I've also learned Japanese from zero, and now I'm fluent. It helped a lot that I was born in Japan (at which point I knew zero Japanese), and I went to a Japanese kindergarten and elementary school, and at home spoke Japanese with my Japanese parents. Teehee Hats off to you Sam!
I've been using Wanikani for Kanji, it's so good with mnemonic and SRS. 1 year passed by, 1500+ Kanji and 4000+ vocab so far. I agree that kanji is very important, I didn't regret to start learn it early ~
My only problem is that wani kani takes a million fucking years to finish, I used it for a while but now I’m just using some anki decks, sure I don’t remember that kanji as well as I would with wani kani, but I know a fuckton more, it’s like memorizing a few really well are a lot more a bit less. But whatever works for you
I used to hate WaniKani but I came crawling back because it's that good xD. After trying other resources like Anki decks etc, I went back to using it since nothing else really made them stick as well as WK's consistent Radical > Kanji > Vocab mnemonics system. I tried making my own mnemonics but they're not as consistent/effective and WK does all the work for you. The key is to stay on top of reviews as soon as they're available and get the level's new kanji learned as quickly as possible. I went from taking 3-4 weeks per level to about a week and a half and it's not even an intense pace if you keep on top of the reviews.
@@thewhiffab715 What are you talking about? It takes a year, teaches you 2000 kanji and 6000 vocab. You better know all the joyo kanji at this point then.
One of the best "guides" to know where to start learning Japanese ❤️ I hope one day I can reach N3 studying by myself, but who knows, maybe one day I'll be able to go to Japan and study Japanese there
Totally feel you on the "I want to be able to have normal conversations without making the Japanese person uncomfortable"!! I'm close to this level but I still block on vocabulary, 専門用語 are hard... Also, something very frustrating I noticed at work, I understand everything without problem but couldn't say the same things by myself because I wouldn't know those words if I was speaking... Worst feeling. It got better after 3 years but it's still hard. I definitely recommend making videos in Japanese, even just for yourself on your phone, it helps A LOT :D That's what I used to do in Belgium for 8 years, because no Japanese people around haha
I totally know what you mean!!! Like “I know all of those words and grammar structures, why wasn’t I able to make that exact sentence” ahahahah your Japanese is goals though! 😘
You really hit the key concept in learning anything, but especially new languages, at around @14:38, when you started talking about what motivates you. It doesn't matter how good the "materials" or your resources are if you're not motivated. Brava!
True but discipline > motivation. Many people lack discipline and that's the real reason why they stop learning. Motivation cannot be held up 100% of the time. It's always gonna fluctuate so you gotta have discipline to carry on through the end.
One does not simply start studying Japanese the same way as Latin/Germanic languages. There are Kanji that never let you sleep. And the thought about the Great N1 test...(paraphrasing Boromir's speech) XD
I've been studying japaneese for about a year now. I'm far from being fluent, but i can kinda read shonen manga now and undersand what they are talking about in kid cartoons. Japaneese is my third languange , but overall how i'm going about studying is probaably not the way most people go about it, but it works the best for me. What i did and i'm still doing 1.Learn the 2 aphabets . 2.Go all in studying vocabulary. Fuck grammar at this point. Every languange has about 3-4k words that are used in 80% of daily talk. The more words you know the better. I know super super basic grammar, it doesn't matter at this point, because the more words you know, the better understanding of how sentences work you will get and it will become a second nature for you. Also the more exposure you get to japaneese from tv, anime , podcast, audio books the better.I personally try to learn about 5-10 words a day and to write the kanji.
@@shiningdragon8737 just google "3000 most used japaneese words" and go from there. Obviously learn katakana and hiragana first. Also if you don't plan to live pernamently in japan writing can be left for last or mostly ignored, you don't really need to be able to write kanji in order to read it. It's a completely different skill, which takes a lot of time and for most people it's not worth it. I know about 300 kanjis so far and i can only write less than half.
You probably have to stop learning and start producing the language. Write texts and get them corrected on apps like HiNative. Speak the language: find a speaking partner on apps like Hellotalk, or a tutor on iTalki or whatever app if you can afford it. But point is people usually get plateaud at N3 because they got to a point where they've learned too much information without putting it into practice. So just practice!
@@Reforming_LL N3 plateau is typically related to not enough output, aka not enough putting into practice. Hence why you're at a plateau and cannot seem to be able to learn more info/get more input. So advicing more input to break a plateau is not a solution, since the amount of input is precisely what causes the plateau.
@@RickGrimes807 it is. Output while not still fluent just creates bad habits that you'll find hard to fix pater down the line. Input is truly the only answer. Just diversify it when you feel like you're starting to stagnate. Now you have to understand you won't learn jack shit when you're outputing, you will just repeat what you already know and if you don't know how to pronounce stuff you're going to develop bad ways of pronouncing, if you don't have a complete grasp on grammar you're going to make bad habbits when coming up with sentences. You really have to first comprehend the language as a whole. Now op probably doesn't do any immersion, cause if he did he wouldn't plateau at only n3.
I'm a beginner Japanese student. I feel comfortable with Hiragana and currently learning Katakana. I take private lessons on Italki since I can't take in person Japanese classes at my college at the moment. I plan to take the JPLT N5 next year.
Not saying there is anything wrong with this method at all, but here is a different perspective. Personally it took me 6 months from zero to passing the old JLPT 3, 1.5 years for JLPT N2 and 3 years for JLPT N1 (hadn't even been to Japan at this point lol). It's now been more than 10 years since I began studying Japanese and by now I've been working 4 years in Japan within lifescience/pharmaceuticals in a B2B sales role entirely in Japanese (only Westener in a company with more than 2,000 people). JLPT is a nice goal to have in the beginning, but it's more of a measurement of basic reading and listening comprehension (input ability) rather than fluency (ability to output). I actually kinda sucked at speaking at the point when I passed JLPT N1, but the process leading up to it created a foundation that allowed me to actually become relative fluent later on. I followed the AJATT (All Japanese All The Time) method where I focused very heavily on Kanji and learning to read early on and otherwise create an artificial immersion environment trying to listen to as much Japanese as possible. I used Heisig's "Remembering the Kanji" to create flashcards for Anki (spaced repetition digital flashcard software/app) and likewise for sentences I mined from grammar dictionaries, but I stopped using anything remotely resembling a textbook about 6 months into learning Japanese. From then I just read and listened every day. I think I was 1.5 years in before I was actually able to keep a proper conversation going (didn't have anyone to speak with so that may be why T_T), but I got through my first novel (Kafka by the Shore by Murakami Haruki) in Japanese within the first year. I never used traditional textbooks (i.e. Genki) and did not take Japanese classes because traditional class room learning does not really fit my temper (not saying there is any universal truth as to the correct way of studying Japanese, I just like to do things at my own pace). Point is that you should try shopping around for the method that best suits you and then stick with it because at the end of the day consistency, time and effort account for a lot in language learning. That being said if you want to be good at reading - read, if you want to become good at speaking - speak, etc. Kudos to anyone who got through this wall of text and finally a word of advice to anyone who are getting discouraged studying Japanese: don't get too fixated on the goal, but rather try to enjoy the journey as a much possible instead of trying to attain something intangible like fluency. Unless you're really talented it is most likely going to take years so the key is to figure out ways to have as much fun as possible doing it. On the other hand you shouldn't expect it to be fun all the time, because the everyone is going to be struggling at some points in their journey. Calm down, hurry up and good luck.
I've been studying japanese for 5 years now and I will try to pass N1 by the end of the year! (In my country its only once a year). Kinda nervous about it but if I do pass, its gonna be such a weight out of my shoulders ( I feel relieved just imagining it lol). Anyway loved your video! I'm also more of a visual learner, dry book aren't really my thing so I really liked your book recommendations! Love from Brazil 🇧🇷💜
on a whim I started learning with Duolingo 2 weeks ago. It's been very helpful for learning the hiragana and katakana but I can already tell I need better learning resources. My goal is watching TV without subs and reading fluently. It's going to be a long road.
Beginner to learning Japanese. This video is so helpful thank you for the good starting points and plateaus to look out for in the process of learning this langauage.
This was really helpful!, my motivation was super low until I came across this video, I was having a hard time trying to figure out how will I learn Japanese, but with the things you recommended in this video helped a lot, thank you so much!
