1:05 is it possible to get N2 within a year? 1:49 On paying utility bills and hidden charges 2:13 格安シム/cheap sim cards (QT, mineo?) 2:47 how to shake off NHK sales representatives? 2:55 how to say no? "put your foot down" 3:26 do you intend raising bilingual children? 5:00 how not to burn yourself working in a Japanese company （日本の会社) 5:23 Dōgen's formula for success in Japan 6:18 have you ever driven a car in Japan? (車の運転) 6:43 how to improve conversational Japanese? (会話が上手になりたい） 7:26 on making friends with Japanese that shares your interest 7:40: getting on an environment that everything is in Japanese 8:26 on recording yourself speaking in Japanese 9:00 Are you prepared for the Olympics 2020? How will it affect Japan in the long-run? 10:25 summer in Japan （日本の夏） 10:41 Aside from Tokyo (or Kyoto?), is it crowded in other places in Japan? 11:50 Often, do you see many foreigners on a day to day basis? (周りの外国人を見えるについて) 12:35 misconception on Japanese not used to interacting with foreigners（日本人が外国人と挨拶して嫌われる？） 13:26 commonly acquired negative habits acquired by expats in Japan 14:30 日本人の友達のアドバイス（会社について） 16:10 do you still get anxious receiving official papers in the mail?（日本の手紙） 17:57 How do you feel how Japanese teach war history particularly on WW2 History? 19:26 Do you know Kansai-ben? (関西弁) 19:30 why do you think the Japanese society loves paper works so much? 20:13 Have you ever been to US Military Bases in Japan? 21:39 Work place climate 22:44 how do you respond if someone insults you in Japanese without them knowing you can understand them? (悪口) 23:10 How much Japanese do I need to know when visiting Japan? 23:46 are you still getting the「日本語が上手」comments? 24:36 is it easy to migrate to Japan? 26:28 on Japanese comedy 29:18 finding a place to settle in Japan 29:57 life as a Muslim student in a Japanese school 30:22 how much money do I have to bring? 31:02 on cheap cars and its hidden charges 32:27 consult a financial expert 32:51 do you want to be reborn as a Japanese? /taxes as a US citizen 33:37 fave Japanese music? 34:06 first job in Japan (JET) 35:55 「やろう」vs 「しよう」 36:05 Do Japanese people like Gaijin friends 37:02 hardest part in adjusting in Japan / on saying no 40:01 bank story / assertiveness but not being a nuisance 42:54 was anime a mistake? 43:01 Japan on creativity harnessing model (education, workforce, companies) / competition with China 44:44 teaching English in Japan 46:50 playing the foreigner card / on debates in the internet / decency and civility on arguments (on politics, culture) 自由にどうぞ。🙂
@@stayskeptic3923 Hello! 👋 If you feel that way, my bad. 😔 I was actually jotting down notes of what Dōgen-san was imparting while I was listening. Since it's a long Q&A and have lots of gems of insights in them, I thought of putting up the timestamps for easy reference and replaying purposes. I even put some astray notes on the timestamps which are my own words and not Dōgen-san's. 😉 I didn't put up the transcription which I can do if I felt like it but I didn't. 😉 But as you have said, I hope that this does not stop others from commenting further. And this comment is brought to you by... just kidding. 😄 Have a wonderful day (or night). 🙏
Dogen speaking english: soft, happy, worrying and caring friend and father Dogen speaking japanese: grumpy, sarcastic and pissed ojinsan who just wants you to leave him alone
Wow. Finally I see a foreigner speaking honestly about the experience in Japan. I am Japanese, born, and raised in Japan. I haven't met many foreign ppl talking like you. (No offence. It's appreciation.)
This is just my opinion . . . but to answer the question "how do foreigners usually talk about Japan?" . . . . I find that they often look at it through Rose Colored Glasses, where everything is good and beautiful and Japanese people are so polite (which is mostly true) . . . But never touch on the unhealthy work life balance that most Japanese people have, or the high suicide rates of middle and higj schoolers that didn't get into the "right" school, or the weird rapey culture that kind is kind of omnipresent in their dating culture. Etc. There are lots of other. Japan is great, but like every other country it has a lot of things it needs to work on, and some people put Japan on a pedestal and end up ignoring its problems.
Re: Bilingual question - I was brought up in a Trilingual family: Cantonese, Mandarine and English. While I do get good understanding of each, I do find myself weaker when it comes to complex linguistics, like using analogies or complex figure of speech. This is the first time I've heard anyone mentioned that being raised bilingual affects the ability to understand both languages, I suppose that is possible and it might explain my struggle. However I do find it super beneficial to be able to master these languages, as I moved to the UK in my twenties, and I had a super fast uptake in the English language. Within a year I have reached fluent and almost native level with English, so yeah, bilingual's benefit definitely out-weight it's negatives.
I'm someone who uses English as a dominant language, but I have 4 other languages that I use in the family. (Everyone in my family has a handle of 5 languages). I have a good handle in all 5 languages, but the effects of not being fluent happens when I'm in the home country of the language, since I realised that I mix my languages a lot.
I think it’s definitely better to be multilingual, even if the languages are a bit weaker. As someone who grew up in the U.S. with Yiddish-speaking parents, I definitely noticed that my English was better, mostly because I was immersed in English everywhere except at home. I think that if you grow up in one primarily monolingual country and don’t switch countries in the middle of childhood, that country’s language will automatically become your strongest language. As a child I would think in Yiddish and translate to English when speaking, sometimes resulting in awkward phrasing, but that disappeared gradually as my English became stronger and words used at home were limited to home-related stuff. Dōgen mentioned that there’s a high percentage of foreigners where he lives, but even so, it’s difficult for me to believe that Japanese wouldn’t become the strongest language for his kids, if their formal education is in Japanese. High English proficiency would be contingent on them spending lots of time doing reading and writing in English, as well as having a variety of sources of input, which the internet can provide for English. Anyway, I’m not a linguist, and this is just a guess. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
I study bilingualism at the university level and to be honest I would very much like to see those sources he cites because they contradict my knowledge. The average adult human doesn't have an A+ mastery of a single language (as in, perfect): most people, regardless of how many languages they learn, are limited by their daily exposure and media, which means most people are at a B+ level if I were to use that grading scale. Most human beings in the world don't have a university degree and aren't concerned with the minutiae of pronunciation, vocabulary, etc., they're only concerned with being clearly understood. Bilingualism is a net advantage, and, due to that media exposure I cited above, English is best left as a language for the child to pick up through passive exposure, rather than making it a language of instruction. IE, if you live in Japan, don't send your kid to an English international school, because becoming fluent in English as an adult is easier than any other language thanks to the breadth of media available, and the relative simplicity of its spelling (compared to languages that use iconographs like Japanese). I did that and I'm now at a competitive English-speaking university. So long as Dogen and his wife send their daughters to a normal Japanese school, they'll be perfectly fine bilinguals!
