Man... Dan the man. What a guy regardless. At first I thought this was only going to be a series of successes. But this was a nice fresh entry to show the contrast and the reality of AJATT, learning Japanese and just life in general. Wish all the best to Dan.

This has probably been the most helpful interview. It helped to bring any of the negative reasons for wanting to learn Japanese to the fore and clear up my thinking. Huge thanks to Dan and thanks to Matt's wisdom to share this story.

God i love these interviews. One of the rare breaks from Japanese I have, but I think it's worth it.

I'm cracking tf up at the dog playing the piano when Dan's dog starts going crazy

Very useful video. I think having the right reasons for learning a language is key

This was pretty interesting, I think the most important takeaway is keeping your focus away from the end-result and instead on actually having fun in the process to avoid burnout. Switching to AJATT after about 3 years of traditional study showed me that. Much more fun to slowly understand material intended for actual native speakers and not some fake dialogue about the convenience store.

Matt, thank you so much for the content you put out. I could relate with this guy on a spiritual level in regards to being 23 and feeling like I'm not good at any 1 thing and want to learn Japanese to prove to myself I have what it takes to get good at something. I'm still a noob but also going strong getting through RTK even though I'm only 350 kanji deep, still going through the AJATT table of contents every day, still listening to the audible book on meditation you recommended during my daily run, and meditating for (now at 15) minutes each night. But just these daily habits I'm forming in my life right now are already life changing. I feel healthier and more disciplined than I ever have in my life and I look forward to repeating the same process every single day. I guess it helps too that I already have a deeply rooted love for Japanese culture. Learning the kanji is very fun for me. For reals thank you a ton, there's a lot of shitty advice out there but yours is fuckin spot on.

@Killzone626

6 жыл бұрын

Wubologist right on, we're the same age and probably around the same in terms of rtk progress. Wanna connect via discord or something? Hit me up: Prendeon#3250

Lol the dog playing piano

bwahahahahhah love the opening^^

i'm confident i'm into japanese for the long haul but this made me re-think some other things in my life... thanks guys!

It seems like Jeremy (the JLPT n1 guy) and dan both went on a similar road. they both were results-driven and treated Japanese as some kind of job. dan, however, made a prison from the language and Jeremy just didn't have a good direction. and they both regretted these decisions

I just began listening, but these points are really good. They may seem obvious, but really easy to forget. Yeah, sometimes I forget that not everyone loves Japanese and Japanese-related stuff as I do. Thus, AJATT is only for a select group of people. Going full AJATT just because it is "laid out for you" isn't a good idea at all. I think Steve Jobs would say that it would be like making a product because of the tech you have available, instead of using or coming up with tech to satisfy a need or demand for your customers. In this case, AJATT is the "tech", the customer is you, and the "demand" is Love for Japanese and the desire to be able to do things that require knowing Japanese. If the demand isn't there.... it's wasted time, and you won't get far. I feel sorry for Dan.

Great video, if theres people going through this kind of path rn theyll sit down and think about the whole thing.

I was a bit confused by this. He did 8000 hours of immersion. He could read books. After he quit, he mentioned that he could mostly understand the conversations of his Japanese coworkers. Didn't he obtain a relatively high level of comprehension of Japanese? Is it that he needed a few more thousand hours before he felt confident enough to speak?

@icehound6763

2 жыл бұрын

I think that he just didn't enjoy the AJATT process anymore; I believe he thought it was more of a prison than a way to learn a language.

@Alec72HD

16 күн бұрын

​@@icehound6763 You need to CRAVE to acquire a second language. If you don't initially feel that way, there are ways to FORCE your brain to crave another language. Middlebury language school is known for using that method. I went through similar experience and in one year became almost native in my second language. Yes, the experience is PRISON like, especially at first. I wasn't allowed to use my native language, I had no access to my native language. The important difference, I did 100% immersion, 24/7, 365, complete isolation from native language. When you create language VACUUM, you will crave ANY language to substitute the missing native language. And not to worry, adults can never forget their first language, 30-40 years wouldn't be enough.

Thank you for this interview Matt. I think you need to have lots of media that you REALLY enjoy in the target language to use the ajatt method effectively. The beauty of ajatt, in my opinion, is that it always reminds you what you're working for through immersion. This is why I never watch the news in Japanese. I know I'll have to tackle news at some point if I want to be fluent. But for now, I'd rather focus on understanding things I care about.

