Don't try to learn every word you don't know. Remember: it will never be your last time seeing that word, and if it is, it's not a word you'll need later anyway.
Agree with this as it's way more efficient. Usually I'll only look up words when i know I've seen them a bunch of times and it's like, "okay, I probably should see what this means".
Precisely! This guy understands how to truly learn a language, not everyone can do the same hyper-focussed ultra immersion method I see everywhere online
I started a visual novel 6 months ago and was completely lost. Now I can read about half of the words and understand what every sentence means generally. Anki really helped me a lot with the vocab and grammar
@@2w4m it was Rance03 lmao. Update, I've passed N2 since then and now translate jp to en for fun on my channel. Stopped the need to use anki when I'm just reading jp stuff everyday
@@KnightCrown that’s cool! I started to learn japanese 2h a day on July, and I took a N4 test this December. What was your level when you’ve started to read VN, and how long have you studied Japanese in general? I want to know, because I started to read Nekopara vol.1 a few days ago as my 1 VN, and it’s so overwhelming. I’m using yomichan every time I see a sentence, and even if I know every word in it, I can’t understand the general meaning, because I’m struggling with grammar. I’m really trying, but it’s so hard. And it’s just a Nekopara, which is considered as an easy VN :(
@@2w4m I know that feeling very very well. It's inevitable, and my best advice is to just read regardless of your level, whether it's 'ez' or not, because everything is 'not ez' anyway in the beginning. It doesn't matter if it's world history, the key is you really want to know the story and the desire to know what happens. Interest is way more impt than 'finding an appropriate reading level'. Pick 1 unknown phrase to learn(to anki) every few sentence, embrace the feeling of not understanding every sentence completely, and keep moving on. Eventually these unknown phrase will repeat and you'll start noticing and targeting those repeated words to learn(anki). Nothing else matters. Start reading now, that was my regret because it helps immensely and your brain makes connection with patterns on a subconscious level, I guarantee you you're gonna start noticing as you read, you recognise more and more words despite barely studying it because you understand the CONTEXT. If you ever find nekopara boring, it's OK to drop it, it's not defeat to find better source that suits you.
@@2w4mmy friend don’t worry. No media is easy, it’s meant for adults who are proficient in Japanese. Take your time. When you come across grammar you don’t know, I recommend using a grammar source like Bunpro for explanations etc. it takes time but you WILL get there I promise. Bunpro for me (you don’t need to pay for it, just use the lookup grammar points or look through them if you don’t want SRS) helped me a ton personally. But aside from that, set aside some time for studying grammar individually I’d say and then time for reading. It’s not a rush, you will reach the finish line eventually
Playing JP visual novels on my PSP is helping me so much to learn new kanji and memorize them all in a fun way. I'm loving your channel so much that I'm literally watching your videos everyday XD
@@ジェンリク depends on your Level and what genres you like, I was playing brothers conflict on my PSP, it was fun and helped me to memorize some everyday kanji, now I'm playing animal crossing for 3ds :)
You and Tokini Andy have been my go to resources for learning japanese and believe me when I say I have been learning alot from your extremely informative videos. It's more entertaining than reading my boring textbooks or reviewing anki cards. So far my gaming experiences have been fruitful so thanks so much!
I just started watching it, but I just have to point out that I'm so glad you spent the intro specifically stating that there's not one "best" way to learn. So many people in the community have a very elitist mindset that ends up deterring others from learning because "my way is the best and if you don't do it you're dumb". I'm glad someone like you has gained so much traction, because your "everyone is different and that's okay" mindset is crucial to everyone's success. Thanks a bunch!!
I made so many mistakes you have mentioned. I tried to understand everything and translate sentences almost right away at the start of the studying (got burned out for months), tried to memorize every shingle thing by expanding my Anki set and so on. What have finally worked for me is to write frequently appearing words in my notebook and returning to them once every 2-3 days (Anki, for whatever reason, didn't work so good for my Japanese). Now I am able to play some doujin games and get a basic understanding what's going on (and even understand some jokes here and there), so there is definitely a progress. I should be able to get out of N4 plateau eventually. I actually enjoy going through textbooks and got through Genki, now I have started Tobira, which seems to be a good resource for me. Unfortunately actual classes/courses (which I also enjoy attending) are not available in my area. Fortunately your grammar tips are great and I memorize them right away, this is what brought me to your channel. For comparison: I am also studying German, which I started learning a bit later than Japanese, but my progress is way faster, I am around B1 level now. Japanese is a complicated language from a faraway country, so for any learner reading this: just compare the studying process to a train ride. You may get to your destination faster or slower than others, but as long as you don't quit and continue studying and tweaking your methods and trying out new things, you will get there eventually.
Over 10k subs, good for you man. I remember your first Reddit post you made about making this channel and subbed. I don't have the time I did before to study, but I still like popping in and watching. Keep it up man
I agree with enjoying it as much as possible, I've beat about 4 games fully in Japanese. (2 I've never played in English) And read like 2 manga fully and counting. I'd already been studying for a year before doing it though, so I'd recommend waiting till you have a large vocabulary if you want to follow the story without looking stuff up every 2 secs, so I guess it would be a good idea at first to play a few games you've already played in English first.
I never knew about game scripts, surely will give them a try. Thank you for sharing the method. I learned English almost entirely through videogames, but due to the nature of Japanese I found that skipping anki and going straight to them was quite the daunting task. After getting more used to radicals and some very basic vocabulary+grammar then moving on to media consumption was much easier even if I didn't fully get what was being said. The mix of games + anki/rtk is a good one because, personally, I can just prioritize one over the other depending on how I'm feeling, so it is always easier to either push forward or back on my rythmn. In any case, excellent video, really feel like you touched all the meaningful points about this approach.
Thanks for including that being burnt out section! I sometimes play games or read through example sentences on Wanikani and after a while notice that I don't even feel like thinking about what the sentence could mean anymore. Then I usually stop for the day and feel a bit disappointed in myself for not trying harder. Thankfully I've found that the next really fun Japanese day is often just around the corner! haha EDIT: AH RIGHT! CONGRATULATIONS ON THE 10K! :) Been loving this channel since its inception and I promise I'll become a patron next year :D
I recently started watching Japanese streamers play Japanese games, and that's really fun-- especially for RPGs when I just want to skip through battles and get to the story. Nice video, and congrats on 10k : )
@@Alexander-ot6xw I'm really enjoying this girl Moon's channel: ruclips.net/channel/UClfzoEKjhO8Q3Un5V7ZF9YQplaylists Really cheers me up. In case you don't know the term for a 'let's play', it's 実況
Your method happens to also be the way I do it too, and the only thing that works for me. Great video, now I can send it to my friends when they ask how I study LOL
This advice is absolutely incredible! From top to bottom. Lot's of stuff I wish I had heard early on haha. I do think maybe doing an N5 anki deck and your grammar videos (with the accompanying anki decks) to sort of efficiently set some foundations can be very beneficial! That is what I would recommend these days :D
I started to play Japanese visual novels and games just right now and your video just in time! Thank you! There's a lot of masterpiece visual novels that might be never translate on English and especially on my native language. Like, you know, Kao no nai Tsuki, Touka Gettan, Ore-tachi ni Tsubasa wa Nai, Mahoutsukai no Yoru, Fate/EXTRA CCC or some unique visual novels with awesome Japanese graphical style wich you loosing in translation mode, like any title by Innocent Grey.
Very true, and also along with this study guide, a lot of VN’s are able to have their text extracted with a hook so review and looking up meanings is easy
For me is Gakuen Handsome, it’s so so so goofy and hilarious that I JUST have to translate the entire game for better understanding of it and of course, studying Japanese 💕
I've played through a couple of games now in Japanese while just trying to exercise with what I know, but playing with a game script honestly sounds like a fantastic way to go moving forward, so thanks for the great advice.
I appreciate you reinforcing that it's alright to just understand the gist of a sentence and move on even if you don't understand the full grammar or meaning. I need to be better about doing that myself. I can get stuck on grammar and words and beat myself up if I don't fully grasp it/understand it.