@@keysilver7744 As someone who is also currently studying Bilingualism, the fact that you are suggesting a "best" option is a bit concerning. Though there are certainly trends in general language acquisition, there has not been nearly enough research done to suggest any kind of superior method of acquisition. Furthermore, I'm sure you're including formal education in your "daily exposure", however it's questionable to suggest these as "limiting" factors considering the breadth of possibilities. I will agree with you on sending children to an English-medium international school is perhaps not as positive as it seems, but definitely not for the same reasons you gave. Ultimately I find it incredibly concerning that you would so casually simplify a deeply complex process like bilingual acquisition and claim what works and what doesn't, with no sources of your own despite questioning Dogen's. From here is my response to Dogen's answer. Much of the research that was done comparing the linguistic abilities of bilinguals to monolinguals, especially in the early years was inherently flawed. These studies of comparison between bilinguals and monolinguals typically measured the bilingual's "weaker" language to monolinguals and were structured for and by monolinguals. As a result, these studies would typically name those tested as "semilinguals" or other terms to make it seem as if these people were linguistically inferior to monolinguals. MacSwan et al 2002 talks about the pervasion of this kind of thinking in US schools and their labeling of minority children. Furthermore many of these studies are one-off tests, and do not fully encapture the language proficiency of bilinguals (see Bailey & Carroll 2015; Boals et al 2015). To cut things short, the main issue here is the belief that bilinguals are two monolinguals in one, rather than a singular entity. More and more modern research has shown that bilingualism (and multilingualism for that matter) is incredibly dynamic and language proficiency in any of the languages constantly fluctuates as bilinguals draw on all of the linguistic resources they have to more effectively communicate their thoughts (I highly suggest researching the term "Translanguaging"). Just as a bicycle may have two separate tires but work together as a singular object to move forward, a bilingual has two languages interacting with each other and operate as a single individual, using both languages fluidly in tandem with each other to communicate in their daily lives.
@@まな-d2n I really like your conclusion as it was already mentioned by Grosjean that bilinguals are not two monolinguals in one person. However I can understand the advice that key has given as recent publications like De Houwer 2018 and others suggest that there are certain ways to raise your children that are more likely to "successfully" have children that keep both of their languages. Therefore, I also commented on this video somewhere above and suggested another read.
That bill question was so helpful, I have a friend living in Japan right now, and we were literally just talking about her gas bill! I'll be linking her this video, thank you 😊
If your gas bill is super expensive then you probably do not have CityGas. Also try showering as least as possible. Heating water is really expensive, even with electricity.
As someone who has lived in japan for about 3 years now, I can say that pretty much everything here is spot on. There is SO MUCH knowledge and insight, it would save people a lot of frustration if they listen to this before coming to Japan
I want to learn Japanese and save money solely to be able to attend a Toyko Jihen concert now that they are back together! No more living vicariously through the concert blu-rays anymore!
My mum wrote a paper on Spanish speaking immigrants and their children. As well as a paper on my older brother's language acquisition. turns out so long as there are two distinct environments, perfect bilingual acquisition is possible. So if you make your home environment entirely English, and your out of home environment entirely Japanese, they will acquire both perfectly. However, to maintain and encourage fluency, formal education in both languages is required. So maybe send your kids to an English weekend school or something. Sorry if I'm prying, my mum has done a lot of work in child and language development and has specifically worked a lot with the Chinese community in Australia. She's seen a lot of perfectly bilingual Chinese, English kids and always laments mixed children losing one of their heritage languages.
Kind of an unrelated topic, but still: There's also another research claiming that kids from divorced parents usually end up making better in life because they end up with double the amount of family members, which in the end is contacts, you have double the contacts in life, you life in two different cities sometimes, you experience double the environments, double possibilities. Like with languages, having more can't hurt.
Perfect bilingual or even trilingual is possible. Social environment speaking Chinese, work environment speaking english and our local national language. I've known lots of friends that does trilingual perfectly.
Hey, I'm bilingual, my native languages are Estonian and Russian, but I also speak fluent english and have been learning Japanese for some time. I wanted to say that most likely your daughters' mother tonque will be the one they will speak at school and with friends, so if you don't plan moving back to an English speaking country, Japanese. I think you shouldnt worry about their English or Japanese being bad, as they will learn intense japanese at school and pick up english from home and the internet. When I was young, sure, for a time I was not that good at both the languages I spoke, but soon afther (a few years into school) I was just like the other kids (no acsent and as good in writing) but I spoke another language as well. My parent's used a technique of one of them speaking only in one of the languages and it worked out fine. So don't worry, even if your daughters' Japanese will be a little bad, they will come back stronger than ever a few years into school.
I just discovered your channel last night. This has been amazing both for a good laugh but also to learn a lot more. I hope to continue watching your videos for years to come.
Hey Dogen! I moved to Japan last month and I'm adjusting to life here. Just wanted to say that I have found your channel humorously informative and overall an accurate and balanced representation of life in Japan. I have really heeded your advice about playing the foreigner card and have found people really receptive to my efforts to speak Japanese (which is terrible) and follow the ways things are done here. Although people often observe the negative things about Japanese culture, the thing I have most been struck by is people's genuine sense of gratitude. I think it's so ingrained in the culture that being thankful comes naturally to a lot of people here, whereas I have to remind myself to make an effort to be thankful for what I have. Also I tried to watch Attack on Titan on Netflix, but there aren't any English subtitles. I'm studying Japanese every day but it's still going to be a while before I can understand adult television. Also, also, don't be mean to Ibaraki. Our Daibutsu is bigger than yours ;)
Even before that As a french dude, when i speak with native speaker, they propably think "oh he can speak/understand well enough" and start talking in their "usual" way... AND they're from Scotland or specific part of Ireland. *despair*
33:43 I looked up 東京事変 and was pleasantly surprised. They remind me of School Food Punishment-another band that disbanded quite a bit ago. I’m gonna watch more 東京事変 videos now. 😊
I can verify the driving bit! Plus they put their hazards on to thank you for letting them in. Also there is a zipper effect for merging traffic. It's great. I was so anxious driving at first but it's really is nice. I think my only gripe are two way side streets but seem to only have enough room for 1 car. Not a big deal but it can be nerve wrecking for someone with anxiety.
I totally agree with ya. As a Japanese who is settled in Europe, I feel like I will never be able to work in Japan. I mean for Japanese company. Visiting there is ok. Still fasctinsting but can't deal with the '出る杭は打たれる' system anymore 🙄🙄🙄
@MoonYan Gacha こんにちは！日本語の勉強頑張ってね！そして わたしわ じゃなくて わたしは です！It's a little strange but in words like "konnichiwa" and when using the particle "wa" in both cases you actually use は instead of わ. Have a good day!
As a Japanese who grew up overseas (and is now living in Japan), it’s a bit weird that the Japanese values don’t resonate with me at all - so I settle working for an American company instead (3 years and counting). Con is that my Japanese is not progressing.
Because of Christmas holidays, there is not much to fo in the office, so I am studying some Japanese with this in the background. It has been very interesting. As usual thank you and Happy New Year!
I think the question: If your life improves after coming to Japan, also depends on where you come from. As a person from Denmark i have free healthcare, education and a number of benefits i would probably would loose if i moved to Japan, but if i came from America i could definitely imagine it could be a bigger advantage to move. Especially if you're a man.
I agree. Though, generally outside of Scandinavia I imagine a lot of countries will find Japan to be a great step up (although the rampant sexism, racism, stigma of mentally illness and horrible work culture would be troublesome for a big portion of them :/)
Denmark is where I would go next if Japan doesn't work out for me so I thought it was interesting to see your comment. The language has been hard to start on though 😅
Jon Goat yea, It’s true as they say you don’t know what you have until you lose it. I wouldn’t want to live in japan, but I’d would love to vacation there for a few months. Props to anyone from Scandinavia who can live there though!
I guess the Scandinavians would lose the amazing weather, blue and sunny. Skies, and the wide range of foods and funny, always-ready-to-joke people those amazing countries have to offer
I really appreciated your answer on working in Japan. I gave up on living there and moved to Taiwan (even though I LOVED so many things about living in Japan), simply because of the work environment in Japan.
Big agree on Dogen's comments about WWII education, I know a couple friends who never knew about the concentration camps for Japanese Americans until they studied abroad in the US.
22:44 My old Spanish teacher called his students *mierdas*. He got away for a while explaining that it was a different translation for "student" before he was fired.
I am English-French bilingual, I'm Irish, living in Switzerland, I've been speaking French since I was 3, but only in school and English (hiberno English) is my home language. I think having a distinct home language and school language helps, as well as reading in both languages, because you get exposed to more "good" use of the language
To add some info for 24:36 (migrating to Japan) - it’s relatively easy to get in if you’re a software developer as well, as there’s high in demand but low in supply. A lot of startups for example are having a hard time getting talents so they look outside the country and sponsor visa.
