I'm learning Japanese and my three year old "helps" 🤗 I noticed the other day that she says "delicious" in half English, half Japanese and it makes me so happy. She says "Oishious" ❤
As someone with 96 day duolingo streak and average of 2 lessons per day i think i speak better japanese than the 28 months old twins and they probably can't write.
The substituting of "s" for "Ch" sound is called fronting in linguistics. Toddlers do this in all languages, it's a developmental phase of oral motor skillz.
Interesting. I also read somewhere that as a parent, it is not recommended to use "baby version" of a word when speaking to toddler since they would think it is the correct word
This is a really good video to gauge my level of skill in japanese. And as I expected, I'm at the level of a 2 year old child after 3 years of learning.
Remember what Yuta said that a 2 year old Japanese child's Japanese is 2 years of non-stop Japanese input, your 3 years has been broken up by plenty of speech in your native language. You're doing fine!
Good video. Some people severely underestimate how well children can speak. I always hear things like "I'm terrible! I speak like a five-year-old!" when in reality a five-year-old native speaker would absolutely wipe the floor with them lol
Agree! I used to work with toddlers and realized that once you become about 4, you pretty much have it down. You just add to your vocabulary after that.
Oh hell yeah. When someone says they 'speak like a five year old' I usually expect them to basically have the language down, just to not understand certain concepts in the language, which can be explained to them using more simple words in said language. Not just being able to spout some words.
Based on context, I think the little toddler was definitely saying "dislike" or "kirai" but just with incorrect pitch. The mom had just asked "What do you like to do?" and "Do you like the park?" So the little girl saying "dislike!" makes more sense than her simply saying "beautiful" or "clean" out of nowhere. Additionally, when the mom said "Hmm? Kirei?" the girl kept repeating "Kirai! Kirai!" This usually is behavior kids do when the adult has misunderstood them and they just want to be heard and understood. When the mom said "I see" the girl was satisfied, thinking mom finally got that she had said she doesn't like the park.
@@loulou3676 It was probably less actively disliking the park, and more wanting to assert herself by saying the opposite of her mom. She’s two, after all. The mom had been going on and on about liking stuff, so screaming that actually, she DISLIKES a thing would feel very rebellious for a toddler.
I dunno, babies learn pitch before they learn actual words, so it seems to me like it’s the other way around. Imo, she probably got the tone correct but the word mispronounced.
My inspiration for learning Japanese comes from a time when I went on a trip to Japan and there was a small child on the train with their family and I couldn’t even understand them. I was like “darn, I need to get my skill level above this very young child.”
@@eslwithlizzie8473 funny because i have the opposite ideology. to me kids seem to use easier vocabulary and speak at a slower rate than adults. maybe it’s situational but that’s my experience soo far learning korean
iirc, Sometimes twins actually develop an understandable language slower than non twins. Well, they understand each other. But harder for other people to understand them. It can develop into a full blown "secret language." They usually grow out of it but sometimes they'll will keep a few non-words without even realizing they are doing it.
I just turned 18 and i've been learning japanese for 4-5 months and after this video i find myself at a level of 2 yo child that makes me even feel more motivated to learn!!
at only 2 years old, they already understand basic spoken Japanese and can already introduce themselves and speak some basic words, even though they can't pronounce them properly. at near 3 years old, they know more vocabulary and can form more complex sentence structures, as well as pronounce words closer to the correct way. at 4 and half years old, they already sound fluent and can pronounce words quite well. it will also be interesting to see the kinds of books that they can read by age. according to a hinative response, people in Japan usually learn hiragana at 3 years old, though they officially start learning kana in the 1st year of elementary. it's interesting to note that by age 10 (in grade 4), they learn enough kanji to pass N3, and by age 12 (in grade 6), they know enough kanji to pass N2 (though some might be able to pass at an even younger age). what this means in practice is that you only need to know Japanese at an elementary school level to be able to enjoy reading most manga, light novel and anime without much trouble.
It is interesting, but it does show that being an adult and not having to learn a ton of other new things does help us learn Japanese much quicker. I was able to pass N3 in much less than 10 years.
@@crobatgaming5661 For pure novels written for adults, you'll pretty much have to be almost fluent. For genres like Sci-fi, fantasy, or historical fiction the vocabulary ranges from highly technical, invented, or archaic making looking up very difficult.
Thank you for this - it confirms what i've always thought: when i'm not actively in Japanese class, my language level seems to be stuck around the level i was forced to stop speaking it. When i started kindergarten (5yo) my mother was told i'd never speak english properly if i kept speaking japanese, so despite not speaking english well, she wouldn't let me speak japanese to her any more (it was my first language). i may get beyond that in casual speech if i had someone to practise with (my mom died just after i graduated high school), i have social difficulty, so - not likely. 8(
Your mother obviously cared for you very much, but she learned incorrectly. Everyone learns better when two languages are taught at the same time. It improves brain functions and achieves better linguistic abilities in both languages as well as new languages in the future. Being bilingual changes how the brain learns and thinks, so practicing more than one at a time is not a detriment. The French language died out in my family because of this stigma against bilingualism and now we can only speak English. I am very sad for this fact :( please do not give up in this age of technology on improving your language skills with other learners and native speakers around the world! It is a huge blessing to be able to speak multiple languages. I am struggling with Japanese for this reason. I moved from Canada to Japan a few months ago to teach English, and I know I would be learning faster if my family had passed down this ability to use multiple languages. Please teach your children the importance of bilingualism to help them succeed!
@@Sa5mRoxUrSox i am aware of the blessings of multilingual childhood! At the time, though, popular belief was that if another language was spoken at home, the child would not be able to learn English correctly. i practise and work on both my Japanese and ASL when i can and continue to research linguistics. There are times when i'm mute (autistic) and i don't know *what* language will emerge to express the image/concept i'm thinking! ;)
I‘m not learning japanese, but I got curious since I like anything related to language learning so I clicked to watch the video. I'm glad I did because those kids are soooo cute. I love hearing kids expressing themselves it's always either cute, funny or impressive!