"translating is a separate skill... You're, right now, just trying to learn Jaoanese" honestly kind of a profound statement. You'll never be fluent if you're just translating every little thing. That's not how language works!
Wonderful advice! For me personally I feel like I needed to get down enough vocabulary and grammar before I start enjoying media in Japanese. I'm always paralyzed by the need to comprehend sentences completely first so it's really motivating for me to hear that I can dive right in and learn as I go. Thanks for all the tips and tricks! I'll be using them for sure! Subbed
I'm surprised you have only 15k, I swear your channel was already at the 100k mark or more :0 Anyhow, I hope you don't give up, this channel's foundation is a really great one, learning japanese or any language through enjoyment and native media (true immersion) is undoubtly the best method, and having someone to help/guide you with it is inestimable. Have you made any video about the best first games to start studying japanese with? I'm trying to get into it, so I'm looking if anyone makes specific recommendations!
I can’t not make SRS cards😅 All your tips have helped so much though. I’ve calmed down on the amount of cards I’m making. I do probably spend a lot of time breaking down _some_ sentences. But I do enjoy it, especially when I like the character talking.
This video, plus your grammar teaching videos are what managed to get me over the initial barrier in japanese! I'm about N3 level now and can kinda confidently read most things (Looking up a lot of unknown words of course) and after reaching this point I'm having the most fun I ever had learning japanese. I mostly stand with the guy on your Discord group who wanted to reach a certain level before immersing, I only managed to get started on that after taking the N4 (Bought my first manga in japanese at that time too and could mostly read it kinda well with the furigana) and any time I tried before that the sheer amount of unknown things made it into kind of a drag. I wouldn't recommend anyone "Waiting until N4" like I did, for every person the correct point where they can have fun immersing will be different, but I do agree that the believe that the possible moment is "As early as you can start enjoying yourself" !
This video is so inspiring. I wish I saw this video when I first started. After all the most important thing is enjoy yourself and have fun experiencing the language in its forms. Thank you!
I found your channel by accident. It took me a long time to understand that I wanted to learn Japanese but I have big problems with it (motivation + depression) but your channel is so warm and nice. Please keep doing what you are doing you are amazing! You give me hope that one day I will learn this language. ありがとうございました ♥️
So well put and inspiring! Matt never fails to encourage all of us I'm just a beginner and I don't have a huge experience in learning Japanese, but my current study method is related to immersing into target language media, mostly YT and mobile games. I also try to remember words that seem important and useful for me, for example, 懐かしい(natsukashii), 夏休み (natsuyasumi) and 久しぶり(hisashiburi). Ever since I learned those words I met them several times in different contexts, which is really gives a feeling that things that you learn are actually used in a language
I think I found your channel when you first started, and subbed to it thinking "This content seems right up my alley", I'll subscribe and leave it on standby for when I want to watch a video.... Yesterday I started watching your videos. I find them amazing and I'm sad I didn't start watching them sooner
i just started the first game in japanese and yout channel helped a lot so far, so i feel confident enough to be able to do it. something that i really like doing right now, since i still don't know lots of the kanji and don't want to handwrite em all, is to use the windows snipping tool to screenshot the textboxes and put em into an image text extractor. so i can then use the extracted text to go through it 1 by 1 the way you said you do. i know i won't always get the perfect translation by not having a script as my first game, but after i went through and tried to get the general gist of it, i will then put the entire text into 2 different translators and see if they match, or are a little different and will usually get the right meaning out of it. its still a lot of work to screenshot it all, but muuuuch better than if i had to write it all down myself. that'd take sooooo long oh man.
It's so funny - I also thought about creating a RUclips channel like yours a few months back but don't really have a clue on how to go about that. ^^° I'm really liking your content because playing video games is a beautiful way to improve your Japanese. I think "intrinsic motivation" is the most important thing for everything to keep going. I did study Japanese studies until 2017 because I wanted to work there someday but due to a not so well-going exchange semester I neglected the language for about 2 years. When I decided what I want to do NOW as a profession, becoming a concept artist AND work someday in Japan as such I got my passion back for starting over with the language (of course I got rusty but I was always learning Japanese VERY intensely during university) and can say that I am very proficient by now. I would already have given up on art and/or Japanese if I did not have this inner drive/dream/ambition/whatever I guess. :)" So I'm glad that I have this goal in mind which is very precious to me. My current learnign method is mostly consuming Japanese media (e.g. YouTUbe channel aimed at Japanese, read Visual Novel, playing games in general), mirroring what I have heard or read sth out aloud, looking up the vocab whenever I don't get it (you really learn vocabulary by having to look up some words over and over again haha) and studying grammar , and so on. I think I'm about N1 level but haven't taken the test by now due o covid. I'm afraid of takign it though because I still have comprehension issues from time to time, not often, but sometimes there are sentences I just don't get as a non-native person. ^^°
Anki and other SRS start off strong and quickly reach a point of diminishing returns. Once you have a core vocabulary somewhere between 500-1000 words, everything else starts getting easier. The beginning is always so hard. You don't know anything. You don't know where to start. You don't even know what you don't know. All you know is you're contending with grammatical structures, some of which are words that have been conjugated multiple times, humble/polite/formal speech and trying to understand the relationship between the people speaking, kanji, particles, words and word combinations that sound like something you know but turn out to be something completely different and unrelated. That initial struggle feels like the worst. At least, until you get over that hump, and see the even bigger humps on the horizon. :D It gets easier. And then harder. And then easier again. And that cycle continues the rest of your life. :)
I do find the dry learning methods have their place, to make other learning methods like immersion and just playing games more efficient. If I was doing this again I'd first do RTK, but only 2-300 characters to get a sense of how Kanji are formed and train up the ability to recognise those kinds of paterns. Then I'd use Anki to learn the most common 2000 words. At that point I'd dive into a game aimed at kids/teens like Pokemon and you're basically good to go. Side point: Any Shonen Jump manga is also a good place to start because like above, they're aimed at kids/teens and on the easier side language wise. I found 2k words was comfortably enough to follow the story
I really needed to hear a lot of this. I feel like I've been taking my studies too seriously and have been hesitant to do things I enjoy because there's more efficient ways to learn. Thanks for the new perspective :)
Congratulations on 10k subscribers! You deserve every one and more for the quality of content you produce! This was great advice! For me, I have a period of 4 years or so where I kept trying to follow the recipes for learning Japanese that existed online, but it just didn't work for me because I found that I'd rather never learn Japanese rather have the everyday experiences of following the methods as directed for any real length of time. In particular, anything involving Anki never lasted long for me. What worked best for me was "Do whatever the hell you want, as long as it involves Japanese exposure". There are times when I look everything up, scrutinizing every word because I really want to follow everything that's happening closely in the story and theorize what'll happen in an unreleased sequel. There are times when I just feel like enjoying the game and look absolutely nothing up, just practicing things I already know and maybe picking up a word or two from context. When I get tired of something, I drop it and find something else. I think language learning is a bit like dieting. Everyone thinks there's a best way and it is their way. But literally everything works. The very act of consciously trying to diet means you're probably making progress, regardless of method. The only wrong choice is whatever makes you quit doing it.
I have no idea how to put my sentiment into better words than: Thank you for everything! This channel has helped me so much. I don't know what to add to this, just thank you so much!
I just discovered your channel yesterday and I was a little bit sceptical so I wanted to watch this video before starting to go through all your other videos and... Well, English is not my native language and when I started to study it, it was really difficult for me. my grades at school were more often bad than good. But by continuing to study, I finally managed to have an acceptable level. But what really made me progress is exactly what you describe in your video : many of the games I wanted to play were not translated into my language and I had no choice but to play them in English. As I played, I understood more and more easily and quickly the sentences I read or listened to. I am now at the point where I instantly understand what I read as if English was my native language even if I still sometimes have to search for some vocabularies words without even realizing it. I realized my progress when I had to take an English assessment test and I found that I was close to passing the B2 european level, which is the last level before the levels where one is considered bilingual. It motivated me to go back to school to get this level B2. So I guess it will work for Japanese too. I tried some methods but they didn't worked at all because it was really boring to learn kanas before really starting to learn the langauge. Now, I'm using Duolingo which is the most efficient way to learn for me for now : I have to guess and try to understand the grammar rules myself, I learn vocabulary at the same time and read kanas and kanjis at the same time. I made great progress thanks to Duolingo but I realize its limits and was already thinking about the next step to accompany these courses. Looks like I found it. It’s actually quite funny to say that I already knew the method since I already unconsciously used it for English but I just realized it thanks to this video, lmao.
