Thank you sooo much for having me Takashi san! It was truly an honor to talk with you and be on the video!! 😳 I hope my learning experience will be useful to everyone🙏
You are so inspirational! Thanks for your interest in other cultures :) btw, I think you could easily also learn Romanian (Latin-based) if you already know other Latin-based languages such as French, Italian, Spanish. Romanian vocabulary also has a bit of Slavic influence, so the fact that you know Russian might help. And the rest of the vocabulary also has like 3-4% Turkish words, which again would help you because you already know Turkish!
very impressive, I feel like learning a language fluently gives you access to the mindset and culture of those people. I guess you collected some impressive wisdom and knowledge too through your language learning
I’ve found the more languages you learn, the easier it gets. You increasingly become familiar with more sounds , more ways of structuring sentences, more ways of expressing thoughts, and eventually start to encounter some overlap. It’s fascinating.
@@gabrielkripalani1681yeah he spent most of his time memorizing some words and phrases, worthless skill and almost all polyglots are scammers and have next to no skill in said languages.
I speak 5 languages and expanding, and one of my tricks is also imitation but in a "mocking" kind of way: I take one specific person (native of that language and who I personally know, or is famous) and imagine in my brain thay I am that person when I talk or think in that language, so this means immitating even their manners and voice mocking, because mastering intonations is also key to fluency. Good luck to everyone with their learning!
Could I ask you a question? How to be fluent in English. This is my first foreign language. I feel very difficult, especially the grammar rules. I've been self-studying English for many years, but I still get stagnation. I found I waste a lot of time creating Anki cards, reciting English textbook articles, cramming thousands of vocabularies, and learning grammar rules, in the end, I forget it. I don't know how to talk to myself. I feel it's boring every day. It doesn't have much to talk about. Recently, I watched the sitcom "Friends" 7 times, trying to imitate what they were saying and doing some vocabulary textbook. Do you have any suggestions? Thanks a lot!
This sounds interesting, I'll try this!! Actually I think this is why I'm good at Japanese, because while learning I kinda imitated characters I liked from anime, and later my favourite vtuber Kson... Now it's my third best language
Oh my, here I am trying to learn Japanese and struggling with basic grammar and kanji, while this guy can speak 12 languages. Awesome video, Takashi san!😅
@MrShem123ist yeah man nothing to be ashamed about especially with the Kanji part, shits hard, extremely hard. Thats why it, on average, takes 6 whole years for many to gain even basic fluency in Japanese! Good luck my friend!
very happy to see kazuma getting recognition :) i've been following him since the beginning of his youtube journey, and it's cool to see him come this far
I think its borderline impossible to be a perfect speaker in different languages unless you are native. If not, it’s soooo difficult to have a perfect accent. I agree with you, people feel flattered and encouraged when speaking their language.
Great interview. There really is a difference between learning English, the subject than English, the language. It's like studying any other subject than you may be indifferent to, like math or art class. It doesn't mean you don't enjoy art though. English in Japan has to change if people want to actually use it as a tool instead_ Read more...
@@derbar7051 I got to a native level in English because I attended a British curriculum school since the age of 10 (and learned English at 11, a year later), although I didn't have a "native" accent to speak of per se (just a generic neutral accent), and it took me two full years just to get the British accent right.. as Kazuma here said, it's harder to fix an accent afterwards, you need to work on it the moment you start learning a language (for the record, I still use my generic neutral accent as my main accent, although I could switch to a British accent at will whenever I want to).
