenarios (like working there, watching anime, etc.), but I got through the entire trip on very few words including buying groceries, food, and making others laugh with a couple of jokes. They were SO appreciative of my knowing ANY amount of Japanese and I even got a Nihongo Jiozu by an old taxi driver in my very first few hours. I was so happy and grateful to everyone I met and it boosted my confidence for the entire trip.
TLDR: No matter what your level is, don't think you're not doing well. Any input and learning is one step closer to your goal. Always try your best and I assure you that you'll succeed!
Sounds like you had a great time! I'm glad that you got to use some of what you learned. 😊 And agreed on your final points.
"Always try your best and I assure you that you'll succeed!" I get where you're going for from this, but I find the idea "Anything worth doing is worth doing badly" useful. By which I mean: that just because you're not capable/willing to do everything you want to on a day doesn't mean it's not worth doing to a lower level.
A lot of people (myself included) get caught up in perfectionism because we don't see our work on a given day as being "our best" and the idea of being allowed to do something to a level that isn't "our best" is revolutionary.
Thank you for this comment, I am planning on going to Japan in one year and I am so nervous that I won't be able to learn enough Japanese. This makes me a feel a little better!
@@tree_anna Don’t worry, I went just a few weeks ago and pretty much only knew “daijobu,” “arigato”, the super basics, and it was fine lol. Especially if you’re in Tokyo, it’ll be a real challenge to find someone who only speaks Japanese there lol.
Of course I would recommend knowing as much Japanese as possible before going there, I wish I did, but it usually isn’t necessary for a holiday.
that's a bold assurance :P im glad u enjoyed ur trip :)
This is my 30th month of studying Japanese ~1 hour/day and I'm just starting to be able to read NHK Easy and Satori Reader without having to look up the words every 3-4 sentences and I'm just now realising that it's not really the lack of time or effort that's been stopping me - I've just been learning the wrong stuff.
For over 2 years, I've been mostly just memorizing kanji and words while doing some Duolingo lessons on the side, but whenever I actually wanted to read or listen to any Japanese I could barely understand anything. A few months ago I decided to watch Andy's Genki playlist to try improving my grammar a bit and it suddenly felt like someone opened a floodgate - now I'm able to understand around half of what I'm hearing and most of what I'm reading, the particles have stopped blending with the words and recalling the meanings of everything became so much easier, since now I can understand the context of the surrounding sentence.
So, dear reader - if you're like me and you don't see much results despite pouring a ton of hours into learning Japanese, maybe take a step back and make sure you're touching all the bases and diversifying your learning methods instead of hyperfixating on just one or two aspects.
This is just what i needed to hear seriously thank you.
I also started with Duolingo and Busuu about a year ago. Now I've been touching grammer through other sources on occasion while absolutely blasting kanji with Wanikani for a few months now. It's cool to recognize so many new words that i see in passing from reading or hear in anime, but it currently still feels like the particles and words are just indistinguishable most of the time right now. I haven't been able to figure out where i should put more effort otherwise.
@@izmypockyI don't know what your resources are like, but if you can make audio flashcards that will probably level up your whole game. It did for me, like MASSIVELY Omg.
Around 9 month in. My kanji is around n4ish, but my vocab and grammar is laughble at best. same with my speaking (i strugle with making the sentence), and my hearing, but my reading is quite decent
1 hour?! that seems very LOW. Jesus lol. 3-5 hours would have been better.
@@egodeath_ ok bozo
Very solid information in this video! I definitely appreciate you pointing out that even the most ardent "Immersion-only" people likely did not get where they are solely via immersion, it's one of my pet peeves with the Japanese learning space online.
Yeah, I guess people feel like it's better for their "brand" to lie and say they JUST immersed. But in the end I think it's counter-productive and ruins the trust people had when they find out the truth.
But alas, people will be people.
Thanks for watching! 😊
@@ToKiniAndy the reason their slogan isn't "immerse and study" is because if they said that, then people will think that studying is just as important as immersing, and then whenever they have the chance to immerse, they'll just delay it and study instead, and that will lead them to studying lots and immersing none.
Which, btw, is the opposite of our goal, immersing lots and studying a little.
Can you point to some prominent examples of TH-camrs saying they "JUST" immersed? Because ironically it seems this channel and yall are overinflating the issue...I haven't found a single resource, guide, internet persona, etc saying to only immerse. Everyone recommends grammar study on the side, everyone recommends using anki.
I have been “trying” to learn Japanese for about 5 years, which mostly means I’ve had several times over the years where I’ve started, spent 2-3 weeks of 2-3 hours a day, then completely burned out, stopped studying entirely, and forgot everything. ADHD man… My new schedule is 30 minutes a day. It’s not much, but it’s reasonable, achievable, and most importantly I’ve only missed 3 days in the last 60. Id like to reach an N5 level by the end of my first year, which means I’ll need to pick up more later, but for now slow and steady wins the race.
I know this problem - same problem, also having add
same situation here (minus the ADHD). After about 3 years I'm on attempt number 4. But every time I restart it goes way faster than last time. The amount of progress I've made in 2 weeks took me about 3 months on my first attempt. The foundational knowledge really does stick with you.
i also have been "trying" for like 6 years. i was somewhere on akin to n5 level
on 22nd of january i have downloaded anki deck (jlab beginner guide) w anime and dorama audio bits, grammar explanation (tho i dont really read into it, i afterwards go to tae kims guide). the guy who made the deck said that there around 800 words i think? which is not enough at all so i also use some renshuu while watching smth haha
i almost finished the deck, i studied with it for an hour a day, and i understand some japanese videos with basic speech pretty well i think. i should watch more vids at this point, keep repeating hard cards on the deck and im pretty sure i will get to my goal at the end of march, which is to be able to listen to japanese with a bit or no concentration. i dont go for speaking bc i learned to speak english w/o trying lmao, it took me a while though, a year or half a year maybe? didnt try speaking much for most of my english understanding life
I've been trying for a while too. No ADHD but I do have executive dysfunction. For the last week I've been studying an hour+ a day just reviewing. I'll hopefully do the same next week before moving on to new content.
one of the best channels out there for learning Japanese, thanks man.
