I don't know if someone's already said this but The reason they added the extra Kanji that led to the new 2000+ total is that the government decided all public documents could only use the Jouyou Kanji, and without the additional Kanji added to the list, the Japanese constitution would have to be rewritten… which would be an international disaster
34:00 yen is an older pronunciation for 円, whose kana notation was ヱン (yen). 34:43 円 in Chinese pronunciation is yuan2, which we always wrote in another form: 圓/圆. 円 is a Japanese simplified form (Shinjitai 新字体), and 圓 is it's traditional form (Kyujitai 旧字体).
At 75, I hope you are right. So far, I have passed third year college Japanese, but still cannot speak. Over the summer, I have been using WaniKani on and off. I just discovered this video by accident tonight. Ate there more videos; I think this one is very entertaining (altho sometimes a bit slow) and instructive, and would like to see more.
I regret that I didn't continue my studies. After 2 college semesters and 6 months in Japan, I was pretty good back in 2005. And I wish I'd pursued Japanese translation. Instead I went for Tibetan and Tibetan translation, which I don't regret, but I wish I'd also kept up my Japanese studies. Tibetan translation is not a very good field to work in, at least as your main job. But luckily I'm still not that old, 38, and I have a good memory, so I actually remember a great deal of Japanese and am excited to go forward with it.
I’m Japanese. My job is to check medical statements so I still encounter many kanji with yamaidare 疒. I’m still learning new kanji even after reaching my adulthood.
One of the most important thing IMO is to pace oneself. I've come to realize it sticks in my brain when I don't pressure myself to learn X amount of kanji per day or for a certain date. I learn a couple kanjis when I feel like it and diversify my learning by doing other japanese-related things when I don't feel like it. I'm in the middle of grade 2 right now (plus a couple common kanji) and although my pace when it comes to kanji has diminished lately, I'm still very happy with the progress so far. We have to remember that learning a language is a lifelong marathon and not a short sprint, enjoying the process of discovery is what ultimately is gonna make language-learning a sustainable endeavour IMO. Keep up the great work, I'm loving every minute of this journey that you have helped me kickstart!
I am just chatting with people on HelloTalk and whenever they write a Kanji I don't know, ill look it up. Its amazing how many of them I have learned like this in a quite short while (of course not to write them by hand with stroke order, but i have no interest in that, I want to be able to read them and type them, thats all)
@@alexandersonmei I only started learning Japanese this January and ignored Kanji for the first two months completely. So I really am quite new, but exactly considering that, it makes me really happy when I manage to read a 15 line long response without having to look up anything (doesnt happen that often, but it does happen :) )
@@amarug Yeah I also get that sense of pride when I was able to understand. Even if it's only one single sentence! :D (The moment I realized I was "superior" than most people lol) I'm also new btw haha. Just started this last month when corona took over my country. Now in the middle of grade 2. Good for you man! Keep it up! :D
interesting points ,if anyone else trying to find out how to speak japanese online try Sovallo Amazing Japanese Fixer (should be on google have a look ) ? Ive heard some interesting things about it and my m8 got excellent success with it.
RE: why is 円 pronounced 'yen' in English?: Apparently it is a relic of the Hepburn romaji system which placed a y before all vowels, also resulting in Yedo (for Edo) and Yezo (for Ezo, the old name of Hokkaido). Interestingly, Old Japanese included the sounds 'yi' and 'ye', but they died out (merged with the 'i' and 'e') before kana was created. In fact, there were also the sounds 'wi' and 'we' which indeed did survive long enough to be granted kana representation (ゐ・ヰ and ゑ・ヱ) but are no longer in use since the reformation of the orthographic system in the 20th century.
Interesting! I always had assumed it was the what the N made the "e" sound like a YE. I am aware of ゐ and ゑ but never knew about the Hepburn romaji system affecting how we still refer to the money system. Nice work.
Interesting comment. Now I understand why the merchandise from the Ueno Park Hard Rock Café reads "Uyeno Eki" instead of "Ueno Eki", which would be a more accurate transliteration.
I suppose you're right: it should be "Uyeno Yeki" if they were consistent. But I'm looking at my HRC Uyeno Eki shot glass right now, and I guess consistency wasn't what they were going for.
I'd been contemplating getting Kanji From Zero 1 for a while and it was this video that caused me to get it, it arrives tomorrow and I can't wait! After my last Japanese class and we were going over essays we'd written (it's mixed ability) and someone called my essay "cheating" after I used kanji, it just made me wanna learn more!
Hello, I just want to say that your videos are timeless. 3 yrs ago and still very applicable and valid. I like your style of teaching. I watch some of your videos to supplement my online classes in beginner japanese. Thanks for all these videos!
don't worry guys I am pretty sure that i and most Japanese people are only able to write let's say a half of jouyou kanji. It's totally ok as long as you read them and roughly get the meaning of them. Important thing is that kanjis are ideographic letters, meaning if you know the meaning of them you can read through the paragraph super quickly and so instinctively.
The amount of Kanji you realise that you have to learn at first can be intimidating but it's good to know that it's not something to worry about. 2000 Kanji, from which you need to know a good set of kanji. 6 years: Kyo iku Kanji (1006) then Jyo you kanji (934) (+ the other 904).
So glad for your video! I have been studying and memorizing Kanji for the past few months and I have been feeling really frustrated at my slow progress. It's refreshing to learn how long it takes native Japanese people to learn the different characters, and that it will take me a good amount of time to get to their level.
28:10 行 is a pictograph of a crossroad, it has an original meaning or road or to go, but that was 1000 years ago, which its usage has changed over time. It went from walk -> operate/carry out/perform -> able to do x, which is why 行 today is "okay" ie "i am able to do whatever you proposed" or basically "okay" Its other meanings also kinda follow this, 銀行 "an operator of silver/finance" Stretches the mind abit to determine the use of 行 but its 1000 years of change so, it wasn't immediate.