That was a great interview with Kazu. I also got to learn about him learning so many completely different languages as a Japanese person. I know some people around the world learn multiple languages as they grow up because of the geographical nature and family integration by generations but as most Japanese people, this is so rare so that makes it more difficult and challenging but he proved that it's not impossible. I myself is a Japanese born and raised and also partly raised in Mexico when I was a kid from 6 to 9 years old, so I can still speak intermediate Spanish and learned English conversation when I was in Japan until I moved to Canada in 1994. I've always wanted to learn more languages like Kazu but never took a deep dive into it which I should have but I totally understand the fascination of learning other languages because speaking each language is more than just the sound or written thing but it's about opening up the entire realm of their culture and its people in those languages. I think Japanese people should try and inspired to learn more different languages and not to be afraid or think that they won't be able to learn because it takes only the curiosity first and courage to go at it to take a little plunge to dive in and swim. I think I was inspired again but Kazu again at my age (56) to start exploring other languages that I wanted to do for a long time. For now I'm interested in Italian and French maybe also Portuguese in the extension of knowing Spanish as they are Latin based languages.🌍
This is extraordinary! Thank you so much Takashi for all your videos! I have seen at least 60-70 in the last three weeks as I recovered from Covid😉 I find your interviewing style enthralling and I’ve grown to love Japan by listening and watching. You have a rare ability to really listen, and that creates a safe space for others to speak their truth. As a teacher of mine once said, listening is one of the highest forms of love. Thank you! Ok ideas for different interview questions: 1. The arts. All sorts. I’d love to hear from Japanese ppl and artists themselves (visual, dance, film, actors, comedians ) What inspires them, what is their creative process, do they draw from ancient Japanese art? I love Japanese aesthetics! Spirited Away! My favorite! But why do I love it? What does it do to expand me? 2. Philosophy, religion, spiritual path? What do people turn to to give their lives a higher meaning. I was always asking questions like that (what’s the purpose to life? Is there a God? Why am I here? Etc). Do Japanese people? Also in challenging times, what sustains them? Other than alcohol, what quiets their mind and nourishes their hearts, their souls? (Nature? Friendship, art, God? Prayer? Spirit? Animals?, etc) 3. Music: what and whom do they listen to and why? J-Pop? K-pop? Rap? Reggae? Rock? Jazz? Classical Japanese music? Japan has such a rich history. 4. Pets? What’s their relationship to pet? Why do they love them? What do they learn from animals?❤️ 5. Role models? 6. People like yourself (and me😊) who don’t want to be salarymen. What kinds of paths have they carved out for themselves? 7. Parents- you said your dad spent an hour with you per day? Can children speak from their heart to parents? Is there communication? Are fathers not there because they work so much? Has that changed the way young people want to parent? Ok there’s some ideas for you. Hope they’re helpful! If not, no worries! You’re doing great!!! Stay curious. It makes you a fantastic interviewer!
I just took my first private Japanese lesson, and I was absolutely anxious and awkward trying to practice the Japanese I know. I couldn't even remember the basic easy vocabulary and felt like I sounded like an idiot. I didn't realize how nerve wracking speaking a foreign language can be.
I like how he mentioned everyone learning English in school but they still can't speak it. Such a common problem 😅 In Australia, most schools offer Japanese as a language. You may notice we're similarly not all out here chatting in Japanese.
@@mehmeterciyas6844 Yes, they're just not as common. In my state at least, you usually have a choice of two languages. Very often, one is Japanese (the other a European language).
Yep, its the same in my country. Spanish is taught in high school (United States), most Americans know basic phrases (hello, goodbye etc) but definitely not fluent.
I'm very glad he mentioned Hindi is very similar, as a speaker of Hindi and Japanese, I agree! There are certain sounds in Hindi that are almost identical to those in Japanese, certain words are similar too. I was surprised when I made the connection but it makes learning Japanese much easier!
Thank you very much to both of you for speaking in English considering the audience 🙏🏻 God bless you all, Masha'Allah this young man is impressive, as an Arabic language speaker I am very impressed by the dedication, passion, and he is down to earth , your advices are valuable 🙏🏻 You both are welcome to the Arab world some countries like the United Arab Emirates - UAE " Dubai " is a city there , Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, and there Qatar is the neighbour country by them , mid November till early March is good timing to visit these countries, well they might not be as organised and neat like Japan lol but there a lot of progress going on, by the way most Arabs are fascinated about Japanese industry and car making quality & effeciancy in most products. Also the cartoon anime especially the classic ones in 80s & early 90s loved by most Arabs. Hopefully I can visit Japan one day. Thanks again gentlemen Arigato Gozaimasu 🙏🏻
Finally, my two favorite Japanese RU-vidr came together. Tons of Love from Nagaland. Learning Japanese On & Off.. done with Hiragana, now Kataka and Kanji to go..