Long time not watching your videos (2 years ~) ! To be honest, watching people living in Japan was so painful for me at a time, that I completely stopped. I've lived 1 year in Kyoto in 2015 then went back to France, and feel so sad since then... Then I went back to Japan twice for holidays, and each time my heart says "you're alive in here, you belong to Japan !" . Discovering again your videos makes me stronger, I totally want to go back to Japan, as soon as it's possible
Meh, for me it gets a weary viewer that continues on watching. I personally believe Minna No Nihongo to be the best for beginner studiers who are dedicated - I wish more people would at least mention it alongside Genki for them to look into and decide for themselves which one they’d like. Genki being partly in English (whereas minna is great for immersion) is quite off putting, and the University style words leant just aren’t very useful. Sure, it’s been proven time and time again that you can get somewhere with Genki and continue on from there - but it’s definitely not for everyone, and MNN really has a unique and immersing learning style that truly sucks me in and makes me work hard and piece things together it being completely in Japanese.
@@silentechorevived2964 What you say about MNN being immersive is true, but it is unfortunately very flawed for self study. There's a good number of mistakes and weird explanations that are sometimes impossible to understand without a teacher. I use MNN for intermediate lvl and the level of satisfaction with the books decreases significantly after Genki.
I relate to everything you said!! We have almost the same journey through N3. I used Genki I and II in college and then did a year abroad and was upper intermediate by the end. But then I came home, graduated, and atrophied! I'm shooting for N2 now but have to make up a lot of ground! Thank you for the resources and tips!
I immediately recognized the fellow German accent. :) Good you are living the dream I dream of too, being able to live in Japan. So hard to keep dreaming at this time of the pandemic.
I’ve been studying for one month and am still beginner but I study for at least 2 hours everyday up to 4-5 hours a day sometimes. I love Japanese 日本語が好きです
@@triplebaconcheesel1906 he's a womanizer and talks about pleasuring himself all the time. I practically live in the same city as him. Only met him once at a hangout. He's not a very good human being. There's a wolf under that sheep's mask.
Sam, this is the first time I watch a video of yours. Thank you for the recommendations! And, congratulations! Hope some day I can travel to Japan at least as a tourist with my wife. Back in 2005 I thought of going there to graduate school and find and marry a Japanese girl; however, things went different and married a fellow countrygirl (who looked rather Japanese by the time!). I thought Japan could wait. The bad point was doing grad school here in Mexico, it doesn't makes you able to work in Japan (sadly, seems that not outside Latin America) and be accepted the same way as a Japanese. Again, congrats for your effort and success!
Hi Sam~! ヤホー✨I’m came across your dating video and fell in love with your humor and sarcasm, and just kept on watching your videos 😂😂😂🥲 I’m learning Japanese and have been for the past decade, off and on 😅, btw I’m American. I got formal training when I took Japanese 1 & 2 in college about 10 years ago, kinda stopped learning and didn’t have any motivation to keep on learning until the last 4 years. I definitely agree with you that motivation is high on the list for keeping up with studying a new language. There are a lot of times where I’ve gotten discouraged, overthought what I’ve said or written, and had anxiety about my fluency. I’m about at a N4-ish level, my reading comprehension is way better than speaking level 😅🥺. I do like anime and manga, but I feel like where I’ve seen the most progress in my reading comprehension this past year and a half was because of Twitter. I am a Jpop fan, an アイドルオタク(笑) tbh...(BUZZ-ER. is who I support💗🐝🍯)...and a lot of idol information can’t be found anywhere but on Twitter unfortunately. So for me, it has helped me learn so much about recent slang, mannerisms, kanji, grammar, gender language differences, their way of sarcasm-ness, all of the little nuisances that Genki or language apps never taught me. I also love watching Japanese TV shows/movies and Japanese YTers and their vlogs in Japanese with Japanese subtitles. I also do a little reverse, watching a Western movie in English***. I once saw Once Upon A Time in Hollywood in English with Japanese subtitles and it was hilarious how it didn’t translate well. I can understand Spanish, but speaking is child Spanish 😅. I can read French, Italian, and German and get the gist, but I can’t speak those at all 😂🙃. I’m fluent in sarcasm tho!! 🥲☺️✨ I have Japanese friends that can speak English and we get into a rut of only speaking English when we chat 😅. I have no desire to work in Japan rn, but I’d like to continue to make friends, meet people and be able to express my feelings, viewpoints, and values in Japanese~ 🥺 I’m great at complimenting people in Japanese! 😂😂😂 Thanks for making these videos Sam 🥺🖤 You’ve rekindled my motivation for why I want to learn Japanese~ 🔥🥲 感謝しています, ほんまに！🙏🏻♡ ***Edited~ 😅🥲
Would you recommend Try for N3 grammar too? This video is great. I have seen variations of it everywhere and usually feel like it's a way to distract me from studying, but you present your experience in such a calming and organizing manner it was impossible for me to stop watching. Bravo!
As someone who's known Japanese ever since they were born, Lingodeer is definitely an app that would help beginners into learning japanese. One of my non japanese friends used that app along with some text books..and a lot of days studying for hours he was fluent in japanese within like 2 months. I was born and raised in japan with my Japanese Dad so i know it quite fluently. I'm currently trying to learn more English right now,, i know it fluently but there's some words i don't know. (my apologies if my grammar isn't the best..)
"fluency" usually implies a high level of understanding, It's dangerous to make people think they can be come fluent in 2 months with an app. That's not really how the brain works. Matt vs. Japan has great videos about what real fluency is. True language fluency requires years of immersion, practice and focus! Also your english is excellent you don't need to worry about that bit.
I'm in a weird place, I kinda studied Japanese, but never "properly", I just watch a lot of anime (I know, not the best source, better than nothing), I also watch Japanese movies when I can, in some cases I just turn off the subs, then re-watch later to see if I got everything right. I'm very likely stuck somewhere between beginner & intermediate, because of the fact that I never truly studied it using a book, or using an actual structure. I did write down the books you mentioned and I'll go get them. I have been watching youtube tutorials, even grammar videos and like you said, I've heard this many time, but I do say stuff out loud, speaking it matters a lot. Now here's the thing, I still manage to have basic conversations, to even help out Japanese tourists, using a mix of English & Japanese. Eventually I would like to speak fluently, though it's a pain to study yet another language. My Japanese & German are both basic, but I can hold a basic conversation (German I did properly study for 2 years, but I wasn't very good at it, lol). 1 thing not mentioned in the video, but I wonder: are you fluent enough to speak on the phone with somebody and the person on the other end doesn't realize that you're not Japanese, in his mind you are Japanese? Using my own experience with languages (I speak fluently Spanish, French, Dutch, English, I used them fairly regularly, depends what I'm doing that day), it might be already the case with you, if not, that's what you need to strive to => basically get tot he point where you can think, to even have full dreams in that language. In my own case, the 4 languages that I speak fluently, I can switch to without a single problem, it does not matter one bit, which one I'm using, it's gotten to the point where I'm not even sure which one I'm better at. Putting it another way, to be fully fluent in a language, you probably need to get to a level where it's as smooth as your own mother language. Now, having fully mastered several languages, the advanced mode would perhaps be speaking in that language with a local accent & using dialects, while recognizing other accents & dialects? In my own case, I can adapt my Spanish to a region or a country, same with french, same with dutch, English...yeah sure there's different accents, but I feel like other languages have "hard" dialects with bigger differences, In Spanish for example some words change completely depending on the country. Advanced learning in my experience is a combination of reading as many books as possible, watching tv in that language & speaking it as much as possible. If you're learning a language, do those 3 things more than usual. Anyways, good video, advice & books, I wrote it all down.
As she said 新完全マスター is not for everyone, but I absolutely loved these books and they helped me go from zero to passing N2 easily in less than 10 months. Everything is in Japanese and learning the grammar while thinking and reading in Japanese really helped.
Hey Sam, ik vond je kanaal vandaag en heb meteen geabonneerd! Bedankt voor deze video! Sinds 1,5 week geleden ben ik begonnen met Japans leren dmv zelfstudie (voorheen mezelf Portugees geleerd). In anderhalve week het Hiragana alfabet gedrilled, nu nog Katakana, doel is om dit binnen 2 weken meester te zijn. Ik heb een ongelofelijke liefde voor Japans gekregen en ben helemaal gefascineerd door de mensen, cultuur en vooral de taal. Ik hou je kanaal in de gaten voor meer input! Greetz, Rob
It's good to hear from others that are further along, but on a similar path. Ultimately I would like to reach N1, but right now my focus is on N2 and then working on conversation skills before focusing on N1 studies.