I pursued Japanese and Mandarin consecutively during college but found I preferred the instruction of Japanese at my institution over Chinese. I concur with you that learning one aids in the acquisition of the other. Although I’ve ended my academic studies, I still make attempts at keeping up Japanese in my leisure. Because my parents’ native language is in the Sino-Mien-Yao language family, I sometimes find cognates in their (our) language and the on-yomi of Japanese/Mandarin. Those Chinese were prolific!
30:57 You can use 小鳥（ことり） for Small Birds , but commonly can't use 子鳥（ことり）for Child and Baby Birds. So Please use ひな（雛） for Child and Baby Birds. 子鳥 is very limited usage for it.
First off, thank you for sharing the video, I'll be buying you book(s) soon as I just discovered your material yesterday. I've been studying kanji for a grand total of 24 hours now and I love every bit of it. I started with kanji and will go in reverse to Hiragana and katakana next week (I know that's out of order, but, as I mentioned in another comments section, I think I saved myself from what I will coin as "kanji shock" that people seem to get after studying the aforementioned characters and then starting kanji). Secondly, I would like to add some encouragement to anybody who feels like this can be overwhelming: Don't be afraid of the "thousands!" For example, think about how many songs you know. I wrote a song years ago that - not counting repeated lines - has 224 words. If you know 20 songs of that fairly short length (and most people know FAR more than that!), you know 4480 details and can readily recall them! Or think about all the video games you could walk somebody through step by step, down to knowing even where different decorative pieces are. If you cook, think of how many dishes you could just go right to the kitchen and slap together almost robotically. You can easily learn (*not* memorize!!!!!!) thousands of details if you apply yourself. You already do, whether you knew it or not; so don't be afraid and don't feel overwhelmed. Good luck everyone!
In Sweden we have 3x3 years of primary school ages 7-15. 3 years of the lowest stage then 3 years of the middle stage (middle school) and then 3 years of the high stage (junior high). Then we have 3 years of high school called gymnasium, which isn't mandatory but it's free and everyone takes it. And then we have University studies which are also free. They even pay us to study. They did that before as well but then the parents got it.
You're literally the best Japanese teacher on UA-cam and your website and books are ultra helpful when it comes to learning Japanese. I tried learning Japanese 3 times but failed every time. Your UA-cam channel pushed me to study Japanese to my fullest extent. I finished your Kanji From Zero book but I still enjoy your content and insight! Thank you so much!
Kanji was created in China, middle Asia, Mongol, Korea, Vetnam and Japan and assembled in China. 窓 means window, there are more than 10 regional characters. Most of the Japanese letters were affected by 呉 or 南宋 dinasty, China. In modern day 呉 is somewhere around Canton. So many of letters sounds like 広東語 Cantonese. Greetings from Tokyo.
When you say Chinese , it would better to said Mandarin ( recent chinese ), because it may pronounce the same way in one of the various southern Chinese dialects which has retained much more the middle( old) Chinese pronunciation! In Chinese hakka, we still same 'tai' not 'da' to say "big'
Hey man, I really appreciate what you do. I went through your entire video series on Japanese From Zero in like a month since I was addicted and it really gave me the head-start I needed in understand a lot of sentence structure and grammar concepts that eluded me before (the u-tsu-ru song has helped me a load as well and is always in my mind with conjugation xD.) Keep up what you do man you have really helped a lot of people and I admire the amount of passion you put into what you do!
ジョージ先生、いつも楽しい動画をありがとうございます！I always enjoy your channel to study English and to learn how to teach Japanese. 29:08 Actually we sometimes say “中学” like “来年、娘が中学に入学します。” It means “My daughter is going to enter junior high school. “ I don’t know why but “校” just drops here. 🤷♂️ But we certainly say “中学校” which sounds more polite.
1:54 It’s probably because japanese people already know how to speak Japanese. They use the words from kanji on a daily basis. They have time to learn kanji, since they already use them. On the other hand, we foreigners don’t know how to speak Japanese.
Hi George - thank you, thank you, thank you .... finally, someone who actually says learning kanji takes a long time! I'm British and I've been learning kanji for a couple of years and started taking the kanji kentei tests along the way. I also have shodou classes every couple of weeks and that's incredibly satisfying ... something about being able to get really deeply into the minutia of the strokes is just, well, therapeutic. Actually, I've started combining my other hobby, photography ... using long exposure photography to write kanji characters in the air with glow-sticks. I took a practice kanji kentei test earlier this evening, I've got a test on Sunday ... scored 75% ... and need 80% to pass the test. As I said to my Japanese friend, "Winston Churchill said, 'Success is going from failure to failure without losing your enthusiasm.'" ... that's kind of how I view learning kanji ... sure, it takes time, but damn it, I love it ... and so, it really doesn't matter about how long it takes ... as long as I enjoy it, I'll stay enthusiastic ... and that's going to get me there ... eventually.
Can you imagine if we were still learning new English letters in HIGH SCHOOL? OMG. I think maybe I've bitten off more than I can chew in trying to learn Japanese! I love hiragana and katakana, it's the kanji that makes me not sure about continuing to learn.
Nefrai Laysh Well If you think about it, kanji are the building blocks of words and can be words themselves. It like learning new words in English class everyday
Yeah, Daifu and yisheng are related to the same profession. I was just lucky to learn both of them. I just found that interesting and worth sharing :) And btw, I am studing Chinese now thanks to you, because you metioned that in one of your viedos (mb 1 year ago). I enjoy studying both Japanese and Chinese. Thank you for uploading videos on youtube.
George can I recommend Nciku.com? It's really good for learning new words in simplified Chinese. I only use it for new words then I have to change it to traditional.😁😁
this video really motivated me, in that it contextualised kanji learning for me, which was quite liberating. I bought Kanji from Zero, but also the Japanese kids book you held up! Both are great.
I found a book that could be great for understanding why Kanji represents what they do. The book is "The Key to Kanji: A Visual History of 1100 Characters".
you're right. The Chinese readings are usually more similar sounding to the words in Chinese dialects rather than Mandarin (because Chinese dialects are closer to the ancient spoken Chinese as compared to Mandarin)
The thing about trying to rush yourself learning things like Kanji....it may be true that Japanese people have a year to learn each group of them. But that's while they're kids and have nothing else to do but go to school and enjoy life. We're mostly all adults with responsibilities and less years left under our belt. We don't have that kind of time to spend a whole year learning another 200 Kanji. Thats why I'm glad your books exist. Your methods are great and proven to work in a short amount of time depending on the person.