🍃Impressive Kazu. Gosh, I love the idea of speaking a native language can trigger a heart centered connection with the people in that country. What a wonderful motivation to learn any new languages 😊🍃
I like to see videos from both of you, because learning some languages is very important in this global era. And, study their culture is an important things to avoid misunderstanding eith native people or International students. Bravo fo @KazuLanguages and @Takahsii for Japan
The fact that he’s Japanese AND knows all these languages is the most impressive part! As you all know, Japanese people for the most part don’t care to speak a different language because they value tradition, and it helps that the Japanese economy is very much self-sustainable where they don’t have to rely on foreign markets (ie: music industry is the second biggest in the world, only producing songs for the domestic Japanese audience). So to see this, a Japanese man actually care about learning other languages and being this proficient is truly remarkable!
I am a super shy person but I still love learning languages and I agree that it is so rewarding to learn new languages and cultures and connect with people through new languages. It grows my confidence when I dared to talk to someone despite being nervous and shy. :) I love starting with the 1000 most common words.
That's awesome!!!!!!! I started learning languages to broaden my calligraphy skills! Just started with Korean and Japanese!!!!! I have memorized other language alphabets but only the letters, handwritten and cursive forms. It's awesome! But for Korean and Japanese I am learning them over all!
As Indonesian, I approve his ability to speak our language. He's very well spoken and confident as well. I believe if he trains more and speaking the language with Indonesian friends, one day he'll excel it. _Semangat, Kazuma-san!_ (In Japanese: "Ganbatte ne, Kazuma-san!")
@@dwisanmadi2041 Setidaknya saya mengapresiasi orang-orang yang sedang belajar bahasa (dan tentu saja ini tidak mudah). Daripada hanya bisa meninggalkan hate comment untuk mendiskreditkan orang lain yang kamu tidak pernah kenal secara pribadi. 😌
@@RemarkablePerson Ya setidaknya dia mau berusaha untuk berbicara bahasa asing. Dia mau belajar. 😊 Mana ada orang yang belajar bahasa asing dalam waktu dekat bisa langsung lancar seperti penutur bahasa asli (native speaker). Butuh latihan bertahun-tahun untuk mencapai level kefasihan (proficiency) yang setara native speaker. Jadi kalau saya sih ya... prinsipnya mengapresiasi dulu (alih-alih menjatuhkan). Ngga heran kenapa di Indonesia orang-orang jadi pada takut berbahasa asing karena baru saja belajar sudah diolok dulu. 😊
Kazu-san, thank you so much for beautiful words about Turkey you said. I completely agree with you about learning language. May everything be to your heart.
Very well done Kazuさん! I am also targeting 12 languages. Known ones: ଓଡ଼ିଆ (Native) English (CEFR C1, TOEIC 965) हिंदी (near-native) 日本語 (BJT J2, JLPT N2) 中文/汉语 (YCT-4) বাংলা (ある程度) Targets: 한국어 (progress: Hangul only) Español (progress: basic greetings) Bahasa Indonesia/Melayu (progress: basic greetings) অসমীয়া (progress: reading) தமிழ் (progess: starting. Used in 4 countries) Français (planned, due to huge L2 speaker count)
Takashiiiiii!!! I love you and I love your guest today!!! Your minds are soooo amazing! I'm impressed by his determination in learning different languages. Please make more interesting interviews like this.
As a native Turkish speaker, Turks also cannot learn English. They have been studying English in schools for years. But they can't even speak a few words. I think the main problem stems from grammar. I lived in Japan. And I tried to learn Japanese. Frankly, Japanese was much easier for me than English.
I agree when he said it´s changing. When we went to Japan, most younger people can speak English when we order food. With Turkey, yes, Istanbul hits different. Very lovely amazing city and very kind to animals. Looking forward to learning more languages. Thank you for this video.
I liked what he said about language connecting people. I recently met a Korean lady who spoke Spanish and it was so nice to hear her as I had not heard an Asian speak fluent Spanish ever. It was a great feeling to know others are interested in my language and culture.
6:09 Altaic is a controversial proposed language family that would include the Turkic, Mongolic and Tungusic language families and possibly also the Japonic and Koreanic languages.
