Top 10 Hardest LANGUAGES to Learn - Response video and Discussing ANIME JAPANESE

This is a response video to the channel toptenz and their video about the top ten most difficult languages to learn. In this video I will also address the study of Japanese, and what sort of problems people face when they have to learn this language.

At the end there will also be a discussion about Japanese in Anime and why it isn't a good idea to base your study of this language on Japanese animation.

I hope you enjoy.

Link to the original video by toptenz

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[warex]

You cannot learn Japanese by watching anime. Gotcha. I'll use JRPGs then.

[terras]

13:38 I felt a great disturbance in the internet, as if millions of weeaboos suddenly cried out in rage and were suddenly triggered.

[graziatarantino]

"You can't learn japanese by watching anime"
So. True.
During my first year at University there was a lot of people attending japanese class with me who tought they were better than anyone in that class just because they watched anime.
They quit the first semester.

[NDOhioan]

So, essentially, using phrases from certain anime would be like someone learning English from Quentin Tarantino movies.

Now I'm picturing a Japanese man swearing like a drunken sailor while trying to have a casual conversation...

[notyourbusiness]

Damn. My name is Simon, and in the first few seconds i read "Hi Simon" in the upper left corner... For a moment i was really confused

[mkdvood]

Japanese is too easy for me because I am a Japanese.

[swrenn]

Don't knock your English. You speak it better than many native speakers.

[pmcKANE]

I love how Metatron downplays his fluency of English only to demonstrate a mastery far higher than the majority of native speakers. I'm pretty sure you've nailed it mate.

[grizwoldphantasia]

(American, still learning English after decades of use)

I learned enough Japanese in the Navy to travel around and ask directions, to recognize bus and train destination and station signs. The grammar was by far the easiest. It seemed almost mathematical, logical, a thing of beauty, so well organized. I wonder what that says about me :-0 The pronunciation was easy enough, but does have quirks like any language: when to slide over vowels, how to combine consonants. how to keep emphasis (what you call tones) very slight but not absent. The writing ... I got to about 3rd or 4th grade level, took an hour to read one page of waga hai wa neko de aru, but it was enough to recognize those bus and train signs, read train schedules, and open Nelson's kanji dictionary to with 5-10 pages for most words.

I remember a Japanese friend telling me that Japanese do not know how to pronounce city names except by experience, because there are so many crazy ways to pronounce combinations. That most business cards use furigana pronunciation guides next to names because sometimes parents will combine one kanji from one grandfather's name with one kanji from the other grandfather, then make up the pronunciation!

I did find Japanese news broadcasts to be great for listening, because they speak in such slow steady voices; I remember the first time I actually heard the word breaks and could look up words in my dictionary, like a revelation.

Thanks for all these videos. I am learning more English every day.

[ivorybow]

I am American and lived in Romania for many years, and taught ESL to teens. I laughed when you talked about learning Japanese from anime. So many kids I met prided themselves on their English, which they learned from cartoons like Scooby Doo and Batman. It was hilarious but I never, ever faulted them, as they had learned so much on their own. I just helped them to refine it.

[temp]

that's what I just wanted to hear: Don't speak like that guy from Bleach

[pcgaming]

Then there's Welsh... I still have no clue

[vallucian]

Mate, I started watching your channel because I’m a huge Roman civilisation buff. But I have to say that this video of yours about languages is one of the best. Thumbs up!
By the way, I’m somewhat of a linguist myself too (licensed translator, native Romanian and fluent in French and English).

[betavulgaris]

The hardest language to learn is the one you don't really want to learn.

I tried to learn Swedish because i want to speak Norwegian but there are lots more resources for Swedish. So i thought 'yeah, i'll learn Swedish and then transition to Norwegian will be easy' as they are both relatively easy languages for an English speaker.

Nope. Swedish was really hard for me because i don't give a single shit about it. And i gave up.

French is easy though.

[judithwatson]

Your channel has become my Happy Place-- your content is so varied and interesting, and you are just so incredibly enthusiastic, I can't help but smile with every new upload. Thank you for sharing your vast array of knowledge and interests with us, your humble (and Noble) fans! Yay you!! 💛

[amitabhakusari]

Most anime protagonists fail in class, Naruto is supposed to be completely illiterate- Coincidence? I think not.

[Hylanda]

I watched this video that you're criticizing and I also thought the same as you; I spoke 7 languages my wife is Chinese so I have a point of view... You're very right in what you've said

[avimaltzman]

“Glory comes through sacrifice”. You really know your Japanese.
I love you delivery. Thorough and professional.
Anata e no watashi no kanzen na keii
Thank you.

[ianfrancis]

Your English is amazing, considering it's not your first language.

[resourcedragon]

Thank you for a more nuanced discussion of the issue.