20:21. Actually you can read two kanji that are put together in onyomi only when they’re Japanese last names, because Japanese last names are always in Kanji (most of the times).
I would say the idea of "learning" kanji is also quite objective. They are lot easier to read than to write. They are also a lot easier to read in context than out of context. I once asked a Japanese friend "how many kanji do you know" and he said "how many words do you know in English"?
I just bought that exact same Kanji Book for Kids like a week ago 😂 it's really handy and interesting. Also I just found your channel and a few of your earlier Videos helped me understand why I was struggling with Japanese for so many years. So thank you for that. I really appreciate the existence of your content.
Fun fact: The Japanese and Korean versions of the Chinese pronunciation have been used to help reconstruct what middle Chinese sounded like since it came into those countries when that was what was spoken in China. Course it's not perfect as it's not exactly what the Chinese people they learned it from spoke and rather it's what they heard. Aka a guy coming and telling you his name is "Han", but to your ear it's "Kan" so that what you call him.
As a Cantonese speaker and traditional character user, I find Kanji the easier part when learning Japanese. Even though Japanese Kanji usually has two or more pronunciations, it's still relatively easy compared to the 9 tones in Cantonese. And once you grasp traditional Chinese characters well, Japanese Kanji is a piece of cake.
That's interesting and good to hear. I've heard some say the opposite, that it's easy to get them mixed up and makes it harder. I guess it depends on the person, or how you approach it, or something. I think once somebody has a framework and basic understanding, it's easier to work with and learn new ones, even if it's a different language. Similar to how learning weird spellings of German or something might come more naturally if somebody has a background in a language with arbitrary spellings (like English), though it might still be a pain, just not as much. But also I've seen Germans mix up spellings for words that are very similar in both languages. I've seen it and been like, "Ha, your native language is German, huh?"
You do realized that once the Japanese students graduated and out of school. Most of them use electronic nowaday to automatics input the kanji with hiragana, and they are not able to recall the kanji to write it. Surveys had been done in Japan. Forgot if it's Nobita or Yuta that did the surveys.
2:11 It is the case for the most of China except for Hong Kong where we use Traditional Chinese and and we have a different dialect as well. Rather than China and Hong Kong sharing similarities in language, it's actually Taiwan and Hong Kong sharing similarities from what I have seen. I could be wrong since I am from Hong Kong.
Are you planning to write continuation of Kanji book? So you cover all kanji taught at school? all 2136 signs? That wld be really great. Definitely I'd be the 1st one to buy all these books!
This look is so hardboiled George, this outfit is such a contrast to your Japanese from Zero series, I just can't hold myself back from complimenting it. Dark eye circles, mild apparent weight loss, rectangular glasses, oxford shirt, beard, silver watch, and the slight depressed expression.
George you are awesome. Thanks a lot for all these vídeos. I have been following you for a year so I consider you an uncle. We love you. My japanese is getting better everyday with all your great teaching ideas. 💪😎🇯🇵
Thank you George for your wonderful books and videos... Your comments make so much sense. Japanese have many years to learn grammar and Kanji... and already have a huge vocabulary before attending elementary school. So why do Japanese Language Schools expect students to be N1 or N2 in 18 months to 2 years... (starting from barely knowing hiragana). I loved my year in Japan at school, (albeit it was during Covid), but the speed at which I was expected to learn all aspects (including handwriting) of the Japanese Language really detracted from the whole experience. Thanks for your videos and books, which have got me back on the Japanese learning trail...
Arigato gozaimasu Trombley-sensei. I live in the states and have no intention of moving to Japan but am studying Japanese on my own so I can explore parts of Hokkaido that tourists never see. Say-oh-nah-rah!
This is one way they figured out Cantonese is the most conservative Chinese dialect and resembles ancient spoken Chinese most closely. The Japanese pronunciation matches Cantonese most among Chinese dialects. The word "大" is indeed pronounced "dai" in Cantonese.
I'm using Wanikani (SRS). I'm level 13/60 (started in August). I'll be finished in less than 2 years at my current rate. My big problem is writing which I don't do nearly enough. You can get over all of the kanji in about 3 years (plus thousands of vocabulary and the radicals). Writing them will be a pain though and honestly not that much of a priority if you're not going to be writing on paper. Edit: Yeah, this came out addy as fuck but SRS's seem like the obvious choice when you look at the alternatives.
Writing is overrating... and I mean it... I did't write in years (I am disabled, so writing is hard for me) and I was able to pass two universities. But to be honest, if I could write, I probably would. But I a said, its not that important.
I'm learning Chinese alongside Japanese and the week that I learned pinyin, I focused mostly on Chinese and it stuffed up my pronunciation of しょしゅしゃちゃちゅちょ a fair bit.
48:56. 目下is mùxià in Mandarin and means ' at present, currently'. 目前 is mùqián in Mandarin and also means ' at present, at the moment. 目今 is mùjīn (mu4 jin1) and means ' at present, nowadays '.
henry fon, xie xie nin. Edit - I just got a chance to translate what you wrote. I just want to clarify that you are not being asked to check that dictionary. I was just mentioning the dictionary where I found these words. In a good English dictionary, it usually tells you if the word usage is antiquated. Unfortunately, the Pleco did not mention that these are not currently in use.
Henry Fon xian sheng, since your major is Chinese language & literature, may I ask a question about 大. According to the same dictionary, the readings are "dà (or dài, tài)". I know da and dai, but I don't know where it is used as tai because the dictionary doesn't give an example. Could you please let me know if there are any words currently in use where the reading is tai. or is tai an antiquated reading? xie xie nin.
Thank you for the video. 17:20 大 is read as da or dai in Chinese Mandarin depending on the context. You are right that it is mostly read as da. However, it is read as dai for example , in 大夫 (dai4 fu - doctor) and a few other words. It also has the reading of tai, but I haven't come across any specific words where it is read as tai.
