i got a lot of questions about learning through listening specifically so i made a video about it :) ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-pPKiMlCOeMc.html&t
This isn't just a Japanese learning guide, this is a general language learning guide. You can apply the method of this video to basically every other language.
Well, the section about learning Hiragana and Katakana isn't that useful for learning French. Joking, you're entirely correct. Immersion is, as the video says, how humans learn language naturally.
Fr I've been doing this unintentionally to an extent with German before even watching this. But I thought this was the normal way of learning languages lol
Nah, I don't think so. You can barely immerse yourself ask there are not no good European Portuguese movies or entertainment. It's hard to do immersion unlike Japanese with so many contents to consume
Exactly, I learned English at 14 just because I was playing games in English and watched videos in English. I didn't understand shit, I just watched it because it looked interesting and here I am switching between my native language and English without even realizing it.
@@Haru_Shirasaki a combination of basic grammar learnt at school and consuming a lot of content at home idk how or when but at some point it just clicked
@@redline841 Well, I can tell you sometimes there's a real disparity between someone's writing skills and speech skills when it comes to learning a foreign language. My first language is French, and when I first learnt English, I picked up things and got really decent at written English fast since I was reading/playing games in English. But there was still a big difference between those skills and my oral skills, truth is, I'm still in the process of "acquiring" a more natural spoken English. So, this person's experience might be similar to mine in that fashion. But I do agree, his written English is quite good already.
@@arfanik9827 At the very least, Y'all don't seem to be struggling. I do get it tho, I'm also a native Hindi speaker, and I lack the speaking skills even though my writing and reading skills are good enough.
I'm learning Japanese, but with my grandfather getting hit by kamikaze aboard the uss franklin in ww2 I think she might have a heart attack if she hears me 😂
this is super helpful and validating because ive been using this method (kind of) by installing a jp keyboard on my phone and searching simple words i know like "ねこ" and watching whatever Japanese videos come up. it's basically interacting with RU-vid the way a child would.
For starting anime without subtitles I reccomend rewatching the ones you have already seen! You won't be so overwhelmed and it helps with context clues for learning words.
That's exactly what I thought of doing, I first understood English watching Naruto's dub (my mother's tongue is French). How cool would that be to learn a yet a new language using it!
Verb conjugation was extremely easy for me. Just gotta remember ichidan (most iru/eru) and godan verbs and the endings. Found it much simpler than Spanish class
Principles: The decisive factor of learning the language is input. Memorization and explicit grammar practice is secondary. 1. Learn Hiragana and Katakana. 2. Learn basic grammar, but don't feel obligated to master it. 3. Commit multiple hours of input a day, whichever the method. Tips 1. Passive listening to save time. 2. Tolerate not understanding everything. But having some context helps extract more information. 3. SRS (Spaced Repetition System) to learn a few words a day. Use "Mining" to add words you encounter to an Anki card. 4. Listen to Japanese for a few months before worrying about reading, unless you don't worry about accents. 5. Wait until you're very comfortable understanding Japanese to start speaking it. 6. Build confidence by usingJapanese in everyday applications, such as in notes or by conversing with Japanese people online. 7. Tone down the kanji and vocab memorization, focus on input.
Thank you for this, really helpful when I want to remember without having to watch the whole video Keep commenting and liking this post so we can all remember 👍
The real key though is that the input must be comprehensive else it will get you nowhere, usually it can be deduced from the context or already known words. Stephen Krashen and Steve Kaufmann both explain in perfectly
7. I think it's important to clarify that you should only avoid them as a beginner. It's important to eventually pick up written input and kanji is essential in that.
@@alexprus7953 Yea, kanji killed my motivation to learn Japanese. Attempting to learn it directly after katakana/hiragana is suicide and most people will drop the language this way. I think best way to learn, from my experience, is learn hiragana and katakana well, and then from there do alot input and just generally be able to understand basic phrases/sentences. Best way to do this is as the video says, just watch/listen to what you enjoy and you will eventually pick a few things up, as long as the context is contextual (which is why watching stuff is your best option, put pictures to the words). However, after you've gotten past this beginner stage of hiragana/katakana and being able to understand basic phrases and words, kanji does become very important. It's why there's such an emphasis on N1-5 in Japanese learning, so if you don't bother with learning Kanji you are just handicapping yourself out of a big part of the language (an entire writing system in fact).
This is a great overview of the process. The hard part for most people is being aware of this process and then being consistent until the point where the language is a natural part of your life.
these are general rules for learning any language for that matter not only Japanese. that's how I learned English completely by myself in my room. my next destination is to learn Japanese the same way! this is awfully underrated bro.. solid editing and script writing skills with actually useful knowledge to share, more people need to find your channel.
@@hatsushikun2722 Yeah I think that’s the case with most people because they start consuming content in English from a fairly young age. For me I made the decision consciously when I was a little older so I had to go through a lot of the language learning struggles mentioned in the video.
this is how i learned arabic as a kid (arabic cartoons on tv) & korean when i grew up and was into kpop & immersed myself in all korean entertainment. from live shows, radio shows, variety shows, dramas, etc. I can’t say i’m fully fluent but if i got dropped in korea i could get by, and i’d understand about 80% of what is said to me.
I think this is the basic order of things you need to do to learn a language 1: learn basic alphabets, basic phrases and their sounds 2: listen for hours 3: learn speaking 4: learn reading 5: learn writing
@@Vnxelt no, he did mention that anki will help a lot with understanding (basically listening to podcast and stuff will make you understand the language easily when spoken) but you will need to learn pronunciation correctly or else you will take a weird accent which resembles your first language it's the 3rd thing in the order I mentioned
when it comes to grammar i HIGHLY, HIGHLY recommend cure dolly. she explains grammar so well and makes it feel so natural and logical, it's incredible!!