Your Japanese alter ego is fun; please make him a permanent guest
i appreciate the rant about immersion. I have never related to anything as much as this in my language-learning journey lmao
I'm glad it's not just me! haha
Thank you for watching! 😊
Thanks andy, I've been slacking a lot lately. がんばります!
LOL MvJ said he only "watched anime" but on a new interview video he ended up saying he studied a lot of grammar, pitch accent, etc for a long time because he didn't knew anything it because he "just immersed".
I'm finally being able to Immerse a little, but this conveyed my feelings about all the trolls yelling Immerse. I'd try it and get frustrated because I understood so little, then I look words up, get told I shouldn't by the same trolls. I just doubled down on the "Boring" vocab, Kanji, and sentences until I felt ready and finally reading is a bit more fun.
I will note, studying grammar. Personally I've found studying sentences where I know all the vocab with just one new grammar point feels like the best to me. Studying grammar points directly out of context feels a lot harder than kanji or vocab. So if anyone is struggling with that like me, get a sentence you know everything else with a translation.
I agree that studying vocab AND grammar within the context of sentences or paragraphs is FAR better than studying them on their own out of context. =)
Glad I was able to put your feeling into words. 😊
I'm someone who doesn't really like to set specific goals for myself when it comes to learning, because I don't really want the pressure and potential disappointment that comes from failing. I started learning Japanese maybe two months ago and I've stuck with 15-25 minutes of Kanji and 45 minutes of vocab/grammar per day. That's light enough that I have been able to stick with it and make it a habit. I don't really care what level of skill I'm at X amount of time from now, because at the end of the day I'm improving myself and that's good enough for me. Thank you for all your videos, they have been very helpful!
As long as you know kana well before you move on one hour is fine for starters you will find it will be easier to study longer when you can comprehend more of the vocab.
If you've found something that you can make a habit, that's good enough! 😊
You're very welcome! I'm glad they help. Thank you for watching!
The points you make are very important, especially in regards to immersion. Having that base of knowledge makes immersion so much more efficient and meaningful (and therefore potentially more fun). Without it it's very easy to get super frustrated and burn out. Speaking from experience there.
100%!
And thank you for watching! 😊
Yes, some people are a bit misleading about what they've done. I fully expect they also claim they woke up with their hair like that, too. Instagram ready, that is.
thats so true when i started learning a bit of grammer rules and sentencestructre i was able to understand so much more
I am happy to get this extra motivation to keep my pursuit on disciplined learning schedule. Thank you!
I'm glad the extra motivation helps! Consistency is key! 😊
One of the most honest videos on learning Japanese
I think the best way for a non Japanese speaker to learn Kanji is through meaning inside words. For example 明日 (ashita->tomorrow) means 明るい日 (akarui hi-> a bright day, an encouraging day) because we expect the best for the next day of our lives 😁
it could work but learning from word for word translation is actually extremely tedious in my opinion it can actually seriously burn out the person too
And 切手（きって、kitte) meaning "postage stamp", because the stamps in Japan are so sharp they cut your hand.
@@hackptui i feel like that'll work while trying to memorize it in english lol
@@hackptui 嘘つき!
etymologically, 明 means tomorrow on its own because it's the day followed by one round of the sun and moon. 日 (day) would be the redundant part, technically.
I have been going through WaniKani for awhile now. According to the site, I have learned 883 vocabulary and 290 Kanji. I am far from done, but I feel like I have something of a foundation to work off of. Grammar is where I am weak, so I am going through Tae Kim's Grammar Guide. Once I am finished, I will try reading a manga with Furigana for the first time with reference resources at hand. Looking forward to it!
You are the ONLY one on TH-cam who REALLY and SMARTLY answered those questions.
I speak french english spanish german and arabic.
And started russian, japanese chinese and korean
chinese helped me learn japanese kanji and japanese did the sane for traditional chinese
korean and japanese have similar grammar rules and so on..
Studying and commitment are the only things that work. And because I am a mother of 3, i have only 2/3 hours a week per language
So when I hear fulltime Students struggling just wanna tell them, shut your phones and STUDY 😅
Japanese is easy to understand by listening BUT the kanji is really challenging.
Good luck for ALL
I've been studying for 6 months using Genki and having once weekly evening classes. I also have speaking sessions every week (I try and have 2 x 30m weekly) and try to study 90 minutes 6-7 days a week. I'm starting to get somewhere and am loving it! We do one Genki lesson per month which is a reasonably mild pace (good for people who have to work during the day). I am looking to maybe get a 1 on 1 tutor to speed things up a bit over the summer months. Great Language to learn! I find it is a challenge but not as amazingly hard as some people say - the tricky bit is the very different sentence structure to English and the levels of politeness. Also, don't try to rush things - there is so much to learn you can easily burn yourself out and give up, but sticking with it in the long run is fun and i can see it paying off.
It sounds like you're steadily moving forward, which is excellent! I agree that there is no need to rush! For a large amount of people, rushing just takes the joy out of it anyway! 😊
I wish you luck with your 1 on 1 tutor!
I can teach you if you want . I did my genki 1 and 2 2 years ago and I have already completed my JLPT n3 (currently studying for n2) I started learning Japanese in 2021 so I think my progress is good since I am a college student right now aswell but yeah if you want then I can tutor you
Thank you, Andy. I want to see myself as a person who is dedicated to studying, but I feel like every so often I need another reminder that I have to really make sacrifices if I want to make progress.