Thank you so much for this video!! It was super helpful! It's hard to find people sharing concrete materials for each level or stage of learning Japanese. I would also love to hear about reading your first book in Japanese and how you went about it. Thanks again!!
Great question!I should have totally included that! I recommend the 角川つばさ文庫 (Kadokawa tsubasa bunko) books, they all have a green border and are aimed at elementary school children :) you can also type 小学背向け本 or something like that into amazon. A book I read recently that was easy and very good was 鬼遊び by 廣嶋玲子
"Remembering the kanji" book for the 2000+ Kanjis at around 25kanji's per day / "Tae Kim's grammar " for a good grammar learning / any app for the kanas works fine and *in fine* some japanese classes to put it all together and to practice works good too, everyone will find its way if you're interested and invested enough ! And remember, its about the distance you travel, not the speed you go by !
I am probably around the N2 plateau.. Just because for the last 8 months, I mainly read in Japanese and don't really study much new stuff (apart from grammar) most of the time hehe... I also try to get most of my Japanese study done in the morning like its a daily habit.. Something that really helps me from time to time is copying Japanese text. For example a few pages from a light novel or a short news article from NHK Web Easy.
I liked the video. I'm half Japanese and half Mexican (ik kinda weird lol), but now that I live in Japan I want to be able to keep fluent conversations and I think you've got pretty good techniques, thanks!
Hi Sam! This is the first time I saw your channel. Thank you so much for the advice and I can’t wait to see what else you come out with! Hopefully I can improve one day too!
I can relate to some things you mentioned, two of them being having N3 as motivation stopper and taking a higher level JLPT to stay motivated. After passing JLPT N3 in 2015, I stopped studying further precisely because I got by just fine even in a Japanese company. Things changed in 2019, when I felt stagnant. I decided to take JLPT N2 and it got me back into studying, and I passed.
also newspapers can help a lot ... back then I swiched from mangas to asahi shinbun than to yomiuri and later to nikkei... most of the articles were free so I was lucky... but nowadays as also many japanese shows you can watch on iligal websites there are blocked after 24 h of release... so instead of watching youtube is pretty cool... there are slow speakers but also fast speakers like hikaru or Daigo ... speaking of educational channel youtube daigaku is pretty good! Love acchan ! he does great presentation and the show win win win with miyasoko is just beyond youtube. a good thing also to improve your advanced japanese is to join on mothly payment one of the online salons... e.g I am member of nakata atsuhikos Progress which you can not realy explan in a sentece.. some people go more towards creativity and join kinkong nishins salon both are like 10$ mothly but more then worth it.. if you want to go more towards the enterpreneural rute then horiemons salon is the best way to go it costs 100$ mothly though... I do know some japanese guys in his salon who has build a 5-6 figures biz being there though.
@Cinthia Talley yeah it really works and i even received a hefty sum of money by my long lost Norwegian bruddha for using it, delivered to me personally through a pegasus.
your way of studying japanese is very impressive especially the language school part. to take this step it need alot of ambition and motivation, too. i only started learning with anime songs and of course anime series and was proud to read hiragana and katakana fluently when i was 13 but this was obviously no great effort and useless to understand and speak japanese so after graduating school i started studying japanese at university. it was like a punch in my face when the tutor cleared my mind that anime japanese is bullshit xD and kanji hit me even harder and they are still using me as their punching bag haha. unfortunately i turned into a business job in germany where i don't need any japanese anymore and after not learning consequently for 6 years until now i forgot so many readings that i worked so hard to remember while university... sometimes i try to refresh vocabulary and kanji with the app "renshuu" but well... i feel like i won't even pass the N3 JLPT anymore even though i graduated university with N2 level ... so keep learning! japanese is hard but beautiful. i am still waiting for the pandemic to come to an end so that we can visit japan again and maybe using the few language skills that are left ^-^
You make it sound so easy, with all those gadgets and apps. When I went to Japan in 2000, we had The Big Hadamitzky to look for Kanji, counting pen strokes. We also used Minna no nihongo in those days, but I gave up on kanji and focused on pronounciation and vocabulary. So no chance for N2... Ganbatte, ne. Thanks for sharing.
I also gave up on writing kanji haha the only time I ever have to write them is my address anyway, on the phone and on the computer they just pop up so I’m only focusing on reading :)
Probably beginner, but I can book a room or say when I'm arriving or that my plans have changed, so long as I can concentrate to to prepare the phrases mentally. It opens up the country a lot. In work meetings I can get a sense of what the Japanese chat is about (when it will be done, who can do it, etc). But like you I think the next step would be to have intensive lessons. There's not much travel to Japan on the horizon obviously so I neglected it.
👍, I’ve got to learn Russian and Arabic for work, any techniques and tips are always welcome, the Russians a bit easier to get along with as there’s plenty of good shows on streaming platforms to watch, I can imagine Japanese is on a higher level of dedication and difficulty
@@themessengersreport5041 private equity, the way the industry is going its helpful to have an understanding of the languages aside from relying on the professional interpretation
Studied in university for 3 years, then couldn't take more classes because of a scheduling conflict. I saw videos of a linguist named Stephen Krashen and his theories on learning language. I've improved more in the past few months of acquiring Japanese than I did in 3 years of learning it!
Ahh taking the red pill of language learning. If only people would realize that input is the only way. Yeah btw this red pill, blue pill analogy from the matrix movie is really good. Like calling those who think you only need to study a language from texbooks blue pilled takers is funny as hell.
good vid 😁. the only thing I would add is to, at a more intermediate to advanced level, stop translating vocab or grammar to another language and use a japanese to japanese dictionary...this way it becomes easier to stop relating the language to your language and japanese would become kind of its own thing without having to translate back into your other languages in your head. For this I use 大辞泉 (だいじせん-daijisen) which also includes pronounciation for every word with an accurate pitch accent with is really important when learning as if the words are pronounced with an incorrect pitch it would sound pretty weird..
This is great! My friend Zach in Japan is also doing RUclips. I'm gonna tell him to check out your channel. You guys should collab. He passed N1 already.
I'm pretty much a beginner at Japanese, but I've studied German, Russian before so it's not the first time I've learned a language. My main goal is to get around N3-N2 level so that I can read or listen to the news, anime, movies and understand it fairly well. That's what I did with the other languages and since I don't live where those languages are actually spoken there's not a big reason to go too far above that level unless I got a job there somehow.
Greetings from Berlin :D So for me I kinda struggle to get any better at listening or speaking, I did N4 roughly a year ago in december where I already struggled with listening but managed to pass. Since then and because of corona and no jlpt tests, I have trouble getting better or find focus. For Kanji and some vocab I use Wanikani and try to read every now and then using Satori Reader or my Kindle or manga/books I bought to just get exposure and see kanji in wild life so reading should get better over time if I invest time (which is difficult). For listening I try using Netflix (but we often use subtitles for me) or try to listen sometimes when my gf (japanese) speaks to their friends and family but it seems I can't understand no matter what. Speaking I also rarely do because I simply have to think too much of the words (which I often struggle to find at all)and structure and then I rather speak in english... maybe too afraid to make mistakes and sound annoyingly slow or bad. Not sure how to improve with listening and speaking.
It’s really hard, don’t worry it’s not you! For listening practice, I recommend just using the ones from Japanese textbooks since they’re spoken slowly and are using all the words you already know :) if you don’t have any, you can find them on RUclips. You’ll gradually get used to it! And for speaking - Japanese girlfriend! Just dedicate 15min every other day to speaking and it’ll get easier 💪
Nice video. I just wanted to say it was cool to see that you are using the Sticky Study app. I used to be members of the same church here in Tokyo with the guy who developed that app.
i learned english with videogames and movies :-) now i read books to improve my language skill :-) and start with japanese. I know some words from my martial arts, but i just buy books for beginner and start learning :-)
As far as I know, the Japanese version of Kindle is only delivered to addresses in Japan. Only if you have registered it with a Japanese address, you can use it abroad.
