Hi everyone! Another resource I recommend you check out is JapanesePod101 ( bit.ly/japanese-pod-101 ) which has TONS of Japanese lessons for students of all levels. A free account gives you access to hundreds of audio and video lessons with text transcripts. It's a great resource. I'm an active member on several Pod101 sites, and I hope you'll enjoy them as much as I do! (Full disclosure: if you sign up for a premium account, Langfocus receives a small referral fee. But if I didn't like it, I wouldn't recommend it, and the free account is pretty good on its own!)
Mr. Tanaka is Mr. Smith hiding out in Japan. I always thought they were picking on the poor guy too but it apparently is one of the most common, if not the most common family name in Japan.
Seeing you do well as a self-taught Japanese speaker is so motivating. As someone who started learning Japanese roughly 2 months ago I want to thank you. This makes me want to study it even more. Greetings from Austria, keep up the good work.
Have you made much progress? I've been studying like... 2.5 months maybe and I notice progress, but it's very tough and slow. I am still dedicating time to learn every day though.
@@user-pd6bd7ir4z This. If you study a language for long enough you will eventually learn it. Most people fail not because it is outside their abilities, but because they give up too soon.
I just watched the video in which you talked about 3 things you love about japan it was sooooo cool. you are so talented and hardworking! so proud of you
My tip is: Learn Hiragana (the standard japanese script) in about 2 weeks, and then learn the language with Minna No Nihongo. The book is 100% written in Japanese, but there is also a translation & grammatical notes book besides it. I'm studying with it right now, and it's especially good if you can study it with someone else to the the conversation exercises
Reading Hiragana can be learned in one day. Maybe handwriting of it is to be learned in 2 weeks (not so important if you use some IME on your tablet). Real time-absorbing thing is kanji.
traditional textbooks (well made ones of course) are the way to go. Language course in a class is great too of course. But dont ever trust those dumb adverts that claim to teach you a language in 3 months or something. They're all scam. The key to learning a language is determination and time.
textbooks and formal classes are definitely not a way to go ... small minority of people enjoy and can learn it that way. I've learnt two languages from watching movies and playing games .. so just a bunch of exposure
Textbooks are generally one of the most effective ways to learn a language, at least to an intermediate level (1000 most common words and basic grammar), but only if you remain consistent with your studies. Unless you’re using a very old textbook, most textbooks come with audio CDs, MP3s or even online audio, which can also greatly improve your listening and speaking ability. However, in addition to textbooks, I would also recommend using flashcards and online tutors as these can help with memorising vocabulary and improving your speaking skills, respectively. Online tutors can also tell you what you need to improve on and give you feedback, which you can’t get from a flashcard or a textbook. For flashcards I would recommend Anki and for online tutors I would recommend italki.
A bunch of us went out for dinner. My date was a Canadian woman. At the end of the evening she said," I went all evening without saying, "eh" once." "Pretty good, eh?"
I think people who write language self study materials should actually try learning a language through self-study first. Then maybe they wouldn't make some of the obvious mistakes they do. For example putting Japanese script and romanized text on top of one another, so with all the best will in the world you just end up reading the latin characters. They should be on opposite sides of the page. And all the banging on and on about greetings and politeness. Yes of course it's important but it gets so boring -- and then you realise that by lesson 5 you can't even say something as basic as "the dog is in the garden" !!
I am surprised you did not mention the Genki series. I am a beginner and i love the way Genki transitions from one lesson to the next. What are your thoughts on it?
its because he hasn't used it. He can only advice upon books he has used. A person cannot use all books. But I do agree with you that Genki is best for beginner level.
Very interesting. And I think you understand Japanese language and East Asian languages very accurately - I am a native Japanese (Kansai dialect is my own home language) and have many friends of native speakers of Mandarin Chinese, Korean, and Filipino (Tagalog). One point I'd like to suggest for this clip that you use a strange kanji font on its thumbnail - it seems to me that it is an awkward Kaisho font (楷書, the most formal script written with a traditional pen), whose strangeness is quite odd to Japanese like us (if you pick up a beautiful and aesthetic Kaisho font then I will appreciate rather). I suggest to use MS ゴシック or メイリオ (standards for MS Windows users) or something familiar to native Japanese when referring to Japan.
In my experience, only a relatively small number of Westerners living in Japan achieve fluency, many give up or never really go past the intermediate level, as they stop learning kanji, which are the key to literary Japanese.
Thanks for the nice suggestions! I have started learning Japanese about half a year ago. As a native Dutch speaker it was really hard to find good Dutch - Japanese materials so I had to resort to English - Japanese books. So far I have been using "Genki 1: An integrated course in elementary Japanese" and part 2 and I can really recommend these as well for beginners and intermediates (part 2). For Kanji I have been using 'Remembering the Kanji" from Heisig. It's a really nice method but still Kanji are quite tough to remember for me so if there are any other good materials I would be really interested.
Hey, thanks for this :D A lot of my mother's family is from Japan and I've wanted to learn it for a while but was discouraged by how complicated people said it was.
It's true that it's a complex language and VERY different from english, but it's so beautiful and interesting, so if you have some motivation or interest I think you should at least check out the basics and if you can find a goal it will help you! I've been learning japanese for almost 2 years now and even if it can get a little bit frustrating sometimes because there's a lot to learn, I still think it's worth it and I really enjoy learning it. :)
+Sakura11 yeah Japanese is a very nice language. The honorific speech and different. speech styles are rather unique. It's a lot of work but it's worth it. There is much stuff that comes from Japan , definitely gives one an edge knowing this language.
Think the series of "みんなの日本語‘ is much more better for the learners if they want to start from basic to very high level,and do not need to search some other materials. you guys probably know the feeling will be so bad when you changed your language textbook.
genki is great, I am using it right now. its really well made and has a lots of practical language as well as the reading/writing and listening comprehension section and a workbook. I am guessing Paul didn't mention it because he didn't use it himself. Also, from what I hear, Genki is mainly used at colleges/unis and with adults OUTSIDE of Japan. Minna no nihongo is popular INSIDE Japan. That might be the reason...
+sak0 to some extent you could say that just about any book. The point of a text book (a good one) is that you have all the stuff you need nearly packed together saving you the trouble of searching online all the time. I personally strongly dislike online resources as a primary source of learning. A good textbook gives you a foundation, online resources are useful as an addition later on. And of course for listening/reading practice.
If you are intermediate level Japanese learner who's able to conjugate Japanese verb and know some basic kanji and intermediate level expressions then just enjoy Japanese dramas. If you enjoy them with Japanese subtitles you can even enhance your reading skill and kanji, too. ;-)
I first learned with Japanese for Busy People book, and found it highly enjoyable (kana version highly recommended, as you say). I would also suggest the Remembering the Kanji books (by James Heisig). Extremely clear and enjoyable mnemonic methods for learning to recognize and read kanji characters. The author claimed to learn all of Joyo kanji in just 1 month of full time study. That was pretty impressive for me. It probably took me more like a couple of years, but still I found it extremely helpful. Lately I noticed a greatly improved, updated edition of a different book Complete Guide to Japanese Kanji: Remembering and Understanding the 2,136 Standard Characters (by Kenneth Henshall) which looks very impressive to me now. It is more of a reference book, but also has both mnemonics and etymologically accurate references to some of the best Japanese sources.