I actually find very interesting watching these kinds of videos, because from these I can get strategies on how to get to learn better, and it's also interesting to know how toddlers learn their native language
At such young ages it often really depends on the baby too. One of my little cousins is almost 4 and still doesn't speak that much and slurs sentences making it hard to understand sometimes. Meanwhile I'm told that as a child I could speak very well before turning 2 even and spoke constantly. Then again I learned to walk very late. There was a blessed period where my mother still had to carry me everywhere while I could already complain in full sentences. Priorities.
That 4 year old may be language delayed. Take them for an evaluation. Early intervention is so important! Your local public school district can direct you to child find which serves birth to kindergarten. This doesn't cost you any money.
@@happycook6737 It may not be that alarming. My little cousin barely spoke by the time she was 4 (not due to neurodivergence, she just genuinely didn't speak very well). She's now 11 and completely fine. She's always been very smart, even before getting good with words.
What's so cute to me is how the twins are so engrossed in pretending to drink juice from the box. They can't say a whole lot, but they are already using their imaginations, playing a game. It's like, when she puts the box under the blanket, it's like the dishes are going to the kitchen, and when she takes the box out again, the "cup" of juice has been refilled. So she gives it to her sister, who pretends to drink it and says "thank you" for it.
I think the most interesting, and simultaneously frustrating thing, about where I’m at in my language learning (2 years of learning, sitting somewhere between the 2 year 10 months, and the 4 year old), is that I’m stuck grammatically and vocabulary-wise at such an underdeveloped level in my language learning. But I have complex ideas and concepts that I want to talk about, so I end up totally confused, or talking around the topic to reach an understanding with a native speaker. A bizarre feeling you don’t reeally get when learning as a child, as your thoughts are as simple as the sentences you’re making!
That is exactly me, I have so many ideas to talk about, and I will start and then I'm just gonna stop and get confused how to continue the long a$$ sentence xD.
My cousin who is almost 4 is very verbal. His mom (my other cousin) didn’t speak to him as if he was a baby but an older child. I saw him last week and he is such a sweetie. Love that little guy.
It's fun hearing kids speaking other languages. I grew up with mainly just one language being spoken by the people around me. (not counting subtitled movies and TV shows) It was interesting during my time of learning English when I heard a native English speaking toddler talk. Same with Japanese through this video. Bit of a shame I don't understand it so I can't dive into details with the speech pattern the way you do. But of course, that's what your content is for. Teaching the language.
My english speaking two year old was borderline worrying her doctor and I because she was lagging a bit behind in speaking skills but at the last minute just started vomiting full sentences in english and also occasionally speaking basic Punjabi. 😳 We live around quite a few indian people and she plays with the kids on the playground but her dad and I don’t speak it at all so we were quite surprised she was absorbing so much of it!
When my daughter was 2 years old, it was hard because "はひふへほ →あいうえお" and "さしすせそ→たちつてと". For example, like this, "はさみがほしいです → あたみがおちいでつ" The pitch pattern was the only thing I could rely on. In other words, as long as the pitch pattern is accurate, Japanese is manageable.
Having four kids myself, I've definitely seen first hand how they understand a phenomenal amount more language, from very early on, than they generate themselves. At 13 to 15 months old, they understood basically everything we said to them; they just couldn't say anything in return. Also, having had them all through preschool, it's definitely normal for them to have a hard time generating certain sounds until they reach certain ages. Their teachers gave us handouts detailing at which ages they were expected to finally be able to produce certain letter sounds properly. I think the sheet went to 6 years or something.
@@Rayvn7 Quick google search says babies don’t really say their first word til about 12 months, so it’s not unreasonable to believe that these 13-15 month old kids can’t really respond. Especially if we clarify what “respond, talk, or say anything” means. Are we talking about clear, full words and short sentences? Yeah, most likely a kid who just said their first word can’t do all that.
if its not too much trouble yuta sensei, could you manage to get more content like the last girl for another video? i feel like this is so close to my personal level and it is very nice how simply she speaks, its very easy to understand. it would be so interesting to hear more kids at this level and have your educational input. just a suggestion from a long time viewer.
This video was really fascinating, people have these misconceptions that kids learn languages faster than adults but that’s not true. They have 2 years of complete immersive input and then about a year to reach simple output. So by the 4th year they start to hit proficiency. I think any serious adult can reach that in 2 years. Thanks for the great content, this really opened my mind to the possibilities of language acquisition.
If the adjective "serious" is required in order to complete your alleged opinion, then you have literally just objected to your entire alleged opinion.
I think in some ways learning as a child is easier but I also think it just seems quicker because people don’t actually remember the beginner stages of learning their native language
I was spending some time with a Japanese family recently and noticed that the three young brothers would refer to themselves with くん like ヒロ君。rather than saying 僕、俺、私、etc. I thought that was very interesting.
You can actually do this as an adult in Japanese too though some people find it weird. Or use your relative status as a pronoun. “Otousan ha kaimono iku yo”. I’m going shopping. We do this in Hawaiian pidgin as well “aunty go take care you” and some other English dialects. But it’s actually ok to use the second person to refer to oneself in Japanese and some other Asian languages.
This is common in all languages, and has to do with the fact that their brains aren't developed enough for them to have a proper sense of the individual, meaning they don't understand that pronouns have different meanings depending on who's using them. Typically you grow to learn this at around age 2.
I'm so glad my baby brother (2y5m) is quite easy to understand in all the languages he speaks. Hearing those three 2 year olds speak, I could barely match any words to the captions (granted, I don't speak Japanese, but I could mostly do it with the parents and the 4 year old). We'll see if my baby sister ends up the same.
