I've been learning Japanese in school for almost three years, and I just got to know that we don't really say "konnichiwa" or "konbanwa" to your friends.......... ._. Ah, I've been using them wrong all this time _" Anyway, thank you for the lesson~
Hi Chika, I have just started learning Japanese in the last few weeks, I discovered your channel today and I love it. My brother lives in Nagasaki, he is an English teacher there, and he is getting married next year to a lovely Japanese girl. My family will travel from New Zealand to Japan for the wedding. I’d really like to speak to my brother’s fiancée, her family and also after the wedding I’d like to travel around Japan independently, so I thought it was best I learn some Japanese. My brother is teaching me the formal greetings and phrases via Skype, but I’ve found your channel really helpful to get a taste of Japanese culture and also an idea of how normal everyday Japanese people use casual conversation techniques. Thanks so much for your videos I’m really enjoying them. You are such a cool person. Matane!
Laura Hall Hi Laura! Thanks for commenting. Glad you found my channel :) My parents are from Nagasaki and I was born there myself! So exciting that you're coming to visit! Good luck with learning Japanese! hope my videos help a little :)
I lived in Japan for about ten years and speak Japanese fluently. The lesson on greetings was awesome! Nothing that hadn't exprienced, but had never really thought about it because I learned those things colloquially. Good lesson....
Chika: I speak Spanish as a first language, I teach English as a second language to university students. I want to learn Japanese because I love its culture and language. Last year, a Japanese teacher told me that my pronunciation in Japanese is very good (but I speak a little bit). I tried to learn Italian, but I have lots of problems with Italian grammar. Do not feel guilty about learning Italian because Italian is more difficult to learn than Spanish. I encourage you to learn Spanish, just use your Japanese pronunciation and you will do a great job. Arigato. :-)
i must say as a beginner in japanese its very frustrating to hear that half the phrases in beginner books are not used in regular conversation among friends. i am learning japanese to converse with my japanese girlfriend in her native tongue and she has told me just like you said many of the common words that appear in beginner textbooks aren't used in informal situations. i wish there was more resources devoted to conversational japanese rather than super formal situations.
you can watch this channel as well as channel japanese from zero, good too, also i find this to be standard for any language until you get immersed in the new environment you would know when to say this and when to say that.
Chika-san, Arigatou gozaimasu for sharing these very useful and handy phrases in daily life Japan. We will pass them over to our students and interns! Greetings from the Meiji Academy Team from Fukuoka/Japan😉
This video is insanely helpful!! I always had a feeling こんにちは and こんばんは weren't really good to use with friends but now I know how Japanese people really greet each other, THANK YOU SO MUCH CHIKA I LOVE YOUR VIDEOS
Hi! All the italian textbooks have also the same problem as japanese textbooks: They teach you the "standard phrases" not the common ones. So if you are in front of a common phrase you don't know how to act and sometime you don't know what it means: For example, among friends we use to say "Com'è?" or "Come va?" or "Tutto a posto?" less than the standard "Come stai?". We have a lot of phrases that you cannot translate to english (but not so much as Japanese) and having a lot of irregularity we have many finesses to express the level of friendship/rudeness/cuteness etc.
I think you should definitely try learning Spanish. I'm a native speaker in both English and Spanish (though I learned English first, and started learning Spanish at age 7 when my family moved back to Chile, as my parents are both from this country). Spanish is far more useful a language to know than Italian, as there are FAR more speakers of it. And, if you learn Spanish, you can understand about 70% of Portuguese. How cool is that?! It's a very beautiful language. The songs are beautiful, the poems are beautiful, and it's very melodic. I suggest trying to learn the Latin version (not the Spaniard version). Chilean Spanish is generally thought of as the most difficult to understand due to it's slang and lazy and fast way of speaking. But, if you learn this version, you'll be able to understand every other accent very well. I love your channels, by the way! They're amazing! You do a really great job teaching Japanese ^-^ P.S. If you ever need any help with learning Spanish, I'd be more than happy to help you.
i like the way you describe words in a cultural context because a lot of teachers and learning tools don't, which is sad because it's super interesting and important for fluency!