HelloTalk is a fantastic language exchange app. I highly recommend it if you don't have any Japanese people around you to speak to. It's a social media app, study tool, and language exchange all in one. One of the best tools I've used.
I bought a lot of those Kanzen Master books and some Motome books as well, but haven't touched on it very much after I finished at my language school. I'm currently around N3-N2 level, but I go to an acting vocational school where I learn new words (sometimes traditional words) from scripts and slang words from friends. I'm hoping I can pass N2/N1 before next year, but I doubt it >.
Thank you so much for the tips. I'm a student of Japanese studies in university in Germany but I have lived in Tokyo for a working holiday year. But since I'm back in Germany and don't have the daily "need" to use Japanese, in Japan my boss and collegues only knew Japanese so I was forced to use it, I feel like my skills sort of plateau or even deteriorate since then. Now I'd say I'm around N3. I wanted to take the N3 last year in December but because of Corona it got cancelled and for this year summer, the seats where taken so fast that I hadn't had a chance to apply. For me the most difficult part is actually grammar. I use it very intuitive and mostly it is right but when I have to think about what to use or even explain it my head gets kinda blocked and fuzzy. Especially since I have to do grammar explanation in my Japanese exams in university, this really sucks. Also we have to write the tests by hand I constantly have to write down the words and Kanji which helps me a lot remembering them. Even though Kanji is actually the easiest for me. Not so much the writing but the reading. Another thing that I often do is, that I take a book where I already know the story and read for like 10 minutes every day, without checking for grammar or Kanji but maybe mark some that are either in the text a lot or that I find strange/interesting and look them up later. Right now I'm reading fairy tales by the brothers Grimm in Japanese. I also have books about Hachiko or other children's books that I read in German while growing up or a few of my favourite author Dazai Osamu. But especially the last one is right now more frustrating, since the language is from the 1940's (so quite old) and too difficult for me right now.
One thing that I don't like about Genki is that it seems to be designed for college students so a lot of the things they teach are specifically related to students and other people that age. The lessons too like it may tell you to get in a group to practice something. I'm learning by myself so I don't have a group.
I think this was very interesting. Thank you for sharing. I would very much like to go to Japan and study, actually have been dreaming about this for quite some time. But, business, family, life has "gotten in the way" and I am not unhappy with how my life turned out to be, but I still have the urge to learn the japanese language and way of life...somehow... Followed on Instagram though! Take care and stay safe!
My personnal rule around Japanese learning : - 1 st priority : Speaking - 2nd : Reading - 3rd : Writing (handwriting I precise) You'll save MONTHS of time, trust me!
@@SamInTokyoo Like that, everyone is fixed. That's clearly the last thing you need to do ^-^ Because if you know the readings, you'll be able to type it on keyboards. ^^'
I used “minna no nihongo” at college, but I’ve heard Genki is better. After I got to intermediate level though, it was all about learning new grammar and Kanji through complimentary books like the N2/N1 books mentioned here. Btw, I did N1 about 10 years ago, been living in Japan for more than 10 years, and I’m somewhere on the fluent to native-like spectrum.
I've lived in Japan twice. You're so right about getting comfy somewhere between N3 and N2! Well done for pushing on to N1. Are you planning to take the exam this December?
Just starting to learn Japanese, I'm planning to go teach English there in about 2 years time after I finish my arts degree. I'm currently working through learning Hiragana and Katakana at about 5 a day (or more stuff like ka and ga), just ordered Genki 1 and Heisig's "Remembering the Kanji." Also using the Pimsleur Japanese app every day as a helping tool. I started a beginners class before I got into self-study but that's only once a week, so hopefully I'm gonna shoot past it. It's really encouraging to see so many people on youtube who have reached fluency after starting learning as adults.
@@Reforming_LL "just do immersion," right I'll get right on that. It's like 30 minutes a day, which you can do while you go on a walk or something, plus you can then transfer to anki to keep up practice. Edit: I've watched plenty of anime and I never learnt any Japanese. You need grammar and repetition. Fool, learnin' a language aint easy and I'll take any aid I can get, I'm not too cheap to pay $30 a month for something educational when I already spend way more on worthless bullshit.
@@Reforming_LL I defy you to watch 100 hours of french people speaking french and learn any french. Plenty of people go to a country with the mentality of "I'll pick it up" and are shocked 6 months later when they know as little as when they started.
Hallo sam, i actually zero in japanese languange. thanks for share your experiances to learn. That was good. By the way, i hope you can make a vidio focus on learn japanese language for beginner like me.
i got so happy cuz there are that many people studying Japanese, my mother tongue 😘
Yes, I am currently learning Japanese 🇯🇵🇯🇵🇯🇵🇯🇵🇯🇵🇯🇵 and I love 😘😘😘😘🥰🥰🥰🥰🥰🥰 Japan 🗾🗾🗾 with all my heart.
I’m learning too
Your mother tongue is really pretty!🥰 I‘m learning it as well, love from Germany
私も日本語が話せます😎
Me too. Im learning Japanese in Vietnam!
I've also learned Japanese from zero, and now I'm fluent. It helped a lot that I was born in Japan (at which point I knew zero Japanese), and I went to a Japanese kindergarten and elementary school, and at home spoke Japanese with my Japanese parents. Teehee Hats off to you Sam!
Yeah that’ll do it 🤣
@@adk7165 thats the joke
@@adk7165 r/woosh
Is this a joke? I was born in spain with 0 knowledge of Spanish and somehow I learned it.
What? Nonsense is this
@@thepigeonman3719 LMAO THEY DELETED THE COMMENT JSDHJKHFK
I've been using Wanikani for Kanji, it's so good with mnemonic and SRS. 1 year passed by, 1500+ Kanji and 4000+ vocab so far. I agree that kanji is very important, I didn't regret to start learn it early ~
Wow amazing progress!
I'm a beginner and I'm using Wanikani for learning Kanjis. It's extremely useful.
My only problem is that wani kani takes a million fucking years to finish, I used it for a while but now I’m just using some anki decks, sure I don’t remember that kanji as well as I would with wani kani, but I know a fuckton more, it’s like memorizing a few really well are a lot more a bit less. But whatever works for you
I used to hate WaniKani but I came crawling back because it's that good xD. After trying other resources like Anki decks etc, I went back to using it since nothing else really made them stick as well as WK's consistent Radical > Kanji > Vocab mnemonics system. I tried making my own mnemonics but they're not as consistent/effective and WK does all the work for you. The key is to stay on top of reviews as soon as they're available and get the level's new kanji learned as quickly as possible. I went from taking 3-4 weeks per level to about a week and a half and it's not even an intense pace if you keep on top of the reviews.
@@thewhiffab715 What are you talking about? It takes a year, teaches you 2000 kanji and 6000 vocab. You better know all the joyo kanji at this point then.
I’m currently in between an N4 and N3 studying at a Japanese language school in Japan! Thank you for the advice!
Can you give me an advice for studying hard Japanese
Mee too
Check out the Renshyu App
What is N3 and N4
@@aleynabilgin2553 level of your Japanese language, you can join the test, 2 times in 1 year, july and December
There is 5 levels
Check out
JLPT
One of the best "guides" to know where to start learning Japanese ❤️ I hope one day I can reach N3 studying by myself, but who knows, maybe one day I'll be able to go to Japan and study Japanese there
Totally feel you on the "I want to be able to have normal conversations without making the Japanese person uncomfortable"!!
I'm close to this level but I still block on vocabulary, 専門用語 are hard...
Also, something very frustrating I noticed at work, I understand everything without problem but couldn't say the same things by myself because I wouldn't know those words if I was speaking... Worst feeling. It got better after 3 years but it's still hard.
I definitely recommend making videos in Japanese, even just for yourself on your phone, it helps A LOT :D
That's what I used to do in Belgium for 8 years, because no Japanese people around haha
I totally know what you mean!!! Like “I know all of those words and grammar structures, why wasn’t I able to make that exact sentence” ahahahah your Japanese is goals though! 😘
This is the exact same feeling I have while communicate in English at work. I guess it's something many second-language speakers can relate to.
You really hit the key concept in learning anything, but especially new languages, at around @14:38, when you started talking about what motivates you. It doesn't matter how good the "materials" or your resources are if you're not motivated. Brava!