Interesting video I enjoy seeing the processes and how much they know compared to starter students learning the language. Also I was hoping for a plot twist ending were Yuta reveals that these are all his kids. Cool video. ^_^
I love watching children learn how to speak. I don't think a lot of people consider how speech is first learnt when studying a second language later on in life. We all acquired language by listening, repeating, and engaging in conversation...and then pronouncing the words were a struggle at first and it took years to perfect that pronunciation. We learned to speak by mimicking and then trying to form those sounds in our mouths until we got used to tongue and lip movements. In all honesty, I think learning a second language is a lot like the first time, only we have more knowledge about how to learn. We have to learn how to mimic new sounds for the first time, figure out how to position our mouths like a native to produce those new sounds, learn how to repeat things back, etc. Watching how kids learn is really eye-opening because doing what they do is the best way to learn once more.
At 4 years and 6 months they aren't just able to describe things in detail but they probably feel the language better than someone who has lived in Japan for 10+ years. Everything important in their life has happened in Japanese.
I used to teach young learners English in Japan. Little ones up to age 3 did classes with a parent. We started classes at 9 months old, at which point ofc children can't speak yet, so it's all about input and having fun. Some toddlers had younger siblings, so sometimes I was teaching while holding a tiny baby less than six months old! 😂 From age 4 and up, kids would participate in class without a parent, and by then they can speak short sentences and sometimes write their first name in hiragana and in English letters. It was so fun teaching them, as they are dilligent and sweet, at least when they are out and about.😅 It was my years there that made me want to be a mom, as I got to see some first steps and hear some first words! ❤ I am now expecting my first (a boy), and since I am the only bilingual parent, I do plan to teach him Japanese, since I am fairly fluent. I look forward to it! 😊
Lol.. I've been doing Duo for 620+ days now and I can confidently say I'm on a level with a 2 year old.. I started getting Yuta lessons recently so, I will obviously improve massively. I think because I am treating it as a hobby is probably blunting my progress....
With this video I can confidently confirm I speak Japanese like a 2yr old 😅 Which I guess makes sense since I've only studied for a little over 2yrs casually.
Hello yuta. Well this video motivates me to move forward. It's just been 3 months since I have been studying nihongo. I completed studying N5. Compared to other students my Japanese listening, reading and writing skills are way more good than other reasons I have been watching anime since 2014 in Japanese dub with English subtitles. I'm sure about that after 3 months of hard studying today I can pass JLPT N4. Thankful for such awesome video ❤❤ love from Nepal
Very motivating! Any Japanese family that would like to adopt-an-adult? I hope you make more videos with kids speaking Japanese, it brings the language alive and is fun.
Sorry if this is unrelated, but I think you should make a video on how to react to compliments in Japanese. Is it still true that you should reject compliments in Japan, even among my generation of 20-somethings? As an American, it really goes against my intuition that saying, "No, you're wrong. I'm not good" is going to get a positive reaction. Don't people want to know that their compliment made you happy, and that you don't think they're lying to you just to be nice?
Generally, in East Asian cultures, notably Japan and China, not sure about others, you want to maintain an air of humility. So when someone compliments you, you don't necessarily have to contradict them directly but you can be like 'ah it's okay' or 'you're too kind' if we were to translate it into English. To an extent you can say thank you (ありがとうございます) to a compliment, nobody will think you're an egomaniac, particularly cause you're a gaijin. But at least the first time you're complimented, you can say something like ややや (yayaya) or 全然 (zenzen) while waving your hands. This is like saying 'you're too kind'. Then what's likely to happen is they'll insist on the compliment and say something like 本当ですよ (hontou desuyo/no really) to reaffirm the compliment, and then at that point it's probably fine to accept it and say thank you. Don't overthink it too much, nobody's gonna get angry or offended at someone who is clearly not a native Japanese speaker making a mistake.
The thing to keep in mind, especially with the assumption that "Don't people want to know that their compliment made you happy" is all cultural based. Speaking as someone who's family are from various different cultures, it cannot be understated the effect this has on one's general mindset. You might see "lying to you just to be nice" as underhanded thing, because American culture discourages such actions; but other cultures might see it as a positive interaction. Lots of people (especially Western people, but not exclusive to them) really think that their worldview is the "default" and consider any variations as intentional from the individual, but that is not the case. It's important to not assume that others will share the same general opinion as you, no matter how minor you may consider it (such as something as minor as reacting to a compliment) because even the smallest things can have WILDLY different connotations interpretations based on culture. And this really isn't an exaggeration. You'd be shocked by what the general populace of various countries believe and don't believe.
Haven't visited your channel in a while and DAMN, you've gotten so much more stylish and handsome looking! When did this change occur?! Also, those are some cute little babies.
When I studied in Japan I remember watching after-school children programs in hopes that they'd be teaching things at my level XD That was only kind of true, you learn things in a different order as an adult and as a fully-immersed child, haha. This was interesting, though, thanks!
2nd comment: Great series of how anime characters speak Japanese. Please do Itsuki Nakano from the quintessential quintuplets or any or all the 7 main characters in TQQ. How they speak Japanese I believe is very important to understanding the plot eg the honorifics, the lost in translation stuff (eg when they say things like zurui, hatsukoi, uso, tachi, fukuzatsu Vs taihen, mote etc that are removed from the dub). I compiled a lot of the lost in translation stuff in r/gotoubun Something to consider about Itsuki: The Quintessential Quintuplets' character types are: Ichika - Onee-san / ara ara, Nino - tsundere, miku - kuudere / dandere, Yotsuba - genki Itsuki - ?? - Tsundere like Nino? - Eat-suki? - Imouto? - Someone who speaks keigo to their siblings, to Fuutarou and to Raiha and to everyone basically? Actually, the main thing I learned from Yuta's videos that keigo is basically just desu, masu & their variations. I swear when I learned elementary Japanese in bachelor's (foreign language classes are required in universities in the Philippines) we were never even taught the word keigo. All this time I had no idea Itsuki was the only quint and actually only main character who was talking keigo to EVERYONE. Anyway, I have a theory as to what Itsuki's type is, but you're not gonna like it... For more japanese stuff re TQQ, see r/gotoubun r/itsuesugi r/raitsuki etc
At 09:50 it's interesting because she actually corrects herself, but that's not reflected in the subtitles. I can't tell what verb she uses, but she says あ、まちがえた、ぬいて…
The 2yr 10 month old reminds me of the way my nephew (same age) speaks. (although my nephew speaks English and not Japanese but the way the sentences are spoken, and the silly faces).