Yes but i think mongolian sounds very different from the rest, turkish sometimes sounds a bit japanese and korean but closer to korean i think ( i grew up in germany with many turks, im asian tho *half Thai / half south chinese* , not german , but lived a long time there, most foreigners there are turks so i heared them talking a lot of times and as i watched several korean/japanese shows in the past i did notice some similarity in sound especially with turkish and korean). Mongolian is sometimes mistaken as being similar to russian while its actually not at all and it actually also has not as much similarity to turkish either as some ppl think. This is at least what you can read about it, but it also sounds very unique to me (mongolian)… anyways many countries also have verieties of dialects so some is closer some is not close at all. As a half thai/chinese a example would be, that Thai and mandarin are in 2 different languages from different language-families , but the Zhuang dialect for example (which is a South Chinese dialect) is a Tai-kadai language SAME AS Thai and Lao. So it really depends on dialects too. 30% of Thai loanwords that came from china is from the zhuang dialect and only partly words from mandarin/cantonese and others. This is most noticable with Thai numbers , the whole numberings in thai are ALL from zhuang dialect (im btw talking about the SPEAKING part if the language, the thai characters obviously on the other hand originated from indian sanskrit). But i was not talking about the characters, so. Anyways that was just a example of how things can change with language family etc depending on other dialects in a country.
I usually watch Takashi’s interviews and it’s wonderful that he interviewed my favourite Japanese RU-vidr Kazuma! I come from Hong Kong and I am also learning German, I can only say Kazuma speaks German well, better than most Asian German learners I meet in real life 🥹
I understand where you're coming from, but being from Asia doesn't mean one is automatically unable to speak better German or whatever . Context matters here
@@juliashireen6195 Yeah, l know context affects a lot of one’s language skills. In the last comment I was talking about classmates in my language course(I am in Asia so my classmates are also asian), and they had a little difficulty of pronouncing some words and making a sentence even they have learned this language for years, that’s why I wrote this comment. Of course a pretty large number who can speak it fluently, it depends on how you handle language learning…
Hello from USA First time on your channel. Came thru you tube algorithm . Very interesting content in every video. Tells us so much about Japan, what Japanese people feel about foreigners , what foreigners feel about living there or working etc Where did you learn to speak English so well. So glad you made this channel in English so it reaches many people.
06:11 Turkish here and yes since Korean, Japanese and Turkish languages are under same language family which is Ural- Altaic Language Family, the grammar is totally same and me also learning Korean and Japanese and it's easy for me to learn and pronounce the words as Turkish and it's also same for Japanese and Korean people...
Also, Korean technically don’t have a language family, like we do have similarities with other languages, but we don’t have an official language family
@@LeGheyTrashneither does japanese, but its closest to altaic languages hence why its a debatte for some time now ,weather to consider the languages as altaic or not
I fell in love with manga and anime when I was very young, I’m Spanish. So I used to watch the shows subbed in Spanish with the audio in Japanese, and I would repeat the words. It was so easy for me to get the pronunciation right, same vowels and same syllable system. Now, learning Japanese is a whole different thing, but he is right, it’s very easy for Spanish speakers to nail Japanese pronunciation. I don’t know how true this is in the reverse. I’m guessing maybe some R’s and L’s can be a problem, but I don’t think Japanese struggle with rolling their R’s the same way english or German speakers do.
Hi! Actually I'm a Hong Kong background person and I have worked in Japan for about a year. I also saw the other video from Takashii-san and I found that most of the Japanese don't want to speak in English, which is the same as my own experience. First of all, I would like to praise Takashii-san that you can speak English for interviewing on RU-vid. Secondly, I would like to say to Japanese people that please don't be afraid to speak in English. Actually, I think language is only a communication tools and it doesn't matter not saying it perfectly. Just like I made tons of mistakes when I spoke Japanese but Japanese people still accept me as a foreigner. So don't waste your over 10 years of English studying. The third thing is learning 12 languages is like crazy (in the good way)!👍
Such a great video, if Kazu you're checking the comments, take a try at one of the Uralic languages such as Finnish or Estonian. It might be the easiest or hardest challenge yet!
Try duolingo first. I think they have visuals as well. Then probably look for series with subtitles. Hopefully you know the Cyrillics already, which become straightforward with time.
Very good video takashi. I really enjoyed what was said in the video. When it comes to learning languages I wouldn't say just Japan but many other countries as well tend to fear speaking a language that they're not familiar with. But the comparison between English and Japanese learning, it really does require that you speak how you feel when speaking English
Amazing, I’ve been living in Japan for almost 6yrs and still in beginner level since I don’t have that much interaction outside (stay-at-home wife) with 3 kids. No japanese friends. And I am already on my 40’s so I guess my grasp of learning already diminishes 😢
That's crazy how he can switch from multiple language at once when speaking, that's incredibly inspiring!! thank you and I will continue my journey in learning Japanese and not just that language but many as well. I would love to become a polyglot as well:) thank you again and wish everyone a wonderful journey in learning languages together!!!!
