Learn Japanese with Yuta: bit.ly/3tljpjX Support me on Patreon: goo.gl/aiWNd5 Twitter: / thatyuta Facebook: bit.ly/381qpHS Instagram: / thatyuta Blog: www.yutaaoki.co... Snapchat: ThatYuta
That's exactly how I sound when I try to speak Japanese 😂😂 it's hard when you are learning a new language, but hopefully one day I'll be more fluent in Japanese
the first mistake is learning via katakana. It creates a pointless learning barrier on how to read and pronounce western languages, than just straight up learning english from the roman alphabet. Because then you properly understand why and how words form. Just from that, your english fundamentals skyrockets to near fluent.
"But if you want to learn japanese with me, I will teach you the kind of japanese that real life people today actually speak. So click the link in the description and subscribe"
@@ceresbane yes, i completely agree. It's also the same way for every one learning Japanese as well. There's not a single person encouraging a japanese learner to learn Japanese in romaji, literally the first step is always to learn hiragana and katakana and never use romaji for japanese again. Kinda weird why japanese don't do the same with English
This honestly makes me smile just because language is so fucking interesting and to see people speaking another language no matter what it may be you can see them actually putting an effort to say proper sentences and it makes them laugh or nervous somewhat but it's honestly pure to me
EXACTLY, it's not about being fluent right away it's about trying your best. Whenever Spanish people would try to speak English with me I tell them they'll get, I try not to speak Spanish back so I don't have them reversing their progress
These guys deserve 100% for effort. It's really nice to see them give it a go. It's a shame the Japanese school system is still stuck with teaching students lists of words to memorize for tests and not really concerned with helping them communicate with the rest of the world. Still, I think that's how most school systems work.
LoL most public schools in the world suck at teaching English(or another language), the main reason is the language is more a matter of consistency and most kids/teenager are already overwhelming with a lot work from another matters as math and grammar from their own language to even giving a damn about English, I remember feeling dumb back in my teen years by not learning English until I realize it wasn't even my fault, also being a person learning kanji and struggle with it I just can feel sad for Japanese kids by being pressure to also pass dumb useless English exams. For anyone trying to learn English do not ever rely on your school to learn it, go and pay for getting classes in an actual language oriented school, not because they are particularly good but because you gonna have to speak and read constantly that's what matters.
I find it so cute everytime people try to speak another language. Learning a new language is not that easy unless you have actual interest and immerse yourself in that culture. I had to learn English since I was 6 or 7 just like all the kids around me but most of us stil don't know how to use it naturally either. I just became a little bit familiar with English only when I got my phone at 16 and started consuming different medias in the language. Even so, I'm not fluent and still have a long way to go. Since Japan is a country where mainly and proudly use their language everywhere and already has all kinds of entertainment media and stuffs, I see why people don't feel the need to know English that well. For me, I am learning Japanese too. Just a beginner. I think knowing other 2 languages beside English help me with the grammar but vocabs and Kanji are difficult T^T
Wow we're exactly the same. We're taught english since childhood and learned more form the internet. I can write in english just fine but I don't sound natural and stutter a lot when speaking or conversing.
The way the woman at 3:51 said ‘my name is’ and followed it up immediately with ‘what’s your name?’ is just great. In my high school Spanish, the first phrases we were taught were ‘Me llamo --, y tu, como te llamas?’ It’s fun to see the same patterns come up with other language learners.
I am learning spanish by myself as my third language and i was thinking about those introductions i have seen on the internet haha it sounded exactly like how every beginner in every language sound i think 🤔
As an ALT (English teacher) in Japan, I find it so frustrating to see that this is the extent of what most people can do by the time they graduate high school. I can tell you there's a huge number of issues with the system and it needs a massive overhaul. Every time an international survey comes out rating countries' English ability, Japan is always at the bottom and it makes the government reevaluate the English education system, but they never seem to hit the right points with their changes. One of their adjustments about 15 years ago was to increase the number of foreign English teachers, and there's now thousands of us in Japan. And yet there's been basically no improvement as you can see. Certainly, to get really good at a foreign language you need to have a genuine interest and passion for it, but I think even if you don't have that, in an effective system you should be at least a little decent. English is taught here to pass tests, not to actually be able to communicate well. That's what really needs to change. The roles and expectations of us ALTs also need to change. We mostly get used to review grammar and do fun activities. I try to actually teach more natural things outside the textbooks and correct the many unnatural things the students learn from the textbook. This is what ALTs should be expected to do. The Japanese teachers I work with like that I do this and have made a lot more points about things I've made points about in their own classes, which is great, but they don't actually include any of the things I teach as content the students need to study for tests. Until they do that most of the students won't really learn and memorize those more natural things. In short, there's so many small easy changes that teachers here could make that would make a world of difference I believe, but getting things to change in Japan is always a major challenge.