I’m friends with a Japanese American toddler and he won’t be learning Japanese til he starts kindergarten the year i graduate high school in 2025. His mom is from Japan and he & his little brother got to go there for the very first time this year.
Very interesting! One thing you don’t comment on is how often the 34-month-old toddler uses the words she’s just heard in her own sentences. She was mostly asked leading questions, and the younger girls just before her were having some difficulty with more open-ended questions.
I can basically understand the 4 year old girl's content with the subs. What makes me feel hard is that Japanese conversations tend to hide so many information so I not only need to understand the words but the complex intention lol Thankfully my Japanese friend is not indirect at all! 😆
I'm watching this and learning so much from two year olds. Also toddlers are universal that older two year and my niece are around the same age and she does the same goofy stuff while talking かわいい❤❤❤❤❤❤
Well, English is not his first language. As a native English speaker we have folk that say "one years old" when it should just be "one year old". English is a really difficult language. It blows my mind that people learn it as their second language.🙂🤯
Its reassuring to see that when people say "kids pick up language quicker than adults" is kinda incorrect. As like is said in the video 4 years of pure immersion in the language, culture and people speaking slowly to you actually as adults we could be fluent in this time. We have the cheat of our brains can apply rules and also we can attach more contextual meaning to things. ✌️there is hope people!!! Youre never too old to learn another language!! みなさんがんばってくださいね!
This is interesting to me because apparently my grandparents had extreme difficulty with my uncle because he tried to just use sounds instead of words to speak and this took years to fix.
in the "yotsuba to" manga (jp) she is always talking like "chi" (おばちゃんち）and i never knew what it meant until i learned it from these babies! thanks babies!
That chi is a shortened form of "no uchi", so obachanchi is "obachan's house". There was a jpop song back in the day called Kiminchi that I tried looking up in a dictionary, but all I could find was that kimin mean starving people. It wasn't until years later that I finally figured out it meant "kimi no uchi", "your house". That's the hard thing about Yotsubato, is that there's so much slang and slurring used by the male characters (which Yotsuba then picks up herself).
![[Eng Sub] How much can 4yo talk? | Japanese Listening Practice](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/SEBLibNzayQ/mqdefault.jpg)
![[Eng Sub] How much can 4yo talk? | Japanese Listening Practice](/img/tr.png)
Learn Japanese with Yuta: bit.ly/45BqdLj
To be honest, I was happy and overwhelmed that I can compete and do better than a 2yr 4month old kid.
Oh god! What I have turned into :D
2:12 was orange juice. O O oring ji ji ju tsu.
I'm learning Japanese and my three year old "helps" 🤗 I noticed the other day that she says "delicious" in half English, half Japanese and it makes me so happy. She says "Oishious" ❤
Thats adorable
🥰
That is so adorable haha!
Delishii !
im getting japanglish flashbacks. as long as they dont say something like "arigathanks gozaimuch" well be fine
The 13 month toddler probably speaks better than my 500 day Duolingo streak
As someone with 96 day duolingo streak and average of 2 lessons per day i think i speak better japanese than the 28 months old twins and they probably can't write.
@@R_.709 """"""congrats""""""
Shocking that playing word Tetris a few mins a day doesn't magically make you fluent... /s
Actually try writing and speaking in the language, do more practice & research. Using Duolingo alone isn't going to help you.
@@R_.709 i don't know what's more worse: op's comment or yours
It's so adorable seeing them pick up the Japanese mannerisms... passing things with two hands, the nods and bows, etc.
For me it's the intonation. They start to sound kinda like little adults!
The substituting of "s" for "Ch" sound is called fronting in linguistics. Toddlers do this in all languages, it's a developmental phase of oral motor skillz.
I suppose this is why chan is sometimes used instead of san?
@@quintrankid8045 you may be on to something. but now it's a linguistic characteristic.
I learned something new today
Interesting. I also read somewhere that as a parent, it is not recommended to use "baby version" of a word when speaking to toddler since they would think it is the correct word
@@neohybridkai I don’t think there is universal agreement on this but seems like Japanese tend to use less baby talk than Americans.
This is a really good video to gauge my level of skill in japanese. And as I expected, I'm at the level of a 2 year old child after 3 years of learning.
if you learn the kana, you'd be roughly at a 3 year old level.
@@mapl3mage I'm learning that tomorrow... guess I'll jump a year in a day
@@ashishbarthwal6961 hey
Remember what Yuta said that a 2 year old Japanese child's Japanese is 2 years of non-stop Japanese input, your 3 years has been broken up by plenty of speech in your native language. You're doing fine!
Lmao YES 🙏😭
Good video. Some people severely underestimate how well children can speak. I always hear things like "I'm terrible! I speak like a five-year-old!" when in reality a five-year-old native speaker would absolutely wipe the floor with them lol
Agree! I used to work with toddlers and realized that once you become about 4, you pretty much have it down. You just add to your vocabulary after that.
Oh hell yeah. When someone says they 'speak like a five year old' I usually expect them to basically have the language down, just to not understand certain concepts in the language, which can be explained to them using more simple words in said language. Not just being able to spout some words.
Based on context, I think the little toddler was definitely saying "dislike" or "kirai" but just with incorrect pitch. The mom had just asked "What do you like to do?" and "Do you like the park?" So the little girl saying "dislike!" makes more sense than her simply saying "beautiful" or "clean" out of nowhere. Additionally, when the mom said "Hmm? Kirei?" the girl kept repeating "Kirai! Kirai!" This usually is behavior kids do when the adult has misunderstood them and they just want to be heard and understood. When the mom said "I see" the girl was satisfied, thinking mom finally got that she had said she doesn't like the park.
I wonder what made the girl hate the park so much lol
@@loulou3676 It was probably less actively disliking the park, and more wanting to assert herself by saying the opposite of her mom. She’s two, after all. The mom had been going on and on about liking stuff, so screaming that actually, she DISLIKES a thing would feel very rebellious for a toddler.
