American man speaking Japanese @GoNorthJapan

[TheVarrio]

he’s totally right accents are what makes us unique
no reason to be ashamed of it

[andrewp]

He does have an American accent but his are all perfect so he’s easy to understand. Really interesting to listen to

[karanahal]

What I've noticed is usually those making fun of someone for having an accent while speaking language, are not themselves bi or trilingual, they only know their native tongue. If you hear someone speaking your language with an accent, you should be impressed that they know more than one language.

[メイ-ce]

アクセントがあるということは
自分で努力して身につけたという事だから誇っていいと思う。

[L-mo]

so long as your accent doesn’t interfere with people understanding what you’re saying, it doesn’t matter what your accent is like

[Silvia-uuub]

I love how you are both sitting on a path to make this video. But he's right; your accent is what makes you unique.

[ailikaaaaa]

"If you're a perfectionist, you can't do anything"
It hits me so hard but thank you!!

[UnicornsPoopRainbows]

ESL teacher in Korea for over a decade here and the man is 100% correct. Communication is the goal, not sounding like a native. Many of my adult students get really upset they have an accent no matter how slight or that they don't know every word in the dictionary and how to use it properly. Ya know, things native speakers also can't do 😅

[natashap]

I'm an American self learning Japanese and I find this very encouraging ☺

[junsjulywonpilsyonpilchany]

Wow this makes me less worried and over-anxious about trying to perfectly sound Japanese. I can focus learning on vocabulary and grammar with this mindset.

[randomweirdo]

Couldn’t agree more. I actually had that exact same realization. I moved to the US when I was a teenager and spoke no English at all. For a long time, I was extremely self conscious and thought I would embarrass myself if I did not speak perfectly like everyone else, so I was afraid to talk to anyone.

It was not until about 20 years later that I realized, actually so many people come from other countries and speak English with an accent and use variations in grammar that is somewhat related to their native language’s grammar. They all get their point across. It was much more important that everyone understood what the other person is trying to say, rather than if they spoke perfect English.

So I got over myself and just talked to friends and coworkers without judging myself too harshly for making a grammatical error or having an accent.

[jess.J]

He is so correct. Having an accent in any language is ok as long as you can communicate! Love the acceptance and positivity.

[JessieBanana]

There is nothing wrong with having an accent. If anything it’s a sign you took the time to learn a language later in life, which I think is awesome.

[g]

He's amazing for speaking Japanese that well! Tough language, but beautiful cool language❤

[tylergoodwin]

I honestly love that theyre just sitting in what seems to be the nicest paved cleanest walk path ever

[e.t]

ショウジさんの言葉が本当に胸に刺さりました！
カッコ良いです！！
いつも素晴らしい動画をありがとうございます！！

[JunkRatt]

As a Japan native, his accent isn't as thick as he says it is. He has an American accent sure especially with specific words but damn, he sounds better than I do 😂
I haven't been in Japan in a minute so my accent's slipped a lot to a point where my mom's poked fun at me saying I sound like an anime character more than a real Japanese person lmao

[queenkoi]

He speaks incredibly well! It does not matter if the accent is not perfect. The important thing is just to be able to communicate. He is doing great, actually speaking Japanese in very hard. 😊

[maisanascimento]

He is so fluent is crazy ❤️🏵️. The words just smoothly come out of his mouth. And the speed 😮. Amazing!

[cairn_projections]

i always think this when i think of all my non native friends here in the states. there's an accent & sometimes vocab isn't super rich or grammar isn't correct but i've never been distracted by it & has never affected me wanting to talk or not talk to them.

if anything, this was nice to have a realistic idea of what accented good japanese would sound like. he seems like a cool dude