I find this kind of comment a little annoying, why to bash the japanese system only when almost not bilingual person in the world it is thanks to the educational system not matter the country, and it's kind of BS to want this to be about the system and not see it is more a problem of saturation and maybe forcing kids/teenagers to learn a language at early ages is not so a good idea, it should be their decision.
@@PEDROGARCIA-qj3gr I completely agree with you actually. I don't think kids should be forced to learn a skill, especially one as difficult as learning a foreign language. It takes genuine passion to get far in anything skill based because of the amount of time and effort it takes. The kids that genuinely like English and study effectively on their own time are on another level compared to the large majority of their classmates. But if you are going to force kids to learn a skill then the system should be designed so they actually get something out of it. A lot of the problems could be improved with a bunch of small changes.
@@Crimson_Dragon01 I am always impressed by how well Western European people can speak english. Like in the Netherlands and Germany and Austria. I don’t know what their english education system is like, but it must be very good
@@Dankyjrthethird I live in one of the countries you mentioned, and I can confirm that especially young people (at least those I know) are pretty fluent in English here. Most students have at least eight years of English classes and the language is taught through listening, speaking, writing and grammar exercises. English is also one of the most important classes here, right after Maths and our native language. But what you shouldn't forget is that both the Dutch and the German language are related to English, so Dutch or German speaking people usually find learning English easier than people with other first languages.
What? After 6 years of English education I was by far better than "Hello my name is Andy". I also never used English except in school. By all my love for Japan, English is definitely not a strength of the Japanese people.
@@andyk7964 after 12 yrs of english in my school (ex yugoslavia), i have a C2 in english. The average ks probs B1 in my country. i dont get why people areperforming contortions to say that after elementary,middle and high school knowing a few words is anything but terrible. its a systemic issue yes, but they are terrible at foreign lamguages
Interesting to hear how the person who spoke English the best, got it from actually using it (consuming pop culture). Makes you think if the whole concept of teaching stuff in a classroom for hours could be replaced almost entirely by letting them watch TV series and movies in English.
Yep, I watched English stuff as a child and when we got to English classes at 14 I literally knew everything by feeling, but the classes made it make sense by structuring my already acquired language sense.
@@浜本大輝 She's clearly the best at actually using the language. Regardless of how the "older couple sounded", they didn't tell you anything meaningful. Someone who can easily tell you that they enjoy piano and chocolate is clearly more proficient with the language.
Not that surprising considering how language acquisition takes time. You might suck at a language by not actively learning so you might suck when you came to Japan but maybe 30 years later you will have vastly better Japanese just from the accumulation of experience. It's abysmally slow though.
I say their basic and special (professional) education was better compared to younger people in the video. At least from the first look they've made an impression of an intellectual couple to me. The man especially.
Man, that's such a cap, no where else in the world people struggle so much with English pronunciation like in Japan. Their pronunciation is literally a 2/10 most of the time
Uhm... Considering Japan have nearly no R sound. 2/10 or what, I am impressed enough. For me, their pronunciation I will give a 6/10. They tried. I am chinese and before I ever learn english, I would also struggle with R pronunciation. Most people in hong kong can speak up to a level of english that can be atleast able to do basic things, i mean, alot other people dont know english. by saying we struggles with R sound, we either pronounce R as L sound or the single R letter as "Alo" or "Aro" instead or "Ar". It is hard to pronounce a specific sound when the sound doesn't exist or is rarely said in a language. We also struggle to identify the difference between the /f/ sound, /ph/ sound and the /th/ sound. @@8kw7mx9
The fact that I can speak English almost like a native person. I learned English at school and improved it with video games 😭😭 However, I can keep studying Japanese too after my university exams 😏😎 Learning a new language is a whole new journey!