It can also be confusing because kirei can mean pretty. If you go to a park and it's all bright and nice and colourful, you'd say きれい！
I dunno, babies learn pitch before they learn actual words, so it seems to me like it’s the other way around. Imo, she probably got the tone correct but the word mispronounced.
My inspiration for learning Japanese comes from a time when I went on a trip to Japan and there was a small child on the train with their family and I couldn’t even understand them. I was like “darn, I need to get my skill level above this very young child.”
That is a good way to motivate yourself, but you should also remember that in general small kids are harder to understand than adults in ANY language!
@@eslwithlizzie8473 funny because i have the opposite ideology. to me kids seem to use easier vocabulary and speak at a slower rate than adults. maybe it’s situational but that’s my experience soo far learning korean
iirc, Sometimes twins actually develop an understandable language slower than non twins.
Well, they understand each other. But harder for other people to understand them. It can develop into a full blown "secret language." They usually grow out of it but sometimes they'll will keep a few non-words without even realizing they are doing it.
I have a deaf older brother and this happened with us, we have made our own sign language which we use to this day
@@HishighnessMrLsame for me but my cousin
naahh, I have a twin brother and that's just bs
@@danielvelizotani9779 It's real, google "Cryptophasia"
I just turned 18 and i've been learning japanese for 4-5 months and after this video i find myself at a level of 2 yo child that makes me even feel more motivated to learn!!
Congratulations mate! 🎉
at only 2 years old, they already understand basic spoken Japanese and can already introduce themselves and speak some basic words, even though they can't pronounce them properly.
at near 3 years old, they know more vocabulary and can form more complex sentence structures, as well as pronounce words closer to the correct way.
at 4 and half years old, they already sound fluent and can pronounce words quite well.
it will also be interesting to see the kinds of books that they can read by age. according to a hinative response, people in Japan usually learn hiragana at 3 years old, though they officially start learning kana in the 1st year of elementary. it's interesting to note that by age 10 (in grade 4), they learn enough kanji to pass N3, and by age 12 (in grade 6), they know enough kanji to pass N2 (though some might be able to pass at an even younger age).
what this means in practice is that you only need to know Japanese at an elementary school level to be able to enjoy reading most manga, light novel and anime without much trouble.
It is interesting, but it does show that being an adult and not having to learn a ton of other new things does help us learn Japanese much quicker. I was able to pass N3 in much less than 10 years.
how about pure novels?
@@crobatgaming5661 For pure novels written for adults, you'll pretty much have to be almost fluent. For genres like Sci-fi, fantasy, or historical fiction the vocabulary ranges from highly technical, invented, or archaic making looking up very difficult.
@@coolbrotherf127 Hmm jnteresting
@@coolbrotherf127 are you n3?
Thank you for this - it confirms what i've always thought: when i'm not actively in Japanese class, my language level seems to be stuck around the level i was forced to stop speaking it. When i started kindergarten (5yo) my mother was told i'd never speak english properly if i kept speaking japanese, so despite not speaking english well, she wouldn't let me speak japanese to her any more (it was my first language). i may get beyond that in casual speech if i had someone to practise with (my mom died just after i graduated high school), i have social difficulty, so - not likely. 8(
I feel your pain! I would speak with you but I'm stuck at the same level kkkk
May your Mom rest in peace, hope you’re still doing well
If you don’t mind me asking, are you half Japanese?
@@finallylegal2125 Yep - Navy, natch.
Your mother obviously cared for you very much, but she learned incorrectly. Everyone learns better when two languages are taught at the same time. It improves brain functions and achieves better linguistic abilities in both languages as well as new languages in the future. Being bilingual changes how the brain learns and thinks, so practicing more than one at a time is not a detriment. The French language died out in my family because of this stigma against bilingualism and now we can only speak English. I am very sad for this fact :( please do not give up in this age of technology on improving your language skills with other learners and native speakers around the world! It is a huge blessing to be able to speak multiple languages. I am struggling with Japanese for this reason. I moved from Canada to Japan a few months ago to teach English, and I know I would be learning faster if my family had passed down this ability to use multiple languages. Please teach your children the importance of bilingualism to help them succeed!
@@Sa5mRoxUrSox i am aware of the blessings of multilingual childhood! At the time, though, popular belief was that if another language was spoken at home, the child would not be able to learn English correctly. i practise and work on both my Japanese and ASL when i can and continue to research linguistics. There are times when i'm mute (autistic) and i don't know *what* language will emerge to express the image/concept i'm thinking! ;)
I‘m not learning japanese, but I got curious since I like anything related to language learning so I clicked to watch the video. I'm glad I did because those kids are soooo cute. I love hearing kids expressing themselves it's always either cute, funny or impressive!
That little 'yayy' at the end was so precious omg
I actually find very interesting watching these kinds of videos, because from these I can get strategies on how to get to learn better, and it's also interesting to know how toddlers learn their native language
At such young ages it often really depends on the baby too. One of my little cousins is almost 4 and still doesn't speak that much and slurs sentences making it hard to understand sometimes.
Meanwhile I'm told that as a child I could speak very well before turning 2 even and spoke constantly. Then again I learned to walk very late. There was a blessed period where my mother still had to carry me everywhere while I could already complain in full sentences. Priorities.
That 4 year old may be language delayed. Take them for an evaluation. Early intervention is so important! Your local public school district can direct you to child find which serves birth to kindergarten. This doesn't cost you any money.
@@happycook6737 It may not be that alarming. My little cousin barely spoke by the time she was 4 (not due to neurodivergence, she just genuinely didn't speak very well). She's now 11 and completely fine. She's always been very smart, even before getting good with words.
This is so cute! Also proof that whatever the language they speak all 2.5 year olds are the same goofy cuteness! My heart could not 🥰
What's so cute to me is how the twins are so engrossed in pretending to drink juice from the box. They can't say a whole lot, but they are already using their imaginations, playing a game. It's like, when she puts the box under the blanket, it's like the dishes are going to the kitchen, and when she takes the box out again, the "cup" of juice has been refilled. So she gives it to her sister, who pretends to drink it and says "thank you" for it.