I found this video helpful on many levels, even down to the life advice. Time to dust off the unopened Animal Crossing game I got for Xmas (had been waiting until my Japanese was "ready"), and load up the game script on my computer. Thanks a bunch. :)
thank you so much for using Chrono trigger music on the background, i forgot how pretty this game's music is. Also the move on because you will see the word again if it's a usefull one is an awesome advice, thanks !
You definitely influenced me to begin playing games despite being a beginner. Thank you! Currently obsessed with Hogwarts Legacy. Little intimidating to approach in full Japanese, so i downloaded a mod to use Japanese audio and English subtitles. While the learning is certainly less effective, it lets me get some in while enjoying my hobby. Ive actually picked up on more than id think since ive been replaying it a few times. Stuff like how やれやれ and its versatility. There was a particularly memorable shopkeeper who i spent forever trying to figure out what she was saying. Good listening practice. It was いつでもおかげよ; a not quite common way of saying "you're always welcome back." Next planning on undertaking a more in depth playthrough of lets go Pikachu. May use your deep dives as a supplemental resource. Listen to them all passively at work, then when im home, do my best to learn on my own, then use your video to help assess how accurate I was
Thank you thank you THANK YOU! This was exactly what I was hoping for. I had no idea I could find game scripts online and play through things that way. I've learned to let go of understanding everything when watching anime, but for whatever reason I've really struggled with that trying to play games (and reading). This feels like a really good compromise for me between the two--I get to enjoy things I love while also feeding my not always healthy need to understand everything (or the gist of it, at least). I'm pretty guilty of taking things too seriously from time to time, so I appreciate the reminder that doing so can sometimes be counter-productive! I actually like Anki because it's something I can sneak into my day during periods I wouldn't have the option of playing/watching things in Japanese; during commutes for instance, I get very motion sick easily so I can't properly play/watch things but I CAN get my reps out of the way, but I've also noticed that sometimes (but not always!) I will learn something from an Anki deck and be able to get it right immediately...but don't recognize it when I see it in the wild. Not that I'm thinking of getting rid of it--and I already don't do it for hours a day--but it might be time for me to spend a little less time on it and more time engaging with material properly.
As someone who's almost past 2 months of studying Japanese, I feel like I needed to begin immersion already - after spending a good chunk of time sitting with grammar, and flashcard vocabularies. Feel like this video helped me set aside any doubts and fear as I'm about to just move forward with it. I may not do games immediately, but at least to be reminded not to sit too hard on remembering things immediately was really important for me.
@@remonimodexd7116 Definitely feel like even if I'm not yet fully understanding the sentence I read, I'm getting used to the structure of Japanese a little more... As of making this, I actually finished Castlevania: White night Concerto (Harmony of Dissonance in the west... still don't get how they got this translation LOL) I'll be doing Chrono trigger next because of the gamescript available so I can read better for sure
@@Dogrethson great to hear. Don’t worry about your reading just yet. You sound just like me when I started out. It’ll all come together with more reading! がんばれ! And if you ever need more grammar BUNPRO is something I highly recommend that I used, not only for n5-n1 grammar but the community too
Thank you for this ! I feel I've been putting way to much presure on myself trying learn but on that road, I lost the perpective of having fun with the language. Instead of beating myself up for being stuck on grammar points I can't memorise... Lets play and have fun !!!
i completely agree with u on anki, i know its effective but it makes me feel like a robot and it leads to burnout really quick (for me personally!) i can't wait to read thru these game scripts!! thank u so much, i've been watching ur channel every day
Hi Matt! Thank you once again for this amazing video. I have a suggestion to add. These weeks I have an alternative technique for learning japanese that I love: learn japanese with video games let's play (in japanese, or with someone like you translating). The + : - Amateur dub when there is no VA (most of the time) - Easy to rewind, (and fast forward eventually) - I use an OCR (iText for MacOS which works amazingly well to copy japanese text from the video. - Important: it gives an additional layer about what's happening in the game with the streamer's reaction, description... - Much less expensive! The - : - Well you don't have the pleasure to play so it feels a bit more like work, and as you said it should be fun. But if you find a streamer you love it can be very entertaining.
The method you’re describing-writing everything down, looking up every single word manually, etc-is what I’ve been doing. I’ve gotten about 15 minutes into thousand year door. I keep having to stop to look up grammar I don’t know. I will say I’ve learned a HUGE amount (thanks to your grammar guides among others!!!) and in the last week I’ve gone from not being able to even parse a sentence to now being able to identify parts of speech, conjugations, etc. but to your point this pace is not sustainable
That's great that you've been making progress! But I absolutely agree, the most important thing is to enjoy the process. Nowadays I highly recommend playing while also concurrently using an OCR like Kamui OCR to automatically transcribe the screen as you play, then simply hover your mouse over the transcribed text with Yomitan for instant dictionary lookups. This will make the pace a lot more sustainable and you can focus on just going through the game/language and pick it up over time as you have fun! :)
Thank you so much Jessica for your support! I hope you continue to enjoy Japanese and look forward to all the awesome content planned for next year! :D
I've been doing this recently too, it works very well for language acquisition. Essentially what we are doing is extensive reading. Which is supported by a lot of research. There is a professor in japan always banging on about it. And they even have this thing in japan called tadoku. For reals google it, it's like all about reading tons of shit. Thing is about language learning, is we have gamefied it. And we are GittingGud. It is much harder than dark souls. But it's actually a chilled out RPG grind.
Thanks for the video. I did find it helpful to learn from the traditional methods of textbooks until I built up enough of a foundation. It was boring as hell for sure, but I really find it frustrating to read native material early on and hitting walls constantly. This otherwise however is a very similar approach to what I do. If I can understand the gist, I move on unless its something interesting in there that I want clarification on. I only look up if I am lost. What I also do is take screenshots of all the unknown words I encounter and put them later into Anki if I want to, to not disrupt me playing and immersing in media. With my first video game I was looking up stuff every other sentence even with a foundation (which I think goes for everyone, native content is hard). Nowadays unless I read something hard, its much less frequent. I think Visual Novels in particular can be great mediums to learn from, as they share many of the advantages of other video games, but are also entirely about text and even if you don't have a script of the game, you can set up a text hooking software to spit out the text to mouse over. And there's a wide variety of difficulty from easy SoL ones to Tsukihime Remake that I'm reading right now which has tons of different kanji and descriptive text lol.
Learning grammar without knowing a good vocabulary is so drowsy, looks like you are wasting time and getting no progress, but it's different when you get a lot of vocabulary, specially doing what you love, games. I did the same with English, learned a lot of words without even a dictionary, then when I commited a little bit to grammar, it was way easier. Excelent video BTW, thanks again! This method looks amazing, gonna start today with DQ 1.
There are games designed for this purpose. "Learn Japanese to Survive" is an excellent series. You may also want to try "Learn Japanese RPG: Hiragana Forbidden Speech", which teaches words and grammar in addition to the Hiragana.
Really solid advice. Kanji can be worth the effort to grind, but they are also the thing most likely to make you want to quit. I think they are the one thing worth putting into srs, but you should go through them very very slowly and do them AFTER immersion, not as the priority. That way you are less likely to quit.
thanks for ur tips, now its make sense to me who already learn japanese about 3.5 years at collage. now i realize that text book and my theacer only can teach me until advance grade (i guess). when i get in 8 semester(actually now), i trying to make thesis about game gramar analysis. once again, thanks for the tips, so i can find the clue to finish my thesis.