Integrated approach to intermediate Japanese is a little tough of you are going from Minna no nihongo to IAIJ, (like me) but it's very rewarding. Also, the conversations are interesting and relatable.
That's so cool that you self taught yourself Japanese. I'm studying it in college right now. We use the Genki series textbook for our class. I like it and it makes it fun to learn also. We use the integrated approach to integrated Japanese book. I'm only in elementary Japanese right now but I'll be in intermediate next semester.
Japanese For Busy People was also my first Japanese textbook (and I was 13 at the time lol). I got up to about 1/3 of the 3rd book and really enjoyed it. When I started taking Japanese in college we used Genki, which pretty much has the same layout as Japanese For Busy People, and also enjoyed it (I think there are only 2 books though?). When I got to my upper level Japanese, we started using Tobira: Gateway to Advanced Japanese. I didn't like it as much just because the format was really different (sorry, I can't give details right now because I don't currently have it on me) that we haad to actually learn how to use the book. But I would definitely suggest Japanese for Busy People or Genki (I say "or" because they're super similar).
The only books I've ever used are the 'living language' books. I still have my old one I bought around 2000. The thing came with a dictionary, cds, and even has a reference grammar in the back. I recently bought a set from living language for Korean. I got CDs, a book about hangul, and a very rudimentary course book. I didn't even get a dictionary with the thing. The series seems to have gone severly downhill since I first got into it. Luckily, I still have all of my old books. Still, I'm not sure how effective it is. I haven't really tried anything else.
I've been fairly passively learning Japanese for a while now and occasionally run into a class of word which English does not have analogs for. Japanese words such as Kira kira, Koro koro, mogo mogo. nyuki, nyuki. They seem to always be duplicated and frequently seem to have associated gestures. They're almost like Onomatopoeia except they are definitely not sounds, but more like captions. I don't really know how to explain what they are or how to even research them. Might make a neat subject of a video for you.
I use Minna no Nihongo. We used it in an elective Japanese course in uni (in Germany) and it turned out every big bookstore in Japan has it on the shelf. Sadly the Course was stopped after the first 10 chapters because of to small Student numbers and now I am continuing by myself and with language tandems.
Are you going to introduce Russian? I'm Japanese, and studying German and Russian. If you know sth about learning Slavic languages, please teach me! ところで、あなたの日本語めっちゃ上手いっすね！ビックリしました！
Hola Paul! ¿puedes hacer un video analizando este idioma? los retos, cuales cosas se hacen muy dificil y cuales se hacen facil? sobre la gramatica y más. para ayudar gente que lo piensa estudiar pero no tiene ningún idea sobre los retos y más.. Gracias Paul! Eres simplemente lo mejor : D
Would you ever do a similar kind of video, but about the Arabic language? I tried a few books and I never even got through the learning-how-to-write section, because I felt it was a real mess (I mean the methodological aproach of the book's authors, not Adjad itself).
After discovering this channel about a week ago, my motivation to learn Japanese has been reinvigorated. =) That being said, I'm just (re)starting out. About how long does it take the average Japanese learner to pass the JLPT N5? Eventually I'd like to spend a semester abroad (or a few months abroad if I'm out of school) in Japan, as I'm hoping to someday work in trans-Pacific finance and business
Thanks. Comments on the focus though are only useful if you're talking about my last few videos, because I've been working on improving that. This video was filmed with an entirely different camera.
Hey! Thanks for taking the time to make these videos. You give a lot of great information for language lovers. I'm a native English speaker and I'd like to major in Japanese with hope of becoming a translator when I graduate. However, I've read several articles from Japanese majors stating that undergraduate curriculums are so slow that they don't teach students well enough to be fluent in a four year time period. As someone who's lived in Japan for many years, what is your take on this? Do you feel that majoring in Japanese would be a waste of time? Thanks!
Hey there langfocus, I really like your channel ! I wanted to ask you if you could do a video like this one for the ض language ! I've been learning it for a little time now and I would love trying other books. I have a book from the Harrap's edition (it's in French) that I really like because it translates not just the idea but how the language is spoken as well. For exemple the sentence "this is the street" = "haadhaa huwa ch-chaari" they translate it "this he the street" to pass on the way of thinking. I was wondering if you knew some good books/website that would be in the same idea of teaching. Maybe also, good arabic flash cards to share in the anki app with the words pronounced ??? Or maybe just advice on how to learn it. Movies too, I'll take anything. Thank you for this video, I want to learn japanese too and it will probably be my next language focus ! Keep posting those amazing videos !
Meera Khan がんばってね！if you already learned hiragana, you could find this helpful: I'm making short kanji animations with mnemonics to remember them in an easy way ヽ(´▽｀)/
+Langfocus lol, I meant Tsukuba daigaku SFJ (situational functional japanese). it was a set of three volumes each one with a book for situational drills and another for conversations only... am most people in my town in mexico used that one. great memories...
Thanks for the recommendations. I am trying to advance to intermediate. Thanks for the chukyu kara manabu nihongo recommendation. There appears to be a brand new edition out there ISBN 978-4327384654. I like structure in learning and I've found that focusing on the JLPT has helped focus me on Japanese. Otherwise I'm like "what's my goal here. Full fluency?" That's a very frustrating, distant goal to reach for. But the JLPT gives you some stepping stones and confidence along the way. Also since the JLPT is such a big industry, there are lots of good books to study for each level that I found very useful. There are good CDs with the books that you can read scripts along with to work on pronunciation and comprehension. Some of the books from ASK publishing are almost works of art in terms of layout and organization. Studying for the JLPT exposes you to mostly formulaic Japanese, but you can switch back and forth to more natural materials.
Love your videos, I'm slowly going through all of them. One question though to anyone who can help, because I intend to learn Japanese through self study, if I'm an absolute beginner and have only started learning hiragana and katakana for a few weeks, and my vocabulary is very very limited, should I buy a textbook that is all in kana so as not to rely on a "crutch" like you said? Will I be able to make sense of anything or I should just practice more kana and improve my vocabulary online first? Also how should I prioritize learning these: just random words to improve vocabulary, grammar, should I start learning kanji early on or it's better if I leave it till later? Thank you
Hello Paul. I'm studying Japanese on my own with Pimsleur, have gone thru half of Part I. So, I study on my own and several questions came up. What would be the materials for those who can't read Japanese yet? Does Japanese for Busy People series (as well as Nakagawa's and Minna No Nihongo's series) help with learning how to read and write? Or you'd recommend something else? Thank you for your advice.
Wow, i thought u only learning tagalog but also nihongo...Ako ay filipino na nakatira dito sa bansang Japon, at ikinagagalak kitang makilala-Yorushiku Onegai Shimasu.
Can confirm on using Roman letters as a crutch. I used Rosetta Stone and always used Roman letters until I couldn't anymore. Now I'm really behind on the writing.