Best intro ever

Thank you

40:52 I've spotted his motivation problem right here

10, 000 hours works if you are steadily progressing. But obviously it won't work if you make progress. And then you regress to some degree. Because you're on and off with practice and not consistent. You're just basically staying at the same level. You can put in 10,000 hours and not be fluent without consistency.

Dan: Ask yourself: do you enjoy it? Me, multi-tasking on Anki: Hell no. But I like to think it's the grind before things become more enjoyable.

Hey Matt! I'm nearing the end of RTK1 and was just wondering about the benefits of finishing RTK3, I know its not necessary but is definitely recommended. I know you stress this because its easier to just keep going while I'm still in my "Kanji learning flow". But just how much will I miss out by not finishing RTK3, right now? What will I have absolutely no chance of reading? Id guess some literature would be harder to read but would I not be able to learn those Kanji as they pop up (potentially just Ctrl f them in RTK3 even)? I like the idea of this linear progression with immersion and just doing my Kanji reps everyday, improving my listening and always knowing whats next. Although, the idea of starting to sentence mine and really solidify my immersion with sentences is alluring to say the least. Yes, I am being slightly impatient in a sense, as 1/2 months and I would be "done" with RTK and a lot of Kanji learning. Maybe you could even make a small video more in depth on the matter because I see this question fairly often. I guess the main question is: What wouldn't I be able to do without RTK3 and just how much different would comprehension be without it?

This story of Dan makes me kind of sad, because I can somehow relate to him and what he did for learning a language... only to quit it in the end. Interestingly I am questioning myself if the routine I am doing the last year is the routine that I will do the next few years - this Video totally hits the point. May someone post a "timeline" of Dan's Japanes-learning-steps? I feel like I missed some minor points... Thanks for this Interview Matt & Dan!

this ending tho, love how you poetise(is this a word? xD) stuff , but dans AJATT life is really a movie

LMAO the intro

Hi, Matt ^^ I had a question about the i+1 method (though you may be making video on this). I have been wanting to use the i+1 method for learning Japanese with anime and games, but I have been having a few problems. I started using a monolingual dictionary last year (after being inspired to do so by you and a friend of mine), and it has really helped me. I have been using the i+1 concept when learning example sentence, but haven't delved into trying to learn i+1 sentences from the anime/games that I use themselves. When I recently attempted to use the i+1 method, I found myself getting overwhelmed with new vocabulary because I am relearning words from the monolingual dictionary. Because of this, I find myself learning more from the new words from definitions than the actual show/game. Once I have finished defining vocab, it makes finding sentences a bit odd. I feel as if the transition is something like i+1, i+2, i+4, etc. I feel as if that would be normal but should I just keep going this way? What is your advice for approaching the i+1 method when learning with a monolingual dictionary as an intermediate learner? Thank you ^--^

30:50 beautiful description of the 'sunk cost fallacy'

So bilingualism was on his bucket list but he didn't have a foreign culture obsession.

@k.5425

3 жыл бұрын

Yh. I guess that's why he gave it up... I think that drive/motivation has to be there to an extent to be committed for the long haul.

Love how his PFP is Dan from SF, it's hilarious

I cab relate to this. I've been ajjatting for a couple of months now and really been enjoying it, but I catch myself needing a break and listening to these interviews. In my brain it's still contributing to the process so I allow it. Still do my RTK and reps though, and my japanese around them.

When you guys mention "know what they have to do" I'm having doubts of my understanding of this method. What exactly do you guys mean?

@deddrz2549

3 жыл бұрын

"What they have to do" is in reference to immersing themselves in Japanese content made for Japanese people, such as reading books or watching anime. just consuming entertainment while using flashcards as a supplementary vocabulary aid is much more effective at acquiring language than a classroom setting and textbooks are. you mush experience the language, not just memorize grammar.

Hey, uhh... so. I discovered your channel, and your content is pretty awesome. How you recommend going about learning Japanese makes sense. However, while I do want to learn Japanese, I feel like it wouldn’t be a good idea to do it now, since I’m about to enter college in August, and it seems like Stage 4 of that AJATT process requires being somewhere Japanese people live (considering I live in Louisiana, that would most likely mean either finding a city (in another state most likely) where some Japanese people live, or move to Japan (which probably won’t happen no matter how badly I want it to).

@luck70

6 жыл бұрын

Add me on Discord Luck#0977

Omfg the beginning is perfect 🤣

Looking forward to videos on I+1 and pitch accent acquisition.