I think the most interesting, and simultaneously frustrating thing, about where I’m at in my language learning (2 years of learning, sitting somewhere between the 2 year 10 months, and the 4 year old), is that I’m stuck grammatically and vocabulary-wise at such an underdeveloped level in my language learning. But I have complex ideas and concepts that I want to talk about, so I end up totally confused, or talking around the topic to reach an understanding with a native speaker. A bizarre feeling you don’t reeally get when learning as a child, as your thoughts are as simple as the sentences you’re making!
That is exactly me, I have so many ideas to talk about, and I will start and then I'm just gonna stop and get confused how to continue the long a$$ sentence xD.
Japanese children make me so happy, they're adorable 😍
0:23 I think she was saying smth more like "(h)ora, juusu"(here, juice) rather than "orenji juusu"(orange juice)
My cousin who is almost 4 is very verbal. His mom (my other cousin) didn’t speak to him as if he was a baby but an older child.
I saw him last week and he is such a sweetie. Love that little guy.
Being very verbal is a good sign!
@@LD-Orbs He is. He was really verbal at the age of 2 for example also.
It's fun hearing kids speaking other languages. I grew up with mainly just one language being spoken by the people around me. (not counting subtitled movies and TV shows) It was interesting during my time of learning English when I heard a native English speaking toddler talk. Same with Japanese through this video. Bit of a shame I don't understand it so I can't dive into details with the speech pattern the way you do. But of course, that's what your content is for. Teaching the language.
My english speaking two year old was borderline worrying her doctor and I because she was lagging a bit behind in speaking skills but at the last minute just started vomiting full sentences in english and also occasionally speaking basic Punjabi. 😳 We live around quite a few indian people and she plays with the kids on the playground but her dad and I don’t speak it at all so we were quite surprised she was absorbing so much of it!
* her doctor and ME
When my daughter was 2 years old, it was hard because "はひふへほ →あいうえお" and "さしすせそ→たちつてと". For example, like this, "はさみがほしいです → あたみがおちいでつ"
The pitch pattern was the only thing I could rely on.
In other words, as long as the pitch pattern is accurate, Japanese is manageable.
あなたの赤ちゃんの文法が本当面白い
This was so wholesome... nothing prepared my heart for this!!! 🥹
the children in the video are so adorable😭😭baby fever is real
That first one😭😭😭
Good thing I’m vaccinated for baby fever! 😉
@@Foxtrot-Nationlol
Having four kids myself, I've definitely seen first hand how they understand a phenomenal amount more language, from very early on, than they generate themselves. At 13 to 15 months old, they understood basically everything we said to them; they just couldn't say anything in return.
Also, having had them all through preschool, it's definitely normal for them to have a hard time generating certain sounds until they reach certain ages. Their teachers gave us handouts detailing at which ages they were expected to finally be able to produce certain letter sounds properly. I think the sheet went to 6 years or something.
If they are already 15 months old then why the hell can't they say anything?! Are all of your students disabled?!
@@Rayvn7 Quick google search says babies don’t really say their first word til about 12 months, so it’s not unreasonable to believe that these 13-15 month old kids can’t really respond. Especially if we clarify what “respond, talk, or say anything” means. Are we talking about clear, full words and short sentences? Yeah, most likely a kid who just said their first word can’t do all that.
if its not too much trouble yuta sensei, could you manage to get more content like the last girl for another video? i feel like this is so close to my personal level and it is very nice how simply she speaks, its very easy to understand. it would be so interesting to hear more kids at this level and have your educational input. just a suggestion from a long time viewer.
This video was really fascinating, people have these misconceptions that kids learn languages faster than adults but that’s not true. They have 2 years of complete immersive input and then about a year to reach simple output. So by the 4th year they start to hit proficiency. I think any serious adult can reach that in 2 years. Thanks for the great content, this really opened my mind to the possibilities of language acquisition.
If the adjective "serious" is required in order to complete your alleged opinion, then you have literally just objected to your entire alleged opinion.
@@Rayvn7 You are right, maybe “serious”was the wrong choice of word. Perhaps I should have said relentless rigour and a shit load of red bulls.
I think in some ways learning as a child is easier but I also think it just seems quicker because people don’t actually remember the beginner stages of learning their native language
Its fascinating how polite even young children are in Japan.
I was spending some time with a Japanese family recently and noticed that the three young brothers would refer to themselves with くん like ヒロ君。rather than saying 僕、俺、私、etc. I thought that was very interesting.
You can actually do this as an adult in Japanese too though some people find it weird. Or use your relative status as a pronoun. “Otousan ha kaimono iku yo”. I’m going shopping. We do this in Hawaiian pidgin as well “aunty go take care you” and some other English dialects.
But it’s actually ok to use the second person to refer to oneself in Japanese and some other Asian languages.
It's probably because they get used to their parents calling them 〇〇くん
@@layllachannel Yep, happens with Korean toddlers as well, and my 2 year old niece does that in English in some sentences
This is common in all languages, and has to do with the fact that their brains aren't developed enough for them to have a proper sense of the individual, meaning they don't understand that pronouns have different meanings depending on who's using them. Typically you grow to learn this at around age 2.
I'm so glad my baby brother (2y5m) is quite easy to understand in all the languages he speaks. Hearing those three 2 year olds speak, I could barely match any words to the captions (granted, I don't speak Japanese, but I could mostly do it with the parents and the 4 year old). We'll see if my baby sister ends up the same.
Interesting video I enjoy seeing the processes and how much they know compared to starter students learning the language. Also I was hoping for a plot twist ending were Yuta reveals that these are all his kids. Cool video. ^_^
Really interesting video, especially the bit about pitch accent
I've taken 2 Japanese college courses and it feels good to know that a 2 year old's Japanese is better than mine.