It's the same for me and I believe there are certain autistic categories of gen Z, Alpha fellows who just don't like to f*ck up the native accent and pronunciations of sorts, even if it is very different, it's not impossible to imitate it. The main reason why I can speak like a native is because I am just too embarrassed to combine my native accent with english, it just doesn't sound and feel right 😮💨
In the small town I went to school, they only offered Spanish or French as languages to learn. I took Spanish. But, it was Spanish from Argentina. When I moved from NY to CA and tried to speak Spanish to the Spanish speakers in California, I could not hold a conversation. Most of the words they said didn't sound the same and they in fact used different words to say the same thing. It was very frustrating and eye opening. I learned more Spanish from my Spanish speaking friends that were actually born in Mexico, than I ever did in school. It definitely helps to speak it every day with a fluent native speaker, instead of learning through a book. If I could have taken Japanese or even Korean, I totally would have.
Yeah, just like English, there are many countries that speak Spanish differently not only due to the words but their accents as well, but we can sometimes just guess what they mean based on the context, or sometimes just straight up ask them what they mean or as many like to do just ask them where they are from. As some who grew up with different types of Spanish, I’ve gotten used to understanding all of the different phrases and vocabulary for a lot of the countries. Right now, I’m focusing on building up my Japanese vocabulary because of that reason before I even attempt to speak with anyone in Japanese. For example, the girl at 4:32 said みかん (mikan) instead of オレンジ (orenji) for oranges. I did not know みかん could be translated to oranges. DeepL translates it to oranges, but it could also mean mandarin (the fruit), so yeah… learning a language is super complicated, but anyone who does deserves huge respects.
You know, give it a hundred years or so and I can totally imagine the different dialects of spanish spoken in different countries branching off so much that they actually become separate languages.
@@mixuple From what I know orenji is meant to mean western oranges like the maltese/african/brazilian types, mikan is something different, not a synonym. Either a different variety or perhaps even a different fruit like a clementine or tangerine, I'd guess it means more the chinese types of oranges/mandarins.
actually textbooks work very well for japanese, especially the Genki books. if you want to learn i 100% recommend Genki (and the app Bunpo for the writing system). you just have to practice speaking out loud when you read the sentences, its not very hard.
It is kind of sad that for most of them their english is on the same level as my german that I randomly took for 4 years in middle school 12+ years ago because I wanted to be in the same class that my friends were. Don't know how Japanese schools work but they probably had 10+ years of english and its pretty fresh in their minds because most of them are still young
It always surprises me a bit to see how poorly most Japanese people speak English, since I'm a non-native speaker and never encounter English in "real life" either. I do understand it's a bit different for Japan though, since they have a lot more media in their own language and they have less cultural ties to any English-speaking nation (I'm from northern Europe). Also, on a side note, I'm surprised by the lady at around 2:35 - her accent sounded quite a bit better to my ear than most of the others in the video.
@@PEDROGARCIA-qj3gr while there were no conclusive statistics for worldwide, when I searched for data just now most info seems to point at there being more people speaking more then one language, with monolinguals being around 40% :)
@@eriek353 I wasn't talking they being monolingual, I was talking more about they look for it, yeah the most that statistic is from people that was force to learn more than they want to, like India pretty much is because they need it at early ages, not as complementary matter in the school like in the developed countries, do you really believe a person in the US need another language to communicate?, the same case in Latin American countries, this gonna sound cruel but the other language most that people use is basically useless, here in Mexico they better learn spanish because if they don't they get isolated and pretty much that's what our government want since they are easy to control in that way.
I am not surprised at all. I am trying to learn Japanese, but I live in the US and so many Americans have this mindset that people need to learn English, and that it's that person's job to know English if they want to visit or live in the US. Yet, they still expect non-Americans to learn English in non-English speaking countries and lot of time refuse to try and learn that countries language. Most Americans cannot speak Japanese, even getting someone to teach it in school in the US is hard. A lot of Americans only know English and if they know another Language at all it is Spanish. If you have a foreign language class in School it is usually Spanish with no choice for anything else. Some nasty Americans will be like "if you don't want to learn English go back to your own country" but they don't realize that if they applied their same logic then it is the English speaker that should be learning Japanese, and not still expecting the Japanese person to learn or know English.
aww, he called himself beautiful! 😭 so sweet! i once practiced japanese several years ago, then i moved and i haven’t been able to practice since. it is a goal that i would like to achieve sometime in the future though!
i love watching videos like this, where people of other languages try to speak english. its just fascinating to see how others view our language and what they find challenging. its sometimes hard to conceptualize that about your own language until its pointed out to you.