@@justalameusername1736 I'm pretty sure the reason her voice sounded like that was just because she was an old woman, though she might have put effects on it. I'm not sure.
@@justalameusername1736 yea...her voice put me off learning from her channel, but EVERYONE says she's the GOAT so I'm thinking of giving her another shot
There's a really good RU-vid channel called Comprehensible Japanese with this native Japanese lady who takes Krashen's idea of comprehensible input and basically treats the viewer like they're her child. She shows you things like objects or pictures and speaks very simply as if she were explaining the thing to a native Japanese baby or toddler. Other times she'll tell very simple stories as if she were telling a very simple story to a native Japanese baby or toddler. It's a pretty useful channel as a starting point.
@@ChristopherArmendarez-Wi-xc4gw Mandarin Corner is THE channel to learn Chinese, they have a lot of real life topic videos with literal translations and pinyin, is really useful.
This is pretty much exactly how I did it! I started learning 2.5 years ago now, and I passed the N3 a year ago (I have never received formal classes in Japanese and I started entirely from scratch following guides like The Moe Way). I moved to Japan just a few weeks ago and honestly? I'm absolutely blown away by how much I know and how I can get by. I've been into my city multiple times alone just having a wander around, stopping in bars and things to chat with the locals and they treat me like a regular person who's just passing through. Incredible feeling! I've managed to make a handful of local "friends" who I occasionally meet up with which is super nice, and I got a date with a local girl next week who literally speaks Zero English! Trust me guys, it's absolutely doable and very worth it. If you ever decide to move to this country, dear god you will need it. There is no way in hell I'd have been able to do some of the more formal stuff without knowing the language (think bank accounts etc...)
You see, I am not learning Japanese but this has been in my recommended 4 times despite me never seeing this channel. So here I am now,subscribed and watching
This method brilliantly worked when I was learning Spanish. I immersed myself in a Spanish speaking country, I'm shy so unintentionally I listened way more. 3 months later someone asked me how did I learn Spanish so quickly! It dawned on me then that I was actually understanding most of what was said. I was over the moon, grammar is still my enemy but for some reason I can hear if it sounds right or not, just no clue why I know. Super excited that I've started my learning Japanese journey
This video makes me think of this one channel i found, Comprehensible Japanese, and she basically has a bunch of videos where she talks in japanese with a lot of contextually relevant images/video. She has different levels but in her beginner videos she basically talks the way a parent would to a baby, ie saying the word for hair and pointing to her hair. Honestly its a really good channel
7:14 I’m Russian who learned English using this method and now I’m trying to learn Japanese the same way… and seeing «пончик» was pretty unexpected 😂😂😂
@@AlexIsVeryBoredI work in a warehouse but I don’t usually talk to people or have the hardest job just a lot of walking so could I just pick a Japanese podcast tour my phone in my pocket and just listen? If so, what podcast should I listen too?
What sort of level are you at now? I've been learning a similar amount of time, always doing my Anki but almost never doing the immersion cos of lack of time. As you'd expect I don't understand 90% of what I hear in immersion
This video is a fantastic push for me as a learner because after a couple years of attempting to learn it on and off i couldnt figure out a comprehensive way to do so. But this is something i feel i should've thought of before (the immersion aspect). Thanks for bringing this way to my attention.
I’m actually not a weeb I’m just an Asian without being able to speak Japanese.I can’t connect with my grandparents or family because of the language barrier. Edit: nice video tho
I came across your video right after I decided with my mom that we'll be traveling to Japan as a graduation trip. I'll be back in 4 years to tell you how it worked for me.
"Tolerating ambiguity" is a very good point in which I have not directly thought about when I also give advice to people wanting to or already in the process of learning Japanese. Usually, a common theme is that people skip native Japanese material because it's "too difficult" in some fashion, claiming that when they "understand it" is when they'll watch it. But as you've stated, that completely ignores the whole point of a learning process, as in order to get to that level of more comprehension, you have to spend time clawing your way at it even though most of it can be pretty incomprehensible at first. It's kind of like a baby not understanding what 99% of things are still being said except for a few keywords, but throughout time with that input they get to adult-level understanding. Very good insight, Trenton!
I realized this by accident. I watched anime with subtitles for years without learning any Japanese. But then suddenly I realized I was starting to learn some words and phrases. Not because I turned off the subtitles, but because I picked up a Rubik’s cube and started solving it by habit while watching. I could no longer rely on the subtitles 100% because my eyes were on the cube. I started to learn to tolerate missing some of the subtitles. I keep telling myself that I’m going to turn the subs off completely because I’ve gotten too good at reading. This video has convinced me it’s time.
A lot of things that have to feel ambiguous for a while are sentences which communicate a meaning with a very different structure to their english (or whatever your native langauge is) counterpart. This is true for a lot of idiom like sayings or stuff like ki ni naru or ki ga suru. With these you literally just have to encounter them enough times to the point where you internally go "oh I know what that means ive seen that a hundred other times" and you start to "feel" the meaning like you might feel a baseball swing you practiced a million times.
I am a Japanese-Japanese living in Japan. Thanks to this video, I can now speak Japanese fluently and I even got a girlfriend. I am grateful for this video.
I’m doing this method with Spanish. It can absolutely be a grind but the method works. Figure out your goals, find your why, put in the effort, and it’ll come with time. Excellent video!