I love watching children learn how to speak. I don't think a lot of people consider how speech is first learnt when studying a second language later on in life. We all acquired language by listening, repeating, and engaging in conversation...and then pronouncing the words were a struggle at first and it took years to perfect that pronunciation. We learned to speak by mimicking and then trying to form those sounds in our mouths until we got used to tongue and lip movements. In all honesty, I think learning a second language is a lot like the first time, only we have more knowledge about how to learn. We have to learn how to mimic new sounds for the first time, figure out how to position our mouths like a native to produce those new sounds, learn how to repeat things back, etc. Watching how kids learn is really eye-opening because doing what they do is the best way to learn once more.
Are you drake?
this was immensely useful to gain perspective. thanks for sharing
as a 15 yo baby myself I sounded like the 2 yo babies when starting to learn 5 months ago! lmao
OMG These actual babies are SO CUTE THO
Practice practice practice practice practice. Only after a huge amount of practice do you start being able to think in another language.
how adorable! 😭🙏
With the four year old girl, what caught my attention was that her mother said 昼ごはん and she instantly related that to 給食.
At 4 years and 6 months they aren't just able to describe things in detail but they probably feel the language better than someone who has lived in Japan for 10+ years. Everything important in their life has happened in Japanese.
その女の子の「嫌い」はめちゃかわいいすぎ！
I used to teach young learners English in Japan. Little ones up to age 3 did classes with a parent. We started classes at 9 months old, at which point ofc children can't speak yet, so it's all about input and having fun. Some toddlers had younger siblings, so sometimes I was teaching while holding a tiny baby less than six months old! 😂 From age 4 and up, kids would participate in class without a parent, and by then they can speak short sentences and sometimes write their first name in hiragana and in English letters. It was so fun teaching them, as they are dilligent and sweet, at least when they are out and about.😅 It was my years there that made me want to be a mom, as I got to see some first steps and hear some first words! ❤
I am now expecting my first (a boy), and since I am the only bilingual parent, I do plan to teach him Japanese, since I am fairly fluent. I look forward to it! 😊
Good luck 😊 wishing you a safe and happy birth ❤
I hope all went well with you and your little one!
1655
13th of August 2024
As a Japanese language student it's fun to learn Japanese language!!!
Lol.. I've been doing Duo for 620+ days now and I can confidently say I'm on a level with a 2 year old.. I started getting Yuta lessons recently so, I will obviously improve massively. I think because I am treating it as a hobby is probably blunting my progress....
With this video I can confidently confirm I speak Japanese like a 2yr old 😅
Which I guess makes sense since I've only studied for a little over 2yrs casually.
Twins have their own language...no matter the country. Keeping that in mind also.
Japanese babies are so cute, well generally babies are cute the way they speak is just so cute!
thank you for making me smile with these kids
Omg…SO STINKING CUTE!!
I travel to Japan in a year. My goal until December 2023...talk at least like a 4-year-old. じゃあ。。。。がんばれします！勉強します！
I'm surprised kids ramble on and on, it is universal trait regardless of what languages they speak.
Hello yuta. Well this video motivates me to move forward. It's just been 3 months since I have been studying nihongo. I completed studying N5. Compared to other students my Japanese listening, reading and writing skills are way more good than other reasons I have been watching anime since 2014 in Japanese dub with English subtitles. I'm sure about that after 3 months of hard studying today I can pass JLPT N4. Thankful for such awesome video ❤❤ love from Nepal
The 1st toddler speaks better Japanese than me.
10:48
"ありがとう~"
"Yay! :D"
So cute!
Very motivating! Any Japanese family that would like to adopt-an-adult? I hope you make more videos with kids speaking Japanese, it brings the language alive and is fun.
やはり4歳の子供が日本語能力試験2級を持つ人より良く喋れるんだ！
Sorry if this is unrelated, but I think you should make a video on how to react to compliments in Japanese. Is it still true that you should reject compliments in Japan, even among my generation of 20-somethings? As an American, it really goes against my intuition that saying, "No, you're wrong. I'm not good" is going to get a positive reaction. Don't people want to know that their compliment made you happy, and that you don't think they're lying to you just to be nice?
I agree as an American, refusing a compliment seems cringe and bad behavior. Not sure whether that's normal in Japan
Generally, in East Asian cultures, notably Japan and China, not sure about others, you want to maintain an air of humility. So when someone compliments you, you don't necessarily have to contradict them directly but you can be like 'ah it's okay' or 'you're too kind' if we were to translate it into English.
To an extent you can say thank you (ありがとうございます) to a compliment, nobody will think you're an egomaniac, particularly cause you're a gaijin. But at least the first time you're complimented, you can say something like ややや (yayaya) or 全然 (zenzen) while waving your hands. This is like saying 'you're too kind'.
Then what's likely to happen is they'll insist on the compliment and say something like 本当ですよ (hontou desuyo/no really) to reaffirm the compliment, and then at that point it's probably fine to accept it and say thank you.
Don't overthink it too much, nobody's gonna get angry or offended at someone who is clearly not a native Japanese speaker making a mistake.
The thing to keep in mind, especially with the assumption that "Don't people want to know that their compliment made you happy" is all cultural based. Speaking as someone who's family are from various different cultures, it cannot be understated the effect this has on one's general mindset. You might see "lying to you just to be nice" as underhanded thing, because American culture discourages such actions; but other cultures might see it as a positive interaction. Lots of people (especially Western people, but not exclusive to them) really think that their worldview is the "default" and consider any variations as intentional from the individual, but that is not the case. It's important to not assume that others will share the same general opinion as you, no matter how minor you may consider it (such as something as minor as reacting to a compliment) because even the smallest things can have WILDLY different connotations interpretations based on culture. And this really isn't an exaggeration. You'd be shocked by what the general populace of various countries believe and don't believe.
Haven't visited your channel in a while and DAMN, you've gotten so much more stylish and handsome looking! When did this change occur?! Also, those are some cute little babies.
When I studied in Japan I remember watching after-school children programs in hopes that they'd be teaching things at my level XD That was only kind of true, you learn things in a different order as an adult and as a fully-immersed child, haha.