I have been trying to learn Japanese since a year now, but I always stopped learning for reasons and then returning to it... But I hope this time I'll finally focus and learn it at the end ;-;
+Todor Nikolov (ToshiCG) Hey Todor! Well, I think all Japanese people`s problems with English stem from not learning proper English phonology. If they really put a few weeks into kicking the phonology`s ass and eliminating katakana pronunciation, that will make everything else a lot easier too. My theory is that everything in a language is associated with (or anchored to) its phonology, so if you use Japanese phonology to speak English your mind will constantly fetch Japanese vocabulary, grammar, and cultural mindsets so there will be lots of interference. I`m not sure if she really wanted to know, but that`s what I really think. :)
i like this video and i really think that this video is very helpful. also i want to know if there is any video of the same kind for french. i am a beginner in french language and i want to know which are the best materials to teach myself french. so i would really like a video on that topic or some information maybe. :)
+james sullivan if you speak about the book, i bought it and it was kinda cool at the beginning and i definetly learned some, but i lost the interest in the book pretty quick, though i think you can learn a lot if you stick to it :D
I learnt about 600 of the Jōyō Kanji in a month; so I definitely would say it's great. The combination of learning primitives before learning complex Kanji, along with making use of imaginative memory, was far more effective than the rote learning I was previously encouraged to use.
As a Japanese, I would say that watching "Anime" is the easiest way to learn the language. It's fun, simple and you will never get tired. However, the problems are that, you can't learn the formal/proper Japanese and you will be learning the writing system separately. By the way, does anyone know a way to rapidly increase my English vocabularies? I've been reading English-Translated manga to increase my English vocabularies and I have no problem with it but, when it comes to be a novel, I always suffer by the vocabularies. Thx
konichi wa , im from portugal, i speak spanish and english, and portuguese obviously. well im anime addicted, got in to it early 2015, and know i can say some simple things and words, im realy inlove with japanese and korean,im thinking on taking classes.. how i learned english? well not in school, i learnt it by playing online games, and watching lots of tv shows , with no subtitles, or subtitles if u find it easier, i highly reccomend u to try it!!
Thank you MrWazzaza. I think I was choosing the book that just simply doesn't match my English level. As you said, I will try to read more books in order to get used to the feeling of "English novels" and I will try to accumulate much more English vocabularies. Once again, thank you for giving me a constructive advice and I wish you to have a great year!
If you can read hiragana and katakana, then you can study by yourself, since all the kanjis use furigana. Sometimes I get stuck in vocabulary, but google helps; not only that, but the exercices have images that help you understand what is being shown. The books that I have don't help you with kanji, but they do help with basic grammar structures and understanding. It seems the book also starts using only keigo (formal speech), then it slowly becomes lee formal. I recommend it.
I'm sooo new to learning japanese. I'm a teenager and where I live there aren't any japanese teachers. I been really loving this language and I'm trying to do my best at self studying it, though I would really appreciate if somebody could give me a rough guide of what I should focus on (I'm trying to reach an intermediate level so that then I can practice with native people and reading manga). I've already kinda learned both kana, and I'm not sure where should I continue
When are you going to make a video addressing Kanji study? (Eager college student here who currently relies on self study bc my university doesnt offer japanese)
Arden H if you already learned hiragana, you could find this helpful: I'm making short kanji animations with mnemonics to remember them in an easy way. がんばってね
Christopher Agha kanji are just little drawings with hidden interesting (sometimes creepy) tales in them. If you already learned hiragana, you could find this helpful: I'm making short kanji animations with mnemonics to remember them in an easy way ヽ(´▽｀)/
I made another comment on this but when I tried learning Japanese with Rosetta Stone I made decent headway with hearing and speaking (and it's really good for that if you're learning alone) but I made the mistake of using Roman letters which impeded my progress with the writing system. And I'm not sure it does a good job at teaching you to read and write anyway.
+Xgckl the problem with rosetta stone and Japanese is that it uses polite Japaness only. Which is very unhelpful as in Japanese you need to be aware of various speech styles and the , quite severe, distinction between formal and informal. Rosetta stone seems okay for European languages but i found it very akward to use for languages like Chinese or Japanese as the sentences are often directly translated from English which is not helpful at all.
Victoria Alvarez がんばってね！if you already learned hiragana, and need help with kanji, you could find this helpful: I'm making short kanji animations with mnemonics and vocabulary to remember them in an easy way ヽ(´▽｀)/Buena suerte
Thanks for this video, i love the culture japanese, i am brazilian and i will try find that book in portuguese, really thanks, by tips and suggestions of the books.
Are there any good grammar texts out there? I found that I can learn all the words I want, but unless I know how they fit into a comprehensible sentence, the verbage is useless. I learned German that way - grammar, then nouns, then verbs, then everything else fell into place. Thanks :)
I started learning japanese about a year ago, but got overwhelmed by the kanji and grammar rules and I ended up giving up. Recently I've decided to start again and I've started by refreshing my knowledge of Hiragana and Katakana. Do you have any recommendations whatsoever to stay motivated once I get to the level where I need to start learning Kanji again? I really want to learn Japanese, I appreciate and like a lot of aspects of their culture and in a near future my desire is to visit Japan and be there for some time be it 2 months, 6 months, a year whatever. I would really like to visit being able to speak Japanese (I have about 2 years before visiting is even possible, because of college. Hopefully by then I've learned enough.)
Listening practice. Before that though, I would recommend Tae Kim's guide for Japanese grammar. As for Kanji, just start learning them right away. Oh, and get Anki. It's an intelligent flash card program that will not only help you learn Japanese, but ensure you never forget what you've learned. Make sure you practice writing as you study. Pay attention to stroke order, they do matter! (Once you've learned a couple hundred characters, you will be able to write new Kanji the first time you see them.)
Larissa Furniss Thank You! I will be looking into both the guide you suggested and the Anki. This time I'm pretty serious about learning Japanese so I'm sure they'll be helpful.
Well, I haven’t been focusing on studying Japanese constantly. I just use it, so my level is probably the same as in 2015. I’m focused on a different language at the moment, and I’m especially focused on building this channel. But someday I’ll really focus on Japanese again and take it to as high a level as I can.
Hey langfocus! I have a question here, how do you actually go about using these books?? Do you just seem to work through them to getting yourself exposed with the language but you don't actually spend too much time with them? I am confused because I've heard alot of people saying you shouldn't stay with a book too long while beginning the language!
I always worked through the books while getting frequent speaking practice outside of the books. For me that meant doing language exchanges and socializing using Japanese. Now that I’m older and have a bit more money and less free time, I do online lessons with Skype. Just casual conversation practice, basically, so that I have a chance to practice what I study in the books. It’s not Japanese, currently. I haven’t actively studied Japanese for a long time, I just use it with my partner. Well, we alternate one week of English then one week of Japanese.
@@Langfocus wow ok that's awesome that you get to do that with your partner:) and thank you for the fast reply ! I watch you all the time, love the content everything you put out is the best quality xD. So just to make sure you pretty much would work through your books and use the content in there as supplementing while you also practice with native speakers and such anyway that could ? Thanks so much!
Hi Paul -- If you're familiar with them, where would the Genki textbooks fit on the spectrum you described? Would the first Genki textbook overlap with An Integrated Approach to Intermediate Japanese? I've been looking for a more engaging text to work from.
