'Input' vs 'Output' in Vocabulary Strategy: Revolutionizing the 'Japanese vocabulary' model

The Conventional "vocabulary learning" model for Japanese is inefficient and makes a big job even bigger. The input vs output model makes things much easier. ▼See more ▼

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[aleckz_]

3 years ago when you explained The Meaning Spectrum, you canged my mind of thinking of language. May your soul Rest in Peace, Sensei!!! 🙏

[LionKimbro]

Wow. I can't believe. I'm 42 years old, I have studied Spanish in high school, and Esperanto and Japanese on my own. I have read several books on language learning, as well. And I have to say: These thoughts are things I have never thought before. I am just continuously blown away by your videos. I cannot think about languages and language learning the same way, ever again.

[silpheedTandy]

Android Dolly is such a master of metaphor. i'm studying French, and i had the very same discomfort, about how French words don't neatly match meaning boundaries of English words (despite English and French being such closely related languages!). The "words are like friends whom you have to meet again and again to really know the person" metaphor makes me significantly more encouraged when it comes to learning French vocabulary!

[WanJae]

These spectrum representations are genius, BTW

[ducklingscap]

I just realized how much more comfortable it is for me to watch the videos muted with subtitles on 1.25 speed. Now I'll definitely watch all of your videos. I've always loved the content.

[MCK]

100th comment here. Thank you for your insights into becoming effective in communicating in Japanese. Your videos are giving me many ideas on how I can improve my approach. I wish I had discovered them sooner!

[SpecialKapson]

Very solid explanation, exactly the same way I always imagined it (propably because this is the model truly representing the reality duh)

[Garbaz]

Very interesting video!

One thing I would like to add, which more or less is just an extension of the points made in this video, is the mental part of the issue.
Something I've noticed with myself, and other learners of any languages, is that one often times tends to associate a word with a translation to a native word (or multiple words) in one's mind, rather than the concept it really represents directly. And I think this is quite the unfortunate trap, since not only is it often times inaccurate, but also results in some major issues.
Firstly, whenever one encounters the word or wants to use it, the mind has to do double duty, having to think of two languages at the same time, to draw the indirect connection to the concept the word represents through one's native language.
Secondly, in addition to being more work, this also likely will result in the mind jumping back to native grammar, requiring bending of one's usual language pathways to stay in the language-at-hand's grammar.
And thirdly, and I think this really is the biggest problem, is that whereas even the most vague and possibly inaccurate concept one might associate with a new word can always morph, adapt and refine as one encounters the word in different contexts, once a fixed one-to-one, or even a one-to-many, translation is set in ones head, it is very difficult to adapt one's understanding of the word. And even when one manages it, it likely will result in confusion about the original native word (*).

And whereas with closely related European languages, it often times is difficult to keep the different meanings of translatable words separate, especially when they share a common root in Latin or Germanic, I think with a language like Japanese, trying one's best not to think in terms of translations not only is very much necessary, due to the lacking etymological relations, but also much easier to keep up, once one has figured out how to get into it.


(*): For me this actually happens more in reverse. When I speak my native language German, I sometimes use a word in the sense of it's English equivalent (which sometimes even is written very similarly or even exactly the same way), despite that meaning not being correct in German.

[pamelaleitch]

I am looking forward to your video on output.

[Powerphail]

Thank you for another concise and truly helpful video Dolly-sensei. I think out of all the channels I'm subscribed to on YouTube, I look forward to your videos the most. I hope that one day I'll be in a position to properly repay you for your hard work. You've given me insight into a side of Japanese language learning that I've not been privy to before.

いつもありがとう。

[fincy]

The metaphors and analogies you use are incredible and so useful! I'm so glad I came across this channel, it's really a hidden gem. You give me a little more confidence that I'll someday be able to say I'm confident with Japanese!

[theresnothinghere]

I have a feeling that english people never learn any other language other than... english. In italy, for example, we know pretty much that words have broad meaning because we already have italian and our own dialect (VERY different from italian sometimes), then we learn english/spanish/french/german (usually just one of them) and THEN maybe you go onto another language..

[rbranch]

You are such a great teacher! Thank you for all of your videos. I have read your grammar book as well, and it has really helped me to understand the language's inner workings.

[zamyrabyrd]

Great lesson! I am a fan of learning about learning as it streamlines the process. There are problems with English cognates in Romance languages called "false friends", German, too. Hundreds of years separate their use and development, so we have to be careful there as well.

[matthewtipton]

Idk if you are still able to answer questions but what do you think about reading early on? I know some say only use audio visual content with subtitles so you don't mess up your pronunciation, but I wanted your take on it.

[juliekersten]

Nice Video. I think the way you describe learning words is a very natural process. As a foreign language learner, you need to have a bit of trial and error process to get the usage down correctly. I completely agree that learning vocab feels like a much slower process in Japanese than with any language related to English. You've got to completely create that anchor back to English rather already having a little bit there. Time, exposure and practice the key elements you can't avoid.

[ohtalkwho]

Awesome as always. Maybe a video on some hard to understand Japanese concepts would be helpful? Things like なんか くらい そなふに

[johncameron]

Sadly this can happen often to most types of people including myself. It's the usual thought of believing words are literal equivalency than of similarities between a scale like you had mentioned. Words can be confusing especially when they sound the same but are used differently depending on the situation. Some words even have 3 or more uses as well.

You are right about immersion as it is the way to listen and read to get a basic understanding of how the words work with each other or to understand how the words are similar yet different. Context is key and certain forms of immersion will unlock it that it will feel seamless.

[SentientAnomaly]

Hello Cure Dolly, I have a logistical kind of question, I hope you can tell me what you think the right answer or answers is and why.

正しいものは、次の各号の **いずれか** によるものとする。
１）丸い もの
２） 前号に掲げるもの **のほか** 、青い もの

正しいものは、なんですか？(pick any answers that are correct)
A) 青くなくて、丸い もの
B) 丸くなくて、青い もの
C) 丸くて、青い もの

[jagaimo]

So I looked further into this strategy right. I found a channel called Matt vs Japan which goes more in depth about this. Would you say that his channel and website are good resources? He values input over output as well, and his strategy is something like AJATT but “improved.” What do you think?