Thank you for your videos, I'm moving to japan soon as a 3D Artist for games and anime and I've primarily used anki for 2 years now, but now play more and more games in Japanese. Looking forward to more!
How's it going now? Do you have any advice wanting to move to Japan as a 3D artist? I've read quite a few people doing this now and I want to do it too!
I picked Stardew Valley for my immersion game. To not feel overwhelmed and burn out I decided to skip through random cutscenes/dialogues if I don't feel like translating. Instead, I have a rule that I figure out text for every quest I pick up and every interaction I intentionally trigger (I don't interact with villagers until I feel like I want to explore someone's storyline and I level up relationships one at a time). It's a great game due to the everyday life nature of the language. If there's any words or phrases I consider useful I add them to an Anki deck using Yomichan and I also keep them on a sticky note for quick reference. Apart from that, I do a bit of Duolingo and/or Renshuu on the toilet, flip through a few pages of Genki/Japanese From Zero or read a Human Japanese chapter and do my daily Anki review of the AJT Kanji Transition TSC deck. It all adds up to about an hour or two of active studying and the rest is playing games. I also have to recommend the Crystal Hunters manga, it's specially designed for absolute beginners and the first book is free.
I enjoy writing stuff down, and referencing it when playing. Thank you so much for this channel! 16:51 but I am doing that in FF1 and I find it to be fun, I don't understand how I could otherwise really remember stuff I don't write it down? If a kanji is repeated, even if I see it 5, 10, 15 times, I feel I will just rely on an add on to translate it for me every time.
Personally I never studied kanji individually. Just did Anki and saw kanji in words over and over again until I memorised the word then eventually got thousand of words down
To be honest I didn't start to play games until I got done with the N3 material. Just so I could focus on putting together the vocabulary and be able to start testing my grammar knowledge. After that I can also get back to the grammar stuff that I feel is weak within me. Right now I am playing some Final Fantasy games and my favourite piece, Ace Attorney series. The AA games have some very specific vocabulary and some quirky characters, but through repetition a lot of the complicated vocabulary becomes second nature, and the game is hell of a laugh. If you thought the English name were fun some of the japanese names are amazing
Howdy! I had a question I wanted to ask. Do you think that Dual Language Display/Support helps or hinders learning, in your own personal opinion? I've started reading a couple visual novels, and there really are good arguments for both sides from what I've personally experienced. Fantastic video, by the way! Very helpful.
Regarding that man on discord that wants to achieve the level first and the games later - I can relate to this guy. I've been actively learning Japanese for a year straight (mostly Anki words) and exposing to anime/games with Japanese voiceover but with English subs. For myself I can say that it is really discouraging when I open any visual novel game that I really like with translation. The thing is - there are a lot of literacy in those games. Phrases that I cannot translate without yomi chan. When I start to read these novels (for example Ever17 or Steins Gate) I feel big disappoinment with myself. At the other side - 4000 words that I've stumbled on in Anki (can't say I perfectly learned them) really help me when I watch snapshots of manga or read Japanese comments on RUclips. I can feel that time I wasted on studying is not a waste. Although I can 100% agree that immersion is the best and fastest way to acquire language. It's just that with Anki you don't need to think twice. Just mechanical robot like repetitions and you've got the word.
ive been going through 999 by using screen capture (as text always comes out on the bottom i can just automatically capture that), ocr, and highlighting what i dont know with yomichan, so far it's been pretty good
A lot of people learn from games and shows. And they always sound fluent, I know someone who learned English from playing paper Mario and sounds like he was born in an English speaking country
The main problem I personally have with "getting the gist of it" is that there are series I absolutely love, like "Kiseki", but I can't get out of my mind how I can't understand perfectly every single thing they say. Since it's so lore heavy, I have a hard time getting into those. But I do think that's a good way to learn. I just have to find the correct game to do so. I also went through different methods of study. I started with textbooks and it took me a good while to realize I hate them. After that I went to a private teacher, I learned in a bit more interactive way, but I still felt I made no progress. Then I tried playing VN because they have voice acting, backlog, and sometimes even furigana. At some point I stopped doing that because I was constantly using google translate so I could take a picture of some of the text so I could then go to Jisho and search the word. I couldn't get the game-script for the VN's I tried to study with, and I got burnt out. Nowadays I'm mostly the "Pimsleur method" and I'm finally feeling I'm progressing a bit. I'm also using WaniKani (which is helping me with some vocabulary) which I started using to listen japanese songs with the lyrics on hand and trying to get used to the words in context, and also to get more context when I'm hearing some vtuber or something in japanese without subtitles. At the same time I'm starting to read out loud what I'm reading to somewhat "ingrain" the words/sentences in the back of my mind. I'm still trying to beat my shyness/fear and start speaking with Japanese speakers. And I'll try to start playing games in japanese, I just have to find the right game for me to do it plus getting the game script. I still have a long way to go, but my end-goals are: -Be able to speak to native speakers (so I can learn about their culture first-hand), and meet my fav seiyuu's hopefully -Be able to understand what I hear/listen (not just the context but a bit more) -Be able to play a japanese game "swiftly" like I do with english/spanish ones
Uhhh man. You know for VNs you can texthook them and use hover over dictionary whilst reading them? I’m surprised you actually even attempted to screenshot all the text and extract it yourself lol
I started learning from song. I found it extremely efficient... coz... the phases just keeep appearing in diff contexts ... i dun know why, they just keep appearing. and it helps me memorize the vocab and some of the sentence structures ...
I also tried playing game becoz of u... but the thing about game is... is a bit too slow, but you can also learn something from it in a totally diff context.
Is it doable to play assassins creed and follow along the text from cinematics or in game with games2text to be able to pick up words with yomichan? I looked for script but didn't find any. Or maybe there are other solution to do this?
![Eminem - Fuel (feat. JID) [Official Lyric Video]](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/t5H_CewqpKA/mqdefault.jpg)
Don't try to learn every word you don't know.
Remember: it will never be your last time seeing that word, and if it is, it's not a word you'll need later anyway.
well said
bro, that was so well put omg
Agree with this as it's way more efficient. Usually I'll only look up words when i know I've seen them a bunch of times and it's like, "okay, I probably should see what this means".
That's literally what he said in the video lol.
@@colonelvector When you look up words, do you do it manually on jisho? or is there a more efficient way?
There’s 3 Matt’s on RUclips with prominent learning Japanese channels
Haha yeah it is a quite interesting coincidence! The game scripts are in the video description btw (also some others in the Game Gengo discord)
Too many Matt's imo, but only one rocks.
Actually just 2... mattvsjapan is a horrible person
@@muhmoonsugar9305 So he’s no longer called Matt?
@@muhmoonsugar9305 Why would you say that? Not judging, just curious.
Thanks for the tips.
The Japanese learning community seems to be full of elitist, so your style is really refreshing.
Precisely! This guy understands how to truly learn a language, not everyone can do the same hyper-focussed ultra immersion method I see everywhere online
It's crazy how elitist some people can be over basic, human communication
@@hostilegamingz How is listening to spoken Japanese as often as possible and studying Kana for the first couple of months considered elitist?
I started a visual novel 6 months ago and was completely lost. Now I can read about half of the words and understand what every sentence means generally. Anki really helped me a lot with the vocab and grammar
Hi. What VN did you read, and what Anki deck for grammar did you use?