Hi! I'm actually a software developer looking to move to Japan. Do you have any resources where I could look for jobs that don't require Japanese? Is that even possible?
Don't go for Japanese run companies in general though. Most will expect you to take a half salary cut from what you'd otherwise be able to make in the US, even if you're bilingual and stuff.
@@andresm645 two major options. I recommend looking at large international companies and applying for their Japan offices. Otherwise apply to a couple things on linked in and since 95% of the positions are put up by recruiters, they'll likely reach out to you and you can start working with them to find what you want. Be careful when accepting your first job here because companies like to try to base salary offers off your last job (use that to your advantage in your initial search) .
My twins came out great 2 boys now 7 weeks old. You were right when you told me to sleep while I could. 😂 I can relate to the being more direct with people out of necessity even over here in the states! Thanks Dogen!
Watched (and enjoyed the entire video), but had to pause it for a good while after you mentioned 東京事変 reforming. That somehow completely passed me by and I'll be eternally grateful for you bringing my attention to it IF I manage to get tickets for a show haha. They split up in the second semester of my year abroad and I was either too poor to go to a show or they were already sold out.
my android recognises english and japanese so i tend to have a "conversation" with Google assistant lmao ,,it helps bc i know a lot more spoken stuff than written :)
I 100% agree with the "living in Japan is great but working in Japan isn't", I think that the main "slap" that foreigners get when they live in Japan. I had the best years in Fukuoka, working in an international environment, backpackers hostel (guesthouse), in which everyday I was with one coworker and everyone was at super least bilingual. I enjoyed my job to the point that I didn't feel like I was working haha. The second job was about helping in languages (French, English mainly and a bit of Arabic), it was also good but the best was definitely the guesthouse.
Im from Japan! I'm glad to hear that you liked living in Fukuoka. I see many people visit my hometown, but I'm not sure what attract people to visit as I grow up in there. I'd be interested to know if you could share it with me!
@Jon Goat True but it can be particularly bothersome in Japan since there's three different types of formal workplace language that you need to know that even many Japanese people struggle with
8:11 This just happened to be analogous to how I'd started learning English during my primary school years. I was told to take all those primitively simple children's stories (1-2 sentences per page, up to 6-20 pages ramping up). I did not notice at the time but within half a year I went from linguistically mute to speaking everyday language. Perhaps I should try this with Japanese too, although I wonder what material I could start with.
Hey there, dogen! Just want to say my experiences about the possibility of the first question, that being "can you reach N2 in 1 one year?" while also keeping balance on speaking, writing, and reading. To be said simply, it's very much possible to get N2 with a balance on speaking and writing, but it will take you a stupid amount of effort. In the past, I was given the chance to do an exchange to japan for 6 months. Prior to that, my japanese knowledge was limited to 私 and 君. Knowing that, I enrolled in a solo prep class for one and a half months, where I studied 2-4 hours per day, 4 days a week for a total of 72 hours. I left to japan probably just short of N5 level. In Japan, I studied Japanese for 1.5 hours at school + 2 hours of self study every workday, which totals at 17.5 hours per week. Took my first JLPT at the third month of my stay, and got N3 113/180. Not the best score, but I'm already very proud that I made it to that level in 4.5 months. At this point, I've spent roughly 210 hours studying Japanese over there, excluding the time I spent on weekends. I reached N3 with approx. 210+72 = 282 hours in 4.5 months. In the next 3 months, I studied less because of events and stuff, probably somewhere around 10-12 hours per week. I returned back to my country and I prepared for N2. Sadly, I barely study anymore after I came home due to issues, and even though my total mark was enough to pass, I was 2 point short of passing the sectional mark on dokkai. If I hadn't laxed on my studies after I got N3, I definitely would've gotten N2. In total, In the span of 8 months I roughly studied for 72 (before coming) + 210 (before N3) + 144 (next 3 months) for a total of 426 hours. Bear in mind that this is a very rough calculation excluding time I spent on weekends. Speaking is my best section. Being in Japan help with this ALOT, as I live with some dorm mates and we converse daily. Some of my friends said that if they don't see my face, they would take me as a Japanese that is a little bit lacking on vocab (definitely still worse than dogen though) Reading kanji is easily my worst, being that I don't see much N2 kanjis which often appears more on textbook situations compared to real life. My grammar is actually decent, since a lot of people, esp. My teachers use advanced expressions. In conclusion, it's definitely possible to reach it in a year. But bear in mind that it will be extremely taxing and tough, as it was for me. This is also before mentioning difference in comprehension speed.
I am studying in a Japanese language school and can totally relate with your experience of going to school for more than 4.5 hours a day sans the prep for taking the N2.
Hey man! Just wanted to say that I love your content! Also, I'm uhhh gonna have to watch this video tomorrow because I'm very sleepy. Stay cool, my guy.
You said it really well 'Living in Japan is Great but Working in Japan (Working for a company with Japanese work ethic) isn't so great' As Japanese, I agree with you so much. But it's very hard to do your own business when just moved to Japan, so my advise is (like Dogen san said) to work for a company who doesn't have Japanese work ethic such as foreign company, or have your personal goal maybe to do your own business(even though it's not very easy.
Concerning bilingual development, the issue is that languages tend to not be differentiated properly until a certain age - so a child will learn both languages but they'll kind of blend together. IIRC that differentiation doesn't come until about 6 years of age, so when raising a bilingual child it tends to be better to stick to one language until about that age, and then start introducing the second language. At least, that's what my wife says, and she has a degree in developmental psychology so I'm inclined to believe her.
I've actually come up with a wonderfully simple but crazy method to get around this Just speak different languages on different days Aka starting the day the pregnancy gets found(since iirc language input starts in the womb, and worst case it's practice ) a week based schedule where everyone in the house talks japanese two days of the week, english three days of the week and swedish(my home tongue) the remaining two In a stable pattern You'll have to break them out of the week based mindset later, but the different language based mental modes it makes should be helpful from what I've heard
Though it it is true that children may not completely discriminate languages, but that age threshold is closer to the age of 3, not 6. And even then, really as long as the family has a well-planned and strictly follow a Family Language Policy (FLP) then there is typically no issue in speaking multiple languages to the child even before birth. The main issue with problems of differentiation come more from the language use of the parents, where if they illogically or randomly and constantly switch languages it may cause confusion in the child, however that too is only in the early years and once the children are seen to fully discriminate the languages then there really is no need to stick to one or the other. (essentially, if the child grows up functionally bilingual then there is really no reason for the parents to stick one langauge)
@@Arenuphis Language input does indeed start in the womb! however starting too early is kind of pointless lol, as in the super-early to mid-stages of pregnancy sounds become very muffled and so reach the fetus as just a kind of drumming vibration, rather than a discriminable sound, so if you are to speak languages (or have the child listen to Beethoven), the only time it will really be effective is in the last few months before birth. In terms of stable patterns I would say yes! typically having a logical pattern for language use by the parents in their Family Language Policy has been seen to help make sure the child does not struggle to discriminate the languages even at a young age. at the very least, it is generally ill-advised to randomly switch languages as that can cause confusion.
Thats bs. source me: Im bilingual from when i can remember, and 80% of my friends are too as i graduated from an international school. I would say my academic language is english as i was taught in english, but i cant say its my domimant language as chinese is how i communicate primarily with my family. Switching between language and mixing them up is reserved for my friends but i have no problem speaking only one language or the other.
It does tend to correct itself later. If that wasn't the case a lot of people from bilingual areas of the world would be very confused. But if you don't mind I'm gonna trust my scientifically educated wife over your anecdotal evidence of a phase of your life you have no memory of.
