1 year is impossible unless you are unemployed and have nothing else to do. I spent like 4 hours per day for 1 year and 1 month and still far away from fluency, with immersion and anki etc.
It depends what you think you're achieving. If you have multiple hours a day to dedicate to Japanese, ignoring writing, you could reach a conversational level within a year. I've been doing this method for over 3 years on average 1hr a day and I'm not fluent either. However, I have reached conversational/basic fluency in within 2 years and can communicate with Japanese people with no problem. I can guarantee that if I was more consistent then I would have seen even better results. Either way, as I mentioned in the video, everyone's journey is different. All that matters is that you get started, and work hard day by day. Keep it up! 👍
Learn fast but it will take years so not fast then. You might be able to learn a bunch of nouns in a day but many verbs, verb-verb, adjectives have multiple meaning depending on the sentence. So there again learning fast is not possible only being consistent gets you anywhere which will be years.
Learning in years is fast, especially in 1-2 years if we’re talking about Japanese. Language learning is a long process that never ends so a couple years is relatively fast especially as with this method you’ll shave off a year or two compared to conventional methods. Plus, using this method I reached a conversational level of French in just 3 months and can express myself comfortably. If implemented with Japanese then you could do the same in about 6 months. What you think is fast is up to you but regardless the point of this video was to speed up the process and provide a clear pathway to save people time. 👍
Bro!!! Great Video!!!! Thanks for the info and websites. You have sold Anki to me better than ALL the other people who advised the same. You just did it with emphasis like you e really gone through it and REALLY recommend Anki! Great video!!
I've learned a couple romance/germanic languages and picked up Japanese randomly last month to see if I could defeat the whole "scariness" of learning an asian language-- specifically one with a totally different writing system. Definitely simple but NOT easy like you said. We're going strong though. Thanks for the tips bro 🔥
I'm trying to study japanese alone since 2020, but because pandemic and everything I just don't did a good job on it. 26 december of 2024 I've started studying it again, at the end of the year, I'll be back here to say what I've been learning this year. I'm studying with a particular teacher and some books too.
Thanks for the great video. Even though I already use a lot of it (I'm currently at about N5-N4 level in Japanese), I was able to pick up some useful tips and, above all, a large portion of motivation. I am a native speaker of German and my goal is to master Spanish as well. I would therefore also be happy to see a video on Spanish. Keep up the good work!
Awesome video brother, agree 100% - The most important in my humble opinion is putting that work in consistently.. people want a "secret formula" & are not even willing to invest 3h a day learning their target language.. just like any athlete trains 4-6h a day to become a pro or medical students study 6-8h a day to become doctors, people need to start having the same attitude when it comes to languages.. love what u r doing 💯
In my personal opinion, I think that if you were to learn vocabulary with Anki, you should learn grammar on the side as well. Because if you don’t use what you learned, the words would blow away like a pile of dust. I never used Anki, but the way I learn vocabulary is that I also try using it alongside grammar and/or look up example sentences to see how the word would fit contextually. I wish luck and the absolute best for all of you in your Japanese learning journey, and I know that with patience, motivation, and moving at your own pace will get you far. Rushing it will only make you feel stressed, bored, and overwhelmed with demotivation that would end up making you quit. 頑張ろう！
@@saoriich I understand and totally agree with you. In the Anki deck I used there were example sentences included, plus a link to a dictionary with more. Also you get plenty of example sentences when immersing yourself. And think I did briefly mention to watch grammar videos whenever you feel unsure or have the time but it shouldn’t be a focus for beginners. Overall I think what you said is 100% true because without this retention won’t be as high and you can’t develop fluency just with Anki.
@ Ohh, I see. I didn’t get to the Anki part in your video, but I just wanted to share my thoughts on Anki since I know a lot of language learners who are completely reliant on Anki, and while I shouldn’t judge others based on what they learn on/with, I think that it’s something to note that, in my opinion, you can’t become fluent with Anki. It’s just my opinion of course because I don’t think flash cards can build you up to fluency by themselves. Same goes to some people who give advice on just only watching anime to build fluency. I love your video though, and I will definitely be taking these notes down as I study the language. You’re a lifesaver🙏
But at the end of the day, it’s what the learner themselves what to achieve, whether it’s fluency or not. Some people do it for the fun of it, some do it to watch anime, and some people are genuinely interested in the language, culture, etc. And I won’t ever judge someone for choosing their ways on how they learn. It only matters if they’re having fun, and that’s what makes language learning so much more enjoyable.