+Joshua Link An Integrated Approach to Intermediate Japanese is published by the same company I believe, and I've seen it referred to as "Genki 3" before, the progression between them generally being Genki I -> II -> IAIJ
Wow really great @@ After 20 days the the exams will end ,me and my friend will begin seriously learning the japanese language, So thank you very much for your helpful video. + Can you post a video about how to memorize kanji @@?
kuro tamashi Thanks for the comment, Kuro tamashi! I`m glad to hear you`re interested in Japanese. It`s a fun language, especially because Japanese people are great. And most of them don`t speak much English, so if you come to Japan your Japanese will be immediately useful. About kanji ... yeah I`ve been thinking of making a video on that subject. If you want to be very systematic about it, look into Heisig`s "Remembering the Kanji". It won`t teach you everything, but it will help you learn the meanings of the kanji. It takes focus and consistency though.
Langfocus Np + not just the peoole, the language itself it's like an art of sound for me xD . I don't really know how to describe it xD Yup that is my plan ^^.. Got it, and i will try my best thanks really man. I hope to see more video soon, and good luck ^^
It wouldn’t be worth the effort unless all of my videos were reviews like this. It would probably net me around $1 a year from this video. Amazon pays 4%, which is nothing on a $15 book.
Is there anything that teaches you grammar along side kanji? also have you heard of Remembering the Kanji, I have seen people recommending it that it is an amazing way to learn kanji but i do not know if it teaches you grammar along side it. I know some basic grammar but I definitely more practice with it so yea.
+AvatarMaster9x Yeah, I completed the Remembering the Kanji course by Heisig. It's very effective if you do it consistently and follow all the instructions. But it only teaches you the meaning and stroke order of kanji, it doesn't teach the pronunciation of kanji or how to use them in sentences.
Minna no Nihongo has this problem that you need 2 books to study them as 1 book... めんどくせな！ I'm grateful we have a UA-cam Japanese course (in Spanish, sorry) lectured by Kira Sensei which I think it's been pretty useful to me. I'm supposed to read Minna no Nihongo simmultaneously which I'm not doing cause I think the videos are enough. I'm probably lacking a lot of vocabulary cause of it though
Do you teach english for Japanese people? How hard it is for them as their language is for us? I can imagine it should be easy because we have less character, but still, can it be hard for them?
Ismael Kafeltz I think the harder part for them is grammar and pronunciation. Japanese lacks a lot of sounds present in English and it can be really hard for them to learn how to speak them properly. Plus, English has a massive vocabulary so they have to learn a lot of words to understand things without them being simplified.
If I remember right, Genki is made by the same company that made that Intermediate book you showed. Even the font is similar. Also, it's good, though I wish they would cut down on furigana with kanji we should already know.
if u come to japan, then just do google where do language exchange face to face. cuz Japanese literary hesitates to speak stranger(even if Japanese person) unfortunately
Cristhian Luque if you're interested in learning kanji, you could find this helpful: I'm making short kanji animations with mnemonics to remember them in an easy way ヽ(´▽｀)/がんばってね
Hi everyone! Another resource I recommend you check out is JapanesePod101 ( bit.ly/japanese-pod-101 ) which has TONS of Japanese lessons for students of all levels. A free account gives you access to hundreds of audio and video lessons with text transcripts. It's a great resource.
I'm an active member on several Pod101 sites, and I hope you'll enjoy them as much as I do!
(Full disclosure: if you sign up for a premium account, Langfocus receives a small referral fee. But if I didn't like it, I wouldn't recommend it, and the free account is pretty good on its own!)
Who is Mr. Tanaka?! Anywhere I try to learn Japanese, I always end up practicing sentences about Tanaka
Tushar Mohan search Tia Tanaka videos on google.
lmao that's true and funny that you say that
田中さんがいます。😂
Mr. Tanaka is Mr. Smith hiding out in Japan. I always thought they were picking on the poor guy too but it apparently is one of the most common, if not the most common family name in Japan.
Keep practicing, I'm sure one day you will be introduced to him.
Seeing you do well as a self-taught Japanese speaker is so motivating. As someone who started learning Japanese roughly 2 months ago I want to thank you. This makes me want to study it even more. Greetings from Austria, keep up the good work.
+MrUntrollable I have been studying Japanese for almost a year now. It is a very beautiful language. good luck!
the key is to keep going.
これは何?いちご Your name is hilarious XD XD XD
Have you made much progress? I've been studying like... 2.5 months maybe and I notice progress, but it's very tough and slow. I am still dedicating time to learn every day though.
@@user-pd6bd7ir4z This. If you study a language for long enough you will eventually learn it. Most people fail not because it is outside their abilities, but because they give up too soon.
I just watched the video in which you talked about 3 things you love about japan
it was sooooo cool. you are so talented and hardworking! so proud of you
+saeideh rad Thanks! I appreciate the compliment. :)
+Langfocus yeah you are very good at languages, that definitely took a lot of work, awesome videos!
My tip is: Learn Hiragana (the standard japanese script) in about 2 weeks, and then learn the language with Minna No Nihongo. The book is 100% written in Japanese, but there is also a translation & grammatical notes book besides it. I'm studying with it right now, and it's especially good if you can study it with someone else to the the conversation exercises
Reading Hiragana can be learned in one day. Maybe handwriting of it is to be learned in 2 weeks (not so important if you use some IME on your tablet). Real time-absorbing thing is kanji.
traditional textbooks (well made ones of course) are the way to go. Language course in a class is great too of course. But dont ever trust those dumb adverts that claim to teach you a language in 3 months or something. They're all scam.
The key to learning a language is determination and time.
@Nazik Adam yeah but 5-6 hour of studing the same thing is not good u will even forget quickly
I study 2 hour a days japanese
textbooks and formal classes are definitely not a way to go ... small minority of people enjoy and can learn it that way. I've learnt two languages from watching movies and playing games .. so just a bunch of exposure
Textbooks are generally one of the most effective ways to learn a language, at least to an intermediate level (1000 most common words and basic grammar), but only if you remain consistent with your studies. Unless you’re using a very old textbook, most textbooks come with audio CDs, MP3s or even online audio, which can also greatly improve your listening and speaking ability. However, in addition to textbooks, I would also recommend using flashcards and online tutors as these can help with memorising vocabulary and improving your speaking skills, respectively. Online tutors can also tell you what you need to improve on and give you feedback, which you can’t get from a flashcard or a textbook. For flashcards I would recommend Anki and for online tutors I would recommend italki.
The way he says "about' 99.9% sure he is Canadian lol
I don't know what you're talking aboot!
A bunch of us went out for dinner. My date was a Canadian woman. At the end of the evening she said," I went all evening without saying, "eh" once." "Pretty good, eh?"
He is.
you know many canadian people say it that ironically
his face reminds me of a canadian punk band vocalist propagandhi 😂
I think people who write language self study materials should actually try learning a language through self-study first. Then maybe they wouldn't make some of the obvious mistakes they do. For example putting Japanese script and romanized text on top of one another, so with all the best will in the world you just end up reading the latin characters. They should be on opposite sides of the page.
And all the banging on and on about greetings and politeness. Yes of course it's important but it gets so boring -- and then you realise that by lesson 5 you can't even say something as basic as "the dog is in the garden" !!
I am surprised you did not mention the Genki series. I am a beginner and i love the way Genki transitions from one lesson to the next. What are your thoughts on it?
what is it a website or app?
Its a book series. "Genki"
well, Paul simply didn't use the book himself so he didn't mention it.
its because he hasn't used it. He can only advice upon books he has used.