Just finished the video. Your voice sounds like it's still a bit sick Dogen haha, but I hope you're feeling better. Happy New Year and thanks for the video! たくさん勉強になりました
ドゲンさん、ありがとうございます！I’m a native English speaker and I know how awkward it is going between Japanese and English though my Japanese isn’t fluent. Great video, keep it up man!
I was also raised bilingual (Turkish and German) in Germany. And I can say from myself and from friends with the same fate that the language of the country you live in will highly likely be your strongest one. The reason is that you are exposed to the national language in every aspect of life (school, hobbies etc.) whereas the 2nd language is mostly spoken at home only. Generally though, it's a beautiful thing to be able to speak 2 languages from the beginning. It makes it even easier to acquire a 3rd or 4th language. For example, thanks to my Turkish I can understand the Japanese grammar pretty fast, since the structures are similar (currently doing an exchange year in Japan). German on the other side ofc helped with English.
I noticed when saying no, both times you provided alternatives that were so practical, physically obvious, and would be quick and easy, that it made it easier for even people within the Japanese system to say yes. I'd like to point that out to people reading the comments. Give the other person a chance to say yes, this works irl even in western countries. Everyone likes to say yes.
My third comment - I really appreciate these longer videos sharing you insights. I’m a 5x (50-ish day)/ year visitor to Tokyo & Chiba. Most of my friends & colleagues don’t pay this much attention to the bigger picture I’m interested in most.
Definitely going to take my time watching this because I’m going to work in Japan this year. It’s been a lifelong dream, so being able to hear an inside, real opinion is beneficial :3
Thanks for answering my question on the Olympics! I've been really really curious about the impact of the Olympics will have on Japan, especially from the perspective of someone living in Japan
As a person who is gonna move to Japan soon, this video gave me major anxiety. Very informative, obviously but this just makes me rethink if I wanna stay in Japan long term.
@@BlightBreedOfficial Homesickness is a bitch, but it happens everywhere, even if you move to a different state. Overall, stick to it, don't even make the mistake of going back, things just never get the same after you left, you must commit. Going back always suck more than commiting to the plan. It can be overwhelming, I get it, it sucks.
We got the NHK letters at my apartment when I was a student in university. We took them to our schools “minders”. The guy laughed and said no one pays these. And he said I’ll deal with and threw the letter away while chuckling. We also didn’t have TV. Oddly, I like a lot of the NHKs web content now :)
Travel in Osaka doesn't feel too bad in comparison to Tokyo. Firstly, buses are never crowded for one. Secondly, trains do get a little crowded during rush hour but never sardine level. You're more likely to find stations more crowded but personally, I find the train system in Osaka as one of the best in Japan.
3:54 agreed with dougen on this one, I lucky enough to grow up in a bilingual environment, but what supposedly my native language is suffering on simple grammar mistake because I don't have a deeper grasp on each language, it soo blanded together in my head I thought it is right. my speaking is alright though, and sound native enough...
43:01 My thoughts as a Canadajin who used to live in Hiroshima and Japan. I wish I could say more :). Yukio Mishima was correct, Japan is a multitude of contradictions or dichotomies and one of those is 'East vs West'. One of the struggles within this contradiction is how "much" liberalism does Japan adopt? I'd argue, as others have, that Japan, along with much of East Asia, flirts with anti-liberal tendencies (reign of LDP, preference of group-"standing" over individual freedoms, etc.). This, I would argue, eats at the heart of creativity generally. Think about it through the lens of Hegel's dialectic. In this sense, Japan has adopted as much liberalism as it can without adopting liberalism. However, if we think of Japan and creativity in the economy, it continues to do many things well. If it wants to be more serious however, it should be serious about workers' rights, respecting employee's non-working hours and promoting employee mental health. In fact, it's almost ironic Japan isn't a leader in employee mental health considering the plethora of horror stories. Thanks for the vid!
To add to the question about being a Muslim student in Japan: Sophia University in Tokyo also has a halal cafe! A lot of different food options, and pretty accommodating, I would say. They also have a department with courses all taught in English called the FLA (faculty of liberal arts) so that's also an option. I'm not sure if other schools, like APU, have this, but this is just what I know from my experiences at Sophia.
Japanese pitch-accent and pronunciation lessons: www.patreon.com/dogen
His English it's amazing almost like native
Is this a meme
Lmao
@@gulpingulpin no
@@gulpingulpin no
i think his family spent a lot of money for his english tutoring
It's 3 AM but I guess I'm staying up for another 49 mins and 28 seconds
Amen to that
Same dude. Right when I thought I’d go to bed (2:43am here)
"IT IS 5AM. VOTE FOR ME."
Thus ist the way
ASSASSINO!!!
1:05 is it possible to get N2 within a year?
1:49 On paying utility bills and hidden charges
2:13 格安シム/cheap sim cards (QT, mineo?)
2:47 how to shake off NHK sales representatives?
2:55 how to say no? "put your foot down"
3:26 do you intend raising bilingual children?
5:00 how not to burn yourself working in a Japanese company （日本の会社)
5:23 Dōgen's formula for success in Japan
6:18 have you ever driven a car in Japan? (車の運転)
6:43 how to improve conversational Japanese? (会話が上手になりたい）
7:26 on making friends with Japanese that shares your interest
7:40: getting on an environment that everything is in Japanese
8:26 on recording yourself speaking in Japanese
9:00 Are you prepared for the Olympics 2020? How will it affect Japan in the long-run?
10:25 summer in Japan （日本の夏）
10:41 Aside from Tokyo (or Kyoto?), is it crowded in other places in Japan?
11:50 Often, do you see many foreigners on a day to day basis? (周りの外国人を見えるについて)
12:35 misconception on Japanese not used to interacting with foreigners（日本人が外国人と挨拶して嫌われる？）
13:26 commonly acquired negative habits acquired by expats in Japan
14:30 日本人の友達のアドバイス（会社について）
16:10 do you still get anxious receiving official papers in the mail?（日本の手紙）
17:57 How do you feel how Japanese teach war history particularly on WW2 History?
19:26 Do you know Kansai-ben? (関西弁)
19:30 why do you think the Japanese society loves paper works so much?
20:13 Have you ever been to US Military Bases in Japan?
21:39 Work place climate
22:44 how do you respond if someone insults you in Japanese without them knowing you can understand them? (悪口)
23:10 How much Japanese do I need to know when visiting Japan?
23:46 are you still getting the「日本語が上手」comments?
24:36 is it easy to migrate to Japan?
26:28 on Japanese comedy
29:18 finding a place to settle in Japan
29:57 life as a Muslim student in a Japanese school
30:22 how much money do I have to bring?
31:02 on cheap cars and its hidden charges
32:27 consult a financial expert
32:51 do you want to be reborn as a Japanese? /taxes as a US citizen
33:37 fave Japanese music?
34:06 first job in Japan (JET)
35:55 「やろう」vs 「しよう」
36:05 Do Japanese people like Gaijin friends
37:02 hardest part in adjusting in Japan / on saying no
40:01 bank story / assertiveness but not being a nuisance
42:54 was anime a mistake?
43:01 Japan on creativity harnessing model (education, workforce, companies) / competition with China
44:44 teaching English in Japan
46:50 playing the foreigner card / on debates in the internet / decency and civility on arguments (on politics, culture)
自由にどうぞ。🙂
Efren Reynes, III this.
@@stayskeptic3923 Hello! 👋
If you feel that way, my bad. 😔
I was actually jotting down notes of what Dōgen-san was imparting while I was listening. Since it's a long Q&A and have lots of gems of insights in them, I thought of putting up the timestamps for easy reference and replaying purposes. I even put some astray notes on the timestamps which are my own words and not Dōgen-san's. 😉
I didn't put up the transcription which I can do if I felt like it but I didn't. 😉
But as you have said, I hope that this does not stop others from commenting further.
