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Can you imagine if the English language functioned the same way as Japanese. You would have to switch between the greek and latin alphabets in the same sentence. Also throw in a couple Nordic runes into the mix because why not.
MrMathew And gothic characters because of German loanwords, then kanji, because of Japanese imported words, then cyrillic because of Russian words and so on
this does not act as an appropriate analogy because the greek and latin alphabets are entirely similar in function and using both would offer no greater utility than using just one of them.
Alessandro Pedretti japanese doesnt do all of that though... its just chinese characters, kana, and latin alphabet. for example they dont use the cyrillic alphabet if they write a russian word. they just write it in katakana probably
this is actually a really good way of describing it. it's a little easier than it sounds though -- hiragana/katakana are *extremely* stable in pronunciation. Kanji is an absolute dumpster fire though.
lolol I see all these comments saying " I am Japanese, and I speak it fluently; however when I think about it, it's all kind of confusing." How encouraging :D
Hannah Young I’m Japanese and I feel exactly how you described it 😂 I don’t even try to think of how it all works but I think about Japanese words when I’m speaking with elder person because some words may change completely depending on who are you talking to.
I assume your native language is English? You could probably say the same thing about that, right? I think it’s a testament to the ability of the human mind to process and intuit complex patterns through simple exposure (and trial and error)
Bella That’s so interesting! Do you have any examples off the top of your head? I imagine this is the case with a word like 「お前」where it can be incredibly rude in certain situations but just the way to talk in others? Is it usually about the level of humbleness or politeness, formality va informality, the status of the people talking relative to each other, that kind of thing? Or are there a bunch of other reasons as well?
@@littlefishbigmountain - I think Bella is referring to honorifics(敬語) in general, which is very difficult to master in its fullest. It's common for many Japanese to make errors, and sometimes their intellectual levels and upbringings are questioned (behind their backs) if not used properly. Age and social status of the person you are talking to or talking about can determine which nouns, pronouns (in your case of using お前, which would not be used to an older person or a person of higher social standing), verb to use and the associated agglutination. Sometimes the proper use comes out without thinking too much, almost subconsciously because you've been taught since you were small, and other times by paying close attention to what you are saying. It's similar to an English native speaker stating "it just sounds right" when asked why they spoke or wrote in a particular way.
GYYYO I realize all of that already. I wanted a native speaker’s input on the matter, as I’ve heard plenty of 外人 try to explain it. Thanks for trying to help tho; you didn’t have to do that
I'm Japanese and I've been learning English and Italian. It is hard for me to learn these language but watching this video makes me feel that both English and Italian are very kind languages. I respect and appreciate those who study Japanese.
As someone learning your language. I'm just going to say " Oh I've seen this level of pain before in my own tongue ". Where a native language inherited another language's words, but except it is through kanji. So I am always having to get creative on memorizing it. English is a Germanic language with Norse Words, Germanic spellings and Latin spellings slammed left, right, and center. If Learn English, go immedately to French not Italian. Why? You will deal with where a lot of the latin came from English. French has the non-phonetic writing problem, but responsible for that issue in English.
I've been using duolingo for almost two months and, ignoring vocabulary, I have learned far more about grammar and writing from this video than the entire course I've taken so far.
Which is why I say, videos like the ones Langfocus makes, along with blogs like maggiesensei are the way to go for learning a language. Courses generally take you on a long useless journey of crap you don't need. Exposure teaches you most of what courses do, naturally.
Udit Karode Except short videos and blogs basically give no exposure at all. Courses are only useless if you don’t take them seriously. When learning a language there is no such thing as useless stuff you don’t need. You need to know all of it.
Russian: "I'm so simple. I always follow the same rules." English: "I usually just do whatever feels right" Japanese: "Here's a compass. Use your imagination."
It seems like that only because the way we teach Japanese is simply wrong. If you understand the rule of Japanese grammar - not how Japanese is translated to fit English grammar - Japanese become one of the most logical language with almost no exceptions. The only language that is more logical with its grammar is Esperanto. And for sure it is not English. English makes no sense at all. Grammar is irrational and not regular and spelling system is just random - I do not see how Japanese writing system is less rational from English one. I would claim opposite (kanji helps you a lot when you learn Japanese - English spelling is just a pain).