A person cannot use all books.
But I do agree with you that Genki is best for beginner level.
There are apps made the the publisher but they each cost $5.
日本語は面白いです
Very interesting. And I think you understand Japanese language and East Asian languages very accurately - I am a native Japanese (Kansai dialect is my own home language) and have many friends of native speakers of Mandarin Chinese, Korean, and Filipino (Tagalog). One point I'd like to suggest for this clip that you use a strange kanji font on its thumbnail - it seems to me that it is an awkward Kaisho font (楷書, the most formal script written with a traditional pen), whose strangeness is quite odd to Japanese like us (if you pick up a beautiful and aesthetic Kaisho font then I will appreciate rather). I suggest to use MS ゴシック or メイリオ (standards for MS Windows users) or something familiar to native Japanese when referring to Japan.
In my experience, only a relatively small number of Westerners living in Japan achieve fluency, many give up or never really go past the intermediate level, as they stop learning kanji, which are the key to literary Japanese.
+arrotoxietak Yes, it's quite hard to build a significant vocabulary without knowing kanji.
Thanks for the nice suggestions! I have started learning Japanese about half a year ago. As a native Dutch speaker it was really hard to find good Dutch - Japanese materials so I had to resort to English - Japanese books. So far I have been using "Genki 1: An integrated course in elementary Japanese" and part 2 and I can really recommend these as well for beginners and intermediates (part 2). For Kanji I have been using 'Remembering the Kanji" from Heisig. It's a really nice method but still Kanji are quite tough to remember for me so if there are any other good materials I would be really interested.
Hey, thanks for this :D
A lot of my mother's family is from Japan and I've wanted to learn it for a while but was discouraged by how complicated people said it was.
It's true that it's a complex language and VERY different from english, but it's so beautiful and interesting, so if you have some motivation or interest I think you should at least check out the basics and if you can find a goal it will help you! I've been learning japanese for almost 2 years now and even if it can get a little bit frustrating sometimes because there's a lot to learn, I still think it's worth it and I really enjoy learning it. :)
+Sakura11 yeah Japanese is a very nice language. The honorific speech and different. speech styles are rather unique. It's a lot of work but it's worth it. There is much stuff that comes from Japan , definitely gives one an edge knowing this language.
Totally agree :) ( sorry for the late reply, but I fell the same)
Think the series of "みんなの日本語‘ is much more better for the learners if they want to start from basic to very high level,and do not need to search some other materials. you guys probably know the feeling will be so bad when you changed your language textbook.
No Genki??
My sister studies japanese and she uses this one :)
genki is great, I am using it right now. its really well made and has a lots of practical language as well as the reading/writing and listening comprehension section and a workbook.
I am guessing Paul didn't mention it because he didn't use it himself. Also, from what I hear, Genki is mainly used at colleges/unis and with adults OUTSIDE of Japan. Minna no nihongo is popular INSIDE Japan. That might be the reason...
いちご これは何?
Yes, I think you're right. In fact, in other Japanese video, people mention properly this book 👍
+sak0 to some extent you could say that just about any book. The point of a text book (a good one) is that you have all the stuff you need nearly packed together saving you the trouble of searching online all the time. I personally strongly dislike online resources as a primary source of learning. A good textbook gives you a foundation, online resources are useful as an addition later on. And of course for listening/reading practice.
The integrated Approach book he mentions for the intermediate level is the same publisher as Genki and is meant for using right after it
I love drawing and animation so my ultimate method of learning japanese is going crazy with manga and anime!
I love this video, it's really useful! I'm currently teaching English in Ukraine, but I am very interested in teaching in Japan in the future.
I'm currently self-teaching myself Japanese so thank you for this, very helpful!!!
If you are intermediate level Japanese learner who's able to conjugate Japanese verb and know some basic kanji and intermediate level expressions then just enjoy Japanese dramas. If you enjoy them with Japanese subtitles you can even enhance your reading skill and kanji, too. ;-)
I first learned with Japanese for Busy People book, and found it highly enjoyable (kana version highly recommended, as you say). I would also suggest the Remembering the Kanji books (by James Heisig). Extremely clear and enjoyable mnemonic methods for learning to recognize and read kanji characters. The author claimed to learn all of Joyo kanji in just 1 month of full time study. That was pretty impressive for me. It probably took me more like a couple of years, but still I found it extremely helpful. Lately I noticed a greatly improved, updated edition of a different book Complete Guide to Japanese Kanji: Remembering and Understanding the 2,136 Standard Characters (by Kenneth Henshall) which looks very impressive to me now. It is more of a reference book, but also has both mnemonics and etymologically accurate references to some of the best Japanese sources.
Integrated approach to intermediate Japanese is a little tough of you are going from Minna no nihongo to IAIJ, (like me) but it's very rewarding. Also, the conversations are interesting and relatable.
That's so cool that you self taught yourself Japanese. I'm studying it in college right now. We use the Genki series textbook for our class. I like it and it makes it fun to learn also. We use the integrated approach to integrated Japanese book. I'm only in elementary Japanese right now but I'll be in intermediate next semester.
Japanese For Busy People was also my first Japanese textbook (and I was 13 at the time lol). I got up to about 1/3 of the 3rd book and really enjoyed it. When I started taking Japanese in college we used Genki, which pretty much has the same layout as Japanese For Busy People, and also enjoyed it (I think there are only 2 books though?). When I got to my upper level Japanese, we started using Tobira: Gateway to Advanced Japanese. I didn't like it as much just because the format was really different (sorry, I can't give details right now because I don't currently have it on me) that we haad to actually learn how to use the book. But I would definitely suggest Japanese for Busy People or Genki (I say "or" because they're super similar).
The only books I've ever used are the 'living language' books. I still have my old one I bought around 2000. The thing came with a dictionary, cds, and even has a reference grammar in the back. I recently bought a set from living language for Korean. I got CDs, a book about hangul, and a very rudimentary course book. I didn't even get a dictionary with the thing. The series seems to have gone severly downhill since I first got into it. Luckily, I still have all of my old books. Still, I'm not sure how effective it is. I haven't really tried anything else.
im learning japanese, yay
i know hiragana, katakana and the main radicals
٩( ᐛ )و and how is it going after a year? are you still studying?
I've been fairly passively learning Japanese for a while now and occasionally run into a class of word which English does not have analogs for. Japanese words such as Kira kira, Koro koro, mogo mogo. nyuki, nyuki. They seem to always be duplicated and frequently seem to have associated gestures. They're almost like Onomatopoeia except they are definitely not sounds, but more like captions. I don't really know how to explain what they are or how to even research them. Might make a neat subject of a video for you.
I use Minna no Nihongo. We used it in an elective Japanese course in uni (in Germany) and it turned out every big bookstore in Japan has it on the shelf. Sadly the Course was stopped after the first 10 chapters because of to small Student numbers and now I am continuing by myself and with language tandems.
Are you going to introduce Russian? I'm Japanese, and studying German and Russian. If you know sth about learning Slavic languages, please teach me!
ところで、あなたの日本語めっちゃ上手いっすね！ビックリしました！
I can help you with Russian but I need help with Japanese
You can write me on facebook.com/Evnius
I'm German and I'm trying to study Japanese. Did he do enough on German languages that you're ahead on your progress there?
you are studying those two at the same time?good for you!
