How NOT to Learn Japanese

[sarashappyhives]

My dad was in the military and went to Japan in the 1950’s for a year. When he had a stroke in 2018, he would speak Japanese so I had to start learning to understand him. Turns out he wanted to know where the train station was because he had to leave! He passed away in December last year but I will continue to learn Japanese to honor his memory. ありがとうYuta sensei!

[J.Crime]

Yuta is right. Watching anime without subtitles really helped me.
I already learned words like ookii, kimochi and yamete.

[francis]

I've been watching anime for twelve years with subtitles and initially I was bummed because I only picked up a couple of words and phrases during that time, but now that I've started learning Japanese, I realise how much I've learnt passively. For example when I learn a new grammar I often think "So that's what this is!" because I've heard this grammar being used hundreds of times before. Most things just click and make perfect sense and this just makes me happy haha

[catsspat]

When I was in Japan (quite some time ago now), I noticed someone sitting next to me in a train (電車) reading a book titled, "Essential English Words."
I imagine she was studying for exams, and stared at the book for a little while as she slowly studied it, and found nothing but words that NOBODY in the US actually uses!
I almost blurted out, "essential for what!?" I guess the words were essential to pass some exam or something, never to be used again.

[KarmaXX]

I like to listen to Japanese music and look up the words. It can be a bit tricky to decipher a contextual language if someone is being metaphorical, but I enjoy trying to figure things out.

[shoranhimura]

Personally i like have a three way approach:

For grammar and vocabulary: manga and light novels they usually have a more correct way to say regular things and many use furigana for kanji, so it's excellent for that.

Anime and games: for expressions, words and general usefulness.

Japanese tv programs and news: formal and normal day to day expressions and sentences construction.

Also a good dictionary and perhaps a table of most used kanji and expressions and ofc some kinda of formal grammar book to look for rules and how to

[StefandeJong]

For the people who've struggled their way through Genki 1+2 or Minna no Nihongo 1+2, and are afraid of jumping into full Japanese content, try picking up the book "Tobira - Gateway to Advanced Japanese". It teaches stuff like Japanese culture and mainly speaking styles (like Yuta also explains), in the context of reading comprehension. You get a Japanese text about speaking styles for examples, and have to answer a few comprehension questions to see if you understood the text. It's great excercise to re-write the whole texts into word/docs, highlighting all words you don't know & put them into Anki. This way you can get back to previous texts as you learn the Vocabulary over time, and get a better and better reading comprehension.

[nicolaspace]

Yuta-san, I really appreciate your videos and the information and insights you give, your overall grind, and I have noticed a huge improvement in your English speaking ability and even in your pronunciation over time. The way you deliver sarcasm seems much more natural, and you even pronounced "waifu" like an American!

[asaris_]

I actually watch Japanese things once with English subtitles, because it helps reinforce mental connections between words and their meanings (ones I already know), then I watch it with Japanese subtitles to connect what it sounds like with Kanji, which also improves the reading/processing speed, THEN I switch off subtitles and see what sticks... 😂

EDIT: Haha, is your test for teachers something like "Explain the difference between は and the subject in English" and "Explain the difference between は and が in a way that makes sense to English speakers..."

[chewbaccarules]

When I was living in Japan during my exchange, it was crazy how many foreigners I met who had passed the JLPT N2 and could barely speak any Japanese. Although I do agree there are useful things from studying for the JLPT, I think its biggest downfall is the lack of a speaking portion.

[vfsqptp]

Always with the monogatari references. Please dont stop making them, it adds that element of greatness.

[riseandshinemrfriman]

Thank you very much for all these useful tips on how to learn your language, Yuta.
When I tried learning Japanese ...or rather, I tried to act on the urge to learn, I failed. Because learning materials for learning Japanese were scarce where I live, and video content like these days wasn't available then. But thanks to kind people like you, and our modern day technology, I finally feel like the right time has come to start pursuing one of my life goals - obtaining a proficiency level in Japanese akin to my current English level (which is completely self-taught, using games, movies, series, simply anything English).
Once again, thank you very much for your help. 😁

[ashlebeau]

I spent four years minoring in Japanese during college and came out of it barely able to communicate at all. I've been trying to dive into the language again, and this is pretty consistent with the modifications I've made to my study style. Avoiding JLPT is a big one in my opinion. Maybe I'll dig into it again if I feel like I'm hitting a learning wall or something, but studying against a textbook/standardized test and then realizing you can't do much with that set of grammar and vocabulary is super frustrating and demoralizing.

I've also made a conscious effort to stop teaching in Japan and then complaining about it in YouTube comments, and it has helped immensely /s

[guilhermecardoso]

Great video Yuta!

I learned japanese first in my home country, in classes, which teaches that kind of textbook japanese you always mention.

Came to Japan and learned the real life japanese here, meeting people, and using in everday life and work.

I took JLPT N3 now last december without preparing or doing a single mock test for it, to check how much hard it would be for someone using japanese everyday. I was suprised on some grammar that I never heard of, neither at work or home. I came back home and asked about it to my wife and she would explain me what was that, but mentioned it"s never used in everyday conversations. If that is present in N3, I wonder about N2 and N1...

Last week the results came in. I basically got 100% in the listening part, which was super easy, and around 60~70% in grammar/vocabulary. Maybe end of this year I'll try N2, but I noticed I'll have to prepare for that, studying for things I won't use IRL. (the certification is useful for Visa and job opportunities, so that's kinda しょうがない...)

[HondaGang]

Funny this video got posted, yesterday I just started my Japanese learning journey. I've been working pretty hard to memorize all of hiragana and katakana first, but I'm going to start immersing with native content in a little bit

[carlosalbertobertaud]

Great channel! A real criticism about learning japanese language, thanks Yuta san! Greetings from Mexico

[mattmelnyk]

Great video. I want to also add that journaling in Japanese is another option. Journaling about your day in Japanese is a great way to learn vocabulary and grammar with common phrases.

[suspecthalo]

Thank you Yuta. I’ve been watching the channel for a while, but recently started to really try to buckle down and study again after a few years of just coasting.

My goal i JLPT N2 to try and land a job, but this video reminded me to not over optimize it towards the JLPT. I should combine native materials, so that even though I study less frequent words it won’t affect the skills I’ve already acquired, just add onto them.

[niconicorenro]

I always find that videos that explain what *not* to do are way better than videos that explain what *to* do, I didn't realize I was making so many of these mistakes 😅

[shawnedwards]

I watch Shoyan's channel and he has Japanese text subtitles as part of the video itself (you don't have to enable CC). It's lovely because I get to practice reading as I follow along with him. It's helped a ton with my kanji recognition as well.