I came back from my first trip in Japan like one month ago and that citation about native language going through the hearth is actually true. I've been trying to learn the language for like 3/4 months and couldn't really say anything when there, but the simple fact of greeting with おはいおうございます/こにちは/こんばんは and then thanking with ありがとうございます without, of course, forgetting the bowing made all the difference. これ accompanied by your finger showing what you want on the menu also goes a long way (but avoid pointing people with it of course). These simple words made everyone around me so friendly and I received nothing but smiles and hospitality.
i always thought russian was a 🤬 crazy language because each word has like 12 different ways u can say it. THE GRAMMAR IS CRAZY but when i was in the hospital my russian nurse told me russian is easy AND ENGLISH IS HARD😱😱😱i have autism and was speaking it like a pro by the time i was 5. i guess it depends on what ur used to😅
I'm an American studying the Japanese language because personally I find it more respectful to learn the language of the country you wish to travel to. I think the major reason that you're approached with the assumption that you speak English is because of a misunderstanding. Many Americans think a lot of Japanese people speak at least broken English because they are aware that you study English in school, most likely because of animes. There are many of us who watch anime, myself included, but it often brings up that English is studied so it's a misinterpretation of what it is actually like. That's why I think they do that 🤔 For me as an American that is studying your native tongue, I don't actually find it that difficult to understand placement of the words, I actually find Japanese and English very similar in many ways, we also have words that are pronounced the same but have different meanings, and 1 word that has multiple meanings depending on the context, this part I find the hardest right now, I've studied French for a while too, I'm not fluent but from what I've noticed so far, there are many similarities in most languages, when I started learning Japanese I wondered if I would be able to study properly because I thought it would be opposite of everything I know and it really isn't, it's just a little different, I'm still N5 but I'm working my way up, I try to practice with my friend who is a Japanese native but he does his best to speak English most of the time and I don't always get the speaking and listening practice, we text a lot and I've learned so many words and even Kanji from our messages, I recommended a mix of textbook learning and speaking to natives With any language, it requires patience and practice ☺
I completely agree with Kazu in the sense that: as a English, Japanese and "conversational" Spanish speaker I've felt like the Japanese/Spanish pronunciation is a lot closer than English/Spanish.
こんにちは イスラエルから来た人間です もう二年以上勉強したので流暢な程喋るレベルではないですが全力で努力致します！ 二人の会話がとんでもなく楽しみました！かなり面白かったんです！ 本日はスペイン語もフランス語も勉強を始めた、ですが俺にとって日本語は桁違い好きな言語になります。 Thank you for your dedication! This video was very interesting!
I don't know if you know English or not, but this is great man! I mean I've only been seriously studying for like a week now (I've tried on and off for like 3 years now) but I think it looks good! Keep up the good work!
I like this guy, he's not promoting some input focus nonsense with output phobia claiming you'll be able to speak fluently if you just listen for years first. Listen to him guys, get rid of your fears and use what you learn because you can't be good at speaking without actually speaking, regardless of what some clowns on youtube will tell you!!
In the USA we have the same problems with studying languages for a long time and nobody can speak either. Most kids learn spanish for 5-6 years before university and very few can speak at all. But I had friends from Romania and in that same time they learn 3 languages and theyre totally fluent. So theyre doing something different.
I spent several months in "West" Germany when I was in my 20's and saw people speak several languages and learned it was "possible" to learn to speak multiple languages. I then met Spanish speaking friends and now speak Spanish also. When you know German and Spanish, there are sevevral languages you can start to learn easily. Now I try to learn Arabic and it's so fun! I agree with Kazu-san, you don't have to be perfect. I currently live in the United States and understandnig native speakers coloquial expressions is never easy. Some people say they like my Japanese-English pronuciation because it's like watching an Anime lol. I want Kazu-san to try Amheric as well. Their letters are fascinating.
I found this really interesting. When polyglot switch language. They actually switching their personality , gesture and body language. If you speak the language he speaks, try find out if he is acting the way like a native speaker do.
