Being Bilingual in English and Japanese

00:00 Intro
1:18 How I learned Japanese
5:00 How I keep up with Japanese
8:46 How I've used Japanese in my work
10:12 What language I think & dream in
11:30 Words I prefer to use in each

🎧m u s i c 🎧

💖 m o r e m a y u k o 💖

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🌸a b o u t 🌸
Mayuko Inoue is a content creator and Software Engineer. After working in Silicon Valley tech companies like Intuit, Patreon, and Netflix for six years as an iOS Engineer, she became a full-time creator in 2020. Her work aims to help people find their way through the tech industry by sharing her own experiences navigating this world through technology, career advice, and lifestyle videos. She is passionate about discussions around mental health, cultural identity, and creating technology with empathy and compassion.

✉️c o n t a c t ✉️

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[budsan]

It's amazing how your conversational gestures change so radically when you switch between japanese and english.

[TheProfarab]

My mother was from Osaka, I was born in Tokyo, and moved to the States when I was 2 years old. Unfortunately, my American father insisted that we speak English at home and since he was in the military, we moved often and I was unable to attend any Japanese schools. I am struggling to learn Japanese in my old age (63 yo) but visited my cousins in Japan in 2017. I hope to improve and go back to Osaka in the near future.

[hiroki]

It’s interesting she learned Japanese in Kansai dialect. Usually school teaches Tokyo dialect so that’s probably something unique to homeschooling.

[julianamika]

feeling represented by you, telling about growing in a house with parents speaking in japanese and using words in japanese that don't exist in other language. it's an unique experience to be bilingual, arriving home and saying "tadaima" or saying "itadakimasu" before a meal. I appreciate all of this in my life (i'm half brazilian and half japanese, trying to learning english)

[ChuckieMcHaggis]

I've played this to my 7-year old (Japanese mum) - so, so good for him to hear that even though it sometimes feels unfair having to do extra study, it felt worth it. He understands, but it's great to hear it from a grown-up bilingual. Thanks a lot.

[padmiral]

My wife is Japanese (I'm a NZer) and we raised our daughter to be bilingual. It was tough on my wife because of the tears and mini-rebellions, but I think it is paying off now that our daughter is almost 15.
By the way, your Japanese was so easy for me to understand. Much easier than a 'Japanese-only' speaker.

[nganvo]

I froze when I heard your "honma" for the first time. Even replayed that part a couple of times just to confirm lol I never thought you would speak in Kansai-ben! I agree Kansai-ben is a soul language. I don't know why, but at work, when a colleague happens to talk to me in Kansai-ben, I instantly feel connected to that person and I feel like a more open, friendly and interesting person when I myself speak in Kansai-ben. And yes, I too find it more natural/on point to use Japanese to express body sensations and feelings. I'm not a native speaker of Japanese (and also English) to share the same reason as yours. But now that I think about it, maybe it's because of the way it is spoken, you know like いたっwith the little tsu gives a surprise feel, when うまー with prolonged a feels like you are complimenting with all your heart (breath, at least)

[Pero]

I love that you have Kansai dialect!
It’s amazing that you can speak both languages so fluently. You inspire me a lot as I’m Japanese learning English.

[krista-r]

The struggle is real when you forget a word in the language you’re speaking in but know what it is in the other language. I’ve just accepted the fact that my conversations will be mixed.

[ryo]

これからも日本語で話している動画を出してほしいです
I hope you upload more videos in which you speak in Japanese. It’s so refreshing to see you speaking Japanese!

[EetsooScottoo]

As someone who spent their academic career studying Japanese and is now trying to transition more towards learning programming, your videos are super interesting and inspiring!!

[paddysun]

First generation immigrant here.. my 1yo baby girl just started to babble and I have been constantly arguing with myself what language should she grow up in. It’s awesome to hear you share your experience. Thanks for the great video :)

[spring]

I found out that when you speak English you look more active and, when you speak Japanese you look quite tranquil doesn't it? =D it's so interesting languages affect your kind of personality.

[freebeeworld]

I'm also a Japanese American Software Engineer! I grew up speaking only Japanese at home and attended Japanese school on weekends, but since moving out I've definitely lost my skills, especially reading and writing. I don't know if this is just me, but when I go back to Japan, because my conversational Japanese is pretty good and I look Japanese, sometimes when I'm talking to someone they'll use vocabulary that I don't understand... but I just give a blank stare and an ...え？ Anyway, thanks for sharing your story, it's cool to see people with similar backgrounds representing!

[bigstone]

めっちゃ関西弁やん笑
Just a Japanese comment passing through

[KaiAble]

I’m also a japanese english bilingual (i learned english as a second language though) who studies cs in North America, but it’s really difficult to find japanese speaking communities or even clsssmates.

[thakhas]

I left Japan and moved to England when I was 12. Now 15 years later, starting to forget some finding Japanese community is not easy!

[akumakami]

For me since I live in Alabama, there is no Japanese here, so I mostly talk to myself in Japanese and my cat :). However keep in mind I moved here in 1999 when I was 10 and eventually I had to slowly relearn my native language considering there are no Japanese speakers here. Reading and writing is a different story...

[takumivlog]

こんにちは〜
I love your videos! Also grew up in US and Japan. I went to elementary school in US, up to 高校 in Japan. Then went to Nebraska to learn Computer Engineering. This month I started as a firmware engineer in Japan kind of wanting to go back to US lol. It’s hard since I’m a Japanese citizen and look Japanese but I feel like I’m half American.
It’s hard being multicultural but also lucky!

[shosakura]

I'm half Japanese and half American and I grew up in Osaka (20yo rn). I'm pleasantly surprised that you speak 関西弁! いつもテック系の動画ありがとうございます~
It would be nice if we could create a Japanese/English community of people who are interested in tech for networking & sharing information!