And this comment is brought to you by... just kidding. 😄
Have a wonderful day (or night). 🙏
yo this needs to be pinned
Efren Reynes, III
ありがとうございます👍
助かりました！
"do you want to be reborn as a Japanese?"
That would be a better anime that most isekai out there.
I didn't watch your channel for awhile, so i didn't know you became a father. Congratulations!!!
>Tokyo Olympics
>"Let's enjoy 2020!"
These two didn't age well at all... But the rest of the Q&A is amazing.
having a kid is a great way to become more assertive
😹😹😹
Dogen speaking english: soft, happy, worrying and caring friend and father
Dogen speaking japanese: grumpy, sarcastic and pissed ojinsan who just wants you to leave him alone
its gotten to the point that whenever i hear dogen speak english im shocked at how good his english is
Wow. Finally I see a foreigner speaking honestly about the experience in Japan. I am Japanese, born, and raised in Japan. I haven't met many foreign ppl talking like you. (No offence. It's appreciation.)
How do most foreigners talk, if you don't mind me asking?
僕も気になります
This is just my opinion . . . but to answer the question "how do foreigners usually talk about Japan?" . . . .
I find that they often look at it through Rose Colored Glasses, where everything is good and beautiful and Japanese people are so polite (which is mostly true) . . .
But never touch on the unhealthy work life balance that most Japanese people have, or the high suicide rates of middle and higj schoolers that didn't get into the "right" school, or the weird rapey culture that kind is kind of omnipresent in their dating culture. Etc. There are lots of other.
Japan is great, but like every other country it has a lot of things it needs to work on, and some people put Japan on a pedestal and end up ignoring its problems.
Re: Bilingual question - I was brought up in a Trilingual family: Cantonese, Mandarine and English. While I do get good understanding of each, I do find myself weaker when it comes to complex linguistics, like using analogies or complex figure of speech. This is the first time I've heard anyone mentioned that being raised bilingual affects the ability to understand both languages, I suppose that is possible and it might explain my struggle. However I do find it super beneficial to be able to master these languages, as I moved to the UK in my twenties, and I had a super fast uptake in the English language. Within a year I have reached fluent and almost native level with English, so yeah, bilingual's benefit definitely out-weight it's negatives.
I'm someone who uses English as a dominant language, but I have 4 other languages that I use in the family. (Everyone in my family has a handle of 5 languages). I have a good handle in all 5 languages, but the effects of not being fluent happens when I'm in the home country of the language, since I realised that I mix my languages a lot.
I think it’s definitely better to be multilingual, even if the languages are a bit weaker. As someone who grew up in the U.S. with Yiddish-speaking parents, I definitely noticed that my English was better, mostly because I was immersed in English everywhere except at home. I think that if you grow up in one primarily monolingual country and don’t switch countries in the middle of childhood, that country’s language will automatically become your strongest language. As a child I would think in Yiddish and translate to English when speaking, sometimes resulting in awkward phrasing, but that disappeared gradually as my English became stronger and words used at home were limited to home-related stuff. Dōgen mentioned that there’s a high percentage of foreigners where he lives, but even so, it’s difficult for me to believe that Japanese wouldn’t become the strongest language for his kids, if their formal education is in Japanese. High English proficiency would be contingent on them spending lots of time doing reading and writing in English, as well as having a variety of sources of input, which the internet can provide for English. Anyway, I’m not a linguist, and this is just a guess. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
I study bilingualism at the university level and to be honest I would very much like to see those sources he cites because they contradict my knowledge. The average adult human doesn't have an A+ mastery of a single language (as in, perfect): most people, regardless of how many languages they learn, are limited by their daily exposure and media, which means most people are at a B+ level if I were to use that grading scale. Most human beings in the world don't have a university degree and aren't concerned with the minutiae of pronunciation, vocabulary, etc., they're only concerned with being clearly understood. Bilingualism is a net advantage, and, due to that media exposure I cited above, English is best left as a language for the child to pick up through passive exposure, rather than making it a language of instruction. IE, if you live in Japan, don't send your kid to an English international school, because becoming fluent in English as an adult is easier than any other language thanks to the breadth of media available, and the relative simplicity of its spelling (compared to languages that use iconographs like Japanese). I did that and I'm now at a competitive English-speaking university. So long as Dogen and his wife send their daughters to a normal Japanese school, they'll be perfectly fine bilinguals!
@@keysilver7744 As someone who is also currently studying Bilingualism, the fact that you are suggesting a "best" option is a bit concerning. Though there are certainly trends in general language acquisition, there has not been nearly enough research done to suggest any kind of superior method of acquisition. Furthermore, I'm sure you're including formal education in your "daily exposure", however it's questionable to suggest these as "limiting" factors considering the breadth of possibilities. I will agree with you on sending children to an English-medium international school is perhaps not as positive as it seems, but definitely not for the same reasons you gave. Ultimately I find it incredibly concerning that you would so casually simplify a deeply complex process like bilingual acquisition and claim what works and what doesn't, with no sources of your own despite questioning Dogen's.
From here is my response to Dogen's answer. Much of the research that was done comparing the linguistic abilities of bilinguals to monolinguals, especially in the early years was inherently flawed. These studies of comparison between bilinguals and monolinguals typically measured the bilingual's "weaker" language to monolinguals and were structured for and by monolinguals. As a result, these studies would typically name those tested as "semilinguals" or other terms to make it seem as if these people were linguistically inferior to monolinguals. MacSwan et al 2002 talks about the pervasion of this kind of thinking in US schools and their labeling of minority children. Furthermore many of these studies are one-off tests, and do not fully encapture the language proficiency of bilinguals (see Bailey & Carroll 2015; Boals et al 2015).
To cut things short, the main issue here is the belief that bilinguals are two monolinguals in one, rather than a singular entity. More and more modern research has shown that bilingualism (and multilingualism for that matter) is incredibly dynamic and language proficiency in any of the languages constantly fluctuates as bilinguals draw on all of the linguistic resources they have to more effectively communicate their thoughts (I highly suggest researching the term "Translanguaging").
Just as a bicycle may have two separate tires but work together as a singular object to move forward, a bilingual has two languages interacting with each other and operate as a single individual, using both languages fluidly in tandem with each other to communicate in their daily lives.
@@まな-d2n I really like your conclusion as it was already mentioned by Grosjean that bilinguals are not two monolinguals in one person.
However I can understand the advice that key has given as recent publications like De Houwer 2018 and others suggest that there are certain ways to raise your children that are more likely to "successfully" have children that keep both of their languages. Therefore, I also commented on this video somewhere above and suggested another read.
That bill question was so helpful, I have a friend living in Japan right now, and we were literally just talking about her gas bill! I'll be linking her this video, thank you 😊
If your gas bill is super expensive then you probably do not have CityGas. Also try showering as least as possible. Heating water is really expensive, even with electricity.
@@StevenBara Thank you for your reply, I'll be sure to relay the information, though I don't think she is wasteful with hot water :)
plot twist : that friend is the one who asked the question
*_So cute to see you get so excited about every question._*
"your english is pretty good"
Ah.. Eigo jouzu
@アレッキ English
You're*
I'm sorry. I don't speak English.
As someone who has lived in japan for about 3 years now, I can say that pretty much everything here is spot on. There is SO MUCH knowledge and insight, it would save people a lot of frustration if they listen to this before coming to Japan
"the video is 49:28 minutes long"
O_O
but thanks for the vid as always, and happy new year!
I took one thing away from this whole video:
Tokyo Jihen is getting back together.
Looks like 2020 won't be so bad after all.
I want to learn Japanese and save money solely to be able to attend a Toyko Jihen concert now that they are back together! No more living vicariously through the concert blu-rays anymore!
