Відео

Yeah, I was talking too fast and mumbling a bit in this video, sorry. I need better articulation (probably more so in English than in Japanese). My next video is going to be Japanese articulation training, interestingly enough. Anyway, I don't talk this fast in other videos. And the version with no music (top pinned comment) is a little easier to hear what I'm saying. But yeah, sorry. Thanks for the feedback! ^_^

I think Anki/SRS's benefit is overstated for language learning. So I wouldn't worry about it too much. If you don't feel like doing reviews one day, just spam the "Good" button and don't worry about what you did or didn't remember. The content will come back later anyway, both in future reviews and (if it's actually useful pieces of the language) in everyday exposure. The video I made right after this one talked about what I'd do if starting over, which is a study system designed around exactly this: not quitting, but also making progress.

This one: ua-cam.com/video/ibd5ER0l_VY/v-deo.html Thanks for commenting, by the way!

Wow, what a nice compliment. Thank you! And thanks for commenting too ^_^

Yeah, I think this is pretty common. After several failed attempts, I "learned" about 2200 kanji in around 90 days back in 2012. But in the year or two that followed I forgot most of the kanji meanings in isolation (since they're just not very useful) and instead just learned to read words that contain them. The biggest benefit to memorizing all those kanji meanings is just that it got me to stop worrying so much about kanji in particular and actually learn Japanese in words in sentences in specific contexts. Thank you for commenting!

@japanesewithniko what is the best japanes dictionary you can advise me to read

Alas, I have failed you T_T

I'd like to think so ^_^ Although I imagine everyone's will be a little different. Thanks for commenting!

Thank you. That's such a nice thing to say ^_^ ​Good luck with your studies! Feel free to reach out if you hit any speed bumps along the way.

Cool! I'd imagine that auto-translating software sometimes has a lot of trouble capturing the meaning and nuance of context-heavy Japanese. But your brain can fill in a lot of the gaps, for sure. Thanks for commenting ^_^

Yeah, I think that's right. When people tell me how many years they've been studying, sometimes I like to ask if they can estimate how many hours they've studied. There is a big difference between 3000 hours in 7 years VS 1000 hours in 7 years. And both are impressive accomplishments. But the latter equates to something like 23 minutes a day vs 70 minutes a day for the former. So of course there would be a big difference in results, even if study methods were not equally efficient. I find the most impressive stories to be the people I talk to who are working professionals, often with kids, who still manage to maintain a consistent study routine month after month and year after year. They might not learn as quickly as a 21-year-old who can study 4 hours a day, but that's completely fine. They do learn and improve. And you can bet on them in the long-term. Anyway, thanks for commenting!

I think it's a great thing to do as a side form of study or hobby. It's just not necessary (although it really helps to be able to write your name and address for sure). I mentioned how I still would do stuff like this, just not as a core study activity, in this video:

ua-cam.com/video/ibd5ER0l_VY/v-deo.html

I don't have/maintain this deck anymore. I think it/similar ones are floating around Anki shared decks pages. Did you read that old article I had about kanji? This one is newer and I think better: www.nihongoshark.com/post/kanji-by-sight Thanks for commenting, by the way!

@@japanesewithnikowhat other resources would you recommend for following the method?

I'm not sure which method you are asking about, I'm sorry.

Thanks for commenting! Yeah, I think transitioning into sentences, and especially sentences with a clear context, is very helpful. With some materials, you can do this from word #1 because there are lots of cases in which you'd make 1-word sentences in Japanese, depending on the context. I don't think I'd ever do E>J vocab. I think the most efficient approach is to do J>E, and at a certain level, it's really J>[nothing] (when reviewing), then if you need to, you check E, then if that's still not clear, you check J. I regret doing flashcards that were J>J and intentionally eschewing E, which just slows down learning needlessly. Anyway, good luck on N4! If you're curious how I WOULD study if starting over, I made a vide on that too: ua-cam.com/video/ibd5ER0l_VY/v-deo.html