@@saoriich I don't think you understand how serious learners use Anki. You use it with sentences, not single words. And by doing so, you can practice grammar or vocab, depending on the sentence. When I used anki for Korean, I wouldn't even have English on either side of the card.
awesome video! I've been studying on and off for about 6 years now but I haven't gotten anywhere and have decided to circle back to the basics, so this is helpful! thanks 💪
Your advice is well taken. Now for me I have my books (From Zero, Genki), my Anki deck and I also pair that with listening to Pimsleur on my way to and from work on the days I work 1/2 hour each way. Also I enjoy the online fromzero course that pairs to the books and they have games to play along with the course.
I put in about 4 to 5 hrs of listening and writing a day but there's times I get stuck in a loop and don't progress and I just waste days studying and it just sets me back. The first 3 months I was basically speed running and picking up everything but then at month 8 I just got stuck. No matter what and how much I struggled to go from a n4 to n3 courses. Mostly it's the grammar but I try and mix in kanji which I did 600 in a matter of 4 months for almost nothing since I feel like I need to review it all again because it's almost non existent. It's a bit of a struggle but I can manage to write or at least type what I want to say but at times I can't speak because of the lack of practicing by myself. I'll see how this year goes & maybe my progress improves.
Cool video!! In my second week of learning through Anki but I'm struggling. Went from 20 words to 10 words since my retention is so bad. Any tips? Did you learn the meanings of the individual kanji too? or more on the readings. Thanks so much!! Goal is to be n5 by July.
@@videos1543 I just learnt kanji through the readings and then eventually you start to connect patterns after a while. You should be immersing yourself from day 1, even if you don’t understand anything!
@@WatashiYoje i see thanks! so frustrating to forget words i just learned a day ago ahahaha. hopefully just a learning curve and my brain gets more used to it
chiming in as someone who's been doing anki for a year straight, feel free to lower or raise ur new cards depending on how ur feeling. some weeks really are just hard, and some days you'll even have to learn 0 new cards because you're too tired lol. better to review than learn new cards. even with fluctuating my card count, (from dec 2023 - dec 2024) ive learned over 6000 words, but everyone is different. also N5 by july is a good goal! good luck!!
Ok question for you. I have my new vocabulary in Anki at 10 words per day, and I find myself spending what I feel is too much time with them and reviews, but I also feel like maybe my method isn't great. If you don't know a word immediately, do you press see again in 1 min., or if you generally know the idea do you push next day? 33 is a lot to "get right" every morning wothout a lot of time and really grasping the words, but that's just me. Maybe it's more about the general concept? IDK, but I'm interested to hear if you're just like absorbing 33 new words a day or what your retention is like. Mine seems to be around 75-80% as I search for better ways to remember vocabulary theough mnemonics and what not. Cheers
@@wanik4 Firstly, 75-80% retention sounds fairly normal maybe slightly below what we’re aiming for. If you are a beginner it might be worth lowering the number of new words daily. This is because it takes a lot more effort at the start. However as you get better you will start to notice more patterns and immersion will expose some words to you more aswell. This will decrease the time it takes you to learn and remember cards so then you can increase it again. I try to only press good if I understood the meaning of the word (doesn’t have to be specific but I knew exactly what it meant). But I also only press good if I got the pronunciation right and I was able to read it. I try to recall the things I learn through the day which helps with retention a bit aswell. Let me know if this helps!
thank you for this!! Just a question: when you say you learn 20-40 words per day, how do you keep them in your memory so that you aren't just wasting time learning words that you'll forget?
@@daesaurus9771 When I do Anki I make sure that I learn the words for that day to my best ability. So I only press good on a word when I’m pretty confident I will remember it. But I still forget words the next day or over time, however the majority of words stick. This will get easier over time though. Let me know if this made sense.
@@daesaurus9771 I only do the reviews that Anki sets me. I’ll only do extra if it’s a word that I keep forgetting or confuse with another similar word. Let me know if that makes sense.