My mum wrote a paper on Spanish speaking immigrants and their children. As well as a paper on my older brother's language acquisition.
turns out so long as there are two distinct environments, perfect bilingual acquisition is possible. So if you make your home environment entirely English, and your out of home environment entirely Japanese, they will acquire both perfectly. However, to maintain and encourage fluency, formal education in both languages is required. So maybe send your kids to an English weekend school or something.
Sorry if I'm prying, my mum has done a lot of work in child and language development and has specifically worked a lot with the Chinese community in Australia. She's seen a lot of perfectly bilingual Chinese, English kids and always laments mixed children losing one of their heritage languages.
Kind of an unrelated topic, but still: There's also another research claiming that kids from divorced parents usually end up making better in life because they end up with double the amount of family members, which in the end is contacts, you have double the contacts in life, you life in two different cities sometimes, you experience double the environments, double possibilities. Like with languages, having more can't hurt.
@@FeelingShred that is a really interesting report, do you remember where you read it?
@@kurootsuki3326 Heard someone talking about it in a podcast ages ago.
Perfect bilingual or even trilingual is possible. Social environment speaking Chinese, work environment speaking english and our local national language. I've known lots of friends that does trilingual perfectly.
英語上手です！
You're English is passable Dōgen 👏👏👏
Pro tip: If you want to sound like a native American, use more memes
You are English is passable
good job
Hey, I'm bilingual, my native languages are Estonian and Russian, but I also speak fluent english and have been learning Japanese for some time. I wanted to say that most likely your daughters' mother tonque will be the one they will speak at school and with friends, so if you don't plan moving back to an English speaking country, Japanese. I think you shouldnt worry about their English or Japanese being bad, as they will learn intense japanese at school and pick up english from home and the internet.
When I was young, sure, for a time I was not that good at both the languages I spoke, but soon afther (a few years into school) I was just like the other kids (no acsent and as good in writing) but I spoke another language as well. My parent's used a technique of one of them speaking only in one of the languages and it worked out fine.
So don't worry, even if your daughters' Japanese will be a little bad, they will come back stronger than ever a few years into school.
Dogen, you're just a pleasant and knowledgeable dude to listen to. It could have been 2 hours and I would have listened. Thanks for everything you do!
this entire QNA video made me want to drink to clear my throat despite me watching it while sipping tea
Ah. Eigo jouzu.
The way he talks makes it feel like English is not his first language but maybe Japanese is
I just discovered your channel last night. This has been amazing both for a good laugh but also to learn a lot more. I hope to continue watching your videos for years to come.
英語お上手ですね
10:13 Dogen: I'm just gonna watch it on--
NHK guy: Yeeeees...
Dogen: ...RUclips
NHK guy: Dammit
Hey Dogen! I moved to Japan last month and I'm adjusting to life here. Just wanted to say that I have found your channel humorously informative and overall an accurate and balanced representation of life in Japan. I have really heeded your advice about playing the foreigner card and have found people really receptive to my efforts to speak Japanese (which is terrible) and follow the ways things are done here. Although people often observe the negative things about Japanese culture, the thing I have most been struck by is people's genuine sense of gratitude. I think it's so ingrained in the culture that being thankful comes naturally to a lot of people here, whereas I have to remind myself to make an effort to be thankful for what I have.
Also I tried to watch Attack on Titan on Netflix, but there aren't any English subtitles. I'm studying Japanese every day but it's still going to be a while before I can understand adult television.
Also, also, don't be mean to Ibaraki. Our Daibutsu is bigger than yours ;)
Dogen can speak English? I thought he can only speak broken Japanese and broken English (same thing).
Antonius Tyaswidyono that’s rude
@@dotmiracle uhhh... do I really have to explain the meaning of sarcasm?
@@AntoniusTyas Nevertheless, rude.
@@dotmiracle relax, even dogen took it as a joke.
@@dotmiracle its really not though...
Playing Magic the Gathering in Japan was a big help for me. I was the only foreigner at that card shop, so I had no choice but to try.
Dogen: "American comedy has a little bit more subtleties in it"
British people: *laughs in "comedy that is barely understandable by anyone but Brits"*
ID LIKE UNE HAMBAAAGAAA
NOOOO IT'S HAMBÜÜHGAH
British "comedy"
Even before that
As a french dude, when i speak with native speaker, they propably think
"oh he can speak/understand well enough" and start talking in their "usual" way...
AND
they're from Scotland or specific part of Ireland.
*despair*
33:43 I looked up 東京事変 and was pleasantly surprised. They remind me of School Food Punishment-another band that disbanded quite a bit ago. I’m gonna watch more 東京事変 videos now. 😊
あけましておめでとうございます、日本人リスナーの一人として応援してます。
I can verify the driving bit! Plus they put their hazards on to thank you for letting them in. Also there is a zipper effect for merging traffic. It's great. I was so anxious driving at first but it's really is nice. I think my only gripe are two way side streets but seem to only have enough room for 1 car. Not a big deal but it can be nerve wrecking for someone with anxiety.
I totally agree with ya.
As a Japanese who is settled in Europe, I feel like I will never be able to work in Japan. I mean for Japanese company. Visiting there is ok. Still fasctinsting but can't deal with the '出る杭は打たれる' system anymore 🙄🙄🙄
Happy to hear back from you as soon as you find out they have their own system as well 😂
Steven Bara what? Every country has its own system lol, European countries’ is just objectively better than Japan’s
@MoonYan Gacha こんにちは！日本語の勉強頑張ってね！そして わたしわ じゃなくて わたしは です！It's a little strange but in words like "konnichiwa" and when using the particle "wa" in both cases you actually use は instead of わ. Have a good day!
As a Japanese who grew up overseas (and is now living in Japan), it’s a bit weird that the Japanese values don’t resonate with me at all - so I settle working for an American company instead (3 years and counting).
Con is that my Japanese is not progressing.
Because of Christmas holidays, there is not much to fo in the office, so I am studying some Japanese with this in the background. It has been very interesting. As usual thank you and Happy New Year!
I have been living in Japan for a year and a half now, discovered your channel a couple of hours ago and been binge watching your videos since.
I think the question: If your life improves after coming to Japan, also depends on where you come from. As a person from Denmark i have free healthcare, education and a number of benefits i would probably would loose if i moved to Japan, but if i came from America i could definitely imagine it could be a bigger advantage to move. Especially if you're a man.
I agree. Though, generally outside of Scandinavia I imagine a lot of countries will find Japan to be a great step up (although the rampant sexism, racism, stigma of mentally illness and horrible work culture would be troublesome for a big portion of them :/)
Denmark is where I would go next if Japan doesn't work out for me so I thought it was interesting to see your comment. The language has been hard to start on though 😅
Jon Goat yea, It’s true as they say you don’t know what you have until you lose it.
I wouldn’t want to live in japan, but I’d would love to vacation there for a few months. Props to anyone from Scandinavia who can live there though!
True but also many variables if you are from America. Education, lifestyle, financial, family heritage. A lot to consider.
I guess the Scandinavians would lose the amazing weather, blue and sunny. Skies, and the wide range of foods and funny, always-ready-to-joke people those amazing countries have to offer
Came for the comedy stayed for the informational content. Love the chanel.
"Let's all enjoy 2020 together!" Oh Dōgen, if only you had known
please do more videos like, I really enjoy listening and watching
I really appreciated your answer on working in Japan.
I gave up on living there and moved to Taiwan (even though I LOVED so many things about living in Japan), simply because of the work environment in Japan.
Clicking on a Dogen video in my inbox because thats what you do. Realising its 50 minutes long.
Ill go grab some food brb
Big agree on Dogen's comments about WWII education, I know a couple friends who never knew about the concentration camps for Japanese Americans until they studied abroad in the US.
Most Americans don’t even know about the internment camps.. 😒 it’s definitely not something they like teaching about in public schools
English speakers: wow! this video is awesome!