I visited Japan once and lived half a year in Japan, and it was a very pleasant experience. I miss Japan a lot. However, as a German who speaks fluently English, I was extremely surprised to meet practically not a single person who was able to speak with me in English. Unlike many Western European countries, who have many American and international cultural influences, Japanese people seem almost entirely living with japanese culture. Your own TV series, movies, pop music asf. Here in Germany as in many European countries, culture of all sorts is popular. I have to admit though, many Germans are not so willing to learn English as well. The most stunning thing was, when I went to the International Airport Narita, I was lost and asked a clerk at an information center for direction, and she wasn't able to speak English at all. She was very friendly, and finally drew the way on a map she was handing me. I know Japan is not much a target of international tourism, since it is very expensive and far away. Which kinda sad, because seeing Japan was so fascinating for me, and I wish more Westerners would have the opportunity to see Japan themselves. :)
I'm sorry, but what? There are loads of English speakers in Japan, especially in places that attract international tourists, although nowhere near comparable to the amount in Western European countries. I was easily able to find workers at Narita who spoke English. Japan was one of the most visited countries in the world in 2019, before the pandemic.
This made me smile. They did very good with English. I will be worse when speaking Japanese. But I know I will do better after studying your videos. Thank you! New follower. Yay! 🎉
People say that you don’t need to know japanese to visit japan, but after seeing this i am so glad i am learning it. Being able to communicate in the native language will be so fun. I feel like my 100s of hours of effort will be rewarded 😂
Hello. Nice to meet You. My name is Ela. :) I'm from Poland. I learned English first, while watching japanese anime with english subtitles. So, now, I understand English but when I'm speaking, it hurts :) But, I'm writing all this without any dictionnary or google translator :) So now, I want to learn Japanese. On September I will start regular lessons, with native Japanese sensei. ( I hope) :) Now I'm watching RU-vid, looking at hiragana and katakana, I know to introduce myself in Japanese, to ask for price, to understand the numbers.. But, really, REALLY, Japanese it's a VERY difficult language. Completely different from any european language. I understand that for japanese people it's difficult to learn English or French. Maybe one day I will come to Japan. So I will try to speak Japanese. I hope they will apreciate my efforts. :)
I'm convinced that, in addition to appropriate input and guidance, motivation is essential to take steps forward learning a language. I feel like, in many countries, being able to speak a native language is functional enough because they don't see the need to learn a foreign one unless they are forced to because of a job or education opportunity, so learning another language feels like an obligation or a load, or simply a skill they feel they could never master. Once it is seen as such, there is more resistance and less willingness to do it. Also, being surrounded by other people in the same situation makes it normal and even more acceptable than standing out. I've seen that from Japanese culture, but it's also something I've seen in my own Latin American country in terms of being able to speak English. It's interesting to see how there is a common cultural aspect in that regard! I am also fascinated about how attempting to utter even simple ideas in a language where we aren't proficient feels and looks just like being in a front of a pool and hesitating to take a dive. It isn't easy at all, and it requires bravery and willingness to jump! Kudos to anyone who does it!; and for those who still hesitate...がんばって! You'll get there!
I spoke to a Japanese student who was making Takoyaki in a Japanese restaurant in the Netherlands for a while. He's a student in Amsterdam. Damn he speak very fluent English though 👊🏽👊🏽 its soo sad that not many young Japanese people/students speak fluently English 😭
I'll remember this video every time I talk with my Japanese friend. I already felt bad enough correcting her L's and R's but now I'll feel even worse lol
If you're really Russian, you're going to need a VPN soon if you wish to continue to watch content on RU-vid. Either RU-vid or Putin is planning to cut access to RU-vid in Russian territories sometime today.
@@vidlink I don’t think anyone in Russia is worried about that, we’ve been working around some weird shit like that since we were kids, we never had great access to anything
I worked for Japanese company for yrs. When the Japanese first come in and when they leave, they gave a speech in English. Most of them would butcher it to the point you couldn't understand it. It was really brave to stand up in front of so manoy people and do that. We would just sit listen and clap when they finished. The good ones kept it short. Lol
When I went to Japan in 2017, I noticed that older people (50 and +) were better in english than the younger people (beggining 20's). I've been help in many konbini by the older employees (the young ones were even sometimes rude)
I've noticed something simliar in European non-English countries as well. For some reason Spain and the Netherlands have big trouble when people try to speak English, except when the staff is older. This is pretty much reversed here in Germany.