Great video Andy! I like your response to "just immerse" type of people😂👍 It's the same when people say that living in the country automatically makes you fluent (or having husband/wife/bf/gf from that country).
-Victor
I've been doing the blended approach that you recommend. I'm working through the Genki textbooks while using your online course and meeting with an italki tutor about once a week and doing anki everyday. During work, I listen to Japanese podcasts and youtube videos for the immersion approach for about 6-7 hours. TH-cam channels like yours, Japanese with Shun, Yuyu's Podcast, Real Japanese with Mika, Cure Dolly and anything I can find in Japanese I'll listen to. If I'm going to watch a movie at home I'll watch something that's in Japanese. I agree that the approach you recommend is the best. Thanks for recommending the free graded readers, I've been looking for something like that to practice reading. I love the channel and all the content, keep it up!
Just the discussion on the average hours to get to only N3 was enough to kick me into stepping up my study game. Thanks for giving the hard numbers and facts there, it motivated me
Ive been very casually learning for a while now but i always get a thrill when listening to Japanese and have words I understand jump out of the rest of the noise. It inspires me to keep learn more.
This is such a great, realistic look at what it actually takes to learn Japanese. Something that new learners need to seriously consider before taking the leap into Japanese.
Really appreciate the word on Immersion as well. I know when i first started, early attempts at immersion we the most UNENJOYABLE times i had learning japanese. Even when id look up every word in every sentence i still wouldn't understand because of my lack of grammar!
Now immersion is the most enjoyable. For me it was after about 2k vocab and after Genki 2 grammar that it started to feel enjoyable.
Oh and btw, you can tell Andou that a new studio used the Paragon assets to make a remake called Predecessor. Its EA now but will be F2P at the end of the year. Definitely scratches that itch!
Thank you!
I'm so glad to hear you're enjoying getting into immersion stuff now! It really is a joy being able to understand the "real" thing. 😊
And thanks for the tip on Predecessor! I had followed that for a while years ago, but I haven't looked in a long time! I'm glad to hear that it is coming together. I'm sure Ando-san will be psyched to give it a shot. 😉
That was a satisfying honest view of learning Japanese. Thank you for that.
I hit a wall in my studies, and felt like crap about it so I took the weekend off. I needed this video. Helped me put some realization back in my head. Time to hit it again!
I do Anki cards (core 2k and my own words), Drops app flash cards, and listen to grammar points and Japanese for several hours while working
I'm about seven months into studying Japanese, with weekly two hour online classes with a native speaker. We're working out of Japanese for Busy People. I think the key to study is to be gentle with myself, find forms of study that click with me, make a sustainable plan, and stick to it. For me, that's refining an Anki deck with JFBP vocabulary, key sentences, grammar examples, and *dictionary forms of verbs added*, which I review every day. Since our kanji study in class isn't sticking in my brain, I've been using WaniKani to learn kanji, and since I want to be able to write, Ringotan on my phone for writing practice. And I watch two episodes of anime a day while exercising on my indoor bike, or if I walk for exercise, I'm starting to listen to beginner podcasts in Japanese. I also watch various videos on TH-cam, including your excellent videos, Andy!
Hey, I know this is an old post and something that may be a bit of a dumb question.
When just beginning, having absolutely no knowledge of the language, while watching an anime for example, do you start with the subtitles on and then try to slowly phase them out?
I'd already finished GENKI 1 (with help of your videos btw - fabulous) however I had to quit it for more than year. Now I'm back at it, and GOD DAMN my memory still serves a bit. I hope there are some new videos and stuff for me to sink my teeth into.
Cheer man.
I've been following wanikani for about a year and a half and only just started properly on grammar, but my schedule unintentionally ended up like you recommend here.
I do 30mins of wanikani before and after work, I listen to Citypop during work (probably doesn't help much) and dribble in some genki when I have a spare moment and then I am currently playing through the Yakuza series in the evenings.
Thanks so much for this great video! We will share it with our students.
it took me 1:30 minutes to realize the guy in the chair was the same person 😭 your tones are so good..
Great points!!!! This is so relatable and honest. Thank you.
Andy, you are the greatest teacher I have ever had. Thank you for giving us a realistic lens of the learning process of Japanese. I love your humor and jokes that you add into your content to keep everything interesting. I don't think people understand how much you are pouring into your videos and I'm continuously blown away. I love your learning framework, because it works for more than just Japanese learning. It works for all learning. Always appreciating your wisdom keep it up!
I managed to scrape by the N3 test after about a year. Really gotta second that remark about needing focused study to get a base before diving into input. Japanese-language media is great for running into a lot of words and grammar structures very quickly, much faster than a textbook chapter or blog post. But if you can barely parse a sentence, if you have to spend a lot of conscious effort on kanji recognition, pronunciation, sentence structure, inflection, context, and all that, juggling it in your limited working memory, you're not gonna learn very much from it!
Yes, it can be very discouraging. And when you understand a bit more it's a LOT more fun.
Congrats on N3! 😊
@@ToKiniAndy thanks!
your videos were incredibly helpful for getting there
Awesome video, I agree with you for the most part, I think the reason people say "just immerse" is not only because of disregard of regular study (which can be immensily beneficial), but more so because many people put off having fun in the language until they feel "ready" and this "readiness" will never come. I for example also started with textbooks and premade Anki decks, and still think it was the right choice, but now I am mostly immersing and looking up things along the way and adding it to my Anki deck and it's really fun. I am about between N3 and N2 level and I think most people at that level would not start immersing (at least I wouldn't if it wasn't for the huge immersion community pushing the idea of the importance of input), the thing is with N3 to N2, you understand most words when watching basic anime or reading manga, but a lot of the meaning still goes over your head, like there might be a 3 to 4 sentence streak where I understand 100% followed by 5 other sentences where I understand like 20% (I don't mean the words but overall meaning), it's still really fun though. but most people I know would shy away if they don't at least understand like 95%, so they keep forcing themselves to solely use textbooks and the like in the hope that they will reach this level, and that's why so many quit before reaching any significant level in my opinion.
