I am 50 and started learning Japanese about a year ago. I started off just using the Duolingo app, but have also been watching KZread videos and started having lessons with a Japanese tutor about 1 month ago.

@weeklyfascination

Ай бұрын

Since I make videos on KZread, I encourage people to stay on KZread. Having a tutor will help you learn correctly from the start.

Well, I started studying Japanese 5 months ago at 75!😀 My wife and I will visit Japan this coming June…. My goal is to at least reach the JLPT level 4… maybe higher😂 ja matta, John

@weeklyfascination

Ай бұрын

I’m excited for you! がんばってください！

@southcoastinventors6583

Ай бұрын

Do yourself favor and start using Italki or other online tutor so you can practice your speaking for the next month.

@johnnacke4134

Ай бұрын

@@southcoastinventors6583 I am using an Italki tutor twice a week… working with Minna No Nihongo… My previous tutor had me using Genki… arigato gozaimasu !

@southcoastinventors6583

Ай бұрын

@@johnnacke4134 That will help a lot make sure you spend time studying Japanese menus if you haven't have a good time.

@done.6191

Ай бұрын

@@southcoastinventors6583 I've never heard of this one; I will give this a try. Thanks!

I remember recording myself speaking Japanese and being horrified at how slow it was. I had no idea I sounded like that. I deliberately spoke as fast as I could for a while after and I think it helped my Japanese a lot. But I do slow down on purpose if I’m saying something that might be unexpected or if they seem to struggle to understand me (it doesn’t happen much). While speaking too fast may be a problem for some experienced speakers I don’t think that’s most people.

@weeklyfascination

Ай бұрын

I think that happens a lot. I've watched my own videos where I speak Japanese and think, "You sound like a beginner."

One thing I have found is to "preload" expectations, especially where politeness is concerned. As a foreign speaker, you will automatically get a huge amount of slack anyway. But if you tell people up front in a polite way how you came to speak Japanese, and to please understand that you may make unintentional mistakes in politeness levels it has an insulation effect. Ask for forgiveness in advance but also state that you will try your best. It can excuse many such errors without incident and might even turn an "impolite" impression to a "charming and earnest" one. It won't excuse deliberate mistakes (don't be a jerk!), but will work for smaller ones. This is an amazing video and I've sent it along to my kids too so they can learn the info here :)

@weeklyfascination

Ай бұрын

Thank you so much! I'm glad you enjoyed it and thanks for sharing it. You are 100% correct about expectations. I think people are very perceptive, and they will know if someone is trying hard. Yes, we do get a lot of slack because overall Japanese are just nice people.

I am 50 and started learning Japanese 1 year ago after visiting Tokyo. Thank you for your informational videos!

@weeklyfascination

Ай бұрын

That's awesome! I'm sure that gave you a lot of motivation. Keep going and hopefully you can visit again soon.

This is a very dense topic, loads of information to unpack. Great video as always!

@weeklyfascination

Ай бұрын

Great to hear from you. So glad you found it helpful.

As it was promised, here it is! A wonderful and informative video. Thank you a lot for sharing your priceless experience! :)

@weeklyfascination

Ай бұрын

Thank you so much for the kind comment! I hope that sharing the mistakes I made when learning Japanese will help others avoid those pitfalls.

Japanese food has got lots of sugars inside. So Japanese kids do not have to ask for dessert. I use honey instead of sugar. Anything you say I agree and it’s true. You are so intelligent. I live in the UK

@weeklyfascination

Ай бұрын

I heard that sugar was used as a preservative in Japan, like salt was used in the West. I wonder if that's true. Japanese food is delicious. Even pizza is Japan is amazing.

for most westerners, studying japanese is a leisure; for many people from less well-off countries, studying japanese is a race for a better life. different stakes, different level of commitment, different determination.

@weeklyfascination

Ай бұрын

Great point. I hadn't even thought of that. That would explain why I meet so many young people these days from various countries who speak excellent Japanese.

@davidalger5625

Ай бұрын

True that. I had some part-timers working for me passing out flyers. They went to full-time schools. About 20 hours a week. In about two years they were able to speak easily. Meanwhile I took my once or twice a week class and barely made progress. Except for writing. I took classes at Kumon - it is great for learning to write. So easy and fun actually. I took classes at the Kumon in Ogikubo.