The on/off part sounds like me! It was on/off, with a lot of frustration, for the first several years. I think going to Japan to practice and immerse can be hugely helpful. But it's certainly not a cure-all. ​Good luck with your studies! Feel free to reach out if you hit any speed bumps along the way. ^_^ And thanks for commenting

Genki is designed for classrooms, so it wants you to do classroom activities - exercises where there is a distinct "correct" or "incorrect" answer, as well as exercises where you break off into pairs and drill with another learner. I don't think it's because that's particularly efficient or effective. That stuff you said about messing up an Anki algorithm is true, but in general SRS algorithms are flawed for language-learning content. In a language, content is embedded in other content, so learning new things is often better review than actual review cards. I don't really tell people to do this publicly, really, because they tend to get very argumentative, but if I were learning a new language and primarily using an SRS deck, I'd probably disable all review cards and only do many thousands of new cards for this reason. The best thing about an Anki deck is not that it has an algorithm to prevent you from forgetting stuff. It's that it gives you can easy way to get small chunks of digestible new language concepts. Then a language forces you to review due to the nature of languages. The most useful stuff gets repeated a lot. But yeah, the discussion can get complicated pretty quickly. I hope this comment is helpful. ​Good luck with your studies! Feel free to reach out if you hit any speed bumps along the way. ^_^ Oh, and thanks for commenting!

That is indeed what she said lol. Thank you for commenting! ^_^

Thank you! I'm glad you found it valuable. And thank you for commenting, also ^_^

Videos like this *16 years later, lol. But yeah, I doubt I'd study kanji in isolation much, if at all, if I were starting over. Years ago, I used to recommend that people power through Heisig in 3-ish months, as it helped me to stop stressing about kanji so much after I did that... but I tried and failed to do that multiple times in the 4-ish years before that! So much wasted time/effort! Over the years, I saw that this was helpful for a small number of people who did actually do Heisig-like approaches and got through everything in 3 months or less. It was helpful mainly in the sense that they'd stop obsessing over kanji. But I saw that the vast majority of people didn't do all of this in 3 months of less, so this kind of stuff would drag on for years, spending hundreds of hours doing mnemonics instead of learning actual Japanese. It became clear it wasn't a good recommendation. Anyway, yeah, many mistakes/regrets. Thanks for commenting! ^_^

Thanks for the sub! I'm glad you found the video valuable. Thanks for commenting too ^_^

I could see that. There are a lot more learning materials for Japanese if you can understand English. ^_^ Thanks for commenting!

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I didn't expect you to react. So I'll explain. Sorry, but your diction is bad. I couldn't listen for more than two minutes.

Yeah, I have a tendency to mumble a bit. I need better articulation, even in my native language. I was talking too fast too ^_^ I did make a version of this video with no music, which is pinned in the top comment, which makes it a little easier to understand. And I didn't talk so fast in the video after this one, where I talked about what I WOULD do: ua-cam.com/video/ibd5ER0l_VY/v-deo.html Thank you for commenting, by the way.

@@japanesewithniko ok, sorry for being rude. I was in an irritated mood, apparently.

Glad it was helpful! I was too hard on myself in general throughout my journey, too. Thank you for commenting

Glad you liked it! I try to include content breakdowns like those in all of my videos (some videos are only about that). It's certainly my favorite kind of content to make ^_^ Thanks for commenting!

All these years, my mom was telling the truth! But seriously, thank you. That's very kind of you to say.

I think that means you're 17 or so now? I didn't start studying Japanese until I was almost 22. And I quit from ages 24-26 or so. So you have a major head start, compared to me ^_^ If you figure out a more consistently sustainable study method, I think you'll see big results. I made a video about that: ua-cam.com/video/ibd5ER0l_VY/v-deo.html ​Good luck with your studies! Feel free to reach out if you hit any speed bumps along the way.