30 minutes a day of anki has done wonders for me. My grammar is lacking but I am getting there.
I'm just now starting to learn japaneese and I have 2-4 hours a day to study I just don't know where to start or what tools to use. I'm just focusing on memorizing hiragana and katakana. Ok i just watched your video on what you would do differently learning japaneese and it was a BIG help. Thank you
The funny thing about your schedule is that I am currently doing the exact thing for vocab and kanji.
At the beginning, I actually learned more grammar than vocab, which in hindsight might have been a bad idea, because little to no vocab means I can't use the grammar I have learned. Now that I'm learning vocab in fairly regular intervals, I'm starting to understand more and more thing without additional grammar. Of course eventually I should revisit the grammar section, so that I can communicate more and more complex ideas. The book "Remembering the Kanji" is definitely a great way for, well, remembering the kanji in an easy and orderly fashion.
Weirdly enough, I kinda enjoy writing Kanjis from time to time. Makes me feel smart in a way.
Still kinda amazed on how fluent I became in English without actively learning the language outside of school(german speaker here btw.)
Ps. That sure was a good video, love the little tid bits where you speak to your alter ego, makes the video less stale.
I started learning Japanese in July for a first trip to Tokyo in mid-November. So I have 4 months to become fluent! Actually my target as ever, is to be a good tourist, as I am in a handful of languages. Of an age where I'm not into pop music or video games BUT I do know how to sit and read books! I'm enjoying Netflix content, though my listening comprehension (vocab) is very low at present, so each phrase or word recognised is a triumph. Anyway, most importantly, learning Japanese is a delightful way to spend time. Flash cards are a big help for learning Japanese characters. My old unused business cards have a new purpose.
Thanks for the advice. I'm enjoying your channel, especially the Genki workthrough.
Ive been studying 3 months straight for minimum of an hour up to several hours if i habe it in my. I trird every resource i can get my hands on. If something clicks I rotate into my activities. Its so fun because stuff I'll hear in a game ill instantly recognize what theyre talking about. When 3 months ago it all sounded like nonsense. Dedication is the key!
Discovered the channel not long ago and I love the Ando character you sprinkle throughout the videos!
The reason you need longer than half an hour is you will forget what you studied a year ago with such a slow rate. 3 hours is already a lot for working moms. One hour isn't bad at all. I don't see how you can separate kanji and vocab. Do them together for twice the power. But there are some words lacking kanji. I'm a very busy person, and I think anyone can do an hour per day. Don't be lazy! Also don't take that too hard. I do around 20 minutes on kanji and vocab, 20 minutes on grammar, and 20 minutes reading on the train. I add new vocab from the reading on my phone app. I study that list any time I have to wait somewhere. Unknown amount of time, if there's any left!, for watching music vids, etc., preferably with Japanese subtitles. Variety is the antidote to boredom.
I am learning Japanese and watched other videos as well but they were giving me nightmares that, learning Kanji isn't easy, it will be hard and it demotivated me but after watching you, I felt boosted and I will give my best to learn Japanese. Thank you for sharing.😀
I finally made the plunged and ordered Genki 1 Workbook and Textbook. Your videos helped me make that decision. ありがとうございます
As someone who's been extremely frustrated by my progress after three years, this video is invaluable. Thanks for the vid and for your other follow-along vids for the Genki textbook!
This has been such an encouraging video. Whenever I ask pros in anything how long it took them to get good at what they are, they always dismissively answer that it "just takes as long as it takes", instead of giving me a gave of whether I'm practicing/studying properly to be at the same level they are after the same amount of time it took them to get to their point. But this video alleviated a lot of my fears that I'm not at a level I should be at with japanese after several years of casual studying. It does feel better knowing that I'm at actually a pretty good level and could easily progress with more consistent dedication, rather than me just being stuck in an educational rut. Thanks for the video! :D
Thank you for this video.
I have been studying Japanese for the past 5 years. I think my prime time was during pandemic. Those 2 years gave me a lot of time to study and improve.
I had classes and such. However now with work and all I don’t have a lot of time. But I’m sure I can find 2 hours out of my day.
I’m writing the JLPT N4 in December this year. 50 days left. I’m not really confident as I was for the N5 exam two years ago. But I want to give it my best!!
I’ve been learning Japanese for a few years now and I feel like I haven’t gotten very far. I took a bit of a break but have been working hard at it! I learned hiragana and katakana in a few days and I’m using wanikani and flash cards for kanji. It’s very difficult but I haven’t given up!
Finally, a realistic advice on learning Japanese. I'm not a regular here in your channel but since I got the guts to take N3 exam this July without my usual online classes, I found your channel (actually found again but that was few years ago 😅).
Your N3 videos are actually my first guide on how I should self-study. Last month, I religiously watched the Quarter playlist every night after work. It was informative and fun, yet, I discovered that I had this 1 hr and 20 minutes attention span. Since some on the playlist are longer than that, I really need to resumed it by the next night. After that, I rewatched it but this time, I took notes on it and finished after it after a week. More or less, I finished those procedures by two weeks. Not sure if that slow but for me it's quite right.
Totally agree with all you said here. From the learning time needed to be "fluent" in Japanese in 3 months which some of my acquaintances claimed to be possible 😅 which I don't quite believed in. Up to the immersion part which I havr quite integrating on my everyday life.
