From Silent to Fluent: Conquering Japanese After 6 months of Fear! 

Best wishes in learning English! 英語学習のご多幸をお祈り申し上げます。👍👏🥰

I would love to take a course with you

I would totally do your course

Choco Ice, English is difficult to learn when you do not have someone to talk to. But your writing is very nice! I am a university professor in the United States. I have taught English in Africa, Mexico, and Chile. I visited Japan last year too and loved it very much. I wonder if there is some way I can talk to you online? It is hard for you to find English speakers in the countryside! Sincerely, Cecile

Thank you! Shadowing is an excellent technique. It really helps with fluency. Thank you for watching ♥️

Thanks so much 🐱

Very interested in your japanese courses.

@@ChaniJapan 👍👏

Me too would be interested to take online .

I’m definitely interested. 🥰

It does sound like you've had an amazing journey ♥️

I had a similar experience in my 30-year Spanish journey. Where I learned to pronounce it so well in the beginning that I appeared to be more advanced than I actually was😅. It made for a few laughs, for sure.

Thank you 🇯🇵 Very kind of you 😀

I'm also from Cairns, and share the same sentiments.

Yes I would like to learn Japanese, have just gotten back from there yesterday, and would love to get (much) better, appreciate the videos and your offering

Yes! I’m interested in learning Japanese, sign me up please!

​@@willincairnsme too ☺️

Thank you 🇯🇵

@@ChaniJapan I would love to learn Japanese as well. I am from the US and it was on my list to make a trip in 2020, but you know the world stopped moving then.

Try Japanese pod or Human Japanese- two really great resources!

So glad you aren't scared by it any more. I agree that communication should be fun and talking to other people from other countries is such a wonderful experience 😀

I agree- this is the way it has gone for many of us here.

I know how you feel and I think it is a learning journey that has no ending ♥️

You sound like my doppelgänger 😂. This will sound bleak, but unless you live in Japan for a reasonable period, or extended holidays for months, it is almost impossible to master. Almost :) I mentioned this in another post, but for some reason Japanese, unlike most western cultures, cannot deal with incorrect pronunciation or grammar. They don’t seem to have the ability to pick key words out of a sentence, place them in context, and get the gist of it. Except at an izakaya or other alcohol related venue. Then we all seem to understand each other. 😂 I am heading back over for three months in September, so will give it another go 😊

Do you live in a city that has clubs for people who want to speak Japanese? Meetup groups, for example. I learned extended French in Jr High and High School, but never felt 100% confident to use it outside of class. But then on trips to Quebec, I find that even if I can't speak it, I can understand what is being said. What I do know that helps, is not to overthink translating English to the other language, but try to think in that language other.

I suggest the following. Get some books on tape. Listen to them and follow along with the text, for 10 minutes a day. Write down a summary in Japanese of what you read. Then read the text yourself. Select interesting books with the text in middle-school format, with lots of furigana. I read books such as Jules Verne, "Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea" because I knew the content, and the text is relatively easy. Or Takeyama's war novel, "The Harp of Burma," which I saw in the 1956 movie. It was actually written as a children's book, so it is easy to understand, but it is interesting for an adult. If you can get the book, the book on tape, the movie, the manga cartoon version, and the animated movie, all the better. Something like "In This Corner of the World" (another war novel) is available in all these formats, including a translated English comic, I think. Read them all. Several times. Write summaries in Japanese comparing the different versions. If you can persuade a Japanese native speaker to mark up your daily essay with a red pen showing all your mistakes, all the better. That motivates you! I had a retired teacher do that for me when I lived in Japan, similar to Chani's first teacher.

I wish you all the best with your English studies. English is a hard language to learn as well.

So great and so supportive ♥️

I hope you can visit one day ♥️

It's crazy how much anxiety and fear can be induced just from trying to learn a new language. I'm currently in that same stage with Japanese, where I'm learning, slowly, but I'm terrified to try to speak!

That is wonderful that your love of learning Japanese came back and you were reignited after 30 years!

​​@@TheOneRioji Shadowing, which Chani mentions, or parroting, if you will, are great techniques to try. You can also record yourself and plays it back so you hear your accent and learn to correct it. Doing this in private can get you used to speaking without performance pressure or embarrassment.

​@@ChaniJapanI intentionally didn't brush up before the trip. I really wanted to see what my brain could do in it's own!

Thank you 🇯🇵

Thanks so much 😀

Thank you for your kind comment 😀

Thank you so much!