I hate to say this but you're right. No matter how well I teach someone, if they aren't motivated, they won't study or continue.
True but discipline > motivation. Many people lack discipline and that's the real reason why they stop learning. Motivation cannot be held up 100% of the time. It's always gonna fluctuate so you gotta have discipline to carry on through the end.
One does not simply start studying Japanese the same way as Latin/Germanic languages. There are Kanji that never let you sleep. And the thought about the Great N1 test...(paraphrasing Boromir's speech) XD
@Ilyes Benachi The only way I see is writing daily life sentences in furigana.
@Ilyes Benachi Learn with Anki Deck.. Can you read an engineering or arts books in Japanese by now?
The trick with the red plastic sheet is super clever!
I've been studying japaneese for about a year now. I'm far from being fluent, but i can kinda read shonen manga now and undersand what they are talking about in kid cartoons. Japaneese is my third languange , but overall how i'm going about studying is probaably not the way most people go about it, but it works the best for me. What i did and i'm still doing
1.Learn the 2 aphabets .
2.Go all in studying vocabulary. Fuck grammar at this point. Every languange has about 3-4k words that are used in 80% of daily talk. The more words you know the better. I know super super basic grammar, it doesn't matter at this point, because the more words you know, the better understanding of how sentences work you will get and it will become a second nature for you. Also the more exposure you get to japaneese from tv, anime , podcast, audio books the better.I personally try to learn about 5-10 words a day and to write the kanji.
That´s how I learned english and japanese too. Knowing a lot of vocabulary really helps to understand the grammar faster.
@@Fuu_Sho Thanks for the advice, I'll try it out for a month. How do you get your words?
How do you remember the words? I keep forgetting everything after a few hours :cc
@@shiningdragon8737 just google "3000 most used japaneese words" and go from there. Obviously learn katakana and hiragana first. Also if you don't plan to live pernamently in japan writing can be left for last or mostly ignored, you don't really need to be able to write kanji in order to read it. It's a completely different skill, which takes a lot of time and for most people it's not worth it. I know about 300 kanjis so far and i can only write less than half.
@@miracle3901 drills drills and more drills.
Currently at the N3 plateau again. Was there years ago, had three children and never spoke Japanese for years, now getting there again.
This time you’ll go beyond it!
You probably have to stop learning and start producing the language. Write texts and get them corrected on apps like HiNative. Speak the language: find a speaking partner on apps like Hellotalk, or a tutor on iTalki or whatever app if you can afford it. But point is people usually get plateaud at N3 because they got to a point where they've learned too much information without putting it into practice. So just practice!
@@RickGrimes807 I don’t think so. I think OP needs to input a lot more, while starting to output along the way.
@@Reforming_LL N3 plateau is typically related to not enough output, aka not enough putting into practice. Hence why you're at a plateau and cannot seem to be able to learn more info/get more input. So advicing more input to break a plateau is not a solution, since the amount of input is precisely what causes the plateau.
@@RickGrimes807 it is. Output while not still fluent just creates bad habits that you'll find hard to fix pater down the line. Input is truly the only answer. Just diversify it when you feel like you're starting to stagnate.
Now you have to understand you won't learn jack shit when you're outputing, you will just repeat what you already know and if you don't know how to pronounce stuff you're going to develop bad ways of pronouncing, if you don't have a complete grasp on grammar you're going to make bad habbits when coming up with sentences. You really have to first comprehend the language as a whole.
Now op probably doesn't do any immersion, cause if he did he wouldn't plateau at only n3.
I'm a beginner Japanese student. I feel comfortable with Hiragana and currently learning Katakana. I take private lessons on Italki since I can't take in person Japanese classes at my college at the moment. I plan to take the JPLT N5 next year.
Wish you a lot of fun + cool experiences & good luck with the test!🌱
N3 going on N2... From 0, 24 months dedicated language school, finally feel roughly N3 level. Under a year is very impressive!
Not saying there is anything wrong with this method at all, but here is a different perspective. Personally it took me 6 months from zero to passing the old JLPT 3, 1.5 years for JLPT N2 and 3 years for JLPT N1 (hadn't even been to Japan at this point lol). It's now been more than 10 years since I began studying Japanese and by now I've been working 4 years in Japan within lifescience/pharmaceuticals in a B2B sales role entirely in Japanese (only Westener in a company with more than 2,000 people). JLPT is a nice goal to have in the beginning, but it's more of a measurement of basic reading and listening comprehension (input ability) rather than fluency (ability to output). I actually kinda sucked at speaking at the point when I passed JLPT N1, but the process leading up to it created a foundation that allowed me to actually become relative fluent later on. I followed the AJATT (All Japanese All The Time) method where I focused very heavily on Kanji and learning to read early on and otherwise create an artificial immersion environment trying to listen to as much Japanese as possible. I used Heisig's "Remembering the Kanji" to create flashcards for Anki (spaced repetition digital flashcard software/app) and likewise for sentences I mined from grammar dictionaries, but I stopped using anything remotely resembling a textbook about 6 months into learning Japanese. From then I just read and listened every day. I think I was 1.5 years in before I was actually able to keep a proper conversation going (didn't have anyone to speak with so that may be why T_T), but I got through my first novel (Kafka by the Shore by Murakami Haruki) in Japanese within the first year. I never used traditional textbooks (i.e. Genki) and did not take Japanese classes because traditional class room learning does not really fit my temper (not saying there is any universal truth as to the correct way of studying Japanese, I just like to do things at my own pace). Point is that you should try shopping around for the method that best suits you and then stick with it because at the end of the day consistency, time and effort account for a lot in language learning. That being said if you want to be good at reading - read, if you want to become good at speaking - speak, etc. Kudos to anyone who got through this wall of text and finally a word of advice to anyone who are getting discouraged studying Japanese: don't get too fixated on the goal, but rather try to enjoy the journey as a much possible instead of trying to attain something intangible like fluency. Unless you're really talented it is most likely going to take years so the key is to figure out ways to have as much fun as possible doing it. On the other hand you shouldn't expect it to be fun all the time, because the everyone is going to be struggling at some points in their journey. Calm down, hurry up and good luck.
Thank you!
This was so interesting! I am re-learning Japanese and I really appreciate your video - it's one of the best I have seen on RUclips 😄
Thanks so much!!!
I've been studying japanese for 5 years now and I will try to pass N1 by the end of the year! (In my country its only once a year). Kinda nervous about it but if I do pass, its gonna be such a weight out of my shoulders ( I feel relieved just imagining it lol). Anyway loved your video! I'm also more of a visual learner, dry book aren't really my thing so I really liked your book recommendations! Love from Brazil 🇧🇷💜
Good luck, you can do it!!
Well good luck to you. Hope you make it.
Boa sorte
quente mano, boa sorte ai filho
boa sorte!
on a whim I started learning with Duolingo 2 weeks ago. It's been very helpful for learning the hiragana and katakana but I can already tell I need better learning resources. My goal is watching TV without subs and reading fluently. It's going to be a long road.
Beginner to learning Japanese. This video is so helpful thank you for the good starting points and plateaus to look out for in the process of learning this langauage.
This was really helpful!, my motivation was super low until I came across this video, I was having a hard time trying to figure out how will I learn Japanese, but with the things you recommended in this video helped a lot, thank you so much!
when I hopefully become fluent one day, I hope I remember all the kind people who helped me learn ♥
So thank you so much for these resources!!!
Long time not watching your videos (2 years ~) ! To be honest, watching people living in Japan was so painful for me at a time, that I completely stopped. I've lived 1 year in Kyoto in 2015 then went back to France, and feel so sad since then... Then I went back to Japan twice for holidays, and each time my heart says "you're alive in here, you belong to Japan !" . Discovering again your videos makes me stronger, I totally want to go back to Japan, as soon as it's possible
I’m rooting for you! I know how it feels 😭
You started this video with suggesting Genki, that's an immediate subscription from me. It is by FAR the best book for beginners (I teach Japanese)
Can you teach me?
I don’t really like textbooks, but the Genki series/Japanese from Zero series are decent books to start out with ngl.