For the immersion part, what I am doing are:
- Listening to Japanese songs (this is the most consistent activity that I really enjoy doing)
- Watching anime and Japanese shows (another enjoyable activity for me)
- Study grammar and kanji after work (1- almost 2 hours depending on my energy and attention span)
- Listening to podcasts and asmr (sometimes)
- Watching TH-cam videos of Japanese seiyuu or game streamers (enjoyable but not an every day activity)
- Have 会話 with a local Japanese every week
Not sure if I am doing right but so far my main goal is to balance my "have fun while studying" the Japanese language.
Do you do a translation of the song before you listen to it or make anki cards ?
@@southcoastinventors6583
Whoa! Great idea!
Recently I’ve attempted the Hamasaki Ayumi song EVOLUTION at karaoke, and despite having listened to it for YEARS now, I couldn’t get through bits of it, as the language wasn’t clear (also, it’s *fast*).
I’m going to try working up a translation to get more familiar with the song overall, and maybe attempt it again sometime soon!
Sounds like you're doing great!
I'm happy to hear some of the N3 videos were helpful for you!
Keep it up, and thank you for watching! 😊
Love this channel! Why didn’t I see this before? Been studying Japanese for one year now : Japanesepod101, Japanese for Busy People Level 1 (Romaji) and now just completing the same text in hiragana. Also like the Kana phone app. Broke my leg and had to cancel my upcoming trip to Japan, so will have some extra time on my hands. I have a Sensei who is helping me through the text, but I really think the missing piece is a conversation partner. Thanks for so many great learning tips!
I'm taking an upper level class this upcoming fall and need to brush up on many kanji and vocab this summer in preparation. This video has helped me to get motivated and a sense of what I need to do! ありがとうございます
Watched the video to find out I’m already doing the recommended schedule😅 glad to know I’m going something good with my time. 90 minutes of targeted study with about 90 minutes to 2 hours of immersion
This is fantastic advice. I did Remembering the Kanji first, then Genki. Now I'm starting to read manga and I only have one chapter left in Genki I. It's a bit of a struggle to immerse but I can still enjoy it at my current level.
I've been in Japan for 5 months now and I think I've masteted ありがとう. I'm currently taking a beginners class at the OCAT in Namba twice a week for a couple of months. I bought the Genki books to learn from as well. My issue is staying focused and not burning myself of by studing for hours at a time. I do use Duolingo for anywhere from 15 - 60 minutes everyday though.
Duolingo is ineffective. And it is only teaching at a beginner level but not at a deep level.
Every one is different. But, I will say this, my comprehension and reading has accelerated immensely in the 2 months I have been using Satori reader. The key is to turn off all furigana, and to have it set to standard Japanese setting. Also, I listen to the chapter (without looking at it) before trying to read it.
This actually makes me feel a lot better. I'm coming up on my 2-year anniversary of studying Japanese last month, and it's getting me a little down that I'm not even N5 level yet. Close, but I'm not there yet.
However I was also a glutton for punishment and started learning when I had a one-year-old to take care of, and now I'm about to add another kid to the mix. So for the past 2 years my time to study has been limited to an hour or less, and I haven't really found a good way at all to immerse with how little I know. Sure I can put on a podcast or something and just listen to the language, but mostly it feels like just gibberish and I don't feel like I'm actually gaining anything from it.
It's kind of amazing that you can study for an hour on ANY day when you have kids! So kudos there.
Something that can help with "immersion" is perhaps like the free graded readers on the Tadoku website. They have audio for most or all of the stories. You can even get the OtoNavi app, which has all the audio for the Genki graded readers (although I don NOT recommend purchasing the books themselves). This can be a way to expose yourself to more Japanese which should actually be fairly understandable!
Thank you for watching! 😊
@@ToKiniAndy Haha, it's true. 😂 I'm very lucky though in that my now 3 year old seems to want to learn too. Right now besides some basics (colors and numbers) she just mashes Japanese sounding syllables into made up words and tells me it means X or Y in Japanese, lol.
Thank you so much for those resources! I will definitely be looking those up tonight. I'm really looking forward to your Kanji content too. Keep up the great work Andy (and everyone on your team). 💕
@@Snow-Willow Aw that's cute! She might pick it up super fast at that rate! haha
I'm looking forward to the kanji content too! See you there! 😊
3:59
You're a hero🥲 thank you for saving us sensei
this was an amazing video and i'm really happy that i've already been doing this. its given me motivation to know that i am progressing well currently :)
I'm glad to hear you think so. 😊 Thank you for watching!
Keep it up!!
Really great advice, thank you :)
I am one of those people who took the "just do some anki and immerse" advice to heart in the beginning. I really wish I had studied grammar a bit more seriously at the start as I could have prevented some headaches when reading manga for the first time!
I did 2 years of Japanese language classes in college and we went through Genki I and II. Now 2 years since then I’ve lost a lot of it as I have only been half assing the core 6k vocab deck in Anki. Starting from graduation to now, I’ve been through 4,700 of those, but I remember like maybe 200 of them.
I tried to read Nichijou and play Recollection in Japanese yesterday and could not understand anything at times and a bunch at others. I basically need to go refresh my grammar and vocab and go try reading and playing again
I learned conversational level Japanese in 5 and a half months through Anki flash AND Immersive input training. I'm by no means super fluent but I can both understand and speak Japanese at a decent Input/Output speed. I also have a decent vocabulary of common words and even rarely used words.
I've been studying japanese for about 8 months and as for now and I feel that inmersing the most important now. But the first months it wasn't since even for easy children books there were tons of vocab I didn't know.
I still do Reviews using Jpdb and Anki and plan to do this for a long time.
For grammar is VERY important to use guide, videos, or anything until you get to N4-N3 grammar points. I misregarded grammar initially and If I didn't the first step to inmersing would have been easier.
For Kanji I don't study it at all, I learn words and only bothered to learn the radicals(not all of them). Because of this my kanji recognition is worse but I have more time to do anything else. About this I feel that studying kanji or not are completely valid options and either way is OK.