Japanese men : YES
22:44 My old Spanish teacher called his students *mierdas*. He got away for a while explaining that it was a different translation for "student" before he was fired.
WTHH that's fucking rude, glad they got fired. I mean I would love to teach Spanish abroad and these people end up getting the spots :( geez
6:36 That said, あおり運転 has become a topic of discussion in the past year or two, so it is definitely a thing that exists.
I am English-French bilingual, I'm Irish, living in Switzerland, I've been speaking French since I was 3, but only in school and English (hiberno English) is my home language. I think having a distinct home language and school language helps, as well as reading in both languages, because you get exposed to more "good" use of the language
To add some info for 24:36 (migrating to Japan) - it’s relatively easy to get in if you’re a software developer as well, as there’s high in demand but low in supply.
A lot of startups for example are having a hard time getting talents so they look outside the country and sponsor visa.
Hi! I'm actually a software developer looking to move to Japan. Do you have any resources where I could look for jobs that don't require Japanese? Is that even possible?
Don't go for Japanese run companies in general though. Most will expect you to take a half salary cut from what you'd otherwise be able to make in the US, even if you're bilingual and stuff.
@@andresm645 two major options. I recommend looking at large international companies and applying for their Japan offices. Otherwise apply to a couple things on linked in and since 95% of the positions are put up by recruiters, they'll likely reach out to you and you can start working with them to find what you want. Be careful when accepting your first job here because companies like to try to base salary offers off your last job (use that to your advantage in your initial search) .
@@samfrostinjapan thanks for your advice!
My twins came out great 2 boys now 7 weeks old. You were right when you told me to sleep while I could. 😂 I can relate to the being more direct with people out of necessity even over here in the states! Thanks Dogen!
Watched (and enjoyed the entire video), but had to pause it for a good while after you mentioned 東京事変 reforming. That somehow completely passed me by and I'll be eternally grateful for you bringing my attention to it IF I manage to get tickets for a show haha. They split up in the second semester of my year abroad and I was either too poor to go to a show or they were already sold out.
Dogen your hands move more when you speak English 😂 I'm very grateful for your videos
my android recognises english and japanese so i tend to have a "conversation" with Google assistant lmao ,,it helps bc i know a lot more spoken stuff than written :)
I 100% agree with the "living in Japan is great but working in Japan isn't", I think that the main "slap" that foreigners get when they live in Japan.
I had the best years in Fukuoka, working in an international environment, backpackers hostel (guesthouse), in which everyday I was with one coworker and everyone was at super least bilingual. I enjoyed my job to the point that I didn't feel like I was working haha.
The second job was about helping in languages (French, English mainly and a bit of Arabic), it was also good but the best was definitely the guesthouse.
Im from Japan! I'm glad to hear that you liked living in Fukuoka. I see many people visit my hometown, but I'm not sure what attract people to visit as I grow up in there. I'd be interested to know if you could share it with me!
May I ask how you got the job in the guesthouse and which company you went through to get the job? Sick of Eikaiwa 😂
@Jon Goat True but it can be particularly bothersome in Japan since there's three different types of formal workplace language that you need to know that even many Japanese people struggle with
I am an asian I never got the gaijin pass in japan, and nobody said nihongo jouzu to me neither. w
I watched anime and learned new words like "nani" and "souka". Do japanese people watch Dogens vids and learn the word *I N C I D E N T A L L Y*
man, it was interesting to say the least especially going to the latter part of the video. thank you for making this video.
I love how he gets so excited for every question
8:11 This just happened to be analogous to how I'd started learning English during my primary school years. I was told to take all those primitively simple children's stories (1-2 sentences per page, up to 6-20 pages ramping up). I did not notice at the time but within half a year I went from linguistically mute to speaking everyday language. Perhaps I should try this with Japanese too, although I wonder what material I could start with.
Hey there, dogen! Just want to say my experiences about the possibility of the first question, that being "can you reach N2 in 1 one year?" while also keeping balance on speaking, writing, and reading.
To be said simply, it's very much possible to get N2 with a balance on speaking and writing, but it will take you a stupid amount of effort.
In the past, I was given the chance to do an exchange to japan for 6 months. Prior to that, my japanese knowledge was limited to 私 and 君. Knowing that, I enrolled in a solo prep class for one and a half months, where I studied 2-4 hours per day, 4 days a week for a total of 72 hours. I left to japan probably just short of N5 level.
In Japan, I studied Japanese for 1.5 hours at school + 2 hours of self study every workday, which totals at 17.5 hours per week. Took my first JLPT at the third month of my stay, and got N3 113/180. Not the best score, but I'm already very proud that I made it to that level in 4.5 months. At this point, I've spent roughly 210 hours studying Japanese over there, excluding the time I spent on weekends.
I reached N3 with approx. 210+72 = 282 hours in 4.5 months. In the next 3 months, I studied less because of events and stuff, probably somewhere around 10-12 hours per week. I returned back to my country and I prepared for N2. Sadly, I barely study anymore after I came home due to issues, and even though my total mark was enough to pass, I was 2 point short of passing the sectional mark on dokkai. If I hadn't laxed on my studies after I got N3, I definitely would've gotten N2.
In total, In the span of 8 months I roughly studied for 72 (before coming) + 210 (before N3) + 144 (next 3 months) for a total of 426 hours. Bear in mind that this is a very rough calculation excluding time I spent on weekends.
Speaking is my best section. Being in Japan help with this ALOT, as I live with some dorm mates and we converse daily. Some of my friends said that if they don't see my face, they would take me as a Japanese that is a little bit lacking on vocab (definitely still worse than dogen though) Reading kanji is easily my worst, being that I don't see much N2 kanjis which often appears more on textbook situations compared to real life. My grammar is actually decent, since a lot of people, esp. My teachers use advanced expressions.
In conclusion, it's definitely possible to reach it in a year. But bear in mind that it will be extremely taxing and tough, as it was for me. This is also before mentioning difference in comprehension speed.
I am studying in a Japanese language school and can totally relate with your experience of going to school for more than 4.5 hours a day sans the prep for taking the N2.
Hey man! Just wanted to say that I love your content!
Also, I'm uhhh gonna have to watch this video tomorrow because I'm very sleepy.
Stay cool, my guy.
When you said "You will print this email, WITHIN THIS BANK" I lost it laughing that was hilarious
You said it really well 'Living in Japan is Great but Working in Japan (Working for a company with Japanese work ethic) isn't so great' As Japanese, I agree with you so much.
But it's very hard to do your own business when just moved to Japan, so my advise is (like Dogen san said) to work for a company who doesn't have Japanese work ethic such as foreign company, or have your personal goal maybe to do your own business(even though it's not very easy.
Congratulations Dogen!
Concerning bilingual development, the issue is that languages tend to not be differentiated properly until a certain age - so a child will learn both languages but they'll kind of blend together. IIRC that differentiation doesn't come until about 6 years of age, so when raising a bilingual child it tends to be better to stick to one language until about that age, and then start introducing the second language.
At least, that's what my wife says, and she has a degree in developmental psychology so I'm inclined to believe her.