Learn Japanese From Zero! Actually that brings up a question about learning techniques for kanji/hanzi. When we come across an individual character, we learn the meaning and also some compound kanjis/hanzi and their associated reading and meaning. But when we come across a compound kanji in which both (or all) kanji are new, in your experience/view is it better to learn the new compound as a word and move on, or is it better to learn each individual kanji that make up the compund even if they are not commonly occurring ones? Thank you. P.S. Regarding DA, DAI, while studying Mandarin, you may have studied compound kanji starting with 大, but somehow that may not have included 大夫 . BTW, does Japanese have this word?
No wonder you look and sound so familiar to me. I realised after seeing your George and Keiko clip. Was a huge fan! What happened to Keiko san? 頑張れジョージさん！
1:15 yes it is a 9 year long process to them however that doesn't mean it should take an keen japanese learner 9 years to do. For example, in germany we learned english starting at 3rd grade. After 10 years of english I've had a guy in class that still pronounced "water" like "waiter" and that's because he never showed interest in learning english. I can assume there are a fair share of students in japan that hate studying kanji just like some students hate studying in general. Therefore it's a bad comparison.
23:07 中 by itself can be read as chu(ちゅう) sometimes depending on context. 29:04 You can't say 小学 instead of 小学校, but you can say 中学 instead of 中学校.And 高校 is more common to use than 高等学校. I'm Japanese, so believe me.
15:05 I think the kanji wasn't really "鳥" but "烏" instead (the 6th one in the 1st row counted from the right). If so, it doesn't mean bird! (They look similar though)
DREAM LAND I was forced to learn french this year in my last year of highschool, so I made I deal with the teacher which was that I would learn Japanese in her class, and that'd be my grade in the class, as long as I was reading and doing my work she wouldn't bother me or my grade.
Power up your Japanese on FromZero.com (lessons, quizzes, games, ask-a-teacher)
This video is in my "recommended for you" list and I'm from Japan. Thank you, youtube.
Time to relearn 2000 kanji
That's why UA-cam recommend you. 🤣🤣🤣🤣
@@EgoJinpachi_ he read 2000 kanji in this video bro
Cool!!!
I don't know if someone's already said this but
The reason they added the extra Kanji that led to the new 2000+ total is that the government decided all public documents could only use the Jouyou Kanji, and without the additional Kanji added to the list, the Japanese constitution would have to be rewritten… which would be an international disaster
Interesting story.
Indeed
34:00 yen is an older pronunciation for 円, whose kana notation was ヱン (yen).
34:43 円 in Chinese pronunciation is yuan2, which we always wrote in another form: 圓/圆. 円 is a Japanese simplified form (Shinjitai 新字体), and 圓 is it's traditional form (Kyujitai 旧字体).
I regret I didnt learn japanese earlier! But its never too late I guess :D
At 75, I hope you are right. So far, I have passed third year college Japanese, but still cannot speak. Over the summer, I have been using WaniKani on and off. I just discovered this video by accident tonight. Ate there more videos; I think this one is very entertaining (altho sometimes a bit slow) and instructive, and would like to see more.
stanley f. Levine
If you’re still learning, watch Cure Dolly. She teaches the way grammar is in japanese, fundamentally.
same
I regret that I didn't continue my studies. After 2 college semesters and 6 months in Japan, I was pretty good back in 2005. And I wish I'd pursued Japanese translation. Instead I went for Tibetan and Tibetan translation, which I don't regret, but I wish I'd also kept up my Japanese studies. Tibetan translation is not a very good field to work in, at least as your main job. But luckily I'm still not that old, 38, and I have a good memory, so I actually remember a great deal of Japanese and am excited to go forward with it.
It’s too late when your dead. Then you can’t learn anything.
I’m Japanese. My job is to check medical statements so I still encounter many kanji with yamaidare 疒. I’m still learning new kanji even after reaching my adulthood.
One of the most important thing IMO is to pace oneself. I've come to realize it sticks in my brain when I don't pressure myself to learn X amount of kanji per day or for a certain date.
I learn a couple kanjis when I feel like it and diversify my learning by doing other japanese-related things when I don't feel like it.
I'm in the middle of grade 2 right now (plus a couple common kanji) and although my pace when it comes to kanji has diminished lately, I'm still very happy with the progress so far. We have to remember that learning a language is a lifelong marathon and not a short sprint, enjoying the process of discovery is what ultimately is gonna make language-learning a sustainable endeavour IMO.
Keep up the great work, I'm loving every minute of this journey that you have helped me kickstart!
How are you doing now? How's your Japanese? Just curious
I am just chatting with people on HelloTalk and whenever they write a Kanji I don't know, ill look it up. Its amazing how many of them I have learned like this in a quite short while (of course not to write them by hand with stroke order, but i have no interest in that, I want to be able to read them and type them, thats all)
@@amarug that's quite interesting. Just out of curiosity, How long have you been studying kanji?
@@alexandersonmei I only started learning Japanese this January and ignored Kanji for the first two months completely. So I really am quite new, but exactly considering that, it makes me really happy when I manage to read a 15 line long response without having to look up anything (doesnt happen that often, but it does happen :) )
@@amarug Yeah I also get that sense of pride when I was able to understand. Even if it's only one single sentence! :D (The moment I realized I was "superior" than most people lol)
I'm also new btw haha. Just started this last month when corona took over my country. Now in the middle of grade 2. Good for you man! Keep it up! :D
8:35 *brain lags for a few seconds* / *eyes are white* / *regains consciousness* / "Now I know kanji"
...show me...
Nice reference.
Prove it.
interesting points ,if anyone else trying to find out how to speak japanese online try Sovallo Amazing Japanese Fixer (should be on google have a look ) ? Ive heard some interesting things about it and my m8 got excellent success with it.
Very true
RE: why is 円 pronounced 'yen' in English?:
Apparently it is a relic of the Hepburn romaji system which placed a y before all vowels, also resulting in Yedo (for Edo) and Yezo (for Ezo, the old name of Hokkaido).