As for inmersing I watch what I want and use JPDB premade decks to study the vocab I don't know (I still don't consume media that is too hard since I won't have fun that way)
Now I'm pretty glad with my progress and I will continue to do this.
I think this video is accurate and the amount of time studying is what really makes a big difference.
This is only my experience and it may not suit to others, so please do your own research and study the way it works for you.
Sounds like you're working hard! And I think if what you're doing is working for you, there's no reason to change it! Keep it up! 😊
I'm so happy after watching this video, I can't thumbs up it enough. Hey, Andy, where can I send you 100 long-stemmed red roses? "I'm not ToKini Andy, and I approve this message!"
I'm glad you enjoyed it Soren!
Just send those to Japan with "For ToKini Andy" and I'm sure they'll find me somehow. haha 😊
Thank you for watching!
i’m in japan right now! i plan to actually immerse fully or almost fully (i still consume most of my daily guilty pleasure comforts in english), and bump up your schedule’s time frames from 30 mins to 1 hour or even 1 and a half hours. I’m already at N3 now, but I want to be an academic weapon. みんな、頑張って！
Amazing video. Really sets goals straight. My wife and I are planning to move to japan for some contractual careers. It’s extremely important to learn Japanese and I think it’s best to get small doses and fit in Japanese anywhere that I can even with calendars and things of that’s sort.
Fantastic stuff, Andy. The last mention about staying on a schedule, and being willing to chip away at it continuously is so very important, and such a gold nugget of information for anyone!
Thank you Kyubashi!
And thank you for watching! 😊
I've been going at it now for about 4-5 months with a combo of TokiniAndy/Wanikani/Bunpro - really not making a lot of Genki progress (lesson 4 after 4 months) but Wanikani and using Bunpro to get my vocab down for the Genki lessons is helping me get ahead of the curve a bit - I'll catch up on my grammar here in a few weeks
my journey started a month ago and to be honest, so far ive gotten comfortable with the hiragana alphabet where they dont look strange to me anymore but like letters. tht's pretty good I think but...the more I expose myself to immersion, the more im realizing I already know but just needs reinforcement. which makes me even angrier at myself for moving so slowly! which motivates me to do more. like you said I have days ehre I am lazy, but I will try to force myself as you recommend at least 15-20 mins and see if that makes me less angry with myself haha. thank you for your advice !
Thanks for giving perspective. Definitely motivated me to hit the books today!
Hey there Andy, thanks for another great video! I'm currently preparing for the N2 this July wish I could have showed this video to myself a long long time ago when I first got interested in learning Japanese.
For a little over a year now I have been studying Japanese every day at a language school here in Japan. Before I moved to Japan, I learned all of the N5 kanji and about half of the N4 kanji using WaniKani before starting Minna-no-nihongo 1 here in Kansai. In the US, I realistically only had time to learn kanji during the day, but knowing the kanji that I did before getting started in the textbooks was an amazing way to start my time as beginner student and if that's all you have time for, I agree that Kanji is a great place to start.
After 9 months of mainly studying with textbooks while watching anime in my free time, maybe understanding 50% of it, I passed the N3 in December. Watching anime, reading graded readers, and spending as much time with the content outside of my 3 hour classes everyday made all the difference in my speed and comfort levels when taking the test.
Almost exactly as you mentioned in the video, only after passing the N3 and grinding textbooks did I stumble into the immersion community and I found myself feeling as though immersion was becoming a more tangible and productive option for me as I prepare for the N2! It took some time, but I would not be able to sit down and watch anime without having to look things up constantly or just feel frustrated if it wasn't for the concerted effort I put in in the beginning making use of various textbooks, learning grammar and vocab, and studying Kanji literally everyday.
For anyone interested, after over a year of studying Japanese (to at least some extent) every day, my routine now consists of going to class in the morning for three hours (which was way more productive during the N5 and N4), making sentence flashcards based on recommended grammar from the shinkanzen master grammar textbooks per my JLPT level, completing my wanikani reviews and anki flash cards (throughout the day), and then watching anime and shows as actively as possible and making anki sentence flashcards for words and phrases that I don't know or want to learn! I do have to work on top of this as well, but I think it goes to show how much you can fit in in a day if you're willing to put in the time!
I think at the end of the day, as long as you are disciplined and actively spending time engaging with the language, even 5 minutes a day, that alone is えらい in itself! To all those who think they can't do it or simply don't have the drive or the time for that matter, it will indeed take time, but you don't have to do it all in 6 months. I think once I was okay with that idea, I was really able sink into getting started!
Congratulations on the N3 pass! I wish you luck as you go for N2. It sounds like you have a system down that will allow you to pass with flying colors. 😊
I hope that the methods you detailed can help someone who reads your comment in the future!
I love your last few lines too. Accepting that it's going to take some time can really allow you to get down to business, and stop worrying about time frames and rushing to the finish. It's actually a really fun experience slowly unraveling a new language. It's like opening up the map on an open world game, slowly but surely, and seeing your progress.
Thanks for watching, and for telling us about your experience. 😊
With the N2 you can get a Japanese job if you like to live in Japan. Still not sure if you can get anything in Japan with just a N3.
I'm an English-Portuguese speaker and along with your videos (and the videos of many other channels) and some android apps that comes with japanese dictionaries I managed to learn a lot haha... Started about 2 months ago and in the very first month i managed to learn to read all kanas. Since last week i boosted my study time to 3+ hours a day and i felt a huuuge impact on the amount of stuff in learning... just a little bit worried whether I'll be able to keep studying this much a day when i start going back to school lol
Oh and by the way, I'm loooving your genki videos they're so good!
This is good, realistic advice.