@weeklyfascination

Ай бұрын

I have a lot of respect for people who move to another country and study 20 hours a week. I can say that learning Japanese completely changed my career. I never expected that Japanese and law would intersect. I forget who said it, but we always connect the dots when we look back. (Hindsight is 20/20 and all that.)

Lived there a couple of years, narrowly failed the old level 2 and kept studying so was an ok level. Now I try and speak French and really wish I was speaking this language with no conjugation or genders.

@weeklyfascination

Ай бұрын

It's a blessing and a curse. Sometimes, I have no idea who did what because there's little conjugation, and the subject is often omitted.

I owe my ability to identify about 2000 kanji to the Kanji Koohii SRS website. It took me a year to review (and it was reinforced by living in Japan and seeing kanji everywhere), but after enough reviews it was like Neo finally seeing the Matrix in code. I still have a long way to go to fully understand Japanese but kanji isn't a hurdle anymore

@weeklyfascination

Ай бұрын

I have not heard of Kanji Koohii. I'll have to check it out. And you are correct. It's like when New starts to see through the Matrix. I just wish I could download Japanese like he downloaded Kung Fu. But I guess if anybody could do it, it wouldn't be a special skill.

20:45 so useful. Studied Japanese in university and finally here for studying martial arts 7 years later. So many little things! Your channel is a gift. Please keep it going.

@weeklyfascination

Ай бұрын

Kendo? I've been to a few tournaments in Tokyo, and they are intense!

@UmamiNoodle

Ай бұрын

@@weeklyfascination that’s awesome! I was just there training. I went to Kyoto to watch 8th degree testing which was such a privilege! (There is a documentary on “Japan’s hardest test” if you ever get curious. ☺️) I came to Japan for a little over two weeks and training daily (sometimes multiple times) and I couldn’t believe how much more I learned. I was hyper stressed by the politeness/ non verbals/ etc. I had known my entire Kendo career (and didn’t want to poorly represent my teachers) so I immediately left honey moon phase of culture shock. 😅 I have Japanese friends and know enough university Japanese to know I was making faux pas left and right. (When you get no feedback from teachers that’s when you know you messed up 😬) I am debating staying there more long term. Wrapping my brain around the idea. Your videos have been so lovely! Can’t wait to see you blow up! Just got back to the states. So this is all quite fresh.

@UmamiNoodle

Ай бұрын

Oh I found the doc! kzread.info/dash/bejne/hKeG0sR8ha2pes4.htmlsi=sUzvc7e4S-R2EyqY

Thanks again for this informative video. Just turned 61 and want to learn some Japanese before my second visit. Even having a few phrases when I visited in March of this year was much appreciated by the people I met there.

@weeklyfascination

Ай бұрын

That's very motivating to hear. Yes, just knowing a few phrases can really win people over and help the whole visit go smoothly.

This video is very informative, thank you. It's definitely given me food for thought. I'm using a variety of methods to learn Japanese. I'm a visual learner, so I use a mixture of apps and books. The apps I use are Human Japanese, Duo Lingo (which is great for hearing different paces of Japanese and accents), Hey Japan and Genki (I jump from one app to the other 😂). For words, I used Japanese Lindo which taught me 2000 words (not all of them useful). On another note about apologising. As an English person, I apologise all the time. It's part of our culture 😂 Bump in to me and I'll say sorry 🤣 (unless it's deliberate). This was a great video and I'm so glad that I've found your channel. It's great to hear someone being positive 😊

@weeklyfascination

28 күн бұрын

Very glad you found the channel, too!

love your videos!!! excited to see more. very helpful and informative

@weeklyfascination

Ай бұрын

I'm so happy you found them helpful. The world is full of friends we haven't met yet.

I have had the same experience ! But possibly even more so with people telling me how hard Russian is , a few even going so far as to tell me to quit studying it ! There are a couple difficult things in Russian (o can sound like a or o and it is not uncommon for a word to have 3 o's , for example) but nothing to justify the "Promotion" of how difficult it is , and it actually is a little annoying when a perfect stranger tells you to "quit it's beyond your intelligence level" .

I see that the issues you have (had) with Japanese is because you're an English speaker. I'm an Argentinian Spanish speaker... our vowels match Japanese exactly and 90%+ of the consonants match as well. Syllables sounds also match A LOT as well for us making the speaking part very easy.

@weeklyfascination

Ай бұрын

You are very lucky. I studied Spanish before Japanese, so I was lucky to have a little understanding of the pronunciation. Speaking 3 languages is quite an accomplishment!