@@2w4m it was Rance03 lmao. Update, I've passed N2 since then and now translate jp to en for fun on my channel. Stopped the need to use anki when I'm just reading jp stuff everyday
@@KnightCrown that’s cool! I started to learn japanese 2h a day on July, and I took a N4 test this December. What was your level when you’ve started to read VN, and how long have you studied Japanese in general? I want to know, because I started to read Nekopara vol.1 a few days ago as my 1 VN, and it’s so overwhelming. I’m using yomichan every time I see a sentence, and even if I know every word in it, I can’t understand the general meaning, because I’m struggling with grammar. I’m really trying, but it’s so hard. And it’s just a Nekopara, which is considered as an easy VN :(
@@2w4m I know that feeling very very well. It's inevitable, and my best advice is to just read regardless of your level, whether it's 'ez' or not, because everything is 'not ez' anyway in the beginning. It doesn't matter if it's world history, the key is you really want to know the story and the desire to know what happens. Interest is way more impt than 'finding an appropriate reading level'. Pick 1 unknown phrase to learn(to anki) every few sentence, embrace the feeling of not understanding every sentence completely, and keep moving on. Eventually these unknown phrase will repeat and you'll start noticing and targeting those repeated words to learn(anki). Nothing else matters. Start reading now, that was my regret because it helps immensely and your brain makes connection with patterns on a subconscious level, I guarantee you you're gonna start noticing as you read, you recognise more and more words despite barely studying it because you understand the CONTEXT. If you ever find nekopara boring, it's OK to drop it, it's not defeat to find better source that suits you.
@@2w4mmy friend don’t worry. No media is easy, it’s meant for adults who are proficient in Japanese. Take your time. When you come across grammar you don’t know, I recommend using a grammar source like Bunpro for explanations etc. it takes time but you WILL get there I promise. Bunpro for me (you don’t need to pay for it, just use the lookup grammar points or look through them if you don’t want SRS) helped me a ton personally.
But aside from that, set aside some time for studying grammar individually I’d say and then time for reading. It’s not a rush, you will reach the finish line eventually
Slow down for textbooks, speed up for media. Slow down for studying, put it into practice with immersion.
Playing JP visual novels on my PSP is helping me so much to learn new kanji and memorize them all in a fun way. I'm loving your channel so much that I'm literally watching your videos everyday XD
I know this is a 6 months old comment but... do you have any recommendations ?
@@ジェンリク depends on your Level and what genres you like, I was playing brothers conflict on my PSP, it was fun and helped me to memorize some everyday kanji, now I'm playing animal crossing for 3ds :)
You and Tokini Andy have been my go to resources for learning japanese and believe me when I say I have been learning alot from your extremely informative videos. It's more entertaining than reading my boring textbooks or reviewing anki cards.
So far my gaming experiences have been fruitful so thanks so much!
This just inspired me to figure out how to download Japanese-only games on my Switch. Thank you !!
Your channel is such a gem and brings such a positive energy to the language learning community. Couldn't thank you enough.
I just started watching it, but I just have to point out that I'm so glad you spent the intro specifically stating that there's not one "best" way to learn. So many people in the community have a very elitist mindset that ends up deterring others from learning because "my way is the best and if you don't do it you're dumb". I'm glad someone like you has gained so much traction, because your "everyone is different and that's okay" mindset is crucial to everyone's success. Thanks a bunch!!
I made so many mistakes you have mentioned. I tried to understand everything and translate sentences almost right away at the start of the studying (got burned out for months), tried to memorize every shingle thing by expanding my Anki set and so on. What have finally worked for me is to write frequently appearing words in my notebook and returning to them once every 2-3 days (Anki, for whatever reason, didn't work so good for my Japanese). Now I am able to play some doujin games and get a basic understanding what's going on (and even understand some jokes here and there), so there is definitely a progress. I should be able to get out of N4 plateau eventually.
I actually enjoy going through textbooks and got through Genki, now I have started Tobira, which seems to be a good resource for me. Unfortunately actual classes/courses (which I also enjoy attending) are not available in my area. Fortunately your grammar tips are great and I memorize them right away, this is what brought me to your channel.
For comparison: I am also studying German, which I started learning a bit later than Japanese, but my progress is way faster, I am around B1 level now. Japanese is a complicated language from a faraway country, so for any learner reading this: just compare the studying process to a train ride. You may get to your destination faster or slower than others, but as long as you don't quit and continue studying and tweaking your methods and trying out new things, you will get there eventually.
Over 10k subs, good for you man. I remember your first Reddit post you made about making this channel and subbed. I don't have the time I did before to study, but I still like popping in and watching. Keep it up man
Wow! You've been around since the very beginning! Thanks so much for all your support Praise
I agree with enjoying it as much as possible, I've beat about 4 games fully in Japanese. (2 I've never played in English) And read like 2 manga fully and counting. I'd already been studying for a year before doing it though, so I'd recommend waiting till you have a large vocabulary if you want to follow the story without looking stuff up every 2 secs, so I guess it would be a good idea at first to play a few games you've already played in English first.
visual novels with a text hooker! a huge deal if youre into that sort of thing. great video, we have similar philosophies
I never knew about game scripts, surely will give them a try. Thank you for sharing the method.
I learned English almost entirely through videogames, but due to the nature of Japanese I found that skipping anki and going straight to them was quite the daunting task. After getting more used to radicals and some very basic vocabulary+grammar then moving on to media consumption was much easier even if I didn't fully get what was being said. The mix of games + anki/rtk is a good one because, personally, I can just prioritize one over the other depending on how I'm feeling, so it is always easier to either push forward or back on my rythmn.
In any case, excellent video, really feel like you touched all the meaningful points about this approach.
Thanks for including that being burnt out section! I sometimes play games or read through example sentences on Wanikani and after a while notice that I don't even feel like thinking about what the sentence could mean anymore. Then I usually stop for the day and feel a bit disappointed in myself for not trying harder.
Thankfully I've found that the next really fun Japanese day is often just around the corner! haha
EDIT: AH RIGHT! CONGRATULATIONS ON THE 10K! :) Been loving this channel since its inception and I promise I'll become a patron next year :D
I recently started watching Japanese streamers play Japanese games, and that's really fun-- especially for RPGs when I just want to skip through battles and get to the story. Nice video, and congrats on 10k : )
do you have any good recommendations for streamers or youtubers??? :0
@@Alexander-ot6xw I'm really enjoying this girl Moon's channel: ruclips.net/channel/UClfzoEKjhO8Q3Un5V7ZF9YQplaylists
Really cheers me up.
In case you don't know the term for a 'let's play', it's 実況
Your method happens to also be the way I do it too, and the only thing that works for me. Great video, now I can send it to my friends when they ask how I study LOL
This advice is absolutely incredible! From top to bottom. Lot's of stuff I wish I had heard early on haha.
I do think maybe doing an N5 anki deck and your grammar videos (with the accompanying anki decks) to sort of efficiently set some foundations can be very beneficial! That is what I would recommend these days :D
I started to play Japanese visual novels and games just right now and your video just in time! Thank you!
There's a lot of masterpiece visual novels that might be never translate on English and especially on my native language. Like, you know, Kao no nai Tsuki, Touka Gettan, Ore-tachi ni Tsubasa wa Nai, Mahoutsukai no Yoru, Fate/EXTRA CCC or some unique visual novels with awesome Japanese graphical style wich you loosing in translation mode, like any title by Innocent Grey.
Very true, and also along with this study guide, a lot of VN’s are able to have their text extracted with a hook so review and looking up meanings is easy
For me is Gakuen Handsome, it’s so so so goofy and hilarious that I JUST have to translate the entire game for better understanding of it and of course, studying Japanese 💕
I've played through a couple of games now in Japanese while just trying to exercise with what I know, but playing with a game script honestly sounds like a fantastic way to go moving forward, so thanks for the great advice.
Wich video games do you recomend me? I'm start
I appreciate you reinforcing that it's alright to just understand the gist of a sentence and move on even if you don't understand the full grammar or meaning. I need to be better about doing that myself. I can get stuck on grammar and words and beat myself up if I don't fully grasp it/understand it.
You deserve so much more subscribers. Extremely useful information! Thank you!!!
One of my main goals is to play video games in Japanese, so I think it makes a lot of sense to learn with video games.
"translating is a separate skill... You're, right now, just trying to learn Jaoanese" honestly kind of a profound statement. You'll never be fluent if you're just translating every little thing. That's not how language works!
