A lot of people are asking "how long would it take to learn japanese?" But this a wrong question. The correct question should be "how can I enjoy this?" Because being fluent with the language will really take a long time. It's like going in a long distance ride where its really boring but what you can do is to decide not to be boring and eventually you will get there. 👍
AJATT is the most powerful system but simply immersing willy nilly is much slower than immersing with input at a certain percentage of comprehensibility. It might be 10% or 30% or 60%, but there is an optimal level of comprehensibility where you will progress fastest, and it isn't 0% or 1% or 2%. Commercials and infomercials make the best immersion for this reason, if you can enjoy them, because the content is designed to be maximally understandable with a lot of helpful visuals, repetition, clear pronunciation, and clear logic -- plus you have a lot of automatic context, like that it's trying to sell you something, or that a pizza commercial will talk about toppings, prices, discounts, piping hot, fun times with family, 30 min or your money back, etc.
Comprehensive input will definitely help you solidify your knowledge and learn more words from context. However, I think if your comprehensible input is things like kids shows, then you’re going to end up hating your immersion more than if it’s a difficult show where you like the plot at least. If you’re a true beginner, the best bet is for a show you’ve already seen, or to spoil the plot before you watch it. I think commercials help too, but at the beginning it’s generally going to be tough to understand anything, so building the habit is going to be super important for the entire journey in general.
@@ryacw Agreed. The trick is to find the right level of comprehensibility for each stage. And kids shows are boring. For me infomercials can be fun, but I'm weird :)
Just hit ~N5 level after many years of starting and stopping learning and losing my progress and watched a movie fully in japanese last night and was shocked at how much I got out of it. Can't wait to do more focused immersion even if it's tough. Keep up the videos, love watching them :)
That area you walked through is really cool - houses, rice fields, and industry all coexisting together. Whenever the going gets tough in your studies, you can look back on videos like this one to remind you of the good times and the possibility of an awesome future in Japan. Any folks who say teenagers have an advantage at AJATT are just making excuses. I think whatever the age, it comes down to the individual and whether or not they have the burning desire, commitment, and willingness to sacrifice and persevere.
I am 79 and moved from Torrance California to Japan last year because my (Japanese) wife wanted to take care of her mom. Many people here seem to be focusing mainly on conversation and listening when it comes to studying Japanese, but you will not waste time studying the kanji either. You can do that wherever you are living now, and it actually has a lot of practical value when you come to Japan. Then you can read the signs and follow the summary of the news on Japanese TV. I don't think there are any shortcuts. Just study how you feel like and don't get stressed wondering if you are doing the most efficient thing. Life is longer than you think. Marrying a Japanese woman is one approach, and I am happy with mine, but never forget that women all over the world are still women and have much in common despite whatever cultural differences there may be. PS to the ladies: no insult intended. I think you are fabulous.
Good video man. I've actually decided to stop with the extensive textbook study (I do still study though) and go in this same direction! The logging hours just adds to stress and other obligations like work and school are real hurdles. You're right, it's just about getting that consistency and being 'present of mind' while the immersion is going on. My fluency jumped up this year and I didn't even realize until I went back to Japan this year. I was just there for 2 weeks (it looks like the same time as you!), and was surprised by the amount of conversation I could have this trip. I'm planning trips every year for certain activities I'm involved in. I'll be back there next year too so I'm going to keep down this path and see what happens.
Are you already fluent in Japanese? :3 I've just begun earlier this year (Japanese), and the concept of AJATT makes me giggle only because I haven't seen an acronym for complete immersion for any of my other languages. And it seems that the people who do it, take it very seriously. I haven't see this level of obsession and dedication in my other language communities, so it is fun. If you aren't fluent, may I ask: are you comfortable speaking, or do you understand most of what you hear? How long have you been doing AJATT for? How long have you lived in Japan? (I assume this is where you are.) Also, when did you begin to feel comfortable reading books (if you have)? With all the kanji, it seems like it would be nice if there were more audiobooks, but I hear there isn't a large audiobook culture in Japan. What do you recommend for a beginner? Lastly, do you happen to speak any other languages? Thanks. Nice video and awesome scenery.
I’m not “fluent” but that word has a variety of meanings so I’ll try to explain my level: Because AJATT is all input, I understand way more than I can speak. The whole idea is to fully build understanding through reading and listening, then convert that ability to output. My reading is way better than my listening because I believed that it’d be easier to comprehend because you can take your time. And then you go into pure listening after that, but I most commonly do a type of immersion where I have a show with the subtitles and a pause for each subtitle, read it, then play the audio and keep going. As for output, it’s really not that amazing, I can speak and hold conversations but there’s clearly some points where there’s something I want to say but I can’t convey it naturally. I usually never translate in my head when I speak. I started in September 2023 but I got burnt out from January 2024-April 2024 so not all 10~ months were equal. I also don’t live in Japan (yet), I just went for 2 weeks. I started reading as soon as I learnt hiragana and used texts with furigana. Of course I didn’t really understand everything but I would just look for the words I did know at the start and not worry too much about the whole meaning. I did do an RTK (remembering the kanji) 3 month phase to learn all the kanji when I started. That made learning the meaning of the kanji easy and I could pick up the reading when I saw the furigana. This comment is already super long but if you’re a beginner, most of my videos are aimed towards starters, so you can click around and see what’s most helpful to you. I took Italian in school but can’t speak it lol. Thanks for the comment.