I just watched Japanese TV, read novels and did some Anki cards then I passed N1 in 2 years. I never studied grammar or did any textbooks.

@weeklyfascination

Ай бұрын

It's totally possible. But you've proven that hard work and determination are the key! I took the JLPT years ago, and did not pass. Then when I started using Japanese at work, nobody asked for it. But I think it's very valuable to have it, and I might even take it again someday, maybe after the real estate exam.

@Retog

Ай бұрын

@@weeklyfascination hard work, determination and immersion with the language. Best to avoid too much time using textbooks imo. Reading a simple grammar explanation occasionally will suffice

Great video with great perspective through your time there. I think this would have helped me so much when I started learning. I started studying about a year ago. The focus was conversational in preparation to visit and surprise friends in Fukuoka. I found an online native Japanese teacher who works for a hotel company that also speaks English and French fluently. Having a native speaker helps to give cultural context in certain situations. For listening she suggested reality shows like Terrace House. “This is how people speak,” she said. That show was very helpful because every episode had people introducing themselves, going to work, meeting friends. making plans, going on dates, talking about sports, etc. I would watch an episode every other daily with subtitles then watch the show the next day without subtitles. It was through the show how I learned what you refer to as Jason being a “high context culture” On top of that, I also found a meetup group in my city that meets weekly to practice listening and reacting/responding in real time. I only learned Hiragana and Katakana recently. If there is no rush I found having 8 months of grammar and vocabulary under my belt helped to pickup Hiragana and Katakana very quickly. As kids we learn to read and write after having already learned basic words and having the ability to form sentences as references to the writing system we are learning. Just wanted to share my experience in case it helps anyone.

@weeklyfascination

Ай бұрын

I completely missed Terrace House. Yes, tv shows like that will really help you see how the living language is spoken. Thanks for sharing how you're studying. I know a lot of people studying Japanese live outside of Japan, and I wish I could offer that perspective. Maybe I'll have to find someone who studied Japanese overseas and do a video with them.

I think to learn a second language as an adult you really need a clear and well rested mind. Because the speed of retrieval is so important to understanding, if you're tired, even when reading, remembering these fragile new words can be too demanding. I think it is why some people quit at a b1 b2 level and why some people just enjoy it, it's a level you're interacting with the real thing but how you experience it depends on how alert you are. Even for driven people who are good at working through things, retrieval is uniquely unforgiving in language. I read a lot of aozora, and I sometimes wonder if it's about time to take a break. The advice about focusing on a subject of interest is great, though, aozora is probably way too broad. But its free and has well recorded audio.

@weeklyfascination

Ай бұрын

I completely agree on having a well-rested mind. And output is key to retrieval for me. Like many other language learners, I can understand more than I can speak. So having an opportunity to interact is very useful. Since not everyone can just pick up and move or take a trip to Japan, a tutor is invaluable.

LAD is about your FIRST language, of course you can learn a second language at any age.

@weeklyfascination

Ай бұрын

I'm not going to claim to know everything about Chomsky, but didn't he argue that if a child were exposed to two languages from birth, that they would become bilingual?

@tohaason

Ай бұрын

@@weeklyfascination I think most modern linguists completely reject Chomsky's theories at this point. But of course, children exposed to two or more languages from early on will usually become bilingual (I know a French family living in Italy where their three kids were at an international school - all the kids spoke Italian, French and English. Perfectly, as far as I could tell). As for the claim about LAD being about the first language - I'm not sure that's true either, because wasn't LAD about losing the ability after age 12-14? The reality seems to be that if a child for some (horrible) reason isn't exposed to language at all, language is a lost case after around five IIRC. What can be argued as true is that after somewhere between 9 and 14 it's difficult to learn a language perfectly, with respect to pronunciation and other things. I've only met about two or three exceptions in my life, where an adult learned my native language perfectly (one was a co-worker - I had no idea she wasn't native, until I learned it after a year). But that's extremely rare. However: That doesn't matter. My wife (Japanese, btw) learned my native language and she was 55 when she started. Her intonation is close to perfect (my dialect's intonation), it's just that the vocabulary isn't fully there, but who cares about if someone sounds native or not? I know a ton of people speaking various languages, and even if I can hear from the accent where they're from, they're still 100% good as far as I'm concerned. Now, if I could just get over the bump for my Japanese.. it's been somewhat frustrating that I still can't follow conversations, after all this time. English came so easily way back then.. just reading and listening and *poof* it was there.