Wonderful advice! For me personally I feel like I needed to get down enough vocabulary and grammar before I start enjoying media in Japanese. I'm always paralyzed by the need to comprehend sentences completely first so it's really motivating for me to hear that I can dive right in and learn as I go. Thanks for all the tips and tricks! I'll be using them for sure! Subbed
I'm surprised you have only 15k, I swear your channel was already at the 100k mark or more :0 Anyhow, I hope you don't give up, this channel's foundation is a really great one, learning japanese or any language through enjoyment and native media (true immersion) is undoubtly the best method, and having someone to help/guide you with it is inestimable.
Have you made any video about the best first games to start studying japanese with? I'm trying to get into it, so I'm looking if anyone makes specific recommendations!
Following :)
I can’t not make SRS cards😅
All your tips have helped so much though. I’ve calmed down on the amount of cards I’m making. I do probably spend a lot of time breaking down _some_ sentences. But I do enjoy it, especially when I like the character talking.
This video, plus your grammar teaching videos are what managed to get me over the initial barrier in japanese! I'm about N3 level now and can kinda confidently read most things (Looking up a lot of unknown words of course) and after reaching this point I'm having the most fun I ever had learning japanese.
I mostly stand with the guy on your Discord group who wanted to reach a certain level before immersing, I only managed to get started on that after taking the N4 (Bought my first manga in japanese at that time too and could mostly read it kinda well with the furigana) and any time I tried before that the sheer amount of unknown things made it into kind of a drag.
I wouldn't recommend anyone "Waiting until N4" like I did, for every person the correct point where they can have fun immersing will be different, but I do agree that the believe that the possible moment is "As early as you can start enjoying yourself" !
This video is so inspiring. I wish I saw this video when I first started. After all the most important thing is enjoy yourself and have fun experiencing the language in its forms.
Thank you!
I never thought about the script method. It's genius.
I found your channel by accident.
It took me a long time to understand that I wanted to learn Japanese
but I have big problems with it (motivation + depression)
but your channel is so warm and nice.
Please keep doing what you are doing you are amazing!
You give me hope that one day I will learn this language.
ありがとうございました ♥️
So well put and inspiring! Matt never fails to encourage all of us
I'm just a beginner and I don't have a huge experience in learning Japanese, but my current study method is related to immersing into target language media, mostly YT and mobile games. I also try to remember words that seem important and useful for me, for example, 懐かしい(natsukashii), 夏休み (natsuyasumi) and 久しぶり(hisashiburi). Ever since I learned those words I met them several times in different contexts, which is really gives a feeling that things that you learn are actually used in a language
I think I found your channel when you first started, and subbed to it thinking "This content seems right up my alley", I'll subscribe and leave it on standby for when I want to watch a video....
Yesterday I started watching your videos. I find them amazing and I'm sad I didn't start watching them sooner
i just started the first game in japanese and yout channel helped a lot so far, so i feel confident enough to be able to do it.
something that i really like doing right now, since i still don't know lots of the kanji and don't want to handwrite em all, is to use the windows snipping tool to screenshot the textboxes and put em into an image text extractor. so i can then use the extracted text to go through it 1 by 1 the way you said you do. i know i won't always get the perfect translation by not having a script as my first game, but after i went through and tried to get the general gist of it, i will then put the entire text into 2 different translators and see if they match, or are a little different and will usually get the right meaning out of it. its still a lot of work to screenshot it all, but muuuuch better than if i had to write it all down myself. that'd take sooooo long oh man.
It's so funny - I also thought about creating a RUclips channel like yours a few months back but don't really have a clue on how to go about that. ^^° I'm really liking your content because playing video games is a beautiful way to improve your Japanese.
I think "intrinsic motivation" is the most important thing for everything to keep going. I did study Japanese studies until 2017 because I wanted to work there someday but due to a not so well-going exchange semester I neglected the language for about 2 years. When I decided what I want to do NOW as a profession, becoming a concept artist AND work someday in Japan as such I got my passion back for starting over with the language (of course I got rusty but I was always learning Japanese VERY intensely during university) and can say that I am very proficient by now. I would already have given up on art and/or Japanese if I did not have this inner drive/dream/ambition/whatever I guess. :)" So I'm glad that I have this goal in mind which is very precious to me.
My current learnign method is mostly consuming Japanese media (e.g. YouTUbe channel aimed at Japanese, read Visual Novel, playing games in general), mirroring what I have heard or read sth out aloud, looking up the vocab whenever I don't get it (you really learn vocabulary by having to look up some words over and over again haha) and studying grammar , and so on.
I think I'm about N1 level but haven't taken the test by now due o covid. I'm afraid of takign it though because I still have comprehension issues from time to time, not often, but sometimes there are sentences I just don't get as a non-native person. ^^°
Anki and other SRS start off strong and quickly reach a point of diminishing returns. Once you have a core vocabulary somewhere between 500-1000 words, everything else starts getting easier. The beginning is always so hard. You don't know anything. You don't know where to start. You don't even know what you don't know. All you know is you're contending with grammatical structures, some of which are words that have been conjugated multiple times, humble/polite/formal speech and trying to understand the relationship between the people speaking, kanji, particles, words and word combinations that sound like something you know but turn out to be something completely different and unrelated. That initial struggle feels like the worst. At least, until you get over that hump, and see the even bigger humps on the horizon. :D It gets easier. And then harder. And then easier again. And that cycle continues the rest of your life. :)
I do find the dry learning methods have their place, to make other learning methods like immersion and just playing games more efficient.
If I was doing this again I'd first do RTK, but only 2-300 characters to get a sense of how Kanji are formed and train up the ability to recognise those kinds of paterns. Then I'd use Anki to learn the most common 2000 words. At that point I'd dive into a game aimed at kids/teens like Pokemon and you're basically good to go.
Side point: Any Shonen Jump manga is also a good place to start because like above, they're aimed at kids/teens and on the easier side language wise. I found 2k words was comfortably enough to follow the story
I really needed to hear a lot of this. I feel like I've been taking my studies too seriously and have been hesitant to do things I enjoy because there's more efficient ways to learn. Thanks for the new perspective :)
Congratulations on 10k subscribers! You deserve every one and more for the quality of content you produce!
This was great advice! For me, I have a period of 4 years or so where I kept trying to follow the recipes for learning Japanese that existed online, but it just didn't work for me because I found that I'd rather never learn Japanese rather have the everyday experiences of following the methods as directed for any real length of time. In particular, anything involving Anki never lasted long for me.
What worked best for me was "Do whatever the hell you want, as long as it involves Japanese exposure". There are times when I look everything up, scrutinizing every word because I really want to follow everything that's happening closely in the story and theorize what'll happen in an unreleased sequel. There are times when I just feel like enjoying the game and look absolutely nothing up, just practicing things I already know and maybe picking up a word or two from context. When I get tired of something, I drop it and find something else.
I think language learning is a bit like dieting. Everyone thinks there's a best way and it is their way. But literally everything works. The very act of consciously trying to diet means you're probably making progress, regardless of method. The only wrong choice is whatever makes you quit doing it.
I have no idea how to put my sentiment into better words than: Thank you for everything!
This channel has helped me so much. I don't know what to add to this, just thank you so much!
I just discovered your channel yesterday and I was a little bit sceptical so I wanted to watch this video before starting to go through all your other videos and... Well, English is not my native language and when I started to study it, it was really difficult for me. my grades at school were more often bad than good. But by continuing to study, I finally managed to have an acceptable level. But what really made me progress is exactly what you describe in your video : many of the games I wanted to play were not translated into my language and I had no choice but to play them in English. As I played, I understood more and more easily and quickly the sentences I read or listened to. I am now at the point where I instantly understand what I read as if English was my native language even if I still sometimes have to search for some vocabularies words without even realizing it. I realized my progress when I had to take an English assessment test and I found that I was close to passing the B2 european level, which is the last level before the levels where one is considered bilingual. It motivated me to go back to school to get this level B2.