天々座理世
Well he's been living in Japan for 12~13 years :)
I find materials released by Kodansha are really good. they have a Kanji learners dictionary, and a book just on particles that I found really useful.
Hola Paul! ¿puedes hacer un video analizando este idioma? los retos, cuales cosas se hacen muy dificil y cuales se hacen facil? sobre la gramatica y más. para ayudar gente que lo piensa estudiar pero no tiene ningún idea sobre los retos y más.. Gracias Paul! Eres simplemente lo mejor : D
ケベック市に住んでます。あなたのチャネルを見付けたところ。僕は言語をはまってるね。さって、嫁は日本人だから二年前日本語を勉強して始めました。色々材強を使いましたでも初めにNHK Worldの授業をした。このビデオを見ながらちょっとおかしいと思った。For busy peopleと同じみたいです。今、六百漢字ぐらいを知ります。この学び方のおかげさまでいっぱい単語を習います。上に僕も新聞、漫画、等を読みます。それはいい訓練ですね。一つ問題が残ります。アニメを見て時、聞くやすいですも映画やテレビ番組を見たら時々全然分かりません。どうしよう！ありがとうございます。
+Martin Fortin 「材強」とはどういう意味しますか。
間違ったごめんね。教材を書きたかった。
Would you ever do a similar kind of video, but about the Arabic language? I tried a few books and I never even got through the learning-how-to-write section, because I felt it was a real mess (I mean the methodological aproach of the book's authors, not Adjad itself).
I learnt Arabic and there are standard books in India
BTW where are you from?
After discovering this channel about a week ago, my motivation to learn Japanese has been reinvigorated. =)
That being said, I'm just (re)starting out. About how long does it take the average Japanese learner to pass the JLPT N5? Eventually I'd like to spend a semester abroad (or a few months abroad if I'm out of school) in Japan, as I'm hoping to someday work in trans-Pacific finance and business
Great stuff. I really appreciate your videos and am inspired by your zeal for languages. Keep it up! I'd love more videos in Japanese!
Love your videos. One technical suggestion, use manual focus when you are recording, so the camera does not hunt for focus
Thanks.
Comments on the focus though are only useful if you're talking about my last few videos, because I've been working on improving that. This video was filmed with an entirely different camera.
Hey! Thanks for taking the time to make these videos. You give a lot of great information for language lovers. I'm a native English speaker and I'd like to major in Japanese with hope of becoming a translator when I graduate. However, I've read several articles from Japanese majors stating that undergraduate curriculums are so slow that they don't teach students well enough to be fluent in a four year time period. As someone who's lived in Japan for many years, what is your take on this? Do you feel that majoring in Japanese would be a waste of time? Thanks!
Hey there langfocus, I really like your channel !
I wanted to ask you if you could do a video like this one for the ض language ! I've been learning it for a little time now and I would love trying other books. I have a book from the Harrap's edition (it's in French) that I really like because it translates not just the idea but how the language is spoken as well. For exemple the sentence "this is the street" = "haadhaa huwa ch-chaari" they translate it "this he the street" to pass on the way of thinking.
I was wondering if you knew some good books/website that would be in the same idea of teaching. Maybe also, good arabic flash cards to share in the anki app with the words pronounced ??? Or maybe just advice on how to learn it. Movies too, I'll take anything.
Thank you for this video, I want to learn japanese too and it will probably be my next language focus !
Keep posting those amazing videos !
I'm trying so hard to learn Japanese and Arabic! It's so hard lol But my favorite so far has been Genki.
Meera Khan がんばってね！if you already learned hiragana, you could find this helpful: I'm making short kanji animations with mnemonics to remember them in an easy way ヽ(´▽｀)/
I used JLPT like 16 years back, really enjoyed it comparing it against minna no nihongo...
Do you mean Japanese For Busy People?
+Langfocus lol, I meant Tsukuba daigaku SFJ (situational functional japanese). it was a set of three volumes each one with a book for situational drills and another for conversations only... am
most people in my town in mexico used that one. great memories...
Have you ever thought about creating a Japanese course on Duolingo?
+Daniel James Some people have asked me to contribute, but I'm far too busy to dedicate time to that.
I understand, thanks for videos I like advice you give about consistency is king!
Langfocus that's sad
many of us can't wait
Daniel James Japanese Course is developing now on Duolingo
Daniel James here's the link incubator.duolingo.com/courses/ja/en/status
Can you do this with Mandarin Chinese?
I've never studied Mandarin Chinese so I wouldn't be able to give my experiences on that.
Langfocus Its ok. Thanks for the reply. loving your videos so far!
この本はとても面白いですね。すごいビデオ!日本語は私の好きな言語だ。日本へ行った時日本人と話します!いつか美しい桜を見ます。😍😍いつか寿司を食べます。美味しい食べ物が大好き!
アゴスティーノAgostino ラーキー
Anyone have any experience with the Japanese from Zero books (5 vols). Great reviews on Amazon.
Thanks for the recommendations. I am trying to advance to intermediate. Thanks for the chukyu kara manabu nihongo recommendation. There appears to be a brand new edition out there ISBN 978-4327384654. I like structure in learning and I've found that focusing on the JLPT has helped focus me on Japanese. Otherwise I'm like "what's my goal here. Full fluency?" That's a very frustrating, distant goal to reach for. But the JLPT gives you some stepping stones and confidence along the way. Also since the JLPT is such a big industry, there are lots of good books to study for each level that I found very useful. There are good CDs with the books that you can read scripts along with to work on pronunciation and comprehension. Some of the books from ASK publishing are almost works of art in terms of layout and organization. Studying for the JLPT exposes you to mostly formulaic Japanese, but you can switch back and forth to more natural materials.
Love your videos, I'm slowly going through all of them.
One question though to anyone who can help, because I intend to learn Japanese through self study, if I'm an absolute beginner and have only started learning hiragana and katakana for a few weeks, and my vocabulary is very very limited, should I buy a textbook that is all in kana so as not to rely on a "crutch" like you said? Will I be able to make sense of anything or I should just practice more kana and improve my vocabulary online first?
Also how should I prioritize learning these: just random words to improve vocabulary, grammar, should I start learning kanji early on or it's better if I leave it till later?
Thank you
I am an Indian and Indians are not interested in learning Japanese , but I love Japanese a lot. I am still learning Japanese. Cool video
僕はイタリア人だけど、日本語を勉強してる。。。
よくイタリア方々は日本語を勉強したくない。。。どうしてか？日本語を勉強が楽しいね。
皆さんがんばってね！夢を追いかけて ⋆͛*͛ ͙͛ ⁑͛⋆͛*͛ ͙͛ヽ( ´ヮ´)ﾉ⋆͛*͛ ͙͛ ⁑͛⋆͛*͛ ͙͛
「⋆͛*͛ ͙͛ ⁑͛⋆͛*͛ ͙͛ヽ( ´ヮ´)ﾉ⋆͛*͛ ͙͛ ⁑͛⋆͛*͛ ͙͛」が僕を笑わせたXD
Hey I am Indian too..