I've been doing the same thing with Spanish using a website called Dreaming Spanish which is built exactly around this baby immersion method (not tryna shill just wanted to put it out there as I've been finding it helpful)
I'm an American who's currently learning Japanese. I am NOT a fan of anime (aside from like 3 exceptions). I'm learning the language because real world Japanese social and cultural dynamics fascinate me. My mass "input" is actually Japanese dubs of western media (Rick and Morty, Marvel Movies, Spongebob, etc.) and that stuff is just as in-depth and natural most of the time as eastern media, AND it's familiar enough to me as a westerner to where I don't feel overwhelmed. So be sure to dig through and find what works for you in things you already like! My keystone so far has been, hilariously, the Japanese dub of the "Steamed Hams" Simpsons scene. I already pretty much knew the scene by heart in English, but I learn something new every time I watch the dubbed scene, it's great.
i see someone else has recommended yt and i 100% agree with them so i’ll go ahead and give you 3 people that i watch regularly. 1st Yuka_jp is probably the best since she is very easy to understand and uses lots of daily vocabulary. The next 2 are more personal ones so im not sure if you would get enjoyment out of them, but じゅえりー and masaru are good too. However they are fishing channels so the vocabulary is less common and more niche.
originally weeb meant to be fascinated by Japan and its culture, otaku is the word that we associate with anime fans, somehow the two words got mixed up and people use one for the other so you are actually a weeb
This video was put together really well and made the long journey of learning Japanese feel way less daunting and complicated. I'm glad RU-vid put it on my homepage, so here's your "I'm surprised this channel doesn't have more subscribers" comment. Definitely wanna stick around for more of these videos, so thanks for making this one.
I've been at it for about 9 years (10000+ hours) now. Started with just watching anime with subtitles, playing visual novels and changing game voices to Japanese when possible. Eventually I started being able to tell when the subtitles were inaccurate or took some creative liberties, which I found annoying so I started paying more attention to the audio instead. I'd start watching raws because I didn't want to wait for the subtitles to come out. Nowadays I can understand the majority of spoken Japanese without having to put up much effort, and mostly do audio immersion through livestreams and music instead. The last 8 months is when everything's really been coming together for me, as I've been putting in active effort. I skimmed basic grammar for like an hour, realized I know essentially all of it, and basically learned how to speak overnight. I finally got around to properly learning katakana and then dug my teeth into kanji because I decided I wanted to be able to read Japanese. I mixed SRS (Wanikani) with immersion (LingQ, changing game text language to Japanese, etc) and I've gone from around 50 know kanji to somewhere around 800 in 8 months and I can for the most part guess the ones I don't know. If you did SRS for vocabulary paired with immersion from the beginning, you could get to where I am a lot faster (like 4-6 years), so don't let the 9 years scare you too much. The most important thing is to find some way of learning that you can do just for fun, because you're not going to be able to keep up with it for years if you don't enjoy it. Also, do *not* try to study or memorize grammar. Just skim through it briefly, if anything. You should let your brain figure it out naturally, but having the basic grammar concept at the back of your mind _can_ make it easier to notice patterns in the wild.
that's kinda impressive that you wen't so long without reading japanese. Were you reliant on the audio part when reading VNs and subtitles or how did you proceed before the last 8 months?I immediately got the Kanji out of the way when i started but that's because i just love reading and it was fun to me. Was careful to get enough audio input for my accent though. Enjoy the fruits of your labor!
Japanese grammar is so different than English how did you naturally absorb it so quickly? Do you fully understand it enough to talk about complex topics or just enough basics to get by? Sorry no hate but unless you already know a language with a similar grammar to Japanese it feels genuinely impossible for you to know ALL Japanese grammar rules without actually looking into it and studying it. Even with English grammar some rules you can’t naturally pick up or really understand unless taught. You can mimic what you see but that doesn’t equal understanding what you’re doing.
Love the video, agree with a lot of stuff. One thing I'd like to add, as I've seen many people talk about this. As a dad with a 3year old and a teacher, kids get so much feedback about what they're learning. When they start off learning, you hold a Banana and say "Do you want a banana? Banana? Ye?" They learn the word "Banana" the rest does not get inputted in. By the time they're making sentences, you are correcting them A LOT. They're vocab and ability to put long, complicated sentences together doesn't really start until they're at school and in a learning environment. I found by picking ONE video of Japanese, that's about 10 minutes long. And watching that video 1000X. Looking up the words, looking up the grammar patterns until every word, sentence, syllable makes perfect sense, then move on to another video. You'll find the next video to be much easier 'cos there's similar vocab and patterns. Do the same with and move on.
Yeah but if you add bunch of adjectives, verbs, and a complete sentence like most English, and don't wait for feedback from the listener whether they understand or not it's not very good immersion. Like "May I offer the baby the browning banana that's about to go bad." How much you think the baby will pick up from that? I'm gonna emphasize Comprehensive input. There has to be signals that the baby could understand to comprehend like the gesture to the banana and the immediate association with the repeated word. Most media out there is like being taken on a roller coaster blindfolded, you may get the feeling and the emotion being conveyed as you feel like you are falling but you don't know anything more than that you're being pushed around by something. Maybe when I watch my favorite shows again when I finally understand it I might get a sense of deja Vu and gain the full experience...
I mean, I think that's why the original commenter suggested watching something over and over until it's comprehensible. That won't work if you did a week of Duolingo and the first chapter of Genki, but if you've got enough of a foundation to comprehend even a little bit of something, you should try to do it and then study the thing more closely to see if you were right or not. It's one good way to try and mimic feedback if you're in a situation where you can't actually get human feedback. The people I usually see complaining about input not being perfectly understandable are usually around JLPT N4 or through the Genki textbooks. That's certainly not enough to understand most sentences on a first try, but it definitely gives you the toolkit to do something like this video and this commenter are describing and glean some value from something that appears too hard at first glance.