I've actually come up with a wonderfully simple but crazy method to get around this
Just speak different languages on different days
Aka starting the day the pregnancy gets found(since iirc language input starts in the womb, and worst case it's practice ) a week based schedule where everyone in the house talks japanese two days of the week, english three days of the week and swedish(my home tongue) the remaining two
In a stable pattern
You'll have to break them out of the week based mindset later, but the different language based mental modes it makes should be helpful from what I've heard
Though it it is true that children may not completely discriminate languages, but that age threshold is closer to the age of 3, not 6. And even then, really as long as the family has a well-planned and strictly follow a Family Language Policy (FLP) then there is typically no issue in speaking multiple languages to the child even before birth. The main issue with problems of differentiation come more from the language use of the parents, where if they illogically or randomly and constantly switch languages it may cause confusion in the child, however that too is only in the early years and once the children are seen to fully discriminate the languages then there really is no need to stick to one or the other. (essentially, if the child grows up functionally bilingual then there is really no reason for the parents to stick one langauge)
@@Arenuphis Language input does indeed start in the womb! however starting too early is kind of pointless lol, as in the super-early to mid-stages of pregnancy sounds become very muffled and so reach the fetus as just a kind of drumming vibration, rather than a discriminable sound, so if you are to speak languages (or have the child listen to Beethoven), the only time it will really be effective is in the last few months before birth.
In terms of stable patterns I would say yes! typically having a logical pattern for language use by the parents in their Family Language Policy has been seen to help make sure the child does not struggle to discriminate the languages even at a young age. at the very least, it is generally ill-advised to randomly switch languages as that can cause confusion.
Thats bs. source me: Im bilingual from when i can remember, and 80% of my friends are too as i graduated from an international school. I would say my academic language is english as i was taught in english, but i cant say its my domimant language as chinese is how i communicate primarily with my family. Switching between language and mixing them up is reserved for my friends but i have no problem speaking only one language or the other.
It does tend to correct itself later. If that wasn't the case a lot of people from bilingual areas of the world would be very confused.
But if you don't mind I'm gonna trust my scientifically educated wife over your anecdotal evidence of a phase of your life you have no memory of.
Dogen, as a native English speaker, I’ve gotta say that your English skills have improved greatly. Good job Dogen.
Just finished the video. Your voice sounds like it's still a bit sick Dogen haha, but I hope you're feeling better. Happy New Year and thanks for the video! たくさん勉強になりました
ドゲンさん、ありがとうございます！I’m a native English speaker and I know how awkward it is going between Japanese and English though my Japanese isn’t fluent. Great video, keep it up man!
You live in Beppu? I love that place with the steam coming from the street and the different "Hells". Good times.
It's 2am . Why am I watching this ?
Well , this is awesome .
I was also raised bilingual (Turkish and German) in Germany. And I can say from myself and from friends with the same fate that the language of the country you live in will highly likely be your strongest one. The reason is that you are exposed to the national language in every aspect of life (school, hobbies etc.) whereas the 2nd language is mostly spoken at home only. Generally though, it's a beautiful thing to be able to speak 2 languages from the beginning. It makes it even easier to acquire a 3rd or 4th language. For example, thanks to my Turkish I can understand the Japanese grammar pretty fast, since the structures are similar (currently doing an exchange year in Japan). German on the other side ofc helped with English.
Thanks for the video as always.
Good luck!
I noticed when saying no, both times you provided alternatives that were so practical, physically obvious, and would be quick and easy, that it made it easier for even people within the Japanese system to say yes. I'd like to point that out to people reading the comments. Give the other person a chance to say yes, this works irl even in western countries. Everyone likes to say yes.
この動画は、英語を勉強している私のような日本人にとっても、とても有益です。This is great!
Namoral, que canal bom pra se motivar pra aprender japones
TE AMO DOGEN 🔥❤️
Even Tokyo doesn't feel super busy outside of rush hour, not counting the tourist attractions.
I like your Q&A videos, didn't expect to see another one so soon!
Love this long style of video. Really fun to hear some of the stories you've had living in Japan. I wish I could hear more lol!
My third comment - I really appreciate these longer videos sharing you insights. I’m a 5x (50-ish day)/ year visitor to Tokyo & Chiba. Most of my friends & colleagues don’t pay this much attention to the bigger picture I’m interested in most.
すっごくオモロイ！ 頑張ってね👍
Thank you for the wonderful video!
Definitely going to take my time watching this because I’m going to work in Japan this year. It’s been a lifelong dream, so being able to hear an inside, real opinion is beneficial :3
Thanks for answering my question on the Olympics! I've been really really curious about the impact of the Olympics will have on Japan, especially from the perspective of someone living in Japan
So early! Can't wait to watch the whole thing :) thanks for all the wonderful content!
Japan will revert back to Edo period isolation after the Olympics.
king Cruz people are going to trash the place no matter how many signs are up.
I can’t tell if this aged well or not.
Aging not yet determined to be good or bad. Will check back later.
This is funny now 😂😂
2021: whomp whomp
I love that you introduced Gaki No Tsukai in this video~
Thanks for the informative video Dogen :)
Oh man I love watching yur vids with subtittys on.. YT ain't got no clue what words u makin.
Thanks for this video, it was very interesting! You deserve way more subscribers my dude
Is there a video describing how he and his wife met?
Interesting to hear about good ol'Beppu nowadays. It... Wasn't always so 'cohesive' with gaijin🤣
PS follow-up to the Kansaiben question: 大分弁を喋っちょらん？
As a person who is gonna move to Japan soon, this video gave me major anxiety. Very informative, obviously but this just makes me rethink if I wanna stay in Japan long term.
Why exactly?
Just do it. I moved here around 8 weeks ago, and I don’t regret it. Even though I’m slightly homesick 😂
TenTonKoala What do you do, may I ask?
@@BlightBreedOfficial Homesickness is a bitch, but it happens everywhere, even if you move to a different state. Overall, stick to it, don't even make the mistake of going back, things just never get the same after you left, you must commit. Going back always suck more than commiting to the plan. It can be overwhelming, I get it, it sucks.
@@BlightBreedOfficial is it easy to find roomates there? I don't know if sharing homes is a thing there, being that houses are usually so small.
im starting to think its not Japan which is very different to the rest of the world
its America which is very different to the rest of the world
This is the first video where I've seen where you speak English
We got the NHK letters at my apartment when I was a student in university. We took them to our schools “minders”. The guy laughed and said no one pays these. And he said I’ll deal with and threw the letter away while chuckling.
We also didn’t have TV. Oddly, I like a lot of the NHKs web content now :)
Travel in Osaka doesn't feel too bad in comparison to Tokyo. Firstly, buses are never crowded for one. Secondly, trains do get a little crowded during rush hour but never sardine level. You're more likely to find stations more crowded but personally, I find the train system in Osaka as one of the best in Japan.
I had the opportunity to live in cities only with train and cities only with subway. I like more the train by a long stretch.
Great video, very helpful.
3:54 agreed with dougen on this one, I lucky enough to grow up in a bilingual environment, but what supposedly my native language is suffering on simple grammar mistake because I don't have a deeper grasp on each language, it soo blanded together in my head I thought it is right. my speaking is alright though, and sound native enough...
43:01
My thoughts as a Canadajin who used to live in Hiroshima and Japan. I wish I could say more :).
Yukio Mishima was correct, Japan is a multitude of contradictions or dichotomies and one of those is 'East vs West'.
One of the struggles within this contradiction is how "much" liberalism does Japan adopt? I'd argue, as others have, that Japan, along with much of East Asia, flirts with anti-liberal tendencies (reign of LDP, preference of group-"standing" over individual freedoms, etc.). This, I would argue, eats at the heart of creativity generally. Think about it through the lens of Hegel's dialectic. In this sense, Japan has adopted as much liberalism as it can without adopting liberalism.
However, if we think of Japan and creativity in the economy, it continues to do many things well. If it wants to be more serious however, it should be serious about workers' rights, respecting employee's non-working hours and promoting employee mental health. In fact, it's almost ironic Japan isn't a leader in employee mental health considering the plethora of horror stories.
Thanks for the vid!
To add to the question about being a Muslim student in Japan: Sophia University in Tokyo also has a halal cafe! A lot of different food options, and pretty accommodating, I would say. They also have a department with courses all taught in English called the FLA (faculty of liberal arts) so that's also an option. I'm not sure if other schools, like APU, have this, but this is just what I know from my experiences at Sophia.