Aww, I found it really admirable that they all tried their best( and they all sounded fine to me). I definitely appreciate how hard it is to learn a new language, especially as an adult. I have been trying to learn Japanese for the past 4 years and feel like I’ve reached a standstill(むずかしいですね！)、but I will keep on trying. がんばりましょう！😅
Tbh I wish more Americans would watch videos like this. It's not weird or racist to have fun with a language you're not fluent in, it's like a kid exploring something new. That's how hatred is harbored. People from the US are just strange
I’m very impressed. I studied Japanese for a little over a year and am still terrible. こんにち。お名前はエヴェリンです。私は二十五さいです。ネコが大好きですよ。 That’s about all I can think of right now 😅 ごめんなさい先生。🙇♀️
@@AJ-fo2pl Hello, I wrote this comment a year ago, and I was trying to spread a bit of kindness here and there. I understand your frustration, but taking it out on me isn't going to help matters or change anything. You are clearly passionate about the subject, which I do respect. But perhaps file a petition or send a letter to the Japanese government in order to help bring about change? I wish you all the best with your venture and I hope you are able to make a change, have a wonderful day 😊
12 years of english education and all they learn is, "my name is.." probably has something to do with the fact that every Japanese english teacher i've met in Japan hardly speaks a sentence of english other than, "i raiku appuru" Also, this video should be motivation for you to learn Japanese if you live in Japan!
That is not all that they learned. Maybe its all they felt comfortable saying in that moment with a camera in there face. Also they are exposed to English for many years in school but you make it sound like they actually spent 12 LONG years studying and this is all they have to show for it. You certainly have a narrow minded understanding of Japan even though you supposedly live there and know everything
public education systems around the world suck at teaching languages, period. For real go to LA and ask people to present themselves in Spanish, dude not even Hispanics are gonna do it correctly...
The problem is that they don't use what they learned, and what they learn is wrong, a Jinglish rather than English. Japanese would want us to pronounce things pretty close to the majority held best way. They're private but in no small part collectivist in governance, one might even say socialist, with or without pejorative meaning. Sora the Troll, who is Japanese, frequently mocks the Jinglish Japanese are taught. They have to be taught correctly and to practice, practice, practice -- FOREVER. "If you don't use it, you lose it" isn't just an adage: It's based in the long-term potentiation theory of neural networks. Our brains lose knowledge without keeping the places it's stored regularly used. If all they feel comfortable saying is basic introductions, it's because they haven't been practicing. Probably nobody here gets extremely anxious driving a car. A lot of people have driven hundreds of thousands or millions of miles in various cars and service vehicles they've operated in their lifetime. They need more routine practice every day for years with someone who knows English well and can advise them for improvements. I suspect fluent English native speakers aren't at a surplus in Japan. And that's why more than a few Japanese people suck at English: They're not stupid, just mortal.
@@AxionSmurf Just for the record, I was never insinuating that they are stupid. I know that it's due to poor English education. In fact, im of the belief that English classes should not be mandatory at all in Japan. English is not used anywhere in Japan really. Part of why it's hard to for Japanese to keep up with English is because outside of "decoration english" it's not used. I work in education and I know firsthand that the english curriculum is bad.
I disagree that Japanese proficiency on the part of English teachers is required to be an effective english teacher. For young students they either look at you suspiciously or they ditch English altogether if you start speaking to them in their native tongue. The fact of the matter is the Japanese still feel they are very rich and frankly aren't really interested in non Japanese see things.
What I found interesting is the fact that the people who had the sounds of English pretty well were often not the same people who had the the confidence in their word choice.
I am a Spaniard and we Spaniards struggle a lot at learning foreign languages too. I'm convinced it's all about the number of phonems in our respective mother tongues: Spanish, 24; Japanese: around 20; English: more than 40.
The fact that you can stop someone on the street and most if not all can introduce themselves in English is impressive. Meanwhile I might know a few Japanese words but I definitely wouldn't be nearly that clear in what I'm trying to say if the same happened to me lmao.
Its so funny to see how off their pronunciations are, and knowing that any time I try to speak in a different language, even just a few words, my pronunciation is probably even worse.
Is the -u/o at the end of words that hard to train away? I’m playing a game RN and literally every special attack is like that, “Ghost-o Strike-u”, “Quick-u Step-u”. It’s hilariously cute.