Immersion learning is a method where learners are surrounded by the language they are trying to learn, using it in everyday situations to become fluent. While it can be very effective, there are several potential problems that might arise: １．Lack of Structured Learning: Immersion often lacks a structured curriculum, which can lead to gaps in understanding grammar and other foundational aspects of the language. ２．Overwhelm: Learners might feel overwhelmed by the constant exposure to the language, especially if they don't have a solid base to build on. ３．Miscommunication: Without adequate instruction, learners might pick up incorrect language usage or slang, leading to misunderstandings. ４．Cultural Differences: Immersion also involves cultural aspects, which can be confusing or challenging if learners are not prepared for the cultural context. ５．Motivation: The constant challenge of immersion can be discouraging for some learners, especially if they don't see immediate progress. ６．Access to Resources: Immersion requires access to a rich environment in the target language, which may not be available to everyone. Addressing these issues often requires supplementing immersion with formal language instruction and support.
This is probably the most comprehensive video on learning Japanese that I've seen to date. The way you've made all of this information accessible in such a clear and digestible format is simply perfect. If I could, I would like this video ten thousand times over ^^ Thanks for bringing the Japanese learning process to the world. I would love to see more videos detailing the exact methods you used / you would recommend in detail. Thank you so much for spreading this valuable information and helping others on their language-learning journeys!
That's hands down the best approache imo, I did exactly that for English (I'm native French). You learn from start of middle school to end of high school, about 7 years, and I'm now fluent in English. It's been about 4 years of immersion of Japanese, with classes in university too and I'm about N3/B1 level, I think by the end of the school year I may be able to push for N2 (08/2025) ! Keep it up !
@@zeldrias This method will help you pass the N5-N3 easily, all bases are covered for those N’s if you just immerse. N2-N1 is nearly the same, except you may need to formally study half of N2 and N1 grammar if you want to complete the JLPT as soon as possible. You will still be able to pass all the JLPT if you immerse and no study though, I checked the JLPT grammar list and I realized that I encountered at least half of N1 and a good majority of N2 and this is just from immersion.
11:33 this is actually a concept that should be more obvious but took me a while to understand. i was in japan earlier this year and amongst other things I went to see the haikyuu movie that (still) isn't available online. haikyuu is one of my favorites and I knew that I wouldn't be able to watch it back home, so I went to see it a few times, and there were no subtitles (obviously). with very basic understanding of Japanese, context clues and vague memories of the manga, my understanding of the movie sat at around 50% the first time I viewed it, and was closer to 75% by the seventh time. it was so helpful not having subtitles. it does such tremendous change. because the translation isn't in front of me, I had to listen and watch closely to discern what was happening. i do know a bit of Japanese but not even on a toddler level, I can only read hiragana/katakana and make basic conversation. it was such a cool experience getting better at understanding the movie every single time! i tried it with other anime and it also helped me with understanding some sentences better because subs are never perfect and sometimes some cool words or slightly different phrases/intentions can be missed. this is a great video! and it definitely motivates me to try harder with learning Japanese properly.
Here's what I did: I changed subtitles on anime to Japanese closed captions. If I can't hear it, I can read it. If I can't read it, I can pause it and look for a word I don't know in a dictionary. It worked for me because I am Korean and I am already familiar with Japanese Kanji in the form of Hanja. I have to admit that my background gave me a head start. But before I tried this in Japanese because I'd already done the same thing with English content with Korean subtitles, and it worked. I changed Korean subtitles to English closed captions, and later removed it altogether. What's funny about all this is that I parted ways with translated subtitles for two different non-native languages not because I wanted to be a polyglot or sth, but because I couldn't bear letters cluttering the screen when I wanted to immerse myself into the whole screen. ADHD brains will make you do tomfooleries like this.
@@knpark2025 that's so cool! i'm bilingual but I don't know any asian languages, so kanji is really intimidating haha. i'll try watching with japanese subs! thank you for the great advice!
I noticed this when I tried watching an older Japanese movie a few times, it was never translated to English so no subtitles. It was called "Ganso Daiyojohan Daimonogatari" (in english, The Great Ancestral 4.5 Tatami Story), and it's based on one of Leiji Matsumoto's earlier mangas. Barely understood it the first time I watched it, but ended up understanding a bit more the second time and context clues gave me more to work with the second time around. Still a bit hard to parse some of the dialogue because you got the main character speaking a generalized Kyushu dialect and another main character who's a yakuza who uses less everyday sounding language from the sound of it. More recently, I caught a clip from Anpanman and found myself understanding most of it, so I can at least mostly understand the simpler dialogue used in shows for young children atm hehe.
I just came back from a 4 week trip from japan and I feel like this trip really got me confident with the language. I don't feel as uncomfortable speaking the language (even though I made so many mistakes, but they got the gist of what I wanted to say) and hearing the language really was just really helpful to understand what daily life japanese is. I also learned some vocabulary, not much, only a few words, but I still see it as a win. I also made some friends there. I think it was a great experience and I will definetly return. The trip really motivated me to learn the language more. At some point I also started using japanese as a reflex (for example: when I wanted somebody to repeat what they said, I asked them in japanese, even though I was talking to a british tourist in english) using and thinking a little bit in japanese was a really great feeling ^^
Thanks man. I've been learning Japanese on and off for about a year now and I've never once thought to play a Japanese audio (besides songs) in the background even if I don't understand it. That's really helpful for someone like me who usually don't have time to spare for extended learning sessions
rewatching / re-reading / re-consuming your content over and over and over also helps a lot, cause the more you listen, the deeper ingrained it gets , the more reality you're able to understand what you did the last time, to spend more time on things you didn't pick up before. without trying. just active listening :3
@@yulimartorrealba5851 kinda you need to know some words or watch something with picture to make connections but that's basically it in second grade I stopped watching everything bulgarian and just switched to english and that's how I am now at C1 level without any other learning
I highly recommend Cure Dolly's Organic Japanese course on YT for general Grammar. I like it better then Tae Kim's guide personally. Her lessons are strongly geared towards encouraging immersion as soon as possible but with the solid foundation of the language's basic structure. Her whole YT channel is a great resource for learning Japanese imo. My favorite immersion method right now are voiced visual novels because they the provides a double whammy of reading and listening!