Interestingly, Old Japanese included the sounds 'yi' and 'ye', but they died out (merged with the 'i' and 'e') before kana was created. In fact, there were also the sounds 'wi' and 'we' which indeed did survive long enough to be granted kana representation (ゐ・ヰ and ゑ・ヱ) but are no longer in use since the reformation of the orthographic system in the 20th century.
Interesting! I always had assumed it was the what the N made the "e" sound like a YE. I am aware of ゐ and ゑ but never knew about the Hepburn romaji system affecting how we still refer to the money system. Nice work.
Interesting comment. Now I understand why the merchandise from the Ueno Park Hard Rock Café reads "Uyeno Eki" instead of "Ueno Eki", which would be a more accurate transliteration.
kingratt82 Shouldn't it be Uyeno Yeki?
Thanks. Didn't know that.
I suppose you're right: it should be "Uyeno Yeki" if they were consistent. But I'm looking at my HRC Uyeno Eki shot glass right now, and I guess consistency wasn't what they were going for.
I'd been contemplating getting Kanji From Zero 1 for a while and it was this video that caused me to get it, it arrives tomorrow and I can't wait! After my last Japanese class and we were going over essays we'd written (it's mixed ability) and someone called my essay "cheating" after I used kanji, it just made me wanna learn more!
Hello, I just want to say that your videos are timeless. 3 yrs ago and still very applicable and valid. I like your style of teaching. I watch some of your videos to supplement my online classes in beginner japanese. Thanks for all these videos!
3:00 教育漢字 is the subset of 常用漢字. So 常用漢字 doesn't 934 characters. The slide of the Power point should be:
1-6 (1006, 教育漢字)
7-9 (常用漢字 - 教育漢字 = 1130)
You're an amazing teacher!
don't worry guys I am pretty sure that i and most Japanese people are only able to write let's say a half of jouyou kanji. It's totally ok as long as you read them and roughly get the meaning of them.
Important thing is that kanjis are ideographic letters, meaning if you know the meaning of them you can read through the paragraph super quickly and so instinctively.
That is true a lot of the time pine2pine3, I've found I can get into trouble if I'm presented Kanji with little context sometimes though...
The amount of Kanji you realise that you have to learn at first can be intimidating but it's good to know that it's not something to worry about. 2000 Kanji, from which you need to know a good set of kanji. 6 years: Kyo iku Kanji (1006) then Jyo you kanji (934) (+ the other 904).
So glad for your video! I have been studying and memorizing Kanji for the past few months and I have been feeling really frustrated at my slow progress. It's refreshing to learn how long it takes native Japanese people to learn the different characters, and that it will take me a good amount of time to get to their level.
28:10 行 is a pictograph of a crossroad, it has an original meaning or road or to go, but that was 1000 years ago, which its usage has changed over time. It went from walk -> operate/carry out/perform -> able to do x, which is why 行 today is "okay" ie "i am able to do whatever you proposed" or basically "okay"
Its other meanings also kinda follow this, 銀行 "an operator of silver/finance"
Stretches the mind abit to determine the use of 行 but its 1000 years of change so, it wasn't immediate.
I pursued Japanese and Mandarin consecutively during college but found I preferred the instruction of Japanese at my institution over Chinese. I concur with you that learning one aids in the acquisition of the other. Although I’ve ended my academic studies, I still make attempts at keeping up Japanese in my leisure. Because my parents’ native language is in the Sino-Mien-Yao language family, I sometimes find cognates in their (our) language and the on-yomi of Japanese/Mandarin. Those Chinese were prolific!
30:57 You can use 小鳥（ことり） for Small Birds , but commonly can't use 子鳥（ことり）for Child and Baby Birds. So Please use ひな（雛） for Child and Baby Birds. 子鳥 is very limited usage for it.
I bought the Kanji from Zero book and these videos are super helpful as supplementary and revision material! Thank you!
41:42 In linguistics, it’s called ‘allophones’.
First off, thank you for sharing the video, I'll be buying you book(s) soon as I just discovered your material yesterday. I've been studying kanji for a grand total of 24 hours now and I love every bit of it. I started with kanji and will go in reverse to Hiragana and katakana next week (I know that's out of order, but, as I mentioned in another comments section, I think I saved myself from what I will coin as "kanji shock" that people seem to get after studying the aforementioned characters and then starting kanji).
Secondly, I would like to add some encouragement to anybody who feels like this can be overwhelming:
Don't be afraid of the "thousands!" For example, think about how many songs you know. I wrote a song years ago that - not counting repeated lines - has 224 words. If you know 20 songs of that fairly short length (and most people know FAR more than that!), you know 4480 details and can readily recall them!
Or think about all the video games you could walk somebody through step by step, down to knowing even where different decorative pieces are. If you cook, think of how many dishes you could just go right to the kitchen and slap together almost robotically. You can easily learn (*not* memorize!!!!!!) thousands of details if you apply yourself. You already do, whether you knew it or not; so don't be afraid and don't feel overwhelmed. Good luck everyone!
There's a few language systems that actively teach language through making "songs" out of language...there's the concept of "singlish" also.
In Sweden we have 3x3 years of primary school ages 7-15. 3 years of the lowest stage then 3 years of the middle stage (middle school) and then 3 years of the high stage (junior high). Then we have 3 years of high school called gymnasium, which isn't mandatory but it's free and everyone takes it. And then we have University studies which are also free. They even pay us to study. They did that before as well but then the parents got it.
You're literally the best Japanese teacher on UA-cam and your website and books are ultra helpful when it comes to learning Japanese. I tried learning Japanese 3 times but failed every time. Your UA-cam channel pushed me to study Japanese to my fullest extent. I finished your Kanji From Zero book but I still enjoy your content and insight! Thank you so much!
大 still reads as dai in cantonese
円 reads as yuan in chinese
Lee it is read as dai in Japanese as well depending on the word.
E.g. 大好き
Lee In mandarin it's pretty much pronounced (da)
大 reads da in mandarin
Lee It’s the same in 大丈夫, or “daijobu”.