Never to late to pick up something new😀

I've studied the language in little bits over my life. One or two classes with many years in between. I recently made the decision to travel there in the next few years in hopes of finding a path to move there. I have some "light" disabilities (things that will become major at any time like back issues). So I've been learning as much as I can daily (like 10 minutes to 2 hours) and consuming as much Japanese media content as possible (social media and TV/anime). So you have to start with goals. If you can't travel a long term goal might be to read original texts, even children's books, in Japanese. Or perform translations. Even knowing the basics provides so much more insight when translating the meanings, simply because we do a two step translation from Japanese to literal English to natural English. The real meaning is in the literal and the natural is just "this is how I might say it to a friend". When you have a long term goal, then you can find short term steps to move you in that direction. Think of it like hiking up a mountain with no trail. Sometimes you go this way, then you see something pretty and take a detour, then you continue towards the route you were taking but instead of backtracking you take the direct route from where you are now. There are many methods of learning. To learn for free, use apps (like Pimsleur, Duo Lingo, I use Duo but I tried Pimsleur and I think it is better) to get phonetics, hiragana/katakana, and phrase constructions. You can get the Anki app and download decks of Japanese learning flash cards (beginner or JLPT N5 to start). Use websites for detailed explanations (Google your questions and there are many sources). For natural Japanese and to hear the spoken language from Native speakers, follow many RU-vid and Instagram sensei. E.g. NihongoDekita, Yuu From Tokyo, Cozy, etc. The more you follow the better. Then when you scroll you'll get plenty of content. Ideally, starting at this moment, all content you watch and read should be Japanese content. 100% immersion. When you get to Kanji, start an account on Wani Kani's website and follow those instructions daily. If you have money, you can take one in one Japanese lessons online for ~$5-30 per session on apps/sites like iTalki. For a premium alternative to sites and app learning, you can go with NativShark.com which is like $200/year and their audio samples are real. I tried them out for a bit and I like their content but I don't want to pay.

@@ChaniJapan This is so true. I started learning Japanese just over one year ago. I was 55. I thought it would be very hard and that I was too old. You can only easily learn a language when you are young etc etc. I no longer agree with that. As an adult, learning a language, you have lots of advantages over a child learning a language for the first time. You understand basic grammar rules. For example, you understand how to form a sentence, you know what a noun, a verb, an adverb and an adjective is. You also know about possessive, past present and future tense, objects and subjects. All of these things are really difficult for a child to learn from scratch. You also have a very large vocabulary. You just don't know those words in Japanese yet. You understand what the word "irony" means but try explaining it to a young child. This concept is really difficult.

I enjoy your videos very, much. I find them very insightful. This one that I didn't expect and am so glad you made. I'm Australian and have visited Japan many times was I study shakuhachi. I have made many attempts to learn the language and keep hitting the 'wall' at some point. I'm above survival level but not able to carry on a conversation. My teacher and some other people I've met in the town are fluent in English. Before I went last time I had some online private lessons that were disappointing as we ended up just using a basic text instead of working on conversation. Your video has inspired me to give it another go. Thank you, Jim

@@markurta1 Wow, I thought I was the only late starter ;-) I took up Japanese two years ago at the age of 58 just because I went on a few 2-week trips with my grown-up children, who all speak Japanese, and their sensei. I was never into tourism for the sake of seeing new places, I've always wanted to understand the people there. So first I just had the ambition to learn hiragana and katakana and catch up some phrases, more for the fun of it. A short while after I realized that I've been doing serious language learning (classes, long hours of homework, daily kanji practice, only Japanese movies etc). I passed my JLPT N5 last year, which gave me some confidence and boosted motivation. At the end of this year I am taking N4 and have learned over 500 kanji. Last October I went on a fortnight's trip to Japan just on my own, to see how I could cope, and that was a fantastic experience! I am able to speak very basic things but also grasp and understand a lot more. I could read signs and inscriptions all around me, get the clue of what people around me were saying, had some basic, but lovely chats in sento, onsen, shops, train or cultural institutions. That felt so great even though I am just a mere beginner. Now there are times when I work really hard on a daily basis (when I get back from work), then those when I'm just doing my daily kanji/ NHK News Web Easy practice and homework (I take classes once a week) but I never skip a day without at least a very brief contact with the Japanese language. My son told me not to rely on motivation too much and to work out a regular daily learning routine. I believe being stubborn, consistent and daring will take you further and further, and just as Chani said - having put in the effort you might not even realise how much you have grasped already.

Thank you! It is a tough language to learn.

Haha, this devilishly difficult language can actually be called the language of angels, as you can easily communicate by simply arranging nouns and verbs, regardless of their order.

@@socks_cat356 The people can be very well be "angels" - mind so pure and innocent (well , generally, in my experience). One wil have to contend with (on top of Chani san's tribulation with Japanese phonics....lolz) the different written forms (hiragana, katakana, kanji).... and the words that have nothing to do with anything (e.g., if you know Spanish, you can probably converse with Italian or Portuguese, etc.). And of course, as you rightly pointed out, working on the order of words in a sentence may relatively be a good exercise to dig into. What the "hell" ("devil") is this language .........

@@JAM041158 For example, it is said that there are more than 100 ways to read the kanji character "生" (life).

@@socks_cat356 ROTFL............... "devils"... "angels/purity/innocence"...... but lo and behold! "Curse your sudden but inevitable betrayal"......... What an 'angelic-devilish' stuff this language is....Shall we forewarn those wanting to learn the Japanese language of just what is in store for them should they decide to do so?