@@Bruniinha1011 The one I'm currently using, Nekopara Catboy Paradise, I got off Steam. It's free! I also got the original Nekopara Cat Girls game (all age version) on sale for like $5 but I haven't played it yet. For other games and where to find them I would check on places like r/visual novel, r/otomegames and sites like The Moe Way (which is all about learning Japanese using VNs. I was introduced to Cure Dolly through them and they have a discord for learners)
@@Bruniinha1011steam, also suggest text hooker like textractor and textbook page to link yomitan or jp dict to the text. That actually makes one understand the sentence, instead of mindlessly listening to stuff. Read it, listen to it, and comprehend it in bite sized chunks, and enjoy a story at same time.
I work night shift and my job doesn't require me to pay super strong attention to what I'm doing, so listening to japanese podcasts the entire time is definitely something I can do. I appreciate the spreadsheet, I'll certainly be making use of that!
The part where you says "it takes a lot of time" was actually very encouraging! I've been at it for 2ish years because i do fanmade manga translations! I usually get help from actual fluent writers, and the rest if figured out with my trusty dictionary and list of Japanese onomatopoeia, but all this time i just thought i was a moron cuz all these videos were saying like "i learned it in 6 months" or "i learnt in 1 year!" when i've barely got the basics in. So thank you!
I found putting all my tech in japanese to be a big help. My phone being switched to Japanese also switches all the applicable apps to it too. Now of course, I only consider myself N4 currently, I still switch back to English on my devices when there's important information I need to digest. But most of the time, looking at my phones notifications and seeing something as simple as "Samが写真を送信しました。" I'm gonna eventually nail something new into my head.
this is really more a gimmick than anything, you'll learn a few words and it can subconsciously trick yourself into thinking you're doing more immersion than you actually are
Your guide is probably the best of the best, and I can relate to that a lot. English wasn’t my first language, and I found learning english at school to be boring and slow. Being a kid at that time, I liked watching RU-vid, especially English speaking ones, which I then mimicked the way they spoke, learning their accents as well as some grammar that I previously didn’t know of. Using methods like this actually helped change my accent from sounding like a foreigner to a native!
this video has helped a lot as someone who has been trying to amp up my learning the past 2 years (started at about 14~ and im 16 now) i tried to start as soon as I realized I wanted to be serious about learning, but really I’ve been shooting myself in the foot by not immersing myself as much as I could 😭 i will say though, just from casually listening to vocaloid every single day and watching lots of videos by natives, ive definitely realized most my learning hasn’t come from dictionaries or learning apps, and this video has really inspired me to start taking that leap that ive been afraid of- watching stuff without knowing much of what’s happening also…. that vr clip with the hamburger joke made me smile so hard, i remember the first time i made a joke in Japanese and the person i was talking to laughed, it really feels like a milestone in a weird way hahaha トレントンさん、動画を作ってくれてありがとうございます！💮💕
Honestly i call bullshit if anyone gets fluent in JP within a year or two, even immersion training requires you to be similar with basic kanji and grammar and you literally can't just learn by watching anime from the get go as someone that has 0 knowledge of the language, and for a language that's primarily learnt as a hobby, it's even more unbelievable
I'm thinking this too. Whenever I see/hear of people attaining N1 in 12 months I think they're just leaving out all the work they did to get from 0->intermediate (N3) first. Not necessarily on purpose, I think once you've achieved something you partially forget how hard the process was to achieve it
It is fully possible, but yeah 99% will not master it that quickly, but it has been done, for example the US military takes 64 weeks to teach its students Japanese, but it cannot be understated how extreme it is they study in the work’s best language courses and instructors and they study almost every waking hour and almost every single day.
It's possible, but not so much for westerners. The Chinese and the Taiwanese can learn Japanese at an alarming rate. For most people it would take 2 years at least to be somewhat fluent whereas those guys can learn it in like what, 9-12 months of intensive study. It's really that easy for them.
It also depends on what people think fluency is as well, as it varies from person to person. Personally I think fluency is when you can understand and convey concepts and messages like a native, but I've seen a bunch of people claim fluency with less proficiency. Another thing it depends on is of course the languages you already know. An english speaker might be able to learn norwegian a lot faster than chinese, but a chinese will be able to learn japanese a lot faster than english again.
There are recent cases in the immersion learning community, if thats a thing lol, where a person has passed jlpt n1 in like one and a half years which doesn't exactly mean fluency but as they learnt through immersion and didn't just cram for the test, they actually were pretty damn fluent. And Japanese grammar is really simple, you can totally pick it up just by immersion
11:43 Well most people watching an anime are watching it for the sole reason of enjoying the show, and not learning japanese in itself, but if you actually want to learn japanese then you have to not really be following the show too much and focusing more on what the characters say and trying to understand some meanings, that's the difference.