@mattvsjapan

6 жыл бұрын

i never said i was making a video on pitch accent acquisition

@ningen7736

6 жыл бұрын

Matt VS Japan Didn’t you mention something like that in your interview with BrittVsJapan?

This video helps me to remind myself as to why I'm putting so much time into AJATT and Japanese. It's a language and a culture I've always been interested in, something that has an interesting culture that I've always loved. The reason you don't give to no matter what is because you're geuinely(Don't how to spell that word sorry) passionate about something. It's because you find the idea of doing in fun and seeing your growth that you enjoy it. As long as you're TRULY passionate, you will always do at least something involving what you want, even on those days where you aren't motivated at all. The idea of AJATT could be applied to anything. If you truly enjoy video games, music, sports, or learning a language, then you WILL enjoy investing your time into it and improving. As long as you're geuinely passionate about something, you will continue to progress. I didn't expect to write something this long lol but that's genuinely how I feel. If you disagree with my statement, then power to you. This is just my opinion

@milanschouten6533

5 жыл бұрын

Mirai (WolfBaneSlayer) that’s sums up my takeaway from this video

I started to understand his avatar the more he explained his story lol. Like, "feeling that he's not good at anything." Yamucha... and the crying face.

Can you do a video about timeboxing? I've been having a lot of trouble staying motivated this past week or so, and timeboxing is one of the main methods Khatz suggests to combat this.

I might have to reevaluate my life

I have spent the last 4 years studying Japanese (3 at my university and 1 year in Japan) and to this day I am still unable to have a conversation in Japanese. There are multiple factors to this from my university having a terrible teaching system, me not knowing the right way to learn a second language and more. I almost gave up after the first 2 years as I had seen no real improvement and it was simply my year in Japan that kept me going. I'm now finishing university and about to start looking for work. This is going to be my last attempt, I'm going to give AJATT a go and see what happens. At this point, I have no other options besides just giving up and have invested too much time in Japanese to do that. I'll let you know how I get on or maybe even write a Blog about how things go.

@bgill7475

5 жыл бұрын

How did it go?

@AJGress

5 жыл бұрын

Progress?

@Mateo-et3wl

4 жыл бұрын

Update?

@BokuNoShousetsu

4 жыл бұрын

@@Mateo-et3wl After a year of trying to do MIA (new AJATT) in whatever spare time I have - which isn't a lot since I work full time and run a business on the side - I now able to live and work in Japan. My Japanese is still bad, but it is x100 better than what it was. My only regret is if I had started doing this while I was in university I would so far ahead of where I am now.

@rc1749

4 жыл бұрын

@@BokuNoShousetsu Very cool you responded, congrats

8000 hours I don't know. I took the Middlebury school approach and became near native in my second language in about 3000 hours. It is similar to Ajat or Refold.

I work in retail and need to talk to a lot of customers. Has anyone had experience immersing/AJATTing at work while having to talk to people?

Lmfao at the opening

So I have a kind of off-topic question: at the beginning for you Matt was it hard to memorize words in your sentences? Cause I’m hearing ppl can learn 50sentences or more in a day and I’m having kind of a hard time memorizing 20...

@user-mb7xs8zu6c

6 жыл бұрын

Have you read the AJATT table of contents?

@GGLitcHH

6 жыл бұрын

ロバート I must admit I haven’t read most of it. It looked like sooo many articles. But now I’m determined to finish them

@user-mb7xs8zu6c

6 жыл бұрын

Do it mate. It should answer a lot of your questions =)

Matt can you provide timestamps for this please?????

@sefirotsama

6 жыл бұрын

yes... some sort of table of contents or topics spoken would be much welcome

Where is the interview with Patrick? I can't find it anywhere.

@mattvsjapan

4 жыл бұрын

Go to my channel's page and find the "MIA Interviews" playlist. It's linked on there.

hey matt what do you think about learning 2 languages at once? Is it adviceable to learn 2 languages at once if you try to follow the ajatt philosophy?

@mattvsjapan

6 жыл бұрын

What do I think? I think if you are learning 2 languages, then you are spending half as much time on each one. Which means you will improve half as fast. Which means you will suck twice as long. And realistically, actually becoming proficient in any language requires your full attention and effort for a significant period of time.

Hi Matt, please post a video of you interviewing other AJATTers, other Japanese learners, or even a native speaker in Japanese to give your viewers an idea of what kind of fluency can hope to achieve with the methods you outline.

@mattvsjapan

6 жыл бұрын

You can find such videos on my patreon

@kathodos

6 жыл бұрын

Im on your Patreon, but I hadnt looked that far back. Found it now, thanks.