So I guess it will work for Japanese too. I tried some methods but they didn't worked at all because it was really boring to learn kanas before really starting to learn the langauge. Now, I'm using Duolingo which is the most efficient way to learn for me for now : I have to guess and try to understand the grammar rules myself, I learn vocabulary at the same time and read kanas and kanjis at the same time. I made great progress thanks to Duolingo but I realize its limits and was already thinking about the next step to accompany these courses. Looks like I found it. It’s actually quite funny to say that I already knew the method since I already unconsciously used it for English but I just realized it thanks to this video, lmao.
I found this video helpful on many levels, even down to the life advice. Time to dust off the unopened Animal Crossing game I got for Xmas (had been waiting until my Japanese was "ready"), and load up the game script on my computer. Thanks a bunch. :)
thank you so much for using Chrono trigger music on the background, i forgot how pretty this game's music is. Also the move on because you will see the word again if it's a usefull one is an awesome advice, thanks !
You definitely influenced me to begin playing games despite being a beginner. Thank you!
Currently obsessed with Hogwarts Legacy. Little intimidating to approach in full Japanese, so i downloaded a mod to use Japanese audio and English subtitles. While the learning is certainly less effective, it lets me get some in while enjoying my hobby. Ive actually picked up on more than id think since ive been replaying it a few times. Stuff like how やれやれ and its versatility. There was a particularly memorable shopkeeper who i spent forever trying to figure out what she was saying. Good listening practice. It was いつでもおかげよ; a not quite common way of saying "you're always welcome back."
Next planning on undertaking a more in depth playthrough of lets go Pikachu. May use your deep dives as a supplemental resource. Listen to them all passively at work, then when im home, do my best to learn on my own, then use your video to help assess how accurate I was
Thank you thank you THANK YOU! This was exactly what I was hoping for. I had no idea I could find game scripts online and play through things that way. I've learned to let go of understanding everything when watching anime, but for whatever reason I've really struggled with that trying to play games (and reading). This feels like a really good compromise for me between the two--I get to enjoy things I love while also feeding my not always healthy need to understand everything (or the gist of it, at least). I'm pretty guilty of taking things too seriously from time to time, so I appreciate the reminder that doing so can sometimes be counter-productive!
I actually like Anki because it's something I can sneak into my day during periods I wouldn't have the option of playing/watching things in Japanese; during commutes for instance, I get very motion sick easily so I can't properly play/watch things but I CAN get my reps out of the way, but I've also noticed that sometimes (but not always!) I will learn something from an Anki deck and be able to get it right immediately...but don't recognize it when I see it in the wild. Not that I'm thinking of getting rid of it--and I already don't do it for hours a day--but it might be time for me to spend a little less time on it and more time engaging with material properly.
As someone who's almost past 2 months of studying Japanese, I feel like I needed to begin immersion already - after spending a good chunk of time sitting with grammar, and flashcard vocabularies.
Feel like this video helped me set aside any doubts and fear as I'm about to just move forward with it. I may not do games immediately, but at least to be reminded not to sit too hard on remembering things immediately was really important for me.
How is your Japanese now? Hope you are doing great!
これからも頑張れ!
@@remonimodexd7116 Definitely feel like even if I'm not yet fully understanding the sentence I read, I'm getting used to the structure of Japanese a little more...
As of making this, I actually finished Castlevania: White night Concerto (Harmony of Dissonance in the west... still don't get how they got this translation LOL)
I'll be doing Chrono trigger next because of the gamescript available so I can read better for sure
@@Dogrethson great to hear. Don’t worry about your reading just yet. You sound just like me when I started out. It’ll all come together with more reading! がんばれ! And if you ever need more grammar BUNPRO is something I highly recommend that I used, not only for n5-n1 grammar but the community too
@@remonimodexd7116 can i please ask you what recourses you used for early to detailed grammar?🌷 A lot of people say that's hard
Thank you for this ! I feel I've been putting way to much presure on myself trying learn but on that road, I lost the perpective of having fun with the language. Instead of beating myself up for being stuck on grammar points I can't memorise... Lets play and have fun !!!
bro your channel is pure gold
i completely agree with u on anki, i know its effective but it makes me feel like a robot and it leads to burnout really quick (for me personally!) i can't wait to read thru these game scripts!! thank u so much, i've been watching ur channel every day
Never seen anyone's view line up as well with mine as this. Right on point!
You deserve all your views,such an amazing effort your videos
Hi Matt! Thank you once again for this amazing video.
I have a suggestion to add.
These weeks I have an alternative technique for learning japanese that I love: learn japanese with video games let's play (in japanese, or with someone like you translating).
The + :
- Amateur dub when there is no VA (most of the time)
- Easy to rewind, (and fast forward eventually)
- I use an OCR (iText for MacOS which works amazingly well to copy japanese text from the video.
- Important: it gives an additional layer about what's happening in the game with the streamer's reaction, description...
- Much less expensive!
The - :
- Well you don't have the pleasure to play so it feels a bit more like work, and as you said it should be fun. But if you find a streamer you love it can be very entertaining.
The method you’re describing-writing everything down, looking up every single word manually, etc-is what I’ve been doing. I’ve gotten about 15 minutes into thousand year door. I keep having to stop to look up grammar I don’t know. I will say I’ve learned a HUGE amount (thanks to your grammar guides among others!!!) and in the last week I’ve gone from not being able to even parse a sentence to now being able to identify parts of speech, conjugations, etc. but to your point this pace is not sustainable
That's great that you've been making progress! But I absolutely agree, the most important thing is to enjoy the process. Nowadays I highly recommend playing while also concurrently using an OCR like Kamui OCR to automatically transcribe the screen as you play, then simply hover your mouse over the transcribed text with Yomitan for instant dictionary lookups. This will make the pace a lot more sustainable and you can focus on just going through the game/language and pick it up over time as you have fun! :)
Thank you, I came to realize how unbelieveably valuable this channel is...
Thanks!
Thank you so much Jessica for your support! I hope you continue to enjoy Japanese and look forward to all the awesome content planned for next year! :D
Awesome video man! I'm using this method to learn Chinese. All of your tips still apply.
Matt you are awesome! Kind, clear and encouraging!!
Finally joined the Patreon / Discord today!
I've been doing this recently too, it works very well for language acquisition. Essentially what we are doing is extensive reading. Which is supported by a lot of research. There is a professor in japan always banging on about it. And they even have this thing in japan called tadoku. For reals google it, it's like all about reading tons of shit. Thing is about language learning, is we have gamefied it. And we are GittingGud. It is much harder than dark souls. But it's actually a chilled out RPG grind.
Thanks so much gengo , thanks for give more motivation for my study and enjoy of the Japanese , thank a lot , I always enjoy your videos . THX💜
'Put everything into an Anki flashcard and then drill it until you go to sleep' Lol - tried and quit! Haha!
Thanks for the video. I did find it helpful to learn from the traditional methods of textbooks until I built up enough of a foundation. It was boring as hell for sure, but I really find it frustrating to read native material early on and hitting walls constantly.
This otherwise however is a very similar approach to what I do. If I can understand the gist, I move on unless its something interesting in there that I want clarification on. I only look up if I am lost. What I also do is take screenshots of all the unknown words I encounter and put them later into Anki if I want to, to not disrupt me playing and immersing in media.
With my first video game I was looking up stuff every other sentence even with a foundation (which I think goes for everyone, native content is hard). Nowadays unless I read something hard, its much less frequent.
I think Visual Novels in particular can be great mediums to learn from, as they share many of the advantages of other video games, but are also entirely about text and even if you don't have a script of the game, you can set up a text hooking software to spit out the text to mouse over. And there's a wide variety of difficulty from easy SoL ones to Tsukihime Remake that I'm reading right now which has tons of different kanji and descriptive text lol.
Learning grammar without knowing a good vocabulary is so drowsy, looks like you are wasting time and getting no progress, but it's different when you get a lot of vocabulary, specially doing what you love, games. I did the same with English, learned a lot of words without even a dictionary, then when I commited a little bit to grammar, it was way easier. Excelent video BTW, thanks again! This method looks amazing, gonna start today with DQ 1.