On greetings you don't get from a textbook, my Japanese friend and I were talking about this topic not too long ago. When she first came to America it was during high school. One of my friends greeted her with "Hey. What's up?" and all she could think of was to look at the ceiling. She got a crash course in non textbook English pretty darn quick. I personally used "Otsukare" once with another Japanese friend of mine. We were both commiserating about being moms to young children. Her son had been having a hard time sleeping at night and she had been having a tough time off it. I hope I used "Otsukare" appropriately then. At the very least she used it for me after my daughter stated knocking the salt and stuff around at the restaurant. Haha. I really do appreciate these off book lessons. Even with the last one I had zero clue that "Tadaima" was actually part of a longer phase. I love being able to learn something new. Thank you.
すごい!! Your channel is super helpful! I've been studying Japanese for a year now and will be studying abroad to Hirosaki University in the spring. The less formal stuff not in the textbook is really convenient to learn and you do a nice job teaching it. ありがとうございます!
I do appreciate what you've done for us and just one word "thanks" is totally not enogh. Your video teaches me, gives me useful infomation and it does inspire me a lots. And, again, thank you a lots for posting such an interesting and educational video like this. I do look forward to your next videos! Love ya and...have a nice day!
It's certainly easier to start learning a language when you're young, but look, I started learning Japanese last year, and I turned 40 a few weeks ago.And honestly, I'm having a blast. It requires a little bit of discipline of course, but it's so much fun and it's rewarding in so many ways. So, Chikaさん、頑張ります！
i would stick to whatever language you like the most. if youre not interested or having a hard time getting interested then that would make learning the language difficult. for me spanish would be most useful however i dont feel very interested in it and my attention to it suffers. japanese on the other hand seems to consistently call out to me and i always seem interested in it.
WOW! Great work! I think I learned more basics with ease from your video than I did in my two weeks of language lessons in Tokyo! Thank you! I just subscribed to your channel.
Great lesson, I learned a lot. Another important point to mention is that おはいよございます can also be used at work if you see co-workers for the first time at 2pm in the afternoon
Hi, Chika! I am on the path towards learning Japanese and I find your video very helpful in remembering new phrases! What I find would be the best way of learning the language would be by watching Japanese news and tv shows to hear the sounds of the words and understand how the phrases vary in different scenarios. Thank you for the videos!!👍👍
Good luck with your Spanish or Italian! I actually grew up speaking English and Spanish, so when I started learning Japanese, the pronunciation for me was so easy because Japanese vowels and Spanish vowels are pronunced almost exactly the same.
This video is awesome and super helpful!! Now I'll be able to actually express myself to Japanese friends when I'm saying hello or goodbye instead of just using the classic textbook phrases, thank you so much!
Thank you so much for this video, Chika! You don't know how long I've been wondering how 'hi' works (or doesn't work) in Japanese, because it did seem weird to me at first that you'd always say Good Morning or Good Afternoon to your friends. Knowing that you pretty much just call out their name or make an 'I've noticed someone I know' noise helps a lot~ Once I get better with my grammar and kanji, I think I'll try commenting on your second channel in Japanese. Might be fun if your Japanese subscribers commented in English too~ Like Lang-8 sort of. TLDR: Your videos are great, I'm subscribing to both of your channels~
Hi! I just arrived at your channel and so far I really REALLY like it. I am self-taught learning Japanese and I do know the basics however, I learned something new in this video and it was very helpful and you explained everything really well :) I'm probably going to watch all your videos now, jyaane ;)
Hello! I would like to commend you for making videos like this with such basic but vital information on Japanese language and culture, as well as for sharing your adventures and experiences with everyone. I just found out your channel last January, but it helped me a lot on my recent trip to Japan. Arigatou Chika-san! Ganbatte ne! :)
Liked and subscribed. I am trying to learn Japanese...I am from Italy, I could help you with Italian! :) You are already proficient in gesticulating...which is somewhat important in Italian! :D ahahahah!
hi , just found your channel, very helpful , I just began learning the basics as I am going to Japan sept 2017 , so excited and I heard that not many Japanese can speak English , and I also think its respectful to learn the language of the country you are visiting ! although you speak quite quickly your video is brilliant , good to learn from someone who is so natural in speaking both Japanese and English . amazing !!! Arigato goziamasu , (I think that's right) I will be checking out your other videos aswell !