@@ryacw i feel like AJATT requires some level of autism, weaker forms are just called immersive learning but that itself is a strong tool that everyone should be using, that took way too long for me to discover.
The right way to "immersion" is to read the text/subtitles while listening, correct me if I'm wrong. Still a beginner, dunno when I will suddenly stop, much to my worry. But you know, discipline can overcome everything, at least from my belief.
So there’s different ways to immerse but that’s one of them - that one is like freeflow immersion (watching the show with the subs running and listening). I’ll make a better video about this soon lol
No, reading subtitles completely defeats the point. Your brain will almost completely ignore the job of puzzle-solving the audio if you have the meaning served to you by other means. However, it fine to watch an episode with subtitles and then watch it without. What you want to do is FORCE your mind to work out the puzzle of the audio meaning but also to make that partially understandable by knowing the context, characters, presentation style, sense of humor, etc. of the show but just not knowing the content, or if you're a beginner just not knowing the content that well.
I personally prefer no subtitles until I am intermediate. That way my listening skills are very strong. Then I find that reading complements listening, when I have already become a little comfortable with the language. Everyone has their different preferences though.
I really agree on the time tracking bit- I even tried to stay distraction free, phone across the room, going through japanese courses. I realised after a month that the course I had been sinking hours into was just not that good for me, the time was not well spent, I should have been more focused on what I was actually getting from it it's hard to know that as a beginner, though
what a superb neighborhood for a stroll! 1 - you have no advantage because you're a teenager, you do have a huge advantage by living there though. As someone who also learned english to fluency and is trying to pick up japanese, with what I have now I would give myself roughly a year to reach fluency living there. 2 - how much is one of those big houses with the big gardens?
I don’t live here (yet!) but I think those houses are around $200,000 USD, plus some repairs probably. Might be wrong but it’s not bad compared to western house prices…
A lot of people are asking "how long would it take to learn japanese?" But this a wrong question.
The correct question should be "how can I enjoy this?" Because being fluent with the language will really take a long time.
It's like going in a long distance ride where its really boring but what you can do is to decide not to be boring and eventually you will get there. 👍
AJATT is the most powerful system but simply immersing willy nilly is much slower than immersing with input at a certain percentage of comprehensibility. It might be 10% or 30% or 60%, but there is an optimal level of comprehensibility where you will progress fastest, and it isn't 0% or 1% or 2%. Commercials and infomercials make the best immersion for this reason, if you can enjoy them, because the content is designed to be maximally understandable with a lot of helpful visuals, repetition, clear pronunciation, and clear logic -- plus you have a lot of automatic context, like that it's trying to sell you something, or that a pizza commercial will talk about toppings, prices, discounts, piping hot, fun times with family, 30 min or your money back, etc.
Comprehensive input will definitely help you solidify your knowledge and learn more words from context. However, I think if your comprehensible input is things like kids shows, then you’re going to end up hating your immersion more than if it’s a difficult show where you like the plot at least. If you’re a true beginner, the best bet is for a show you’ve already seen, or to spoil the plot before you watch it. I think commercials help too, but at the beginning it’s generally going to be tough to understand anything, so building the habit is going to be super important for the entire journey in general.
@@ryacw Agreed. The trick is to find the right level of comprehensibility for each stage. And kids shows are boring. For me infomercials can be fun, but I'm weird :)
@@ThePallidor hi, where can I find such content to watch?
Just hit ~N5 level after many years of starting and stopping learning and losing my progress and watched a movie fully in japanese last night and was shocked at how much I got out of it. Can't wait to do more focused immersion even if it's tough. Keep up the videos, love watching them :)
That area you walked through is really cool - houses, rice fields, and industry all coexisting together. Whenever the going gets tough in your studies, you can look back on videos like this one to remind you of the good times and the possibility of an awesome future in Japan.
Any folks who say teenagers have an advantage at AJATT are just making excuses. I think whatever the age, it comes down to the individual and whether or not they have the burning desire, commitment, and willingness to sacrifice and persevere.
This man never stops walking
Ong
places to be
Damn that's crazy, you're younger than AJATT itself. Say what you want about Khatz, but the impact the man had is wild.
6:00 he's right its the most difficult, and I'm not super far into my process of learning, but it is also the most effective!
I am 79 and moved from Torrance California to Japan last year because my (Japanese) wife wanted to take care of her mom. Many people here seem to be focusing mainly on conversation and listening when it comes to studying Japanese, but you will not waste time studying the kanji either. You can do that wherever you are living now, and it actually has a lot of practical value when you come to Japan. Then you can read the signs and follow the summary of the news on Japanese TV. I don't think there are any shortcuts. Just study how you feel like and don't get stressed wondering if you are doing the most efficient thing. Life is longer than you think. Marrying a Japanese woman is one approach, and I am happy with mine, but never forget that women all over the world are still women and have much in common despite whatever cultural differences there may be. PS to the ladies: no insult intended. I think you are fabulous.