You can definitly see the quality going up with these videos.Great stuff,the league of legends part hit me really close ahaha
I hear you! I wonder if you could change it to Japanese? haha
And thank you! I'm having a blast trying to get better at these. 😊
Thanks for this video! I've been studying on and off (mostly off) for about 5 years and looking to get back into it. I do, however, want to balance this with other activities and life. My physical health is very important to me as I age, so I know that I will struggle to sit at my desk for my 9-5 job and then spend another 1-2hrs sat at my desk afterwards studying. I need to find time to go for a walk or work out. I also live on my own so I have to do all the chores in the house, all the cooking etc. My social life is also very important to me so I'm not feeling isolated. It's a fine balance! But I don't have an hard aim with Japanese really, I don't intend on living in Japan or doing any JLPT tests. I'm just interested in the language and want to challenge my brain a bit, so I have less pressure on me to study. Maybe my aim is just being able to hold a simple conversation with someone or be able to read a children's book or something.
Thanks for putting this together! I've been learning Japanese on and off since 2019 and have hardly progressed because I begin to over think things like time management for learning/studying. I have started up again and have been using your videos. Thanks for all you do!
I've been using Cure Dolly's lessons on TH-cam for grammer + Anki to begin learning Japanese since the beginning of the year and while my constancy has been shakey and my time relatively limited (less then 2hrs of study a day) what I have learned so far has made my recent attempt to start immersing enjoyable compare to if I tried without even a little knowlage before.
I started learning Japanese in August for school, and this seems like something I would like to pursue! I spend some of my time on the weekends studying ahead of my class and I am always looking for tips n' tricks on how I can develop my speaking and reading skills. Unfortunately, I don't really practice my intonation much (or speaking in general) because I'm very conscientious about the way I sound, but I know I must get over this for the sake of my education!
Also, it seems scary to me that if I only expose myself to Japanese material for only 30 minutes a day that it would take me over a year to learn N5 Japanese (although results vary per individual). Lastly, this is more of a question statement, but I waste a ton of my life on TikTok (due to ADHD) so if there is a way to personalize my feed to be Japanese orientated, at least I can waste my life in a somewhat useful way
I did a month long cultural exchange school in the north of Japan(Akita-ken) in February. Since Winter 2021, I've done some async remote JP courses at my local community college, only a couple hours a week(and your videos on Genki). That immersion was much more valuable and useful because I had put in the time in grammar and vocab (I'm bad at kanji). I had colleagues for whom this was their only exposure and let's say they didn't have as easy a time. Or knew obscure kanji but couldn't formulate "I eat." They were freaked out when told we had to give a speech at "graduation." I was excited for it as I'd had to give a oral presentation every term for the courses I was doing (and did for the course back home that I was talking while in Japan).
Immersion from zero never worked for me. Flashcards are the quickest way to make my mind wander. I had the benefit of having learned another language before JP to pull in the techniques that do work. I appreciate that you aren't as prescriptive on things as other folks I've seen around these parts. There's a difference between this is what worked for the TH-camr through brute force, sheer will, and TIME vs this is the best route.
Small request for Tokiandy.com : Can we possibly get all the graded readers as a single download? Either one massive PDF file or all of the files together in a zip? I've been on a slow travel ([US] trains and buses) kick lately and commuting into work more and I want to try to use the time for reading.
I found taking a college calendar and studying on days where class is in session, including summer and winter sessions is a great way to make solid progress while avoiding burnout.
That's a pretty cool idea! I'm glad you were able to find something that works for you! That's one of the most important points I think. 😊
The character speaking in Japanese was really funny.
I think that as long as you actually want to learn the language, you will be able to learn most of N5 stuff in a year or less. Duolingo and renshu is the basic combo I used in tandem with just writing and listening exercising. Duolingo is good for learning words (turn off romaji and LEARN HIRAGANA AND KATAKANA FIRST) and some kanji, but renshu is excellent at teaching grammar in an easy to understand format
I write and practice the language everyday while also watching TH-camrs like Sayaka and Let’s ask Shugo. I also listen to Japanese music and watch anime without subtitles. I also use doulingo but so far only for the basics and the kanji
Great content, I like how you focus on the funny side of learning Kanji 😊
i moved to Kochi in Shikoku in October. i'm a dependent, my wife is a JET and nobody wants to hire me due to my lack of Japanese (I was told i could at least work in the fields but no, they dont even want me there). I have really been struggling getting past the basics. I burnt myself out of Anki several times now, i have reconstructed my study schedule so many times that i spent a while just researching how to study because NOTHING STICKS. i am so frustrated, we really want to live here for the long haul and I have to learn N2 by the next 4 years or we go home. this past week i feel like i made a breakthrough and dropping my digital cards for handmade ones, but i also have felt this "breakthrough" feeling before and im honestly ready for my brain to fall behind again. I just wanted to add that everyone has a different way of studying, for me I have to get away from my phone/computer, otherwise i will be too distracted, so Anki is a no go at this point. Anyways, youre absolutely right there are so many influencers talking about immersion and completely glazing over classes and N5-N4 period where they were getting things going. I really appreciate this video, no new information for me but im sure its going to help out someone else.
Always fun watching your videos! Excited for the Kanji series :)
Me too! Can't wait until we start releasing lessons regularly again!
Thank you for watching! 😊
Thanks so much. Your video was the incentive I needed.
I started learning hiragana and katana with printed books about a year ago, then in November, I started wanikani and Anki.
I thought I needed to wait to read even Tadoku Level 0.
But I was slowing down in my study (partly because of lack of time, and probably because I needed more fun input, though I am part of these crazy people who do love grammar!!).
So I am back in my learning schedule, thanks to you.
I'm only in level 6 in wanikani, but having fun seeing the number of burned turtles going up!
I decided to delete my Anki deck and restarted - I use the one for JLPT N5.
I'm using your videos for Genki 1 for now - though I may end up with the book later on.