@@toridori9473 I back that up, Japanese is very logical in its grammar and syntax, and its strength is that, if the context allows it or is obvious to the speakers, you can skip entire parts of the sentences and still be understood. The fact that the translations from Japanese to English are widely different just reflects the immense difference between the two languages. Among the 4 languages I speak decently, Japanese is the one I had the least time to put effort into to reach a decent level (I still have ways to go in vocabulary assimilation though).
@@furretar6484 I meant grammar. Writing system I more complex but I would claim it is still better than English. Kanji are more natura for your brain than phonetic writing. Once you get used to it reading is quicker and easier than English and it is far easier to read. You can compare Korea which drop their hanja and Japanese which kept kanji. Japan have very high functional literacy where Korea have low. Meaning that kanji make it easier to read complicated text (it is hard to blame it on anything else since both country are similar in their relationship to education). In fact Japan have it higher than USA by a lot. Funny enough people say that Korean writing is the most logical and Japanese the least. But an insertion that you brain is a logical machines is simple wrong. Even when you read English you brain is trying to convert what you see into ideographs. Thats why you can randomly change order of the letter in the word (keeping first and last intact) and you will not even notice it if you are proficient. Your brain is looking for shape that represents an idea not for pronunciation. This is why you can find foreigner who can read and understand but they can not read out loud. I was like that for about a year and still there are word I understand in reading but have to look up in dictionary to know pronunciation - and I never do it since it does not effect my understanding so I do not care. I
That's honestly true for most languages. Native speakers learn from childhood through immersion rather than textbook grammar. So most native speakers don't understand the complex theory and details of their language at all, simply because it's not necessary. When you can already speak and write it fluently, there's no incentive to really learn WHY something is said or written the way it is, you just KNOW that it is for a fact. My mother tongue (Estonian- land of Baruto) is also one of the most difficult languages in the world to learn, not quite as hard as Japanese, but close. And I swear to god I have no fucking clue how or why the grammar is the way it is or what rules are used, or how I would go about teaching the language to anyone else. I'm completely clueless. Yet I can speak and write it fluently. The complexity of the language just never comes up in everyday life.
What I love about Langfocus is that every video of his is so high quality that it can easily be rewatched multiple times. It's clear how much work Paul puts into this channel.
@@Langfocus Thank you for making these videos Paul! I've rewatched most of them twice now. They're pretty much like Breaking Bad episodes-the quality goes up the more I watch them.
although his videos are quite helpful, I feel like he tends to put too much info into the video; and for people watching to actually learn the language, it can't get rather confusing and discouraging. However, since he is just trying to help people learn a little bit more overall; then I think he is quite effective at it.
I'm Japanese and was just amazed by the amount of research you did here. Your presentation is superb and I couldn't stop watching it even though I obviously knew the language. Thank you for making this video.
Your presentations are designed to simplify as is possible some very difficult languages. Your methodology has me readily digesting languages I thought impossible for my linear brain to process. Learning Russian was a cake walk compared to this stuff. You are sharp, polished, never bore and were made for this kind of work. I enjoy every minute
I got an Asian studies minor in college with an emphasis in Japanese, 4 total years of 2 classes a semester and man it kicked my butt so hard. I studied for hours a day, spoke all day, wrote all day ( filled up four 300 page notebooks JUST to practice writing), and managed to get a perfect grade in the class every semester... but man it took a lot of work to get all the kanji, stroke orders, vocabulary, grammar, meanings and readings down to memory because they can get incredibly complicated. I grew up knowing Mexican Spanish and learned English later on, but Japanese makes those two languages seem like baby-stuff. I'm also currently binge watching all your videos. They're so interesting and informative, even when they're about languages I already speak. The Mexican Spanish video was was very cool, and I even learned something as a native speaker!
yoo i wanna do the same! and i also have mexican spanish as my background so it doesnt make japanese as hard compared to an english mother tongue speaker
@@morsol8491 sí; mi amiga está estudiando español en la escuela y muchas veces me anda preguntando ayuda porque tampoco no es tan facil el español; pero aunquesea no tenemos tres sistemas para escribir jajajsxjsn
It always takes me twice as long to watch your videos because they're so densely packed with information - detailed graphics, grammatical concepts in rapid-fire succession, audio pronunciations, interesting bits of history to look up. Inevitably I'm pausing, hitting repeat, going back to certain parts, searching the web. Just goes to show how thorough and quality these videos are. Like mini-language crash courses. Can't even imagine the time you put into these.