Kanji was created in China, middle Asia, Mongol, Korea, Vetnam and Japan and assembled in China. 窓 means window, there are more than 10 regional characters. Most of the Japanese letters were affected by 呉 or 南宋 dinasty, China. In modern day 呉 is somewhere around Canton.
So many of letters sounds like 広東語 Cantonese. Greetings from Tokyo.
46:28 :) this joy of the language is what keeps me learning from George
When you say Chinese , it would better to said Mandarin ( recent chinese ), because it may
pronounce the same way in one of the various southern Chinese dialects which has retained much more the middle( old) Chinese pronunciation! In Chinese hakka, we still same 'tai' not 'da' to say "big'
"A lot of people are throwing up right now, I appreciate that."
I lold
Hey man, I really appreciate what you do. I went through your entire video series on Japanese From Zero in like a month since I was addicted and it really gave me the head-start I needed in understand a lot of sentence structure and grammar concepts that eluded me before (the u-tsu-ru song has helped me a load as well and is always in my mind with conjugation xD.) Keep up what you do man you have really helped a lot of people and I admire the amount of passion you put into what you do!
ジョージ先生、いつも楽しい動画をありがとうございます！I always enjoy your channel to study English and to learn how to teach Japanese. 29:08 Actually we sometimes say “中学” like “来年、娘が中学に入学します。” It means “My daughter is going to enter junior high school. “ I don’t know why but “校” just drops here. 🤷♂️ But we certainly say “中学校” which sounds more polite.
1:54 It’s probably because japanese people already know how to speak Japanese. They use the words from kanji on a daily basis. They have time to learn kanji, since they already use them. On the other hand, we foreigners don’t know how to speak Japanese.
Hi George - thank you, thank you, thank you .... finally, someone who actually says learning kanji takes a long time! I'm British and I've been learning kanji for a couple of years and started taking the kanji kentei tests along the way. I also have shodou classes every couple of weeks and that's incredibly satisfying ... something about being able to get really deeply into the minutia of the strokes is just, well, therapeutic. Actually, I've started combining my other hobby, photography ... using
long exposure photography to write kanji characters in the air with glow-sticks. I took a practice kanji kentei test earlier this evening, I've got a test on Sunday ... scored 75% ... and need 80% to pass the test. As I said to my Japanese friend, "Winston Churchill said, 'Success is going from failure to failure without losing your enthusiasm.'" ... that's kind of how I view learning kanji ... sure, it takes time, but damn it, I love it ... and so, it really doesn't matter about how long it takes ... as long as I enjoy it, I'll stay enthusiastic ... and that's going to get me there ... eventually.
Can you imagine if we were still learning new English letters in HIGH SCHOOL? OMG. I think maybe I've bitten off more than I can chew in trying to learn Japanese! I love hiragana and katakana, it's the kanji that makes me not sure about continuing to learn.
Nefrai Laysh Well If you think about it, kanji are the building blocks of words and can be words themselves. It like learning new words in English class everyday
@17:25 In 大夫 there is Dai reading, however it is the only exception. "Daifu" which means a doctor. I guess it comes from old Chinese reading then.
大夫 isn't one I have seen for Chinese. I have seen 医生 (yishang) for doctor though.
Yeah, Daifu and yisheng are related to the same profession. I was just lucky to learn both of them. I just found that interesting and worth sharing :) And btw, I am studing Chinese now thanks to you, because you metioned that in one of your viedos (mb 1 year ago). I enjoy studying both Japanese and Chinese.
Thank you for uploading videos on youtube.
George can I recommend Nciku.com? It's really good for learning new words in simplified Chinese. I only use it for new words then I have to change it to traditional.😁😁
+Learn Japanese From Zero!
大夫 and 醫生 are both doctors.
大夫 is the more ancient way of saying doctor.
大夫 is more polite. Like when you are visiting the doctor you would call him/her 大夫. 医生 is used to refer to the job or a third person.
i dont think kanji necessarily means someone knows a lot about speaking Japanese, but it helps with reading which helps with learning more Japanese.
this video really motivated me, in that it contextualised kanji learning for me, which was quite liberating. I bought Kanji from Zero, but also the Japanese kids book you held up! Both are great.
George, why are you getting younger ? how ? what are you drinking man ?
Ikr?
japanese tea
that's what I thought!! I thought this was a really old video
Adrenochrome maybe
Gym from Zero, when do we expect that
Never.
YES LMAO PERFECT IDEA
I found a book that could be great for understanding why Kanji represents what they do. The book is "The Key to Kanji: A Visual History of 1100 Characters".
Dear George I really respect your extraordinary work and talent for teaching languages
you're right. The Chinese readings are usually more similar sounding to the words in Chinese dialects rather than Mandarin (because Chinese dialects are closer to the ancient spoken Chinese as compared to Mandarin)
We wouldn't have to suffer with kanji if only Japanese just put SPACE between their words.... 😭😭😭
The thing about trying to rush yourself learning things like Kanji....it may be true that Japanese people have a year to learn each group of them. But that's while they're kids and have nothing else to do but go to school and enjoy life. We're mostly all adults with responsibilities and less years left under our belt. We don't have that kind of time to spend a whole year learning another 200 Kanji.
Thats why I'm glad your books exist. Your methods are great and proven to work in a short amount of time depending on the person.
20:21. Actually you can read two kanji that are put together in onyomi only when they’re Japanese last names, because Japanese last names are always in Kanji (most of the times).
The problem with learning things in groups, is that you (probably) also remember them in groups...
Hi there, bought your book. Just wanted to tell you how much i love your teachings! Your an amazing teacher and speaker ! ❤
I would say the idea of "learning" kanji is also quite objective. They are lot easier to read than to write. They are also a lot easier to read in context than out of context. I once asked a Japanese friend "how many kanji do you know" and he said "how many words do you know in English"?
Great video. This is my very first lesson in kanji study and yet he makes everything so understandable.