@@japanesewithniko thank you so much❤️ i really appreciate your comment, it gave me motivation and i’m starting to think that maybe in a few years i’m gonna be able to become fluent! if i’ll ever need any advice i’ll make sure to ask you, thank you again ^^

Good luck! If you do need to ask something, please ask in a new comment (not a reply to this thread) or in our community discord: discord.gg/nativshark It is hard to keep track of comments in replies for the channel because there are so many conversations going on.

I think you could just print out a kana sheet like this: www.niko.blog/kana/ Then go learn Japanese words, and learn those words in sentences, and check your kana cheatsheet when you forget hiragana or katakana. No need to perfectly memorize them before learning the actual language in use. Good luck!

Thanks for commenting! I think people tend to be drawn to learning Japanese for: 1. Interacting with native speakers. 2. Consuming Japanese media. Or some mix of these. I don't really need to get better at Japanese anymore, yet I still find myself wanting to get closer to native level. I am not trying to find a job using it. My family and friends don't have any trouble communicating with me/don't care about my level. I think it just becomes a fun hobby/passion over time. Thanks for commenting!

What JLPT list are you referring too, though? The "official" lists stopped being published over a decade ago. But I'm guessing you're referring to a vocab or grammar list or something. Thanks for commenting!

Yeah, it was painful to write it that way. That's what I was doing back then, though! Thanks for commenting ^_^

To be fair, I don't think JLPT N1 is C1 level for Japanese. I think it's between B1 and B2. But yeah, it's a long process that requires dedication. I'm not too worried about how long it took me, but I definitely could have learned things much faster/more efficiently. But, hey, whatever ^_^ Thanks for commenting!

Nice! Someday I'll make a serious effort to learn Korean, too. I have some in-laws that really want me to do so ^_^

Methods to remember Kanji.

Yeah, the video really needs a TLDR, but it's a little all over the place. It's just the various study methods/approaches I think were mistakes. I made a different video about what I WOULD do, which I think was better organized: ua-cam.com/video/ibd5ER0l_VY/v-deo.html Thanks for commenting!

Yeah, I think 7 years is pretty reasonable. But I definitely could have reached much more impressive levels of ability if I hadn't done some of these things. ^_^ Thanks for commenting!

I think what babies and young kids are particularly awesome at is shadowing, and working hard to mimic those around them. Overall, they take quite a long time to get good at a language, but that's partly because they have to learn concepts for all the words too! Really, though, babies learn quickly and effectively because they are surrounded 24/7 with language teachers who are highly motivated to help them learn new words, to correct their pronunciation, etc. And this continues for years. It helps that their brains are primed for it too, of course. I think speech can be great for retaining new things, particularly in real-world contexts, especially because the embarrassing mistakes can really stick. The problem is that getting enough speech practice to make meaningful progress is not feasible for many due to time or budget constraints. Also, for people who don't particularly like scheduled meetings in the first place (i.e. people like me), highly shy or introverted people, etc. it is a good recipe to quit studying because you really hate it. The most effective or efficient learning method in the world is useless if someone won't actually do it. Thanks for commenting!

I'll bet! I think once you reach a certain level in Japanese, you also just stop caring about kanji, or even want them more often than not. I have dabbled in Korean a bit, and it would be so much easier for me to learn new words if they hadn't gotten rid of hanja (i.e. kanji). Thanks for commenting!

Good luck! I think with consistent effort long term, you'll certainly see success. I made a video about what I WOULD do if starting over, which I put here: ua-cam.com/video/ibd5ER0l_VY/v-deo.html Thanks for commenting ^_^

Thanks for commenting! Yeah, the test is pretty limited. It is certainly not a holistic measure of one's ability. By most measures, I was quite "fluent" well before I passed N1. And I have also learned SO much Japanese (not just the language, but culture, history, etc.) in the 10+ years since then.

Thanks! Not sure what is meant by "dry mouth", though. Thanks also for commenting ^_^