As someone whos native english speaker who is actually learning spanish from *mexico* because my family majority from mexico, i also do that too, i listen to the music, I watch tik toks or videos in spanish to be familiar with the wording and speak to people in spanish when i need to or when i want to like my family or friends. the biggest help for me is music and ill try to sing it in spanish. Though Im still a baby spanish speaker, your advice is gonna help with me a lot both Spanish and Japanese :3 (Everydah im reminded mexico and Japan are little besties since they barrow each other's culture like banda)
This video basically shows what I already realized just by watching anime. If you focus more on word pronunciation understanding over time, you will understand the meaning.
0:24 easy, people just play it for multiple nights while not watching. Multiple views per person, and no one actually watched, just listened (then fell asleep)
Thanks a ton, that was super helpful! Seriously, I appreciate all the time and effort you put into spreading the message. Fun fact: I grew up in Japan, learned Japanese as a little Italian girl-go figure! Japanese is my second language after Italian since Italian is my native language. English is actually my fourth language, and let me tell you, it took a while, but I’m finally getting the hang of it.
You sneaky dude... I was listening the video while working and for real thought that the video was ending. I said "wait... that's all?" and then I realized... You got me for a second haha
I'm actually not an american , european nor a weeb ,I'm from Egypt , English is my second language , Arabic is my first and I have been studying Japanese for 3 months and I really like your guide , Hope this gets more likes and views.
I mean… WOW all recourses are just awesome and video covers all the potential questions that newbie could ask. You really did a great job🎉❤ And keep it up!!!
10:45 "I'm someone who doesn't really have that great of an attention span" *changes to subway surfers footage* Hilarious. In general, excellent video!
@@rileytanag6070 Well, better late than never. I only found out about immersion learning a year after I started, and I was so happy when I discovered this method. I was able to progress unlike before.
When I first starting doing a Japanese anki deck, I made myself overwhelmed and stopped studying japanese for a whole month! Burn out is no joke. What I did to counter burnout, is doing 1-2 Anki a day for a few weeks or months and then raise the amount of cards by 2 or whatever I felt comfortable with. If I don't feel like doing anki, I just simply lower the amount of cards and stuck to that for a week until I get used to it! Don't ever forget that consistency is key to anything, don't be ashamed of doing a little bit of work, because that's temporary and everyone learns things in different paces ☺️
I’m balancing my Japanese hobby with a preexisting anime hobby, so rather than rush into immersion I’m easing my way out of English subtitles more slowly. Some slice of life rewatches in the mix was a good way to start, and now I’m having a great time with JP-subbed Pokemon. Podcasts, manga, grammar, and SRS have been really helpful along the way too.
Any slice of life recommendations? Not sure where you are, but it’s summer in USA right now, and late nights in the summer are when I binge anime, no other time of the year. It’s been a tradition since middle school.
I learned Japanese in context as a first language from my host families after 2 years of formal lessons in highschool and 2 quarters of Japanese 1 in community college.
I have studied japanese for years, I went to japanese schools, took classes and courses, and I've never been able to actually understand it, I know some grammar, the kana and even some kanji. So I used to watch this Japanese streamer a lot for like 4-5 hours a day, and I started to understand more and more what he was saying, but eventually he started speaking english instead and I stopped immersing myself in the language. But just by that experience I can tell that this method can actually work. Ultimately what stopped me from keep studying japanese was Kanji... maybe I should give it a try again using this method entirely.
Been learning this language for almost 5 years, and this video was nothing but facts ! I hope people just starting of will get this video recommended to save them a lot of time ^^
I’m glad you’re convinced into the mass input strategy of language learning. You will achieve major progress with just 2 hours per day for 2 years with the mass input method.
A tip that worked for me while learning english- go to youtube, put a radom song of the language you wanna learn along with the translation in the subtitles, repeat and listen to that song on the regular until you know it's meaning just by listening it will help remembering some words or frases
Me forcing myself to talk to Native Speakers online through VRCHAT and actually learning that way nails it down when you said "Do it like a baby do it" I genuinely will take part in their conversation and listen to them or be open to when they correct certain errors I make. I do supplement this with self study. It really helps you correct yourself. It's gotten to the point when certain conversations I would immediately pick up what they ask and if I don't, I would humbly admit I do not understand which then they will correct. Also Side Note: It's definitely more fun the fact they start teaching you all the swear words and certain nuance behaviors or short-forms they would use.
Huh, this is actually a great idea. I’m spending a lot of time in VR right now while recovering from surgery. Would love to give this a shot. Where do you find these rooms?