Thanks for recognizing that! You're right that it's a lot of work. As a viewer, I'm sure it's a little bit like drinking from a fire hose, but I expect that different things will stick with different people, and then they can look more into the language on their own.
I’m Japanese. Almost all Japanese people distinguish は(wa) and が(ga) intuitively and don’t take much notice of them. I am one of them and have always found it difficult to explain the difference. The explanation in this video makes sense. Especially I’m convinced of the idea that ga is a focus marker. When we say “something ga”, we often allude to “not other things but the thing” or “especially the thing.” In colloquial situations, wa and ga are omitted more often than not. One thing I cannot overlook is that the explanation in this video about the difference between the pitches of 端(hashi)(edge), 橋(hashi)(bridge), and 箸(hashi)(chopsticks) at about 10:45 is not correct. The pitches pronounced in this video are closer to Kansai dialect (although not perfectly accurate), which is the most popular dialect in Japan used in Kyoto, Osaka and so forth, rather than to Standard Japanese. In Kansai dialect, the three words are pronounced differently as follows: 端(edge): ha and shi are pronounced in the same pitch. 橋(bridge): the pitch of ha is higher than that of shi. 箸(chopsticks): shi is pronounced in the higher pitch. Whereas, in Standard Japanese, they are pronounced like this: 端(edge): the pitch of shi is slightly higher than that of ha. 橋(bridge): shi is higher than ha. 箸(chopsticks) ha is higher than shi.
Reminds me a bit of trying to explain The and A in English but harder. There's a clinical difference but you'd have to stop and think about how to explain it on the spot. Or the difference between Lately and Recently. I guess. I've never been able effectively use or explain が so I just feel my way through it and hope for the best lol
But in chopsticks this Ohashi, like no one says jus Hashi lol. And pronunciation problems are frankly inevitable without a native speaker. I’m half japanese, but I always speak Japanese to my mom and I go to japan in the summer usually. My grandparents say I don’t have an American accent, but I speak like a little kid, which makes sense cuz when I went to school I felt sooooo dumb.
@@noayamaguchi9021 I think an easy way to explain the difference is that an indefinite article means just that, it could be any number of things (a book, which one?). Whereas a definite article refers to something that is definite and certain (the book, that one!). The same with the indefinite particle "は" (Watashi-wa or I am /As for me... ) and "が" (Watashi-ga or I (certainly) am ... ). It appears subtle, but the distinction is quite clear.
I noticed the same, 10:45 is definitely wrong but then i just realized that is probably the correct pitch accent for Kansai dialect instead. I guess the girl was reading those Japanese on this video is from west side of japan.
I'm Japanese and even native Japanese often get confused about kanji reading. There is a Japanese family name called "Yamanashi(phonetically means : no mountain, yama=mountain, nashi=doesn't exist)" and it is written in kanji like "月見里(moon viewing village, 月=the moon, 見=look, watch, 里=small village)". If we read the kanji "月見里" normally, then it should be read like "Tsukimisato(kun yomi)" or "Gekkenri(on yomi)" but it is "Yamanashi" as a family name, because "you can see the moon clearly from your village if there is no mountain"! There are some more playful family names like this... 小鳥遊(little birds playing)=Takanashi(No hawks) 一(one)=Ninomae(before two) 四月一日(April first)=Watanuki(removing cotton(from futons))
Greek: If you can write a word, you can always read it, and if you can read it, you can most likely write it with few exceptions English: If you can read or write a word, then maybe you can do the other too. Sometimes. Japanese:Good luck. If you can read or write a word, then well done, you've spent years of hard work. Have a cookie.
@SNES Nes Not at all. Their hard work and innovation are probably some of the only things left that are keeping their economy as the third largest in the world. Of course there are circumstances where it goes overboard but that is often highly exaggerated by western media. If some of the more wealthy European countries had larger populations and less lax work attitudes (not saying a more relaxed outlook towards work is bad), several of them probably would have overtaken Japan in gdp a while ago. Regardless, that's more likely than not going to happen in the very near future due to population decline.