6:52 You are writing 夜 in this clip but it’s incorrect… my Japanese professor would have a meltdown if my kanji were like that. You should definitely watch Japanese people write them and write them with better balance and stroke order and make sure your strokes are going in the right place. To people trying to learn a language: Don’t speedrun it. Listen to native speakers, watch videos of native speech, learn what the language sounds like and looks like and work at your own pace. Learn things that will be useful to you and it will be more fun and it will be easier.
You're right! I haven't written in Japanese for a couple months and was multi-tasking so I wasn't really paying attention. 😅 Thank you for the your advice!
Using Japanese subs in the beginning while immersing (such as anime) counts as reading? If it does, then should I just focus on listening without subs? (Japan 2025)
Everybody learns differently. It helps to keep the content you watch to something you enjoy, at your relative level, and how you learn from it depends. I'm no genius with this stuff, but I like to watch shows with English subs a couple times maybe, understand what they're saying, and then watch it without or with Japanese subs to connect it. Just a way I've tried.
@@mochisama. This counts as reading. HOWEVER, the reason why I said to avoid reading at the beginning is because you will make up pronunciation for words that you don’t know. If you are watching something WITH audio then the subtitles are fine as you are hearing the words. As long as there is audio your are good 👍. Watching without subtitles is good practice as well but I recommend with subtitles in general.
@wanik4 your way of doing it also sounds good. Makes sense that you would watch it in English subs first or else watching it raw would be too tiring and demotivating.
what are your thoughts on WaniKani? it teaches 2000 of the most useful kanji, the radicals, as well as 6000 vocabulary words, with the use of mnemonics and such. i know a lot of people swear by it but what do you think?
@@Noimgam I think I used it briefly when I was learning but I didn’t understand it at the time so I dropped it. I’ll have a look into it but overall it looks like a really good resource and is definitely worth a try. If it works for you then 100% go for it!
It's awesome. I finished it in a year but that was hard work, doing reviews from early morning to late evening to keep the process going. Mind you - then you have only learned the basic 2100 Kanji and the vocab, besides that you still have to learn grammar, do reading and speaking practice and simply get used to the language. Learning Japanese is hard work and for most people it will take several years of hard work to get basically fluent.
@@MrEDET Wow! Those are some really impressive results. I totally agree, I think apps / resources like wanikani can only be supplementary and wont take you to fluency but can be super useful. Keep it up!
@@WatashiYoje Thanks! What helped me the most was actually going to Japan and talk with people (which is superscary the first time :D ) and then I found some great Japanese people in the Hellotalk app which I now communicate with daily. And really, your video is great, but I also think these 'become fluent in x time' videos can be demotivating on the long run. It's exeptional what you managed, but not many people can succeed in such a short amount of time.
![Lp. Сердце Вселенной #60 РОЖДЕНИЕ ЛОЛОЛОШКИ [Финал] • Майнкрафт](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/YoR0pAV9FVQ/mqdefault.jpg)
1 year is impossible unless you are unemployed and have nothing else to do. I spent like 4 hours per day for 1 year and 1 month and still far away from fluency, with immersion and anki etc.
It depends what you think you're achieving.
If you have multiple hours a day to dedicate to Japanese, ignoring writing, you could reach a conversational level within a year. I've been doing this method for over 3 years on average 1hr a day and I'm not fluent either. However, I have reached conversational/basic fluency in within 2 years and can communicate with Japanese people with no problem. I can guarantee that if I was more consistent then I would have seen even better results.
Either way, as I mentioned in the video, everyone's journey is different. All that matters is that you get started, and work hard day by day. Keep it up! 👍
Yup, just bs to make ppl think they'll be fluent in a yr or whatever
Learn fast but it will take years so not fast then. You might be able to learn a bunch of nouns in a day but many verbs, verb-verb, adjectives have multiple meaning depending on the sentence. So there again learning fast is not possible only being consistent gets you anywhere which will be years.
Learning in years is fast, especially in 1-2 years if we’re talking about Japanese. Language learning is a long process that never ends so a couple years is relatively fast especially as with this method you’ll shave off a year or two compared to conventional methods.
Plus, using this method I reached a conversational level of French in just 3 months and can express myself comfortably. If implemented with Japanese then you could do the same in about 6 months.