Good video man. I've actually decided to stop with the extensive textbook study (I do still study though) and go in this same direction! The logging hours just adds to stress and other obligations like work and school are real hurdles. You're right, it's just about getting that consistency and being 'present of mind' while the immersion is going on. My fluency jumped up this year and I didn't even realize until I went back to Japan this year.
I was just there for 2 weeks (it looks like the same time as you!), and was surprised by the amount of conversation I could have this trip. I'm planning trips every year for certain activities I'm involved in.
I'll be back there next year too so I'm going to keep down this path and see what happens.
Are you already fluent in Japanese? :3 I've just begun earlier this year (Japanese), and the concept of AJATT makes me giggle only because I haven't seen an acronym for complete immersion for any of my other languages. And it seems that the people who do it, take it very seriously. I haven't see this level of obsession and dedication in my other language communities, so it is fun.
If you aren't fluent, may I ask: are you comfortable speaking, or do you understand most of what you hear? How long have you been doing AJATT for? How long have you lived in Japan? (I assume this is where you are.)
Also, when did you begin to feel comfortable reading books (if you have)? With all the kanji, it seems like it would be nice if there were more audiobooks, but I hear there isn't a large audiobook culture in Japan. What do you recommend for a beginner?
Lastly, do you happen to speak any other languages? Thanks. Nice video and awesome scenery.
I’m not “fluent” but that word has a variety of meanings so I’ll try to explain my level:
Because AJATT is all input, I understand way more than I can speak. The whole idea is to fully build understanding through reading and listening, then convert that ability to output. My reading is way better than my listening because I believed that it’d be easier to comprehend because you can take your time. And then you go into pure listening after that, but I most commonly do a type of immersion where I have a show with the subtitles and a pause for each subtitle, read it, then play the audio and keep going.
As for output, it’s really not that amazing, I can speak and hold conversations but there’s clearly some points where there’s something I want to say but I can’t convey it naturally. I usually never translate in my head when I speak.
I started in September 2023 but I got burnt out from January 2024-April 2024 so not all 10~ months were equal. I also don’t live in Japan (yet), I just went for 2 weeks. I started reading as soon as I learnt hiragana and used texts with furigana. Of course I didn’t really understand everything but I would just look for the words I did know at the start and not worry too much about the whole meaning. I did do an RTK (remembering the kanji) 3 month phase to learn all the kanji when I started. That made learning the meaning of the kanji easy and I could pick up the reading when I saw the furigana.
This comment is already super long but if you’re a beginner, most of my videos are aimed towards starters, so you can click around and see what’s most helpful to you. I took Italian in school but can’t speak it lol. Thanks for the comment.
@@ryacw i feel like AJATT requires some level of autism, weaker forms are just called immersive learning but that itself is a strong tool that everyone should be using, that took way too long for me to discover.
The right way to "immersion" is to read the text/subtitles while listening, correct me if I'm wrong.
Still a beginner, dunno when I will suddenly stop, much to my worry. But you know, discipline can overcome everything, at least from my belief.
So there’s different ways to immerse but that’s one of them - that one is like freeflow immersion (watching the show with the subs running and listening). I’ll make a better video about this soon lol
No, reading subtitles completely defeats the point. Your brain will almost completely ignore the job of puzzle-solving the audio if you have the meaning served to you by other means. However, it fine to watch an episode with subtitles and then watch it without. What you want to do is FORCE your mind to work out the puzzle of the audio meaning but also to make that partially understandable by knowing the context, characters, presentation style, sense of humor, etc. of the show but just not knowing the content, or if you're a beginner just not knowing the content that well.
I personally prefer no subtitles until I am intermediate. That way my listening skills are very strong. Then I find that reading complements listening, when I have already become a little comfortable with the language. Everyone has their different preferences though.
i don't think there is a right way. as long as you're integrating it into your daily life you're doing fine
I really agree on the time tracking bit- I even tried to stay distraction free, phone across the room, going through japanese courses. I realised after a month that the course I had been sinking hours into was just not that good for me, the time was not well spent, I should have been more focused on what I was actually getting from it
it's hard to know that as a beginner, though
what a superb neighborhood for a stroll!
1 - you have no advantage because you're a teenager, you do have a huge advantage by living there though. As someone who also learned english to fluency and is trying to pick up japanese, with what I have now I would give myself roughly a year to reach fluency living there.
2 - how much is one of those big houses with the big gardens?
I don’t live here (yet!) but I think those houses are around $200,000 USD, plus some repairs probably. Might be wrong but it’s not bad compared to western house prices…
I can't wait to coIonize and spread my jeans with my new language super powers.
Don’t spread your jeans too much they will tear
Why havent you done it in english? 🤣
朝の散歩ですね。
Which city is this
Fukuoka
@@ryacw I’m headed there soon. Any towns you recommend to get visuals like this?
Generally the smaller districts and towns in the east and north like kasuya, sakado, nata, etc
@@ryacw thank you sir