Polish: If you can write a word, you can always read it[*], and if you can read it, you can most likely write it[**] [*] - there are some exceptions to this rule. [**] - not quite, you see, there might be "few" more exceptions[***] [***] - some exceptions require more exceptions to fully explain a given exception.[***********...
Note: Around 14:10 I used the wrong kanji for "okoru". I used 起こる which means "to happen" rather than "怒る" which means "to get angry", but both are pronounced ”okoru". A silly mistake!
11:01 You got the pitch accents wrong for the three "hashi" : 箸(が)(chopstick) should be High-Low-Low 橋(が) (bridge) should be Low-High-Low 端(が) (edge) should be Low-High-High If you consider Standard Japanese at least.
ありがとうございます! I am going to Japan next month and this video couldn't have had better timing! I have been studying Japanese for a year and it's amazing and I am so excited to see this wonderful country. It has been such a life changing rewarding experience. Thanks for the video Paul. 貴方のすごい！:D
Man... here i'm discorying that treasure in 2024. VERY nice video!! I have just started to learn Japanese, as a Portuguese speaker, and this is one more content that 'keeps the flame burning' on that loooooooooooooooong journey that i'll be running. You finished the video saying exactly what i've been figuring out studying 日本語: 'Japanese is a very rewarding language to learn...'! This is absolutely TRUE! Has been 4 months of pure joy, and now i finded a good teacher with more 'modern' approach on teaching, so that i avoid getting bored or overwhelmed in the course of learning. Great job, and GREAT job, ひろみさん！！
I don't go that deep into grammar. I just learn the simple structure and memorize all sentences that feel useful to me. It's actually easier then learning and applying complicated rules.
I started learning Japanese exactly 6 months ago and it feels as rewarding as Paul says. Knowing most of the stuff in the video encouraged me to keep going. Good job Paul!
I'm a native speaker of Japanese who has been watching your videos for a year and finally a video on Japanese!! I'm grad that you mentioned wasei-kango. I'm very proud of the fact that they invented wasei-kango which uses Chinese characters to represent western concepts. When Japan opened its doors to the outside world in mid 19th century, they had no idea what "democracy", "economics" or "telephone" means and didn't know how to call these in Japanese. So they decided to use kanjis to represent those concepts. For example, Japanese word for "telephone" is 電話(でんわ denwa) and these two kanjis literally means "electricity talk". I think this way of translating foreign concepts helped to keep Japanese vocaburalies less foregn and feels more natural to the natives. Although kanjis are literally characters from China, many of these wasei-kango words are also adopted in Chinese language. Chinese word for "telephone" is 電話(dian hua) and this is a Chinese word that derives from a Japanese word which uses Chinese characters to represent western concepts. Sad thing is, we don't make wasei-kango words anymore. Japanese word for "Internet" is インターネット(inta-netto). Today, when we encounter a new western words like "Internet", we simply use katakana to phonetically represent it and don't make any effort to think which kanjis would suit the concept the best. But in Chinese it's 網路（wang lu）or "net route" so they are still making new chinese vocabralies with Chinese characters. I feel that Japanese language is changing a little bit too fast. I hope more Japanese people would respect the originality of their language.
盲亀浮木 hi, HKer here. I agree that wasei kango are beautiful. Thanks for inventing them which added many vocabularies to Chinese. I've also been to your country once. Very nice sceneries and people.
As a Portuguese, I'm very glad to see signs of our language in Japonese. Kopu (カップ) and Karuta (歌留多), for exemple, is literally how we say, respectively, cup and card in portuguese (Copo and Carta). Not only in language but in other culture aspects like food. Tempura, for exemple, it's a very old portuguese cooking. We are the first ocidental country to meet Japan (1543) and we are very proud! Sorry for the fire weapons, but you were very interested in them and it was a very good Trade Object for us. For the good and bad, it helped to unify Japan... :)
The same for Indian languages. We have Sanskrit. Sanskrit has many affixes, suffixes, prefixes, inflexions, declensions etc to make new words. These words are fit for Hindi, Bengali, Marathi, Telugu and other Indian and South-Asian languages. dūrabhāṣ (दूरभाष) telephone, saṁgaṇitra (संगणित्र) computer, antarjāl (अन्तर्जाल) internet, vidyutpreṣ (विद्युत्प्रेष) email, tantrāṁś (तन्त्रांश) software, yantrāṁś (यन्त्रांश) hardware. But peoole prefer English loanwords like ṭelīphon, kampyūṭar, iṁṭarneṭ, īmel, sāphṭvair, hārḍvair.