Meh, for me it gets a weary viewer that continues on watching. I personally believe Minna No Nihongo to be the best for beginner studiers who are dedicated - I wish more people would at least mention it alongside Genki for them to look into and decide for themselves which one they’d like. Genki being partly in English (whereas minna is great for immersion) is quite off putting, and the University style words leant just aren’t very useful. Sure, it’s been proven time and time again that you can get somewhere with Genki and continue on from there - but it’s definitely not for everyone, and MNN really has a unique and immersing learning style that truly sucks me in and makes me work hard and piece things together it being completely in Japanese.
@@silentechorevived2964 What you say about MNN being immersive is true, but it is unfortunately very flawed for self study. There's a good number of mistakes and weird explanations that are sometimes impossible to understand without a teacher. I use MNN for intermediate lvl and the level of satisfaction with the books decreases significantly after Genki.
@@silentechorevived2964 That’s not real “immersion,” it probably is still a good resource however, if you’re only getting the JP version.
I relate to everything you said!! We have almost the same journey through N3. I used Genki I and II in college and then did a year abroad and was upper intermediate by the end. But then I came home, graduated, and atrophied! I'm shooting for N2 now but have to make up a lot of ground! Thank you for the resources and tips!
WOAHHHH the blue highlighter and red card trick!! *mind blown*
I immediately recognized the fellow German accent. :) Good you are living the dream I dream of too, being able to live in Japan. So hard to keep dreaming at this time of the pandemic.
That red sheet tip is so useful!!!!
I’ve been studying for one month and am still beginner but I study for at least 2 hours everyday up to 4-5 hours a day sometimes. I love Japanese 日本語が好きです
がんばれ！
Wow excellent video.. Congratulations, and I hope your channel gains in popularity. I think you would be a wonderful teacher.
Another great app recommendation is Human Japanese. So so good, and the intermediate level is a great follow up.
Not sure I've heard too many people explain in a step by step way how they went from zero to hero. Well done.
Really appreciate the advice in this video, thank you. All the best to you!
Beginner: 2:20
Intermediate: 4:13
Advanced: 8:34
Fluent: 13:46
You are so much better than another sam on RUclips. Love your videos.
Do you mean tkyosam? His Japanese is better than hers but he's been in Japan for ages.
@@triplebaconcheesel1906 he's a womanizer and talks about pleasuring himself all the time. I practically live in the same city as him. Only met him once at a hangout. He's not a very good human being. There's a wolf under that sheep's mask.
@@Chino-Kafu I met him too he is awesome
Other Sam's on RUclips disgust me. I'm with you all the way Doki
Sam, this is the first time I watch a video of yours. Thank you for the recommendations! And, congratulations! Hope some day I can travel to Japan at least as a tourist with my wife. Back in 2005 I thought of going there to graduate school and find and marry a Japanese girl; however, things went different and married a fellow countrygirl (who looked rather Japanese by the time!). I thought Japan could wait. The bad point was doing grad school here in Mexico, it doesn't makes you able to work in Japan (sadly, seems that not outside Latin America) and be accepted the same way as a Japanese. Again, congrats for your effort and success!
ものすごい向上心に感心しました！英語の勉強のために日本在住外国人のチャンネルをいくつか登録してますがサムさんが一番真面目でレベル高いです。日本人も負けてられないですねー
Hi Sam~! ヤホー✨I’m came across your dating video and fell in love with your humor and sarcasm, and just kept on watching your videos 😂😂😂🥲
I’m learning Japanese and have been for the past decade, off and on 😅, btw I’m American. I got formal training when I took Japanese 1 & 2 in college about 10 years ago, kinda stopped learning and didn’t have any motivation to keep on learning until the last 4 years. I definitely agree with you that motivation is high on the list for keeping up with studying a new language.
There are a lot of times where I’ve gotten discouraged, overthought what I’ve said or written, and had anxiety about my fluency. I’m about at a N4-ish level, my reading comprehension is way better than speaking level 😅🥺. I do like anime and manga, but I feel like where I’ve seen the most progress in my reading comprehension this past year and a half was because of Twitter. I am a Jpop fan, an アイドルオタク(笑) tbh...(BUZZ-ER. is who I support💗🐝🍯)...and a lot of idol information can’t be found anywhere but on Twitter unfortunately. So for me, it has helped me learn so much about recent slang, mannerisms, kanji, grammar, gender language differences, their way of sarcasm-ness, all of the little nuisances that Genki or language apps never taught me. I also love watching Japanese TV shows/movies and Japanese YTers and their vlogs in Japanese with Japanese subtitles. I also do a little reverse, watching a Western movie in English***. I once saw Once Upon A Time in Hollywood in English with Japanese subtitles and it was hilarious how it didn’t translate well. I can understand Spanish, but speaking is child Spanish 😅. I can read French, Italian, and German and get the gist, but I can’t speak those at all 😂🙃. I’m fluent in sarcasm tho!! 🥲☺️✨
I have Japanese friends that can speak English and we get into a rut of only speaking English when we chat 😅. I have no desire to work in Japan rn, but I’d like to continue to make friends, meet people and be able to express my feelings, viewpoints, and values in Japanese~ 🥺 I’m great at complimenting people in Japanese! 😂😂😂 Thanks for making these videos Sam 🥺🖤 You’ve rekindled my motivation for why I want to learn Japanese~ 🔥🥲 感謝しています, ほんまに！🙏🏻♡
***Edited~ 😅🥲
Would you recommend Try for N3 grammar too? This video is great. I have seen variations of it everywhere and usually feel like it's a way to distract me from studying, but you present your experience in such a calming and organizing manner it was impossible for me to stop watching. Bravo!
Thank you!! I didn’t use Try for N3 but I really like it so I’m sure it works for every level :)
As someone who's known Japanese ever since they were born, Lingodeer is definitely an app that would help beginners into learning japanese. One of my non japanese friends used that app along with some text books..and a lot of days studying for hours he was fluent in japanese within like 2 months. I was born and raised in japan with my Japanese Dad so i know it quite fluently. I'm currently trying to learn more English right now,, i know it fluently but there's some words i don't know. (my apologies if my grammar isn't the best..)
"fluency" usually implies a high level of understanding, It's dangerous to make people think they can be come fluent in 2 months with an app. That's not really how the brain works. Matt vs. Japan has great videos about what real fluency is. True language fluency requires years of immersion, practice and focus! Also your english is excellent you don't need to worry about that bit.
I'm in a weird place, I kinda studied Japanese, but never "properly", I just watch a lot of anime (I know, not the best source, better than nothing), I also watch Japanese movies when I can, in some cases I just turn off the subs, then re-watch later to see if I got everything right. I'm very likely stuck somewhere between beginner & intermediate, because of the fact that I never truly studied it using a book, or using an actual structure. I did write down the books you mentioned and I'll go get them. I have been watching youtube tutorials, even grammar videos and like you said, I've heard this many time, but I do say stuff out loud, speaking it matters a lot. Now here's the thing, I still manage to have basic conversations, to even help out Japanese tourists, using a mix of English & Japanese. Eventually I would like to speak fluently, though it's a pain to study yet another language. My Japanese & German are both basic, but I can hold a basic conversation (German I did properly study for 2 years, but I wasn't very good at it, lol). 1 thing not mentioned in the video, but I wonder: are you fluent enough to speak on the phone with somebody and the person on the other end doesn't realize that you're not Japanese, in his mind you are Japanese? Using my own experience with languages (I speak fluently Spanish, French, Dutch, English, I used them fairly regularly, depends what I'm doing that day), it might be already the case with you, if not, that's what you need to strive to => basically get tot he point where you can think, to even have full dreams in that language. In my own case, the 4 languages that I speak fluently, I can switch to without a single problem, it does not matter one bit, which one I'm using, it's gotten to the point where I'm not even sure which one I'm better at. Putting it another way, to be fully fluent in a language, you probably need to get to a level where it's as smooth as your own mother language. Now, having fully mastered several languages, the advanced mode would perhaps be speaking in that language with a local accent & using dialects, while recognizing other accents & dialects? In my own case, I can adapt my Spanish to a region or a country, same with french, same with dutch, English...yeah sure there's different accents, but I feel like other languages have "hard" dialects with bigger differences, In Spanish for example some words change completely depending on the country. Advanced learning in my experience is a combination of reading as many books as possible, watching tv in that language & speaking it as much as possible. If you're learning a language, do those 3 things more than usual. Anyways, good video, advice & books, I wrote it all down.