26:24 I see you're predicting the future there... you said korona
🤣🤣
I just bought that exact same Kanji Book for Kids like a week ago 😂 it's really handy and interesting. Also I just found your channel and a few of your earlier Videos helped me understand why I was struggling with Japanese for so many years. So thank you for that. I really appreciate the existence of your content.
Darleen Rebecca
Can you give me the name or the link please
JapFrost Sure 小学漢字 1006字の正しい書き方 www.amazon.co.jp/dp/401010855X/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_apa_ObjwAbFS1KWEV
Fun fact: The Japanese and Korean versions of the Chinese pronunciation have been used to help reconstruct what middle Chinese sounded like since it came into those countries when that was what was spoken in China. Course it's not perfect as it's not exactly what the Chinese people they learned it from spoke and rather it's what they heard. Aka a guy coming and telling you his name is "Han", but to your ear it's "Kan" so that what you call him.
As a Cantonese speaker and traditional character user, I find Kanji the easier part when learning Japanese. Even though Japanese Kanji usually has two or more pronunciations, it's still relatively easy compared to the 9 tones in Cantonese. And once you grasp traditional Chinese characters well, Japanese Kanji is a piece of cake.
That's interesting and good to hear. I've heard some say the opposite, that it's easy to get them mixed up and makes it harder. I guess it depends on the person, or how you approach it, or something. I think once somebody has a framework and basic understanding, it's easier to work with and learn new ones, even if it's a different language. Similar to how learning weird spellings of German or something might come more naturally if somebody has a background in a language with arbitrary spellings (like English), though it might still be a pain, just not as much. But also I've seen Germans mix up spellings for words that are very similar in both languages. I've seen it and been like, "Ha, your native language is German, huh?"
You do realized that once the Japanese students graduated and out of school. Most of them use electronic nowaday to automatics input the kanji with hiragana, and they are not able to recall the kanji to write it. Surveys had been done in Japan. Forgot if it's Nobita or Yuta that did the surveys.
such good contextual explanation!
2:11 It is the case for the most of China except for Hong Kong where we use Traditional Chinese and and we have a different dialect as well. Rather than China and Hong Kong sharing similarities in language, it's actually Taiwan and Hong Kong sharing similarities from what I have seen. I could be wrong since I am from Hong Kong.
Are you planning to write continuation of Kanji book? So you cover all kanji taught at school? all 2136 signs?
That wld be really great. Definitely I'd be the 1st one to buy all these books!
22:23-22:33 WHAT?! I WAS DYING LAUGHING!!!
I dont believe you
@@FR_N-do4xi lol
around 24:15
high school is tall school but high school which is 高校 is actually literally means high school. 高is tall but also has meaning of "high"
+Yuko's Japanese time
In Cantonese, it is also 高校-gou haau.
In Mandarin it is 高中-gao zhong.
at 23:10 you say naka by itself is not read as chu by itself but on a menu the beer size is written simple as chu
extraordinary work of teaching. like a linguist and I loved it. a lot.
This look is so hardboiled George, this outfit is such a contrast to your Japanese from Zero series, I just can't hold myself back from complimenting it. Dark eye circles, mild apparent weight loss, rectangular glasses, oxford shirt, beard, silver watch, and the slight depressed expression.
I ordered KFZ! It will arrive wednesday and I am super excited!
30:01 wow, that's you!! Amazing. I had watched some of those videos about 11-12 yrs ago. It's deja vu all over again. :)
George you are awesome. Thanks a lot for all these vídeos. I have been following you for a year so I consider you an uncle. We love you. My japanese is getting better everyday with all your great teaching ideas. 💪😎🇯🇵
You are so fun! I'm a begginer in Japanese and you make it so easy.
Thank you George for your wonderful books and videos... Your comments make so much sense. Japanese have many years to learn grammar and Kanji... and already have a huge vocabulary before attending elementary school. So why do Japanese Language Schools expect students to be N1 or N2 in 18 months to 2 years... (starting from barely knowing hiragana). I loved my year in Japan at school, (albeit it was during Covid), but the speed at which I was expected to learn all aspects (including handwriting) of the Japanese Language really detracted from the whole experience. Thanks for your videos and books, which have got me back on the Japanese learning trail...
Your Channel is awesome! Gearing up for my study abroad trip to Japan, and you’ve been a big help!
Arigato gozaimasu Trombley-sensei. I live in the states and have no intention of moving to Japan but am studying Japanese on my own so I can explore parts of Hokkaido that tourists never see. Say-oh-nah-rah!
This is one way they figured out Cantonese is the most conservative Chinese dialect and resembles ancient spoken Chinese most closely. The Japanese pronunciation matches Cantonese most among Chinese dialects. The word "大" is indeed pronounced "dai" in Cantonese.
Best Japanese courses I’ve found. Thank you 😊
“here’s my korean friend”
~ad plays
This video is very useful for leaning English for Japanese. Thanks for share.
damn this guy has truly devoted himself in a professional way to japanese
you're funny and a good teacher, deserved subscriber.
9 YEARS TO LEARN ALL THE KANJI?
woah
Nvm then 😄 hiragana and katakana does it
Hmmm... "Anime"-styled woman on the cover. I buy the book.
LMAOOO
I'm using Wanikani (SRS).
I'm level 13/60 (started in August). I'll be finished in less than 2 years at my current rate. My big problem is writing which I don't do nearly enough. You can get over all of the kanji in about 3 years (plus thousands of vocabulary and the radicals). Writing them will be a pain though and honestly not that much of a priority if you're not going to be writing on paper.
Edit: Yeah, this came out addy as fuck but SRS's seem like the obvious choice when you look at the alternatives.
Excellent ad for WaniKani. We have billed your account accordingly.
try writing out the sentences in the vocab parts and download some scripts like the stroke pattern one
WaniKani is great! Hands down.
wani kani not having the option to write the kanji is a big negative. It's like learning to read english, but you can't spell.
Writing is overrating... and I mean it... I did't write in years (I am disabled, so writing is hard for me) and I was able to pass two universities. But to be honest, if I could write, I probably would. But I a said, its not that important.