What you think is fast is up to you but regardless the point of this video was to speed up the process and provide a clear pathway to save people time. 👍
This dude made me grind learning japanese so hard
Best guide ever
I'm gonna start learning japanese today and i will reply to this comment at the end of 2025 and see what's my level in japanese
Japan 2025
good luck. My journey starts today too.
3rd year learner here, just wanna say I wish both of you the best!
@@Ice_2228 thank you!
Congrats but it will take years before you get anywhere. Learning Japanese fast is a myth
@@southcoastinventors6583 trust me i know kanji says it all. I’m taking it step by step, I’m not in any rush I’m only 17.
Bro!!! Great Video!!!! Thanks for the info and websites. You have sold Anki to me better than ALL the other people who advised the same. You just did it with emphasis like you e really gone through it and REALLY recommend Anki! Great video!!
Thank you so much! You're so helpful and motivating for me learning new languages this year.
I'm glad I could help. Good luck! 😁
@WatashiYoje Merci beaucoup! I'm trying to learn french and possibly spanish this year.
I've learned a couple romance/germanic languages and picked up Japanese randomly last month to see if I could defeat the whole "scariness" of learning an asian language-- specifically one with a totally different writing system. Definitely simple but NOT easy like you said. We're going strong though. Thanks for the tips bro 🔥
I'm trying to study japanese alone since 2020, but because pandemic and everything I just don't did a good job on it. 26 december of 2024 I've started studying it again, at the end of the year, I'll be back here to say what I've been learning this year. I'm studying with a particular teacher and some books too.
Thanks for the great video. Even though I already use a lot of it (I'm currently at about N5-N4 level in Japanese), I was able to pick up some useful tips and, above all, a large portion of motivation.
I am a native speaker of German and my goal is to master Spanish as well. I would therefore also be happy to see a video on Spanish. Keep up the good work!
Thank you! I'm definitely going to post a video on Spanish in the near future!
Awesome video brother, agree 100% - The most important in my humble opinion is putting that work in consistently.. people want a "secret formula" & are not even willing to invest 3h a day learning their target language.. just like any athlete trains 4-6h a day to become a pro or medical students study 6-8h a day to become doctors, people need to start having the same attitude when it comes to languages.. love what u r doing 💯
In my personal opinion, I think that if you were to learn vocabulary with Anki, you should learn grammar on the side as well. Because if you don’t use what you learned, the words would blow away like a pile of dust.
I never used Anki, but the way I learn vocabulary is that I also try using it alongside grammar and/or look up example sentences to see how the word would fit contextually.
I wish luck and the absolute best for all of you in your Japanese learning journey, and I know that with patience, motivation, and moving at your own pace will get you far. Rushing it will only make you feel stressed, bored, and overwhelmed with demotivation that would end up making you quit. 頑張ろう！
@@saoriich I understand and totally agree with you. In the Anki deck I used there were example sentences included, plus a link to a dictionary with more. Also you get plenty of example sentences when immersing yourself. And think I did briefly mention to watch grammar videos whenever you feel unsure or have the time but it shouldn’t be a focus for beginners.
Overall I think what you said is 100% true because without this retention won’t be as high and you can’t develop fluency just with Anki.
@ Ohh, I see. I didn’t get to the Anki part in your video, but I just wanted to share my thoughts on Anki since I know a lot of language learners who are completely reliant on Anki, and while I shouldn’t judge others based on what they learn on/with, I think that it’s something to note that, in my opinion, you can’t become fluent with Anki.
It’s just my opinion of course because I don’t think flash cards can build you up to fluency by themselves. Same goes to some people who give advice on just only watching anime to build fluency.
I love your video though, and I will definitely be taking these notes down as I study the language. You’re a lifesaver🙏
But at the end of the day, it’s what the learner themselves what to achieve, whether it’s fluency or not. Some people do it for the fun of it, some do it to watch anime, and some people are genuinely interested in the language, culture, etc. And I won’t ever judge someone for choosing their ways on how they learn. It only matters if they’re having fun, and that’s what makes language learning so much more enjoyable.
How did you learn Japanese. And grammar?