Hello Paul. I'm studying Japanese on my own with Pimsleur, have gone thru half of Part I. So, I study on my own and several questions came up. What would be the materials for those who can't read Japanese yet? Does Japanese for Busy People series (as well as Nakagawa's and Minna No Nihongo's series) help with learning how to read and write? Or you'd recommend something else? Thank you for your advice.
Wow, i thought u only learning tagalog but also nihongo...Ako ay filipino na nakatira dito sa bansang Japon,
at ikinagagalak kitang makilala-Yorushiku Onegai Shimasu.
Thank you so much! You're amazing!
Can confirm on using Roman letters as a crutch. I used Rosetta Stone and always used Roman letters until I couldn't anymore. Now I'm really behind on the writing.
I would suggest you make a video about all the apps we can find to learn Japanese. I just saw the vids on Duolingo and MemRise. Something like it.
I love you already!!!
Thanks! Much love to you too! 😊
I have been trying to learn Japanese since a year now, but I always stopped learning for reasons and then returning to it... But I hope this time I'll finally focus and learn it at the end ;-;
can you do a video on the similarities between Spanish and Portuguese or Spanish and Italian
Yuki is requesting a video on how Japanese people can improve their English haha
We had fun watching your videos on Japanese together.
+Todor Nikolov (ToshiCG) Hey Todor! Well, I think all Japanese people`s problems with English stem from not learning proper English phonology. If they really put a few weeks into kicking the phonology`s ass and eliminating katakana pronunciation, that will make everything else a lot easier too.
My theory is that everything in a language is associated with (or anchored to) its phonology, so if you use Japanese phonology to speak English your mind will constantly fetch Japanese vocabulary, grammar, and cultural mindsets so there will be lots of interference.
I`m not sure if she really wanted to know, but that`s what I really think. :)
Thanks, I completely agree with you.
i like this video and i really think that this video is very helpful. also i want to know if there is any video of the same kind for french. i am a beginner in french language and i want to know which are the best materials to teach myself french. so i would really like a video on that topic or some information maybe. :)
have you tried remembering the kanji?
+james sullivan if you speak about the book, i bought it and it was kinda cool at the beginning and i definetly learned some, but i lost the interest in the book pretty quick, though i think you can learn a lot if you stick to it :D
I rate it 11/10 for usefullness
I learnt about 600 of the Jōyō Kanji in a month; so I definitely would say it's great. The combination of learning primitives before learning complex Kanji, along with making use of imaginative memory, was far more effective than the rote learning I was previously encouraged to use.
what do you think about the japanese from zero series?
Can you talk about how long you used each textbook?
Everyone should check out Wanikani!
As a Japanese, I would say that watching "Anime" is the easiest way to learn the language. It's fun, simple and you will never get tired. However, the problems are that, you can't learn the formal/proper Japanese and you will be learning the writing system separately. By the way, does anyone know a way to rapidly increase my English vocabularies? I've been reading English-Translated manga to increase my English vocabularies and I have no problem with it but, when it comes to be a novel, I always suffer by the vocabularies. Thx
konichi wa , im from portugal, i speak spanish and english, and portuguese obviously. well im anime addicted, got in to it early 2015, and know i can say some simple things and words, im realy inlove with japanese and korean,im thinking on taking classes..
how i learned english? well not in school, i learnt it by playing online games, and watching lots of tv shows , with no subtitles, or subtitles if u find it easier, i highly reccomend u to try it!!
ありがとう！(Arigato!) I'll try to watch something that is not an anime. xd
Thank you MrWazzaza. I think I was choosing the book that just simply doesn't match my English level. As you said, I will try to read more books in order to get used to the feeling of "English novels" and I will try to accumulate much more English vocabularies. Once again, thank you for giving me a constructive advice and I wish you to have a great year!
I study through Minna no Nihongo! :)
How is it? i really want to learn but idk which to get.
If you can read hiragana and katakana, then you can study by yourself, since all the kanjis use furigana. Sometimes I get stuck in vocabulary, but google helps; not only that, but the exercices have images that help you understand what is being shown. The books that I have don't help you with kanji, but they do help with basic grammar structures and understanding. It seems the book also starts using only keigo (formal speech), then it slowly becomes lee formal. I recommend it.
I'm sooo new to learning japanese. I'm a teenager and where I live there aren't any japanese teachers. I been really loving this language and I'm trying to do my best at self studying it, though I would really appreciate if somebody could give me a rough guide of what I should focus on (I'm trying to reach an intermediate level so that then I can practice with native people and reading manga).
I've already kinda learned both kana, and I'm not sure where should I continue
When are you going to make a video addressing Kanji study? (Eager college student here who currently relies on self study bc my university doesnt offer japanese)
Arden H if you already learned hiragana, you could find this helpful: I'm making short kanji animations with mnemonics to remember them in an easy way. がんばってね
which the best Japanese-English-Japanese dictionary??
Tbh I memorize words really quickly but the kanji is so damn intimidating
Christopher Agha kanji are just little drawings with hidden interesting (sometimes creepy) tales in them. If you already learned hiragana, you could find this helpful: I'm making short kanji animations with mnemonics to remember them in an easy way ヽ(´▽｀)/
what do you think about Rosetta Stone?
I made another comment on this but when I tried learning Japanese with Rosetta Stone I made decent headway with hearing and speaking (and it's really good for that if you're learning alone) but I made the mistake of using Roman letters which impeded my progress with the writing system. And I'm not sure it does a good job at teaching you to read and write anyway.
+Xgckl the problem with rosetta stone and Japanese is that it uses polite Japaness only. Which is very unhelpful as in Japanese you need to be aware of various speech styles and the , quite severe, distinction between formal and informal. Rosetta stone seems okay for European languages but i found it very akward to use for languages like Chinese or Japanese as the sentences are often directly translated from English which is not helpful at all.
I would not recommend Rosetta Stone. The program is basically the same regardless of the native language and target language combination.
wow! good work! I want to learn japanese too!!
Victoria Alvarez がんばってね！if you already learned hiragana, and need help with kanji, you could find this helpful: I'm making short kanji animations with mnemonics and vocabulary to remember them in an easy way ヽ(´▽｀)/Buena suerte
Thanks for this video, i love the culture japanese, i am brazilian and i will try find that book in portuguese, really thanks, by tips and suggestions of the books.
Are there any good grammar texts out there? I found that I can learn all the words I want, but unless I know how they fit into a comprehensible sentence, the verbage is useless.
I learned German that way - grammar, then nouns, then verbs, then everything else fell into place.
Thanks :)
I started learning japanese about a year ago, but got overwhelmed by the kanji and grammar rules and I ended up giving up. Recently I've decided to start again and I've started by refreshing my knowledge of Hiragana and Katakana. Do you have any recommendations whatsoever to stay motivated once I get to the level where I need to start learning Kanji again? I really want to learn Japanese, I appreciate and like a lot of aspects of their culture and in a near future my desire is to visit Japan and be there for some time be it 2 months, 6 months, a year whatever. I would really like to visit being able to speak Japanese (I have about 2 years before visiting is even possible, because of college. Hopefully by then I've learned enough.)
Listening practice. Before that though, I would recommend Tae Kim's guide for Japanese grammar. As for Kanji, just start learning them right away.