29:00 In some situation, 学 is omited, like in「中学入試」「中学生」「中学受験」「小学生」
6:30 but there is only 9 videos now :/
FYI, in Hawaii, it is 6/3/3 years for the elementary/ middle(intermediate)//high school. Thanks
Can't wait to add kanji from zero 2 to my collection! あなたの本をよむのを楽しみにしています、ありがとうございます😍😍
Please correct me if anyone sees this, ありがとう🙂
27:05 「～中」っていうのは一般的に「書き言葉」ですね。確かに話し言葉では一般的ではありませんが、全く使わないというものでもありませんね。
口語体と文語体が混在するのも難しさの一つですよね。
英語で日本語を学習する奇異な感覚は新鮮でした。楽しく見させていただきました。
因みにワタシは elementary school までアメリカ在住経験のある native Japanese です。
For me it's 4 years of elementary, 2 years of middle school, 2 years of Junior high, and 4 years of high school.
A great video. Thanks for sharing
This is for myself because I'm going to revisit this video several times.
15:50
At 8:58 if you squint your eyes you see nothing but a bunch of squares
I'm learning Chinese alongside Japanese and the week that I learned pinyin, I focused mostly on Chinese and it stuffed up my pronunciation of しょしゅしゃちゃちゅちょ a fair bit.
Thank you for mentioning this. Was wondering, as I have a short Chinese crashcourse still ahead of me 😊
48:56. 目下is mùxià in Mandarin and means ' at present, currently'. 目前 is mùqián in Mandarin and also means ' at present, at the moment. 目今 is mùjīn (mu4 jin1) and means ' at present, nowadays '.
Happy Singh 你说的是哪里的汉语？从没听说过哪个中国人说或中文书籍有【目下】、【目今】这种词语
henry fon, CEDICT or Pleco dictionary app
我是中国人，对于这种词语我不需要查字典吧。而且我的专业就是研究汉语言文学……和【目下】最接近的词语是【眼下】，因为在现代汉语里【眼】就是【目】，所以你要是强行说【目下】是一个词语勉强说得通。但【目今】这个词并不存在于现代汉语中。事实上，【目下】和【目今】只在古汉语和近代汉语中出现过，现代汉语并不使用这两个词
henry fon, xie xie nin.
Edit - I just got a chance to translate what you wrote. I just want to clarify that you are not being asked to check that dictionary. I was just mentioning the dictionary where I found these words. In a good English dictionary, it usually tells you if the word usage is antiquated. Unfortunately, the Pleco did not mention that these are not currently in use.
Henry Fon xian sheng, since your major is Chinese language & literature, may I ask a question about 大. According to the same dictionary, the readings are "dà (or dài, tài)". I know da and dai, but I don't know where it is used as tai because the dictionary doesn't give an example. Could you please let me know if there are any words currently in use where the reading is tai. or is tai an antiquated reading? xie xie nin.
So helpful
23:07 How about when ordering things in restaurants when there are different sizes? For example, coffee 小 - 中 - 大
I believe they use エス (S), エム (M), エル (L) for that respectively.
Thank you for the video. 17:20 大 is read as da or dai in Chinese Mandarin depending on the context. You are right that it is mostly read as da. However, it is read as dai for example , in 大夫 (dai4 fu - doctor) and a few other words. It also has the reading of tai, but I haven't come across any specific words where it is read as tai.
Interesting. I have never heard of it as anything but DA so far.
Learn Japanese From Zero! Actually that brings up a question about learning techniques for kanji/hanzi. When we come across an individual character, we learn the meaning and also some compound kanjis/hanzi and their associated reading and meaning. But when we come across a compound kanji in which both (or all) kanji are new, in your experience/view is it better to learn the new compound as a word and move on, or is it better to learn each individual kanji that make up the compund even if they are not commonly occurring ones? Thank you.
P.S. Regarding DA, DAI, while studying Mandarin, you may have studied compound kanji starting with 大, but somehow that may not have included 大夫 . BTW, does Japanese have this word?
No wonder you look and sound so familiar to me. I realised after seeing your George and Keiko clip. Was a huge fan! What happened to Keiko san? 頑張れジョージさん！
行 is used for 'go' in Chinese, e.g. 步行 take a walk
1:15 yes it is a 9 year long process to them however that doesn't mean it should take an keen japanese learner 9 years to do. For example, in germany we learned english starting at 3rd grade. After 10 years of english I've had a guy in class that still pronounced "water" like "waiter" and that's because he never showed interest in learning english. I can assume there are a fair share of students in japan that hate studying kanji just like some students hate studying in general. Therefore it's a bad comparison.
There's also different approaches, such as Heisig method that can speed things up.
And can we call the language "Asisperanto"?
23:07 中 by itself can be read as chu(ちゅう) sometimes depending on context.
29:04 You can't say 小学 instead of 小学校, but you can say 中学 instead of 中学校.And 高校 is more common to use than 高等学校.
I'm Japanese, so believe me.
I'll take your word, but why did you watch a kanji video when you know that already?
OK believed. Thanks for the correction.
15:05
I think the kanji wasn't really "鳥" but "烏" instead (the 6th one in the 1st row counted from the right).
If so, it doesn't mean bird!
(They look similar though)
5:30 These lessons are so immersive that I swear you were going to pull out a flip phone like my teachers back in the day.
lol u apologise for the old video for not being 4k, internet is so slow here that I cannot even stream 4k.
+TheKnownPersona Our world society & industry is so far from being ready for 4K. It's gonna take another 10+ years before it becomes the norm.
I was watching youtube at 240p all the time now.
Heck, you're learning Chinese, too?
I thought I was a special kinda crazy dabbling in Japanese, Korean, and Chinese
Language Pepe Me! But I gave up on Japanese months ago.
Me too but adding french, it's a pain in the ass but I don't care.
JUST LEARN IT MAN がんばろう ! !
Learn one of the three and the other two get exponentially easier to handle
DREAM LAND I was forced to learn french this year in my last year of highschool, so I made I deal with the teacher which was that I would learn Japanese in her class, and that'd be my grade in the class, as long as I was reading and doing my work she wouldn't bother me or my grade.