@weeklyfascination

Ай бұрын

I've only met a few people who are truly bilingual and bicultural. They either went to an international school or moved to an English-speaking country at a young age. I have met quite a few people who are native in one language and very fluent in a second language. I'll always have little quirks in my Japanese. But one time, a person on the phone thought I was Japanese until they asked for my name. That was when we had to make hotel reservations on the phone.

I’ve sang in choir through adolescence and when starting Japanese and German in my mid twenties, I find myself having the イントネーション better than many, and think the singing practice plays a big role. So if you enjoy music, do practice singing scales, and join a choir!

@weeklyfascination

Ай бұрын

That is an awesome way to learn proper pronunciation. I have never heard that, but it makes perfect sense.

12:31 Where did you get what you are wearing here? It looks really nice. Also thank you for the tips

@weeklyfascination

Ай бұрын

Thank you. That’s very kind. I got it from North Face.

Man, your videos are very informative. I had to ask myself alot of those questions when i first started learning, and im happy to know that i've made the right choices. Like, completely ignoring kanji because reading is not my goal. Starting with sentences, rather than contextless vocab. And focusing on the formal first. I also thought i wont need to concern myself too much with the grammar, because i might be able to aquire a good feeling about it from just memorizing sentences (thats how i learned English grammar), but it looks like thats not going very well (or rather, its too slow). So i recently jumped into grammar, and now have a better understanding of it but still struggling (especially with は and が) Speaking of grammar, i dont quite get the difference between に and へ (specifically in your example). Because if you're getting off the train before it reaches Tokyo, you're basically not going to Tokyo, no? Or does that mean that "to" is に, and へ is "towards"? Since you'd be going towards Tokyo, but not to Tokyo.

@weeklyfascination

Ай бұрын

The thing about へ and に is just a nerdy grammar exercise that you might find in an academic papers. I probably just don't remember doing grammar exercises once I finally took classes. But yes, I think it's possible to internalize grammar by learning phrases. I'm very glad to know you found the information useful, and that you've had similar experiences.

I have enjoyed using the Kawaii Nihongo app. Not just characters and individual words but many short sentences as well. A good place for early beginners. Maybe not for those more advanced. The sentences together with the recurring cute cast members make it a more meaningful approach to early learning. re kanji - RTK led the way for kanji learning but is old school now with many apps emulating the process and combining it with Spaced Repetition Study. Nothing beats the learning style of SAY / WRITE / READ rinse and repeat until it has sunk in and is automatic. Old school I know but I'm old so it suits me. Cheers

@weeklyfascination

Ай бұрын

SAY / WRITE / READ This is the way! I guess I unconsciously followed the way children learn. I've heard of Kawaii Nihongo. I've got a lot of suggestions so there might be a review coming soon!

I started very wrong 5 years ago trying so many methods and right now I'm focusing only in speaking, but even trying to go only that way it's hard because I can't find a perfect list of vocab to master daily conversation, so I keep making and studying list of vocab that probably I will never use, recently I just installed an apk wich it's suppoused to have the neccesary vocab and in my first try my japanese wife told me, we barely use that word. What am I doing wrong? 😂😂

@weeklyfascination

Ай бұрын

First of all, I don't think you're doing anything wrong. It's just that we rarely get good explanations when Japanese people say, "We never use that." It's like when a Japanese person asks me about English grammar, the only answer I can come up with is, "It just sounds right." It's good to clarify. "Do you mean that word never gets used anymore, or do you mean in your career/daily life you don't use it?" My barber won't now legal terminology, and my lawyer won't know all the vocabulary about cutting hair. However, if a person tells you, "We don't say that. We say it this way." That's more useful. As far as learning vocabulary, if you're studying for the JLPT, then learn that vocabulary. Otherwise, pick a topic you enjoy and learn all that vocabulary. Not only will it stick, you'll have more opportunities to use it. When I read Japanese car magazines, and I'd talk to other people about cars, we instantly connected. Hope that helps! Just keep going!

Well I just heard that you're cutting a T shirt and throwing up shoes.

@weeklyfascination

Ай бұрын

シャツを切る・シャツを着る 靴を吐く・靴を履く This is why hiragana will not replace kanji.