@@Sneshie @jeanpatripaiez432 To reply you both, search Japan in the World's tab. Please do take note, you are still under the scrutiny of Japanese behaviors and mannerisms when entering. Do be polite and understand not many Japanese people are open enough to communicate in English towards you. 1) My recommendation is that you could do is a world called Language Exchange World. It specifically aims to combine JP & ENG Users together. 2) Another alternative is to join a BAR World called [Poppy Drinking District] It's active most of the time, however there is a recurring world event being hosted on most days at 02:00 JST to 06:00 JST. 3) If you already have knowledge to talk in Japanese a place for JP users is 「Fujiyama」 or 「JP Tutorial World」 However. Do take note. This two worlds are protected by a JPT at their entrance.(You need prior understanding of Japanese to enter) (They prefer Japanese speaking individuals)
@@Sneshie Pretty sure I replied earlier but the comment is not here... So Japanese Language Exchange Room - This is usually English Speaking Friendly, usually there is also other English Speakers learning Japanese and vice versa. Another option for semi-advance users is [Poppy Bar] World. For advance Japanese Learners that actually know how to speak Japanese are Japanese Test Locked Rooms (These Worlds are blocked by Japanese questionnaires.) [Fujiyama] & [JP Tutorial World]
This video was actually so helpful! I'm half-asian, but I was born and have always been living in England. My mother never really had the time when I was younger to teach me, so I never had the opportunity to pick up a second language, which is a shame really. Whilst they did try to teach me French and Spanish in school, the quality of teaching modern foreign languages in England is so bad that we ended up learning nothing after 5 years. It didn't help that it was exacerbated by the fact that I had no interest in the language or the culture of France or Spain. Our whole class eventually all gave up and dropped the subject. It is notoriously known that most native Brits are not bilingual, which is just pitiful compared to the rest of Europe. I think us Brits are just too content with English being the default language for most communities worldwide, as most don't feel the need to learn another language and therefore find it hard to motivate themselves to study and practice it properly. Whilst it will be a hard journey for me having not properly learnt another language before, especially as English and Japenese are completely different, hopefully with enough time and dedication will allow me to be able to pick up Japenese by my mid 20's or so. I've kept just having these thoughts over the last few months after school has finished wondering whether or not if it's already too late to learn another language. I almost feel ashamed by the fact I'm not bilingual as a white-asian, and if I don't start soon, I might regret it for my entire life. But still, this video has been an eye opener for me. I thought that, just like in school, learning another language is just a tedious process of countless book exercises. But, it's definitely not like that and you can make it fun in your own way! Thank you trenton for this amazing video. I've subscribed and I hope for more VRChat videos in the future as those are really funny! I also play a lot of games and have a VR headset, so when i'm fluent enough I will also try to speak with Japenese people on there!
2 weeks for kanji? Good luck brother. It took me 3 years to get up to kanji. But then again, I started studying as a dumb 13 year old. Take your time though, it’s about the journey. Also in Japan, knowing Katakana is a godsend, because it’s all cognates and they’re everywhere.
This is the best video on learning Japanese that I've seen! This video basically summarizes (very well might I add) what I've learnt about language acquisition! I'm a mathematical physicist and don't have the time to actively learn, so I try to follow passive methods more. Great vid!
I 100% agree with you and frankly it bothers me when people try to say that writing is "practically useless" Like, imagine if you have told yourself as a young child learning English "nah don't learn how to write English letters we have keyboards that can do it for you". That would be insane. But for some reason it's okay to do that when learning Japanese? It bothers me that there are some people who claim to be fluent in Japanese that can't quickly jot something down in Japanese. If you couldn't do that in English I would call you basically illiterate.
@@scraddles4381 Absolutely. Even if you don't use it daily, if you live in a country there will be times where you do need to write. Doesn't matter what language it is, and for languages with a different script than one's native language makes it even more neccessary to learn.
Input being the most important thing about learning a language shouldn't come as a surprise. I mean, it's not just the most important thing, it's also the main reason to learn a language after all. Why to learn a language if not to use it? I learned English through immersion. I guess I reached a B1 level in school first, where English was mandatory, but then I went all the way up to a C1 by simply watching series, TV shows, movies, YT videos and so on. I speak a few languages now, and all I have to say is, make it to a B1 level using any sources that you enjoy and from there on, just immerse yourself in the language and the learning will naturally happen. You might still sound a bit weird in the way you build your sentences, I'm sure my English doesn't sound native-like, but not sounding totally native is not an issue as long as you can convey the meaning of what you want to express effectively. Btw, when it comes to Japanese, there's a huge difference: kanji. You can immerse yourself as much as you'd like, but that won't make you know how to write a single kanji, other than simple ones such as 一、二、三、人, etc. If you want to know how to write and read kanji, you'll have to work your ass off. No way around that.
Yeah, I agree completely I think reading kanji isn't that difficult if you memorize lots of words and read a lot, but learning to write requires a ton of effort. I am able to read japanese but couldn't write even the most basic of kanji and that's never been a barrier to doing anything in Japanese because you can just type everything nowadays.
@トレントン I'm quite a beginner myself though I agree so far. When I see unfamiliar ones, I look it up, then eventually they become recognizable, even if they're ones I haven't learnt to write
Something that I do a lot and that you might enjoy is this: I have a list of the kanji I know, everytime I learn a new one I add it to the list. Everyday I send the list to ChatGPT and ask it to write sentences or short stories using the kanji from the list. It's an easy way to have something to read that matches your exact level. You can then ask it to explain certain grammar used in any of the sentences. You can also give it the list, ask for a sentence and type in the translation to see if you get it right. Or ask for an English sentences using the vocab from the list and then type the Japanese translation to see if you get it right.
So, basically the immersion method is best after gaining a basic understanding of vocabulary and grammar? Because i got the idea that immersion itself is the best way to learn, without having to study or anything like that.
@@miku4936 Yes, in my experience that's the way it is. In fact, it's better if you never stop learning vocab and grammar. Learning through immersion is kind of effortless and very enjoyable, but it takes a long time, if you combine it with learning vocab and grammar actively it will take much less time to improve. In fact, even kids do it this way, since they study the alphabet, vocab and grammar at school, and those who drop school at an early age are not precisely known for being eloquent, are they?
I honestly found Japanese easier than French. Learning any language is tough, but Japanese isn't the god tier ultimate challenge it is presented as. Its pronunciation is piss easy.
You didn't really mention the hardest part imo, sticking to it and keeping your motivation. For me I've been very slow in learning because I just keep having dips where I barely put any more time into learning and then getting back into it for a little while, then just almost dropping it again. I've been stuck in this cycle for around 3 years now never even finishing Tae Kim's guide even though that's been one of my priorities. I learned kana very early on and every single time I see kana, I try to read it. So I feel like I can read fairly quickly compared to last year and that SHOULD motivate me, but all other skills are still lacking severely because of me dropping Japanese so much and never really sensing any progress. How did you deal with motivation? I feel like "I just stuck with it" is a cop-out answer, in that case I would be very envious.