Is the QRG Movie worth it?

@mattvsjapan

6 жыл бұрын

At best it's a nice way to give back to Khatzumoto. It's poorly made and doesn't contain anything that's not already in the table of contents.

the ending around 40:06 is cute:3

I am doing AJATT but in French, so All French All The Time, I am almost on my 5th month. My goal is do to 6 months initially and then I will add more months later. I feel that Dan did not have the right reasons for learning Japanese. He lied to Matt and the other guy when he should've been honest from the start. If he would have learned another language out of desire like continuing with Russian, he would most likely be fluent. As in my case I have zero desire to learn Japanese at this stage in my life, but I am putting the method to good use with French and I am enjoying it each and every day.

@sincerelydami

6 жыл бұрын

Aj Tutor How is it going for you? I am trying to implement the principles of AJATT to become fluent in French. Do you feel like you've progressed much?

@bilingualsecrets

6 жыл бұрын

Sarah Fasure it's going good, sometimes it's tough to see my own progress however I have a language partner on hello talk who I have been practicing for at least four months and she feels I have made a bunch of progress which is a great motivator to continue. I basically listen to as much music in French on Spotify, French rap to be more precise. I bought a course online that teaches French in French so it's truly immersive. Most of the KZread content I watch is in French and I have subscribed to different French KZread channels. I have Amazon fire stick so I am able to watch TV in French and I keep that on while I am doing things at home. So basically I have it set up to when I'm not at work I am surrounded by French. I recommend you to just keep at it and if you have any more questions let me know.

@henriquerezende5106

4 жыл бұрын

Aj Tutor u fluent now?

@bilingualsecrets

4 жыл бұрын

@@henriquerezende5106 Hi, I have high standards for myself so I would say no, but my language partners on hello talk say that I do.

@henriquerezende5106

4 жыл бұрын

Aj Tutor btw, im brazilian and I saw your video on portugues accents, your accent from portugal was very accurate! Good to hear that you have made a lot of progress, that motivates me a lot, its fun how time goes fast and we dont even notice, kind motivates me, because time aint gonna stop if we quit, and one day we are going to think “how good would I be if i hadnt stopped”

Sorry for the question but who is Patrick?

@shirobonjp5185

6 жыл бұрын

That'd be me.

@Scallonesi

6 жыл бұрын

Oh, hi Patrick.

This sounds like the type of guy who will never finish anything.

This is off topic but, what was the rate in which you learn new kanji everyday?

@mattvsjapan

6 жыл бұрын

i recommend around 25 a day

@CrimsonKnightmare1

6 жыл бұрын

Matt VS Japan wow thats scary. Wish me luck and thanks!

@CrimsonKnightmare1

6 жыл бұрын

Matt VS Japan also 1 more thing. How would you suggest i remeber the new kanji i learn

@mattvsjapan

6 жыл бұрын

come on dude kzread.info/dash/bejne/hpuG1sdvn7bVdps.html

22:55 OhMyDog

Yeah.. learning a language like japanese with don't really having much intereset in this language... doesn't sounds like a good motivation in the long run. If you do ajatt you really have to have a big interest in the language and even better some future goals with the language involved.

@k.5425

3 жыл бұрын

Yep. Some passion for it.

Perhaps, if you wanted to expand your general audience, you could consider implementing a system recording and distributing visual data, which represents one's progress throughout their "MIA" journey. I personally don't need something like this but I don't see how it wouldn't expand your user base if that is what you wanted, effectively poaching the audience of both Duolingo and Memrise.

@k.5425

3 жыл бұрын

I think the reason is AJATT, MIA aims more towards people who are really serious with the language. I guess. And that percentage is small. Of course it's been modified for people who don't really have that high level goal, but still....

I'm starting to love the Japanese learning community 🤘👀🎶 why am I learning Mandarin 💪🏻😭😅

Fluent in 3 years huh 🤔 I'll do it in 1.

@Medivh73

4 жыл бұрын

How are you now? I know its still 2 months to come, so no pressure.

@RayZin

4 жыл бұрын

ivan_the_procrastinator he’s so good, that he forgot English

@JohnDoe-fe9zx

4 жыл бұрын

I'm a failure 😭

@astaflo

4 жыл бұрын

Omg you actually came back lmao

@k.5425

3 жыл бұрын

@@JohnDoe-fe9zx what happened? Lol. It's been 5 months.

Who else skipped that intro