As she said 新完全マスター is not for everyone, but I absolutely loved these books and they helped me go from zero to passing N2 easily in less than 10 months. Everything is in Japanese and learning the grammar while thinking and reading in Japanese really helped.
とても聞きやすい英語の発音をしてらっしゃるので、こちらも学ばせてもらいます。
As i also go a language learning aficionados. i'm impressed all your well-managed experience.
I'am 45 and I started learning japanese as my fourth language (I speak French, English and Dutch) in september 2020. Thanks for your tips.
how well is your japanese now?
Hey Sam, ik vond je kanaal vandaag en heb meteen geabonneerd! Bedankt voor deze video! Sinds 1,5 week geleden ben ik begonnen met Japans leren dmv zelfstudie (voorheen mezelf Portugees geleerd). In anderhalve week het Hiragana alfabet gedrilled, nu nog Katakana, doel is om dit binnen 2 weken meester te zijn. Ik heb een ongelofelijke liefde voor Japans gekregen en ben helemaal gefascineerd door de mensen, cultuur en vooral de taal. Ik hou je kanaal in de gaten voor meer input! Greetz, Rob
this was so useful and your voice is so easy to understand☺️- ̗̀ ♡ ̖́-
Right now im self studying, mostly from yt , Japanesepod101 are very good and they explain a lot of stuff
This is exactly what I needed. Thank you 👍
It's good to hear from others that are further along, but on a similar path. Ultimately I would like to reach N1, but right now my focus is on N2 and then working on conversation skills before focusing on N1 studies.
You can do it!
Thank you so much for this video!! It was super helpful! It's hard to find people sharing concrete materials for each level or stage of learning Japanese. I would also love to hear about reading your first book in Japanese and how you went about it. Thanks again!!
Great question!I should have totally included that! I recommend the 角川つばさ文庫 (Kadokawa tsubasa bunko) books, they all have a green border and are aimed at elementary school children :) you can also type 小学背向け本 or something like that into amazon. A book I read recently that was easy and very good was 鬼遊び by 廣嶋玲子
Awesome tips! Thank you 🙏
"Remembering the kanji" book for the 2000+ Kanjis at around 25kanji's per day / "Tae Kim's grammar " for a good grammar learning / any app for the kanas works fine and *in fine* some japanese classes to put it all together and to practice works good too, everyone will find its way if you're interested and invested enough !
And remember, its about the distance you travel, not the speed you go by !
I am probably around the N2 plateau.. Just because for the last 8 months, I mainly read in Japanese and don't really study much new stuff (apart from grammar) most of the time hehe... I also try to get most of my Japanese study done in the morning like its a daily habit.. Something that really helps me from time to time is copying Japanese text. For example a few pages from a light novel or a short news article from NHK Web Easy.
Great tips thanks!
Hi! Thank you for the helpful tips, been stuck in the intermediate phase for a while, have never related so hard to anything before :)
This is so helpful thank you so much for putting this video together 🙏🏽
I liked the video. I'm half Japanese and half Mexican (ik kinda weird lol), but now that I live in Japan I want to be able to keep fluent conversations and I think you've got pretty good techniques, thanks!
01:28 Lingodeer keepin it real!
I started recently and i am improving so fast just by youtube. Yourube guys is the best
Hi Sam! This is the first time I saw your channel. Thank you so much for the advice and I can’t wait to see what else you come out with! Hopefully I can improve one day too!
I can relate to some things you mentioned, two of them being having N3 as motivation stopper and taking a higher level JLPT to stay motivated. After passing JLPT N3 in 2015, I stopped studying further precisely because I got by just fine even in a Japanese company. Things changed in 2019, when I felt stagnant. I decided to take JLPT N2 and it got me back into studying, and I passed.
also newspapers can help a lot ... back then I swiched from mangas to asahi shinbun than to yomiuri and later to nikkei... most of the articles were free so I was lucky...
but nowadays as also many japanese shows you can watch on iligal websites there are blocked after 24 h of release...
so instead of watching youtube is pretty cool... there are slow speakers but also fast speakers like hikaru or Daigo ... speaking of educational channel youtube daigaku is pretty good! Love acchan !
he does great presentation and the show win win win with miyasoko is just beyond youtube.
a good thing also to improve your advanced japanese is to join on mothly payment one of the online salons... e.g I am member of nakata atsuhikos Progress which you can not realy explan in a sentece..
some people go more towards creativity and join kinkong nishins salon both are like 10$ mothly but more then worth it..
if you want to go more towards the enterpreneural rute then horiemons salon is the best way to go it costs 100$ mothly though...
I do know some japanese guys in his salon who has build a 5-6 figures biz being there though.
You forgot something🥺
what's that?
@@cestmoidelavie He forgot.
Try using some memorization techniques to remember.
@Cinthia Talley yeah it really works and i even received a hefty sum of money by my long lost Norwegian bruddha for using it, delivered to me personally through a pegasus.
@@theflipflop lmaaoo fr
Hello, thanks for the video, I'm a beginner learner of Japanese, but your advice is very helpful for improving my English to C1 level )
your way of studying japanese is very impressive especially the language school part. to take this step it need alot of ambition and motivation, too. i only started learning with anime songs and of course anime series and was proud to read hiragana and katakana fluently when i was 13 but this was obviously no great effort and useless to understand and speak japanese so after graduating school i started studying japanese at university. it was like a punch in my face when the tutor cleared my mind that anime japanese is bullshit xD and kanji hit me even harder and they are still using me as their punching bag haha. unfortunately i turned into a business job in germany where i don't need any japanese anymore and after not learning consequently for 6 years until now i forgot so many readings that i worked so hard to remember while university...
sometimes i try to refresh vocabulary and kanji with the app "renshuu" but well... i feel like i won't even pass the N3 JLPT anymore even though i graduated university with N2 level ... so keep learning! japanese is hard but beautiful. i am still waiting for the pandemic to come to an end so that we can visit japan again and maybe using the few language skills that are left ^-^
You make it sound so easy, with all those gadgets and apps. When I went to Japan in 2000, we had The Big Hadamitzky to look for Kanji, counting pen strokes. We also used Minna no nihongo in those days, but I gave up on kanji and focused on pronounciation and vocabulary. So no chance for N2... Ganbatte, ne. Thanks for sharing.
I also gave up on writing kanji haha the only time I ever have to write them is my address anyway, on the phone and on the computer they just pop up so I’m only focusing on reading :)
Probably beginner, but I can book a room or say when I'm arriving or that my plans have changed, so long as I can concentrate to to prepare the phrases mentally. It opens up the country a lot. In work meetings I can get a sense of what the Japanese chat is about (when it will be done, who can do it, etc). But like you I think the next step would be to have intensive lessons. There's not much travel to Japan on the horizon obviously so I neglected it.
👍, I’ve got to learn Russian and Arabic for work, any techniques and tips are always welcome, the Russians a bit easier to get along with as there’s plenty of good shows on streaming platforms to watch, I can imagine Japanese is on a higher level of dedication and difficulty
what's your position or work if you don't mind me asking?
@@themessengersreport5041 private equity, the way the industry is going its helpful to have an understanding of the languages aside from relying on the professional interpretation
hey, i’m learning russian too. what are the names of the streaming platforms you use? thanks!
Thanks for the tips very informative content. Keep it up.
Very helpful, liked and subscribed 👍👏
This video is very motivating!! 😁
Studied in university for 3 years, then couldn't take more classes because of a scheduling conflict. I saw videos of a linguist named Stephen Krashen and his theories on learning language. I've improved more in the past few months of acquiring Japanese than I did in 3 years of learning it!
Ahh taking the red pill of language learning. If only people would realize that input is the only way. Yeah btw this red pill, blue pill analogy from the matrix movie is really good. Like calling those who think you only need to study a language from texbooks blue pilled takers is funny as hell.
good vid 😁. the only thing I would add is to, at a more intermediate to advanced level, stop translating vocab or grammar to another language and use a japanese to japanese dictionary...this way it becomes easier to stop relating the language to your language and japanese would become kind of its own thing without having to translate back into your other languages in your head.
For this I use 大辞泉 (だいじせん-daijisen) which also includes pronounciation for every word with an accurate pitch accent with is really important when learning as if the words are pronounced with an incorrect pitch it would sound pretty weird..