I also daily use Duolingo (I know that by itself it's lame), but with all the other things I'm doing, it's actually very good, because I get more context, and it helps me memorize more vocab.
And today, I have finally read my first Tadoku story - level 0. To maximize my use of Tadoku, I have checked the words/expression I didn't know and created my own Anki/Deck cards to retain this new vocab.
My goal is not really to speak Japanese (am too old to go there), but to be able to read Japanese lit. I may remain all my life at the kid books level, but that's ok.
I already know several alphabets (Hebrew, Greek, Russian), so at least hiragana and katakana are not too challenging.
I am actually French, and a French online tutor, but I have been living in the US for 20 years, and am fluent. I can read several other Romance languages, so it's also easier to create mnemotecnics to associate kanji to some words I know in various languages. Much easier than if I only knew English!
SO THANK YOU for your awesome input.
I think one of the biggest things with input, is repeating what is said in the show or reading out loud. Personally have found that just “watching” is harder for me to remember sentences or new words when I’m not saying them out loud. Though I have seen many TH-camrs says “Don’t Output” we all learn differently.
Every Monday I watch a new episode of 彼女が公爵邸に行った理由 and then read the manga that covers what happened in the anime. I don’t do any lookups I just notice what I do understand and particularly get excited when I see kanji/vocabulary with kanji from WaniKani that I recognize.
Outstanding video! Many thanks to the author of the channel for the recommendations! The problem with many people is that they want to take a "magic pill" or get "secret knowledge" and immediately have skills and abilities. However, the truth of life is that knowledge, skills, and abilities do not come by themselves. You can't learn a foreign language without doing anything, without wasting your time and effort, just like you can't learn to ride a bike lying on a comfy couch, listening to lectures and watching videos about "modern methods of learning" on a bike. To really learn something, you have to really practice every day. You're going to fall down while you're learning, and you're going to get bumps - that's normal! The ups and downs of learning are an integral part of our lives. Motivation from success and depression from failure will always be your study companions. However, every student has problems in his or her studies that he or she lacks the knowledge to solve. It can be: poor memorization of words; no progress in language learning; the student can speak, but does not understand speech by ear; misunderstanding of grammar; incorrect pronunciation, etc. Agree that a problem you don't know how to solve is very demotivating. In order to find the answer to our question we have to spend a lot of time to read videos, articles and books by polyglots. In today's world, we have to solve problems as quickly as possible. I don't have time to study and analyze a huge amount of information. My goal is to master the basic knowledge of a foreign language as quickly as possible and already start earning money effectively in the international arena. I settled on the practical guide by Yuriy Ivantsiv " Polyglot's Notes: practical tips for learning foreign language". This book is always in my bag. If I have a problem while learning a language, I quickly find the answer in this book. There are many different techniques and tips for learning a foreign language in Polyglot Notes. I have made my own individual schedule and plan for language learning. Now I know what I am going to study, how I am going to study, when I am going to study and what results I am going to achieve. No problem could stop me! With an effective language learning plan my professional skills are more and more in demand internationally every day. Friends, don't stop there! Everyone has talents that millions of people around the world need! Learn the language and make your ideas and dreams come true! Thanks to the author of the channel for the informative and useful video! Your videos motivate me.
I've been using your Genki videos to help me learn, I really appreciate them! I'm very excited about a potential kanji series!!
I'm glad to hear that they have been helpful! I can't wait to start getting the kanji videos out. 😊Thank you for watching!
I thought my previous comment long, so decided to break it into two separate posts.
My current learning experience covers a wide range of content/apps/textbooks/etc.
I spend a little time each day writing kanji/kana, some textbook time, and at least one show without subs.
I’ve also read (“stumbled”) through numerous novels/manga (currently reading Yotsuba To, so thanks for that!!), and have picked up a few Switch games in Japanese.
I also have loads of Japanese music on my phone that I play in the car (Buck-Tick and Sakamoto Kyu being two of my favorites).
I could go on and on but this is long enough I think!
Thanks again for all your work in the field - it’s helped point me in some awesome directions as I try to better my fluency!
Such a brilliant channel - great work ToKini Andy son 🎌
"You're not going to go very far in Japanese. And it's fine. You don't have to. What you have to do however is be honest with yourself."
1000x this. Took me years before was at peace with this simple statement. Now, whatever and whenever I learn is just an added bonus to the rest of my life and I'm aware that it's certainly not going to make me fluent anytime soon, but I don't mind it.
I live in a town with lots of Japanese expats and made various contacts and friendships through common friends. My prime goal right now is to get to a very basic conversational level, which I understand corresponds somewhat to N3. I'm starting with Hiragana accompanied by Genki (and your video lessons on it, that works better than just reading for me). I got in touch with the language much earlier, since I'm consuming quite some Japanese music for years. While that didn't really have an impact on understanding without the foundation, it did help a lot with pronounciation and flow. Where I see some other fresh students stumble across grammatic patterns because they are so foreign from their own language, they "feel right" to me, probably because I was hearing them all the time.
I'm not sure if I want to commit to Kanji right away, more interested in conversational purpose right now. I wonder how fast I'll get there. So far, I'm enjoying the grammar, as it seems much more straightforward than e.g. French or German. My main weak point is memorizing vocabulary. Was never good at it. Need to find a method that works for me 🤔
All good points. I feel like the community that swears by immersion and nothing else isn’t aware that you have to have a very specific brain for this to actually get you anywhere. Learning can be fun but it’s still learning. Immersion is a great tool but it’s most useful when you already know the basics.
I know 3 languages and learnt English mostly myself. I’m currently studying Japanese :). From my experience, language learning is a never ending process. The more time you spend learning it, the better you’ll get. I see people trying to speed run learning a language but yeah that won’t really work out unless you’ll somehow remember all word you memorized in 3 months. Just be patient and give some effort everyday. At least that’s what worked out for me.