This was interesting, though, thanks!
2nd comment: Great series of how anime characters speak Japanese. Please do Itsuki Nakano from the quintessential quintuplets or any or all the 7 main characters in TQQ. How they speak Japanese I believe is very important to understanding the plot eg the honorifics, the lost in translation stuff (eg when they say things like zurui, hatsukoi, uso, tachi, fukuzatsu Vs taihen, mote etc that are removed from the dub). I compiled a lot of the lost in translation stuff in r/gotoubun
Something to consider about Itsuki:
The Quintessential Quintuplets' character types are:
Ichika - Onee-san / ara ara,
Nino - tsundere,
miku - kuudere / dandere,
Yotsuba - genki
Itsuki - ??
- Tsundere like Nino?
- Eat-suki?
- Imouto?
- Someone who speaks keigo to their siblings, to Fuutarou and to Raiha and to everyone basically?
Actually, the main thing I learned from Yuta's videos that keigo is basically just desu, masu & their variations.
I swear when I learned elementary Japanese in bachelor's (foreign language classes are required in universities in the Philippines) we were never even taught the word keigo.
All this time I had no idea Itsuki was the only quint and actually only main character who was talking keigo to EVERYONE.
Anyway, I have a theory as to what Itsuki's type is, but you're not gonna like it...
For more japanese stuff re TQQ, see r/gotoubun r/itsuesugi r/raitsuki etc
At 09:50 it's interesting because she actually corrects herself, but that's not reflected in the subtitles. I can't tell what verb she uses, but she says あ、まちがえた、ぬいて…
I'm glad my Japanese is at a level of a 2-year-old baby. Though since I live here and listen to the language every day, I feel like the 10-month-old.
0:40 Sooo adorable 🥰
Such cute kiddos!
Very informational analysis Yuta
Omg these kids are soooo cute
I think it’s one of the super powers of mothers, being able to instantly interpret a child
Awesome! Thank you for this!
Mikan juudu kudadai! 1:42, ohhhh sooo cuuute. 6:43
ただの癒しホームビデオで草
The 2yr 10 month old reminds me of the way my nephew (same age) speaks. (although my nephew speaks English and not Japanese but the way the sentences are spoken, and the silly faces).
I’m friends with a Japanese American toddler and he won’t be learning Japanese til he starts kindergarten the year i graduate high school in 2025. His mom is from Japan and he & his little brother got to go there for the very first time this year.
I wish there were dictionaries of pitch accent where you can type in a word and the program will show lines on top or below syllables.
Very interesting! One thing you don’t comment on is how often the 34-month-old toddler uses the words she’s just heard in her own sentences. She was mostly asked leading questions, and the younger girls just before her were having some difficulty with more open-ended questions.
If I had a teacher for 4 years, 24/7 I'd be fluent too!
True, but these kids'brains are not as developed as yours.
you would be fluent in 2 years only
This is me with spanish i can listen to a whole conversion once i need to speak my brain blow out
I can basically understand the 4 year old girl's content with the subs.
What makes me feel hard is that Japanese conversations tend to hide so many information so I not only need to understand the words but the complex intention lol
Thankfully my Japanese friend is not indirect at all! 😆
I'm watching this and learning so much from two year olds. Also toddlers are universal that older two year and my niece are around the same age and she does the same goofy stuff while talking かわいい❤❤❤❤❤❤
This video inspired me to learn more Japanese
0:04 “this baby is 13 months/years old🥹”
Well, English is not his first language. As a native English speaker we have folk that say "one years old" when it should just be "one year old". English is a really difficult language. It blows my mind that people learn it as their second language.🙂🤯
Hm, he probably knows it should have been just "13 months old". Probably out of habit he ended up adding the "years old" xD
I googled up this video wondering if the Japanese speaking progression of children were any different than English speaking children.
Its reassuring to see that when people say "kids pick up language quicker than adults" is kinda incorrect. As like is said in the video 4 years of pure immersion in the language, culture and people speaking slowly to you actually as adults we could be fluent in this time. We have the cheat of our brains can apply rules and also we can attach more contextual meaning to things. ✌️there is hope people!!! Youre never too old to learn another language!! みなさんがんばってくださいね!
We're just here for the cute kiddos
This is interesting to me because apparently my grandparents had extreme difficulty with my uncle because he tried to just use sounds instead of words to speak and this took years to fix.
1:16
The second kid is way better at articles than I am. I thought it was おもちゃ *と* 遊ぶ, but apparently, it's *で。*
Very very cute 🥰
Better than me it seems
nihonga ga jyouzu desu ne
"normally you wouldnt use SAN to indroduse yourself, because it doesnt make sense" Hi guys, im Nis, nice to meet you
in the "yotsuba to" manga (jp) she is always talking like "chi" (おばちゃんち）and i never knew what it meant until i learned it from these babies! thanks babies!
I think it's うち - so this is "auntie's house". Like 俺んち「俺のうち」. Yotsuba is way too old to speak like a toddler 😁
That chi is a shortened form of "no uchi", so obachanchi is "obachan's house". There was a jpop song back in the day called Kiminchi that I tried looking up in a dictionary, but all I could find was that kimin mean starving people. It wasn't until years later that I finally figured out it meant "kimi no uchi", "your house". That's the hard thing about Yotsubato, is that there's so much slang and slurring used by the male characters (which Yotsuba then picks up herself).
Look up for a video called 「うち」の使い方を教えるよ
Babies swap one mora with another and in this case there's an addition.
that is the cutest kid I have ever seen
Good to know i can speak like a 2 and half year old Japanese toddler 🥲
There's something about Japanese that makes toddlers' Japanese 100 times cuter than other languages.
For me, kazu said “orange juice”, too.
Both mean almost the same tho.
レスポンスが返ってくる会話の中で、大人の発した言葉を真似することをほぼ24時間していたらどの言語でもちょっとずつ上達していけるんだろなぁ。
THIS VIDEO BROKE ME
なんだこの可愛い動画は