There are games designed for this purpose. "Learn Japanese to Survive" is an excellent series. You may also want to try "Learn Japanese RPG: Hiragana Forbidden Speech", which teaches words and grammar in addition to the Hiragana.
helped me out a lot! ありがとうございます😊
Really solid advice. Kanji can be worth the effort to grind, but they are also the thing most likely to make you want to quit. I think they are the one thing worth putting into srs, but you should go through them very very slowly and do them AFTER immersion, not as the priority. That way you are less likely to quit.
Great tips! I will be putting these to use!
thanks for ur tips, now its make sense to me who already learn japanese about 3.5 years at collage. now i realize that text book and my theacer only can teach me until advance grade (i guess). when i get in 8 semester(actually now), i trying to make thesis about game gramar analysis. once again, thanks for the tips, so i can find the clue to finish my thesis.
you are a god of motivation, thank you so much
Great video! This is really helpful. I had been wanting to learn Japanese so I could play non localized visual novels.
Great advice.
Thank you for your videos, I'm moving to japan soon as a 3D Artist for games and anime and I've primarily used anki for 2 years now, but now play more and more games in Japanese. Looking forward to more!
How's it going now? Do you have any advice wanting to move to Japan as a 3D artist?
I've read quite a few people doing this now and I want to do it too!
I picked Stardew Valley for my immersion game. To not feel overwhelmed and burn out I decided to skip through random cutscenes/dialogues if I don't feel like translating. Instead, I have a rule that I figure out text for every quest I pick up and every interaction I intentionally trigger (I don't interact with villagers until I feel like I want to explore someone's storyline and I level up relationships one at a time). It's a great game due to the everyday life nature of the language. If there's any words or phrases I consider useful I add them to an Anki deck using Yomichan and I also keep them on a sticky note for quick reference. Apart from that, I do a bit of Duolingo and/or Renshuu on the toilet, flip through a few pages of Genki/Japanese From Zero or read a Human Japanese chapter and do my daily Anki review of the AJT Kanji Transition TSC deck. It all adds up to about an hour or two of active studying and the rest is playing games. I also have to recommend the Crystal Hunters manga, it's specially designed for absolute beginners and the first book is free.
Matt spoke 34 times of the word 'enjoy' in this video. (including enjoying & -able)
I guess that must be important :D
Great advice, great video.
Thank you for this!
I enjoy writing stuff down, and referencing it when playing. Thank you so much for this channel!
16:51 but I am doing that in FF1 and I find it to be fun, I don't understand how I could otherwise really remember stuff I don't write it down? If a kanji is repeated, even if I see it 5, 10, 15 times, I feel I will just rely on an add on to translate it for me every time.
Personally I never studied kanji individually. Just did Anki and saw kanji in words over and over again until I memorised the word then eventually got thousand of words down
I love the long videos, keep them coming.
This is such a great, motivating video. c:
I love those easter eggs btw xD
I enjoy your way of teaching 🤩
How long have you been studying japanese until you started having long conversations? and do you live in Japan?
Do you recommend Anki deck except Core 2K/6K, not necessarily Genki 😅😊 for a better beginning in this learning journey?
25:06 whats the name of the video game behind matt? also another great video! getting back into the groove of playing japanese games.
You guys are awesome for learning japanese, I'm struggling to learn english lmao 😂❤
This is cool compilation.
Good video, thank you
To be honest I didn't start to play games until I got done with the N3 material. Just so I could focus on putting together the vocabulary and be able to start testing my grammar knowledge. After that I can also get back to the grammar stuff that I feel is weak within me.
Right now I am playing some Final Fantasy games and my favourite piece, Ace Attorney series. The AA games have some very specific vocabulary and some quirky characters, but through repetition a lot of the complicated vocabulary becomes second nature, and the game is hell of a laugh. If you thought the English name were fun some of the japanese names are amazing
Howdy! I had a question I wanted to ask. Do you think that Dual Language Display/Support helps or hinders learning, in your own personal opinion? I've started reading a couple visual novels, and there really are good arguments for both sides from what I've personally experienced.
Fantastic video, by the way! Very helpful.
Regarding that man on discord that wants to achieve the level first and the games later - I can relate to this guy. I've been actively learning Japanese for a year straight (mostly Anki words) and exposing to anime/games with Japanese voiceover but with English subs. For myself I can say that it is really discouraging when I open any visual novel game that I really like with translation. The thing is - there are a lot of literacy in those games. Phrases that I cannot translate without yomi chan. When I start to read these novels (for example Ever17 or Steins Gate) I feel big disappoinment with myself. At the other side - 4000 words that I've stumbled on in Anki (can't say I perfectly learned them) really help me when I watch snapshots of manga or read Japanese comments on RUclips. I can feel that time I wasted on studying is not a waste. Although I can 100% agree that immersion is the best and fastest way to acquire language. It's just that with Anki you don't need to think twice. Just mechanical robot like repetitions and you've got the word.
ive been going through 999 by using screen capture (as text always comes out on the bottom i can just automatically capture that), ocr, and highlighting what i dont know with yomichan, so far it's been pretty good
あやせ。。。
28:04 that’s a good point 😬
Another great video with top notch game and music selection!
Can I ask what are the games at 31:50 and 34:50?
@@ThePunkens thanks a lot!
A lot of people learn from games and shows. And they always sound fluent, I know someone who learned English from playing paper Mario and sounds like he was born in an English speaking country
Personally, I recommend going through hiragana and katakana before jumping into some media. Some stories are harder to pick up for us beginners.
Anki is actually Japanese for those who don't know - 暗記. Makes me want to use it haha
What is the song at the 19 minute mark?
So close to knowing which game it is hit can't quite think of it
The main problem I personally have with "getting the gist of it" is that there are series I absolutely love, like "Kiseki", but I can't get out of my mind how I can't understand perfectly every single thing they say. Since it's so lore heavy, I have a hard time getting into those. But I do think that's a good way to learn. I just have to find the correct game to do so.
I also went through different methods of study. I started with textbooks and it took me a good while to realize I hate them. After that I went to a private teacher, I learned in a bit more interactive way, but I still felt I made no progress. Then I tried playing VN because they have voice acting, backlog, and sometimes even furigana. At some point I stopped doing that because I was constantly using google translate so I could take a picture of some of the text so I could then go to Jisho and search the word. I couldn't get the game-script for the VN's I tried to study with, and I got burnt out.
Nowadays I'm mostly the "Pimsleur method" and I'm finally feeling I'm progressing a bit. I'm also using WaniKani (which is helping me with some vocabulary) which I started using to listen japanese songs with the lyrics on hand and trying to get used to the words in context, and also to get more context when I'm hearing some vtuber or something in japanese without subtitles.
At the same time I'm starting to read out loud what I'm reading to somewhat "ingrain" the words/sentences in the back of my mind.
I'm still trying to beat my shyness/fear and start speaking with Japanese speakers. And I'll try to start playing games in japanese, I just have to find the right game for me to do it plus getting the game script.
I still have a long way to go, but my end-goals are:
-Be able to speak to native speakers (so I can learn about their culture first-hand), and meet my fav seiyuu's hopefully
-Be able to understand what I hear/listen (not just the context but a bit more)
-Be able to play a japanese game "swiftly" like I do with english/spanish ones
Uhhh man. You know for VNs you can texthook them and use hover over dictionary whilst reading them? I’m surprised you actually even attempted to screenshot all the text and extract it yourself lol
JRPG sale on steam right now btw; best time to start! Let's see if your Chrono Trigger recommendation is a good one ;D
I started learning from song. I found it extremely efficient... coz... the phases just keeep appearing in diff contexts ... i dun know why, they just keep appearing. and it helps me memorize the vocab and some of the sentence structures ...
11:34 how did you get this screen to show up and highlight the words with Yomichan? (Yomitan now since Yomichan is discontinued)
I also tried playing game becoz of u... but the thing about game is... is a bit too slow, but you can also learn something from it in a totally diff context.
Is it doable to play assassins creed and follow along the text from cinematics or in game with games2text to be able to pick up words with yomichan? I looked for script but didn't find any. Or maybe there are other solution to do this?