That was awesome. I've been learning for only a couple of months and this answered a bunch of questions. It brings balance to a lot of the typical textbook stuff that's even on the web. When you're learning another language, one of the LAST things you want to is come off like a dork. (whether that a person's natural state is different issue ;) ) But thanks! This defiantly brought some sanity. "Real world" Japanese is a great idea!
Great video! I am really interested in learning Japanese and learning about Japanese culture, so your channel is perfect. I look forward to more lessons as well. ありがとうございます
Very helpful! I've been in Japan now for 3 weeks and I was not prepared for the medley of greetings that I had never heard before. Really threw me off at first.
I'm learning Japanese and Spanish ^^ I love watching your videos because they help me a lot with learning Japanese! -- Oh also, you were close! "Hablo un poco de español" is how you say it ^^
Hola Chika! I just subscribed to your channel, i'm learning japanese and you are very good at explaining in a more friendly and casual way, i like that! Also, i'm from Mexico, so if you want to learn spanish i could help you any time, the stuff you said in this video was pretty good and with a good pronunciation, i think you should stick with spanish haha がんばて！ Hasta luego!
I really really appreaciate your lessons. In University, we just went trough the whole school book ... for 2 years .... every day ... (not a good way to learn a language), so I really enjoy your lessons! Hopefully you will do more "street-life" japanese ;) I've had enough school book japanese for a lifetime ! :D
Fascinating! Thank you very much, Chika ! I have always fancied learning Japanese since childhood but never had the chance to work on it properly! I've already known 2/4 of the salutations you mentioned at the beginning (i.e. Konnichiwa, Sayonara). I really thought everyone says Konnichiwa!!! Thank you for this insight of the lovely Japanese language usability and culture!
Hey Chika! Thanks so much for making this video! ありがとうね！You explain things in a way that is both enjoyable and easy to understand. I'm currently learning Japanese, so I'm definitely subscribing to your channel :) Also good luck with the Italian/Spanish! 頑張ってください！
Ciao Chika (こんにちは). I'm a person who studies both Italian and Japanese. These are 2 of the 4 languages I study. Concerning what you said, Spanish is a widely spoken language and very easy to learn. But Italian is a highly requested language also. But Spanish and Italian have the same base language (Roman Latin). But so are other well known languages; such as French, Brazilian Portuguese & Portuguese, and Romanian. That being said: whether you learn Spanish or Italian doesn't really matter. They are very similar and yet slightly different. So it's down to you. Either way they are both great languages to learn.
This is really Awesome!! I have been around the Soka Gakai for many years, I studied many different Japanese Books and so many times I would say something and the Japanese person would look at me like I am crazy or something. And THIS is why!!! :) I am really glad you took the time to do these Videos, they are like Gold to me!! Thank You Very Much!! :)
This is so helpful! :D Thanks for sharing this with us! I've been studying Japanese for two years now and slowly transitioning into the intermediate level, but I've never heard of most of these. I know textbook Japanese can be so different from real Japanese, but wow.
This was great. I plan to follow your lessons thanks much Chikasan. Yes I did learn new phases and your teaching style is easy to follow. Thanks again.
This lesson was very helpful! You made me put two and two together because someone said ganbattene to me once and I tried to figure out what it meant and couldn't. But thank you so much.
Hello Chika, your videos are so informative! I can't believe they never taught us in Japanese class that konnichiwa isn't used amongst friends. I always thought it was just a standard way to say "hello". Thanks for your fun videos =)
I don't know if it's rude to say but I find you really cute and beautiful haha :') It's really fun to watch you and learning from you. I've seen a lot of videos of people teaching Japanese but they all were a bit off somehow but your contact, your interaction is really good and on point. It's friendly haha! So thank you for that! I'm planning to go back to Japan to study Japanese in January 2016 and I'm really excited! I already know some Japanese but hopefully videos like yours will teach me a bit more before I go. Thanks again and please make more! :)
Hey CHIKA! I am a traditional spanih speaker I learned english when I was little and I am now learning Japanese A tip! when you want to make things cuter and smaller you can say a diminutive at the end of a word (only nouns and some adjectives and not names!) quito -ito for male and -ita for woman ex: Chiquita, Poquito, Sillita,
Hello Chika-san, I just recently found your channel and the few lesson videos that you have done are really good. I was wondering if you were going to continue them and if you did, would you be able to do one on forming sentences please? :D
can u give an example of what your after? "forming a sentence" is far too broad, or you can just google sentence structure of grammar functions, theyre not that hard.