No, bro. It really is just sticking with it. You have to have a genuine reason to want to learn Japanese. If there's no necessity to learn, it's easier to just stop. Really sit down with yourself and decide how badly you want it. If you actually want it, you will stick with it.
Find something you actually enjoy doing/reading/watching/playing in the language. You've probably got a reason you want to learn Japanese, right? Follow that
If you have no real motivation nor a genuine desire to learn it other than just for curiosity, there is no reason to learn Japanese. It is too difficult to casually learn it. You need a tangible reason such as reading manga, watching anime, movies, or novels. If there is no real need to learn it then you need to ask yourself if it is even worth wasting so much time learning a language you have no interest in or benefit in learning.
@@kipuvuori9259 It's not actually about wants, wants are just desires, which come from the external environment through your senses. What really creates intrinsic motivation is values.
I've basically come to the same conclusion when I was learning Japanese, I highly recommend the immersion method after gaining a basic understanding of vocab and grammar. About anime subtitles, I understand the sentiment of not wanting to ruin the watching experience of anime you like because you can't understand it. I found it really helpful to download episodes rather than stream, and use VLC to delay the subtitles. Use a delay of 1 second as a total beginner and you will learn a lot already, such as interjections and common phrases. And you will still enjoy the episode. Eventually increase it to 10 seconds, after which you are ready to just turn off the subs and only turn it on briefly for sentences you don't understand. As a Weeb I found this method to be the most enjoyable way to achieve immersion.
@@miku4936 I say about 500 vocab words, and the beginner stuff on Tae Kim's guide is enough to get started. You will still only understand like 5% of words in anime dialogue (and therefore understand almost none of the full sentences) but it's enough to start benefiting from my delayed subs method
@miku4936 Then, if you are dedicated I do recommend continuing to study vocab as you hear them used (only add them if you are certain that you heard the right word and got the definition for it. Anime characters slur words often). And slowly go through the rest of Tae Kim's guide. This stuff is a lot more boring than simply watching anime, but it will make you learn significantly faster. You need to find the right balance of fun learning vs. boring learning.
@@JubilantJerry alr thanks! Btw, should I learn kanji or hiragana first? As I've seen the former be the most mentioned in the ajatt community but idk which one is the most used in daily conversation/books
Crazy to me how this method is now becoming mainstream, the channel he talked about in the beginning mattvsjapan is someone i met online when he had like 200 subs. I remember having to argue with everyone, criticism, and nobody understanding why this method worked. Back then nobody on the internet had shown any proof that it worked so it was mostly speculation. But I think matt and even my videos were the first wave of showing that it works. And now it's just mainstream, crazy...
Honestly, I'm just as surprised as you about it. I've been deep in the AJATT community for years and know just how much people try to deny the validity of immersion learning, so I honestly was expecting a bunch of backlash and people telling me I'm wrong. I'm not sure I would call it mainstream yet, but I'm glad that more people are talking about it (and kinda sad that our secret is getting out lol). I remember watching your final update video years ago and being super inspired by it, so it's cool to see you here :)
Tell me about it. Some people just couldn't let go of their textbooks even though they made no progress with them for years. Glad that's starting to change. I'm astounded at the kind of resources there are now compared to before.
@@トレントン my chinese teacher is strongly denying the validity of immersion learning well, I think he doesn't understand what it means, bc his advice is basically immersion learning but with our homework limiting the input we get to just our homework :( I stopped chinese 3 years ago, and I've forgotten most of it, but I could never get immersed on the material he gave us learning 800+ hanji is difficult as well
@@トレントン I think AJATT might be kind of a red herring and in reality the progress you see from AJATT is actually just because you are actively putting more study time into Japanese than other people. It might be that AJATT is not inherently a better way of learning, it's just that people who choose to go that route tend to have more time (or have decided to put more effort) to put towards learning Japanese. I'd honestly like to see comparisons between AJATT and non-AJATT learners that take a look at the actual amount of hours put in. Are they at the same spot in their learning journey after 100 hours of pure study? 1000 hours? I also tend to find that people who focus on AJATT often only focus on input and hardly ever do any output. Output is /incredibly/ important, especially when talking to native speakers (you can potentially get feedback), because it helps you memorize words/phrases and helps you with creating sentences and understanding how they work. When I meet people who are focused on AJATT in VRChat, it's often times that they can understand other people talking, but are unable to speak very well (both pronunciation and the ability to express themselves). Also, in regards to MattvsJapan... can't say that I'm a huge fan considering the scammy/scummy stuff he was doing :((
This video is amazing advice for literally all languages! (I'm not learning Japanese, I just like watching advice videos for all languages.) I have been learning German for around 2.5 years and in the first year I learnt a lot, but I could not understand or speak German to save my live, but after just listening to German for hours, even though I didn't understand anything. After a few months, my progress blew up. I'm pretty much fluent now and have started learning Russian and Korean. Input is the most important part in any language.
I've technically been trying to learn Japanese for 8 years , I have a basic knowledge I know all the hiragana/katakana and can understand alot of words and sentences but my problem was I didn't really actually learn anything to very recently because I would memorize alot in one day and then end up not doing anything with it The rest of the week and completely forget it. I've realized over this year that It's so much more beneficial to just learn a little each day than cramping in alot of knowledge you'll forget. This video defines reminds me of that. I plan to use more of the immersion method while I'm at college.
Even studying 2 hours over every weekend, hell, 1 hour. I did that for my whole high school career and it was useful. If you can’t do it everyday because of school, don’t burn yourself out. Focus on reviewing a lot, quizzing yourself helps too.