@@saoriich I don't think you understand how serious learners use Anki. You use it with sentences, not single words. And by doing so, you can practice grammar or vocab, depending on the sentence.
When I used anki for Korean, I wouldn't even have English on either side of the card.
Was waiting for this one! Thanks for this video, I’m gonna try these methods
awesome video! I've been studying on and off for about 6 years now but I haven't gotten anywhere and have decided to circle back to the basics, so this is helpful! thanks 💪
Thank you! One of the best practical tips videos I’ve seen
This tipps are really helpful, thanks for sharing. 😊😊
good tips, i'll try it
Merci ! Ça va vraiment m'aider pour la suite de mon apprentissage
I’ve watched so many Japanese learning videos but I have to say this is the best one!!! 🙌
Your advice is well taken. Now for me I have my books (From Zero, Genki), my Anki deck and I also pair that with listening to Pimsleur on my way to and from work on the days I work 1/2 hour each way. Also I enjoy the online fromzero course that pairs to the books and they have games to play along with the course.
I put in about 4 to 5 hrs of listening and writing a day but there's times I get stuck in a loop and don't progress and I just waste days studying and it just sets me back. The first 3 months I was basically speed running and picking up everything but then at month 8 I just got stuck.
No matter what and how much I struggled to go from a n4 to n3 courses. Mostly it's the grammar but I try and mix in kanji which I did 600 in a matter of 4 months for almost nothing since I feel like I need to review it all again because it's almost non existent.
It's a bit of a struggle but I can manage to write or at least type what I want to say but at times I can't speak because of the lack of practicing by myself. I'll see how this year goes & maybe my progress improves.
cant just sit here and ignore that smooth pen twirl at 8:10
Cool video!! In my second week of learning through Anki but I'm struggling. Went from 20 words to 10 words since my retention is so bad. Any tips? Did you learn the meanings of the individual kanji too? or more on the readings. Thanks so much!! Goal is to be n5 by July.
Also how many words do you recommend knowing before immersing?
@@videos1543 I just learnt kanji through the readings and then eventually you start to connect patterns after a while. You should be immersing yourself from day 1, even if you don’t understand anything!
@@WatashiYoje i see thanks! so frustrating to forget words i just learned a day ago ahahaha. hopefully just a learning curve and my brain gets more used to it
@ Don't worry, you'll get there! Just keep going
chiming in as someone who's been doing anki for a year straight, feel free to lower or raise ur new cards depending on how ur feeling. some weeks really are just hard, and some days you'll even have to learn 0 new cards because you're too tired lol. better to review than learn new cards. even with fluctuating my card count, (from dec 2023 - dec 2024) ive learned over 6000 words, but everyone is different. also N5 by july is a good goal! good luck!!
How much input did you have before you started outputting and how did you personally break into starting output?
Been waiting on a Japanese one
Ok question for you. I have my new vocabulary in Anki at 10 words per day, and I find myself spending what I feel is too much time with them and reviews, but I also feel like maybe my method isn't great. If you don't know a word immediately, do you press see again in 1 min., or if you generally know the idea do you push next day? 33 is a lot to "get right" every morning wothout a lot of time and really grasping the words, but that's just me. Maybe it's more about the general concept? IDK, but I'm interested to hear if you're just like absorbing 33 new words a day or what your retention is like. Mine seems to be around 75-80% as I search for better ways to remember vocabulary theough mnemonics and what not. Cheers
@@wanik4 Firstly, 75-80% retention sounds fairly normal maybe slightly below what we’re aiming for.
If you are a beginner it might be worth lowering the number of new words daily. This is because it takes a lot more effort at the start. However as you get better you will start to notice more patterns and immersion will expose some words to you more aswell. This will decrease the time it takes you to learn and remember cards so then you can increase it again.
I try to only press good if I understood the meaning of the word (doesn’t have to be specific but I knew exactly what it meant). But I also only press good if I got the pronunciation right and I was able to read it. I try to recall the things I learn through the day which helps with retention a bit aswell.
Let me know if this helps!