Hi Chika! I love your videos, even if I am at a very beginner lever with Japanese, but I try to keep up with your lessons :) but most importantly, as an Italian, I felt the need to try to convince you to keep studying my language instead of switching to Spanish :P though Spanish is much largely spoken. I don't know how many Italian subscribers you have, but if you decide to keep studying Italian, I'll be more than happy to help you with the non textbook parts, like you did in this video :) Ciao!!
Please keep up these lessons as I really want to learn Japanese. It is great that you are teaching everyday Japanese rather than the textbook which although the textbook is helpful it is not as good as learning the language from a native speaker. So please help us all along and many thanks in the meantime.
Thanks! This ね for feminine and な for masculine, even though it's unofficial explains to me why my friends would correct me, or just look puzzled when I'd say matanee, or janee... Also it's strange for me to wrap my head around the fact that it's just a sound to greet a friend instead of some kind of "hi". :)
いいビデオ！４か月にとって日本語を勉強してる、and for my hellos with my Japanese friends i've been using よ and sometimes おっす. the one thing that you've taught me though, is the ねとな , as i've been using ね, hehe, but now i know! ちか、どうも！
Totally agree, common speech in any language are not taught in books or in school; you need to immerse in the culture, like staying in Japan for a while.
Chika san, I am learning Japanese.Your channel helps me a lot.. I started to see your videos. You speak good English.. Thanks for the videos.. keep on posting more videos... And to say you are awesome..
今回のレッスンありがとうございまーす。 イタリア語よりスペイン語が習いやすそうなので、ちかさんがスペイン語を勉強し始めた方がいいと、私も思います。 I'd like it if you did more intermediate level lessons on Japanagos too. Like your Bilingirl channel!
Haha awesome! This is just great I've been watching just a lot of Japanese stuff and I've picked up a lot of these but yeah you definitely gave some useful other tips!
These videos are really interesting and helpful! Definitely do try to learn another language. It's a very fun experience. I'm currently learning Japanese and Koine Greek!
could you please do more of these I am trying to learn Japanese because I didn't get to get the subject at school and I'm stuck with Spanish. These videos are very informative and I love them. Please do more!
Wow loved your lesson video! It really help me understand more things that I didn't know about or things that I had doubt about japanese culture. By the way I just found your channel and this is the first of your lesson videos that I see. I think you should stick more to learning spanish, you are very good at it just a little mistake in the last phrase like Oscar Pinochet said. Greetings from México =D
gracais Chika español es mejor para aprendir, puedes visitar más paices =) Thank you for your videos I'm japanese american (actually japanese italian) from NYC and I barely learned japanese as a kid so now I'm really trying so I can communicate with my family. Your explanation of otsaresamadesu was really helpful please keep making new ones, maybe on how to order at a restaurant? I'm having lots of trouble with that and I LOOOVE food!!
Chika-san, this is awesome THANKS!! Hey can you pretty please post a vid explaining how Japanese high school classes typically start - e.g. what greetings are used (Kiritsu, Rei etc). I want to show my students here in Aus :)
Really cool, now I'll sound more natural when talking to Japanese friends :D (which I don't have yet, cuz I only speak rly basic Japanese, but that day might come). btw, I don't know about Italian, but in Spanish, there's actually a few ways to greet someone, like, if it's a formal situation you greet people according to the day-time like "buenos días", "buenas tardes" or "buenas noches", if you're in an informal situation just say "hola" (any other variations depend on the country, but the majority of people would still use "hola"), so in Spanish, the text books will tell you how people speak everyday, and anything that is not in a text book, depends on the country.