Oh, and get Anki. It's an intelligent flash card program that will not only help you learn Japanese, but ensure you never forget what you've learned. Make sure you practice writing as you study. Pay attention to stroke order, they do matter! (Once you've learned a couple hundred characters, you will be able to write new Kanji the first time you see them.)
Larissa Furniss Thank You! I will be looking into both the guide you suggested and the Anki. This time I'm pretty serious about learning Japanese so I'm sure they'll be helpful.
ありがとうはは。私は中国人です、漢字が問題ではありません😁
中国人がラッキー！
僕はイタリア人だけど、漢字が本当に難しすぎないよ。
そのかわり、漢字が好きだよ。漢字がないと良くないって思う。
「한자」(漢字)がないから、韓国語のほう日本語より難しいって思う。
Heng Zhang 良かったですね。笑笑
An update?, 2015....you must be a master by now!
Well, I haven’t been focusing on studying Japanese constantly. I just use it, so my level is probably the same as in 2015. I’m focused on a different language at the moment, and I’m especially focused on building this channel. But someday I’ll really focus on Japanese again and take it to as high a level as I can.
Next week I'm going to IMC and ask Maiku Miraa how he learnt Japanese.
Japanese For Busy People and Minna No Nihongo are great books.
Hey langfocus! I have a question here, how do you actually go about using these books?? Do you just seem to work through them to getting yourself exposed with the language but you don't actually spend too much time with them? I am confused because I've heard alot of people saying you shouldn't stay with a book too long while beginning the language!
I always worked through the books while getting frequent speaking practice outside of the books. For me that meant doing language exchanges and socializing using Japanese. Now that I’m older and have a bit more money and less free time, I do online lessons with Skype. Just casual conversation practice, basically, so that I have a chance to practice what I study in the books. It’s not Japanese, currently. I haven’t actively studied Japanese for a long time, I just use it with my partner. Well, we alternate one week of English then one week of Japanese.
@@Langfocus wow ok that's awesome that you get to do that with your partner:) and thank you for the fast reply ! I watch you all the time, love the content everything you put out is the best quality xD. So just to make sure you pretty much would work through your books and use the content in there as supplementing while you also practice with native speakers and such anyway that could ? Thanks so much!
Hi Paul -- If you're familiar with them, where would the Genki textbooks fit on the spectrum you described? Would the first Genki textbook overlap with An Integrated Approach to Intermediate Japanese? I've been looking for a more engaging text to work from.
Imo, the Genki books are pretty much the equivalent of the Japanese for Busy People series.
+Joshua Link An Integrated Approach to Intermediate Japanese is published by the same company I believe, and I've seen it referred to as "Genki 3" before, the progression between them generally being Genki I -> II -> IAIJ
Wow really great @@
After 20 days the the exams will end ,me and my friend will begin seriously learning the japanese language, So thank you very much for your helpful video.
+
Can you post a video about how to memorize kanji @@?
kuro tamashi Thanks for the comment, Kuro tamashi! I`m glad to hear you`re interested in Japanese. It`s a fun language, especially because Japanese people are great. And most of them don`t speak much English, so if you come to Japan your Japanese will be immediately useful.
About kanji ... yeah I`ve been thinking of making a video on that subject. If you want to be very systematic about it, look into Heisig`s "Remembering the Kanji". It won`t teach you everything, but it will help you learn the meanings of the kanji. It takes focus and consistency though.
Langfocus Np + not just the peoole, the language itself it's like an art of sound for me xD . I don't really know how to describe it xD
Yup that is my plan ^^..
Got it, and i will try my best thanks really man. I hope to see more video soon, and good luck ^^
Thanks, KT! I hope your exams go well so you can get on with your Japanese studies. :)
Langfocus Arigato ^^
Langfocus it seems to be a really good book. I'm going through it. However, I wonder how to remember all the readings and the Kanji compounds..
Arigatou gozaimashita! 👏
What do you think about "Barron's Foreign Language Guides - Japanese Grammar" ?
I have it. It's a good reference book with good examples. It doesn't have exercises though, it's just a reference book.
Langfocus Thank you ^^
How many languages do you speak Paul?
You should have affiliate links for the books.
It wouldn’t be worth the effort unless all of my videos were reviews like this. It would probably net me around $1 a year from this video. Amazon pays 4%, which is nothing on a $15 book.
how many JLPT levels did you take?
I've taken all of them but didn't pass level 1. I will someday, I just don't have time to dedicate to studying for it these days.
Is there anything that teaches you grammar along side kanji? also have you heard of Remembering the Kanji, I have seen people recommending it that it is an amazing way to learn kanji but i do not know if it teaches you grammar along side it. I know some basic grammar but I definitely more practice with it so yea.
+AvatarMaster9x Yeah, I completed the Remembering the Kanji course by Heisig. It's very effective if you do it consistently and follow all the instructions. But it only teaches you the meaning and stroke order of kanji, it doesn't teach the pronunciation of kanji or how to use them in sentences.
Langfocus so what would you say is the best way to learn kanji in order to use it practically
Minna no Nihongo has this problem that you need 2 books to study them as 1 book... めんどくせな！
I'm grateful we have a UA-cam Japanese course (in Spanish, sorry) lectured by Kira Sensei which I think it's been pretty useful to me. I'm supposed to read Minna no Nihongo simmultaneously which I'm not doing cause I think the videos are enough. I'm probably lacking a lot of vocabulary cause of it though
I have one more recommended book for beginners : Shin nihongo no kiso
Do you teach english for Japanese people? How hard it is for them as their language is for us? I can imagine it should be easy because we have less character, but still, can it be hard for them?
I reject your request.
what do you mean by less character!?????
Less symbols per square unit.
Ismael Kafeltz I think the harder part for them is grammar and pronunciation. Japanese lacks a lot of sounds present in English and it can be really hard for them to learn how to speak them properly.
Plus, English has a massive vocabulary so they have to learn a lot of words to understand things without them being simplified.
WTF subtitles, 07:38
Superb comparison! Thanks! As for me, i'm #TeamMinnaNoNihongo :)
what about GENKI 1 and 2?
I have never used them but I hear that they're very good.
domo arigatoo gozaimasu
If I remember right, Genki is made by the same company that made that Intermediate book you showed. Even the font is similar. Also, it's good, though I wish they would cut down on furigana with kanji we should already know.
where's part 2? answer me!
What do you mean?
+Langfocus you said you'd make a video about kanji but i couldn't find it :( I'm obsessed with your channel keep up the great work.
if u come to japan, then just do google where do language exchange face to face.
cuz Japanese literary hesitates to speak stranger(even if Japanese person) unfortunately
取り敢えず、ググって日本語練習出来るところ探せばいいよ。
You can study for free at the NHK World website, at www.nhk.or.jp/lesson/
Materials fo studying Hebrew? :)
Still waiting for the kanji version of this video :D
Cristhian Luque if you're interested in learning kanji, you could find this helpful: I'm making short kanji animations with mnemonics to remember them in an easy way ヽ(´▽｀)/がんばってね
if you like mnemonics, you could find useful the short kanji animations I'm making. They're unforgettable ( ､ᐛ)､＿/
arigato
These books are absurdliy expensive 😭😭😭😭
日本語と言えば、日本って言う最大の教材を使用すれば良い。 hehe
وين الكانجي يا حلو