Please do a video on Spanish 🙏🏻
A lot of this is good stuff but 2-4 hrs for hiragana and and katana is nuts for a native English speaker
2:18 "Don't compare yourself to anybody"
Well sh** xD
Let's go see u at 31 dec
Good stuff, lil bro! I've learned immersion, listening, is key!
why tagalog? what's about it? thanks for sharing this method and encouragement.
this method could b aplied to pretty much most languages lmao
Bro so i focused learning katakana and hiragana alphabet after that am i gonna learn all the words in general conversation when talking to someone?
thank you for this!! Just a question: when you say you learn 20-40 words per day, how do you keep them in your memory so that you aren't just wasting time learning words that you'll forget?
@@daesaurus9771 When I do Anki I make sure that I learn the words for that day to my best ability. So I only press good on a word when I’m pretty confident I will remember it. But I still forget words the next day or over time, however the majority of words stick. This will get easier over time though. Let me know if this made sense.
@@WatashiYoje thank you!! so you do not tend to go back and review the words intensely as they pile up and as you learn more words each day?
@@daesaurus9771 I only do the reviews that Anki sets me. I’ll only do extra if it’s a word that I keep forgetting or confuse with another similar word. Let me know if that makes sense.
@ thank you so much!! do you happen to have discord or something
@@daesaurus9771 Not yet, but I have a Skool community opening soon!
the best youtuber ever.
6:52 You are writing 夜 in this clip but it’s incorrect… my Japanese professor would have a meltdown if my kanji were like that. You should definitely watch Japanese people write them and write them with better balance and stroke order and make sure your strokes are going in the right place.
To people trying to learn a language: Don’t speedrun it. Listen to native speakers, watch videos of native speech, learn what the language sounds like and looks like and work at your own pace. Learn things that will be useful to you and it will be more fun and it will be easier.
You're right! I haven't written in Japanese for a couple months and was multi-tasking so I wasn't really paying attention. 😅
Thank you for the your advice!
Using Japanese subs in the beginning while immersing (such as anime) counts as reading? If it does, then should I just focus on listening without subs? (Japan 2025)
Everybody learns differently. It helps to keep the content you watch to something you enjoy, at your relative level, and how you learn from it depends. I'm no genius with this stuff, but I like to watch shows with English subs a couple times maybe, understand what they're saying, and then watch it without or with Japanese subs to connect it. Just a way I've tried.
@@mochisama. This counts as reading. HOWEVER, the reason why I said to avoid reading at the beginning is because you will make up pronunciation for words that you don’t know. If you are watching something WITH audio then the subtitles are fine as you are hearing the words. As long as there is audio your are good 👍. Watching without subtitles is good practice as well but I recommend with subtitles in general.
@WatashiYoje thanks for replying. I'll try to do both :)
@wanik4 your way of doing it also sounds good. Makes sense that you would watch it in English subs first or else watching it raw would be too tiring and demotivating.
Anki doesnt work for me
Try getting less new words per day and keep consistent, i thought the same for about a week. After this stuff starting getting better
Drop Anki and get Renshuu
@Link-Link been using renshuu the past 2 days now, but thanks
I like anime
Japan 2025
Not self taught if you use any kind of material
what are your thoughts on WaniKani? it teaches 2000 of the most useful kanji, the radicals, as well as 6000 vocabulary words, with the use of mnemonics and such. i know a lot of people swear by it but what do you think?
@@Noimgam I think I used it briefly when I was learning but I didn’t understand it at the time so I dropped it.
I’ll have a look into it but overall it looks like a really good resource and is definitely worth a try. If it works for you then 100% go for it!
It's awesome. I finished it in a year but that was hard work, doing reviews from early morning to late evening to keep the process going. Mind you - then you have only learned the basic 2100 Kanji and the vocab, besides that you still have to learn grammar, do reading and speaking practice and simply get used to the language. Learning Japanese is hard work and for most people it will take several years of hard work to get basically fluent.
@@MrEDET Wow! Those are some really impressive results.
I totally agree, I think apps / resources like wanikani can only be supplementary and wont take you to fluency but can be super useful. Keep it up!
@@WatashiYoje Thanks! What helped me the most was actually going to Japan and talk with people (which is superscary the first time :D ) and then I found some great Japanese people in the Hellotalk app which I now communicate with daily.
And really, your video is great, but I also think these 'become fluent in x time' videos can be demotivating on the long run. It's exeptional what you managed, but not many people can succeed in such a short amount of time.