Thanks so much 😀 I am working on making a course ♥️

Thank you 🇯🇵

Thanks so much ♥️ I was a bit nervous about publishing this one. It is up live now.

Yes!

@@ChaniJapan I am, and surely many others, glad that you published it despite your nervousness. Thank you for sharing the story. Some guidance in learning Japanese would be greatly appreciated. As others have mentioned, it is a bit overwhelming attempting to start one's journey into learning Japanese as there is so much information out there. All the best from Denmark (The one in Scandinavia, not the Australian one).

Thanks for listening

Thank you so much 😀

Thank you so much!

Thank you 🇯🇵

Glad you enjoyed it!

Glad you enjoyed it

You are so welcome!

Thank you 🇯🇵

Very kind of you ♥️ Yes it was a great memory for both of us 😀

Very kind of you ♥️ Thank you😀

Thank you 🇯🇵

You're so welcome!

Thanks so much 😀 I am working on making a course ♥️

Thank you so much!

Your examples are exactly what was happening to me. I can really relate. This is what sent my anxiety off the charts.

@@ChaniJapan as a fellow Aussie, do you think it’s the historical monoculture? I Oz I grew up with butchered English so l think I learnt to pick up single words rather than sentences. I remember the local milk bar owner Ames Cassamento spoke almost no English, me no Italian, but we worked it out. And that was in the 70’s lol

@@hossp2365 there were so many accents around me growing up as well. I was used to people at least trying to understand.

What always strikes me with my Japanese students is their own personal shame at not understanding English well. They’ve spent so many years “book learning “ English grammar and vocabulary, and their intelligence was measured by how they performed on standardized English exams throughout junior high and high school. So when a foreign person speaks to them, their brain panics and freezes. They can’t relax enough to listen and decipher. They assume you’re speaking English if you speak Japanese with a foreign accent. I spend a good chunk of time in each class encouraging students to relax, and teaching ways to work through the panic and paralysis that happens when they don’t understand. So when you are valiantly struggling to use Japanese, their mind isn’t thinking, “How great that he’s trying to use my language!” but “He must be speaking English, and I can’t understand! I’m so stupid and ashamed!” I’ve worked with over a thousand adult Japanese learners of English, and I see this problem every day. I love my students, so I’m a huge cheerleader and encourager. They’re so awesome, but they very seldom realize!

So accurate! They are panicking just like you are. I taught English to Japanese students years ago and prying the dictionaries out of their hands was a serious challenge. They struggle with accents and often “hear” garbled English when people are trying to speak Japanese! Good to remember.

You are welcome 😀

Thanks for watching 😀 Very daunting!

Thank you 🇯🇵 The feedback has been good so I am going to start working on it 😀

Thanks for listening

Thanks Vegys ❤️ I wish I could have included the special treats. But next one will work I am sure.

Thanks for your comment! Never too old in fact you are not that much older than me so I am sure you can do anything you want. Thanks for subscribing 😀

@@ChaniJapan Thank you for your kind words and letting me down so gently! At least you still look very young!

You're not nearly 'too old'! I'm up there as well, and learning new things such as languages is so good for the brain! I highly encourage you to learn and I hope you do get to visit Japan one day soon! Take care!

Hello Neale, You certainly haven't left it too late to study this fascinating language. I'm 79 and have been enjoying my Japanese language journey for many years. I'm addicted to learning kanji! Please take the plunge into the Japanese language! You won't regret it! And maybe you'll be able to visit that fascinating country and meet some of it's wonderful people. Good luck!

@@joanmh45 Thank you for replying. I'm watching a lot of Japanese videos on RU-vid and I have picked up a few words and about 6 Kanjis. But although I'm hearing a lot of Japanese, none of it sticks in my brain! I would be very interested in seeing if I can actually learn it better? Thank you again.

Yay! Thank you!

Working on it!

Thanks for watching 😀

Thank you 🇯🇵

Thank you 🇯🇵 I am sorry to hear about your pride and joy. That is very difficult.

Thanks so much 😀 I am working on making a course ♥

Wow, thank you!

Thank you 🇯🇵 The feedback has been good so I am going to start working on it 😀

Thank you so much!

Thank you 🇯🇵 The feedback has been good so I am going to start working on it 😀

Very kind of you to comment 😀 Thanks so much ♥️

Thank you very much!

Thanks for watching!

Thank you 🇯🇵 The feedback has been good so I am going to start working on it 😀

Thanks for watching 😀

Thank you 🇯🇵

Thank you 🇯🇵

Awesome! Thank you! Nearly ready ❤️

Awesome! Thank you!

You're so welcome!

Thank you! 😃

Thank you 🇯🇵

Thank you 🇯🇵

Thank you 😀 I have had a great response so I will start working on it ♥️

Yes! Thank you!

Thank you ♥️ There has been a good response so I will work on making a course 😀

Thank you 🇯🇵

Thank you 🇯🇵 The feedback has been good so I am going to start working on it 😀