This is great! My friend Zach in Japan is also doing RUclips. I'm gonna tell him to check out your channel. You guys should collab. He passed N1 already.
I'm pretty much a beginner at Japanese, but I've studied German, Russian before so it's not the first time I've learned a language. My main goal is to get around N3-N2 level so that I can read or listen to the news, anime, movies and understand it fairly well. That's what I did with the other languages and since I don't live where those languages are actually spoken there's not a big reason to go too far above that level unless I got a job there somehow.
Omg i use soumatome kanji for N2 and I really like it!
Greetings from Berlin :D
So for me I kinda struggle to get any better at listening or speaking, I did N4 roughly a year ago in december where I already struggled with listening but managed to pass. Since then and because of corona and no jlpt tests, I have trouble getting better or find focus.
For Kanji and some vocab I use Wanikani and try to read every now and then using Satori Reader or my Kindle or manga/books I bought to just get exposure and see kanji in wild life so reading should get better over time if I invest time (which is difficult).
For listening I try using Netflix (but we often use subtitles for me) or try to listen sometimes when my gf (japanese) speaks to their friends and family but it seems I can't understand no matter what.
Speaking I also rarely do because I simply have to think too much of the words (which I often struggle to find at all)and structure and then I rather speak in english... maybe too afraid to make mistakes and sound annoyingly slow or bad. Not sure how to improve with listening and speaking.
It’s really hard, don’t worry it’s not you! For listening practice, I recommend just using the ones from Japanese textbooks since they’re spoken slowly and are using all the words you already know :) if you don’t have any, you can find them on RUclips. You’ll gradually get used to it! And for speaking - Japanese girlfriend! Just dedicate 15min every other day to speaking and it’ll get easier 💪
Nice video. I just wanted to say it was cool to see that you are using the Sticky Study app. I used to be members of the same church here in Tokyo with the guy who developed that app.
Wow what a coincidence!!
Liked and subscribed. Thanks for the nice video
i learned english with videogames and movies :-) now i read books to improve my language skill :-) and start with japanese. I know some words from my martial arts, but i just buy books for beginner and start learning :-)
SAM san, sharing for your sharing this great experiences to us.
As far as I know, the Japanese version of Kindle is only delivered to addresses in Japan. Only if you have registered it with a Japanese address, you can use it abroad.
you can use a hotel’s address in Japan!
10:20 that's super clever! 👍
I just finished learning hiragana and katakana. Kanji it's a nightmare. Thank God for furigana!
Sehr interessantes Video, hat mir sehr gut gefallen! :)
HelloTalk is a fantastic language exchange app. I highly recommend it if you don't have any Japanese people around you to speak to. It's a social media app, study tool, and language exchange all in one. One of the best tools I've used.
Oh I actually used it when I lived in Berlin to find Japanese friends! Forgot to mention, thanks for your comment!
I bought a lot of those Kanzen Master books and some Motome books as well, but haven't touched on it very much after I finished at my language school. I'm currently around N3-N2 level, but I go to an acting vocational school where I learn new words (sometimes traditional words) from scripts and slang words from friends. I'm hoping I can pass N2/N1 before next year, but I doubt it >.
You can do it!!!
Thank you for this video ^_^
i'm somewhere between n3 and n2 trying to get to the fluent level and these tips are so useful, also soumatome are really great textbooks!!
Thank you so much for the tips. I'm a student of Japanese studies in university in Germany but I have lived in Tokyo for a working holiday year. But since I'm back in Germany and don't have the daily "need" to use Japanese, in Japan my boss and collegues only knew Japanese so I was forced to use it, I feel like my skills sort of plateau or even deteriorate since then. Now I'd say I'm around N3. I wanted to take the N3 last year in December but because of Corona it got cancelled and for this year summer, the seats where taken so fast that I hadn't had a chance to apply.
For me the most difficult part is actually grammar. I use it very intuitive and mostly it is right but when I have to think about what to use or even explain it my head gets kinda blocked and fuzzy. Especially since I have to do grammar explanation in my Japanese exams in university, this really sucks. Also we have to write the tests by hand I constantly have to write down the words and Kanji which helps me a lot remembering them. Even though Kanji is actually the easiest for me. Not so much the writing but the reading.
Another thing that I often do is, that I take a book where I already know the story and read for like 10 minutes every day, without checking for grammar or Kanji but maybe mark some that are either in the text a lot or that I find strange/interesting and look them up later. Right now I'm reading fairy tales by the brothers Grimm in Japanese. I also have books about Hachiko or other children's books that I read in German while growing up or a few of my favourite author Dazai Osamu. But especially the last one is right now more frustrating, since the language is from the 1940's (so quite old) and too difficult for me right now.
One thing that I don't like about Genki is that it seems to be designed for college students so a lot of the things they teach are specifically related to students and other people that age. The lessons too like it may tell you to get in a group to practice something. I'm learning by myself so I don't have a group.
It’s also ancient haha they don’t even have cellphones 😆
@@SamInTokyoo huh? in the first few lessons the book asks you to write down your classmates phone numbers.
N3->N2
I plateaued so I’m hoping to get further in my studies before language school to achieve fluency!
The classic N3 plateau! You can get out of it 💪
@@SamInTokyoo it’s hard when I don’t get to use it everyday & self study 😖
Why don't you text in Japanese here?
This was very helpful. Thank you.
I think this was very interesting. Thank you for sharing. I would very much like to go to Japan and study, actually have been dreaming about this for quite some time. But, business, family, life has "gotten in the way" and I am not unhappy with how my life turned out to be, but I still have the urge to learn the japanese language and way of life...somehow... Followed on Instagram though! Take care and stay safe!
You can do it!
Thank you, This was super helpful!
My personnal rule around Japanese learning : - 1 st priority : Speaking
- 2nd : Reading
- 3rd : Writing (handwriting I precise)
You'll save MONTHS of time, trust me!
To be honest I completely gave up on writing kanji haha, I never write them anyway except for my address 😆
@@SamInTokyoo Like that, everyone is fixed. That's clearly the last thing you need to do ^-^
Because if you know the readings, you'll be able to type it on keyboards. ^^'
Exactly! :)
I used “minna no nihongo” at college, but I’ve heard Genki is better. After I got to intermediate level though, it was all about learning new grammar and Kanji through complimentary books like the N2/N1 books mentioned here. Btw, I did N1 about 10 years ago, been living in Japan for more than 10 years, and I’m somewhere on the fluent to native-like spectrum.
I've lived in Japan twice. You're so right about getting comfy somewhere between N3 and N2! Well done for pushing on to N1. Are you planning to take the exam this December?
Planning on it yes!
Very informative, thank you for sharing
Just starting to learn Japanese, I'm planning to go teach English there in about 2 years time after I finish my arts degree. I'm currently working through learning Hiragana and Katakana at about 5 a day (or more stuff like ka and ga), just ordered Genki 1 and Heisig's "Remembering the Kanji." Also using the Pimsleur Japanese app every day as a helping tool. I started a beginners class before I got into self-study but that's only once a week, so hopefully I'm gonna shoot past it.
It's really encouraging to see so many people on youtube who have reached fluency after starting learning as adults.
Don’t use Pimsleur, it’s too dull and uninteresting imo. Just do immersion instead of pay for a sleep aid of a language course.
@@Reforming_LL "just do immersion," right I'll get right on that. It's like 30 minutes a day, which you can do while you go on a walk or something, plus you can then transfer to anki to keep up practice.
Edit: I've watched plenty of anime and I never learnt any Japanese. You need grammar and repetition. Fool, learnin' a language aint easy and I'll take any aid I can get, I'm not too cheap to pay $30 a month for something educational when I already spend way more on worthless bullshit.
@@maxwellwhigham1659 “I’ve watched plenty of anime and I never learnt any Japanese” Well that’s because were watching with EN subs.
@@Reforming_LL I defy you to watch 100 hours of french people speaking french and learn any french. Plenty of people go to a country with the mentality of "I'll pick it up" and are shocked 6 months later when they know as little as when they started.
@@maxwellwhigham1659 Well it’s because those people don’t put in the effort of actually learning it.
I like the red filter. Great idea.
Hallo sam, i actually zero in japanese languange. thanks for share your experiances to learn. That was good.
By the way, i hope you can make a vidio focus on learn japanese language for beginner like me.
Thank you sam!