Yeah i know Joel Araujo, but our friend paul find that it wasn't that important to include the Portuguese origin of the most often japanese words, such as Arigato, Pan, Tempura and many more. Being the First Whites (Europeans) to meet the Great Japan is not nothing after all Its time to tell him that Portuguese influences had an impact on Japanese culture. Help me remind him what important element he forget Viva Portugal!
盲亀浮木 in mainland China,internet is called 网络,which means the net which is karamariatta(sorry but i forgot how to say it in english).in my opinion,after the war2 japanese goverment thought that english is more popular than chinese,so they begann to import words only to use katakana.waseikanngos are great to describe things and concepts,such as 経済，自由.these words are created for hundred years but you japanese give them new means which can accurately explain the meaning of gairaogo.according to the rule of waseikanngo,we chinese created a lot of new words,which makes the language more enegetic.I respect you japanese for the talent of creating waseikanngo but i dont know why the process stopped suddenly.this is really a pity.
I've watched a number of your language videos and I am just amazed at the amount of research you did on so many languages. I just wanted to express my admiration.
Ughhhh Thank you so so so so much for making this video! I'm a Japanese living in Spain. Quite a bit of people around me are curious about Japanese language especially because of manga & anime, for which I'm so grateful and proud of. But the problem is I always have trouble in explaining how Japanese language works actually! For example: People ask me like "What does 'Japanese word written in alphabet' mean!? " Me "Well I can't tell what this exactly means without kanjis which have meanings." People "?? How could it possible??" I would recommend this video to anyone who is interested in Japanese. This video explains everything about my language way better than me only in half an hour!! 😂
Some say otherwise but having learnt Cantonese as my first language have given me quite a head start in learning Japanese, which also made kanji ironically the easiest part of learning Japanese, suck it my fellow Japanese learners!!!!
You deserve a medal Sir. Those explanations about は and が were useful even for people that already are learning japanese. I have trouble with the accent I didn't knew about it jajaja thanks a lot for this pretty well made video
Japanese is my third language and now working on Spanish as the fourth language. It is weird how I feel Japanese and Spanish share the same pronounciation in some circumstances.
There are only some differences to pronunciaton, for example letter J, japanese J is similar to english and spanish J is like a strong english H, also japanese H is like english H meanwhile spanish H is mute in most cases
people often criticize Japanese as being a-tonal. and maybe to an untrained ear it might appear so, in reality though, Japanese is very sing-song like similar to Italian and Spanish
I like that since it was first founded Japan's basically been a sponge for soaking up culture. And now, after absorbing practically every culture for the last 21 centuries, it's quite possibility one of the most unique and confusingly original cultures in existance Also yes Japan (nihon) literally called itself 'sunrise land'
I study Japanese in university and we recently went to see the school's collection of ancient Japanese manuscripts. It was super interesting to see the really old stuff that was just Chinese! They also had some old copies of the Tale of Genji, the first novel ever written (in the world!), that was also super influential in creating the combined Chinese-Japanese writing system they have today. Great video!
This video has amazed me a lot, very good explained in details about Japanese, sometimes citing historical events in Japan. Great! One thing which should be pointed to; others might have already referred to, but here's some errors in the examples of pitch accent for "Hashi". The accent for "bridge" is Low-High, and for "chopsticks", High-Low. These are of course very famous examples in an explanation for the Japanese accents, so those errors should be corrected ASAP. Thanks for your attention.
I'm just learning katakana and the fact that the differences between ツ,シ,ン and ソ makes me think that the Japanese are sadists. Then I watched this video and now I'm more terrified than ever. 頑張ります
The differences are simple between those characters. "Tsu" and "So" are angled with a narrow downward stroke, keyword is downward, which is evident in many typefaces and in writing. These floating strokes are angled toward the bottom of the character, whereas "Shi" and "N" are slanted with a wide upward stroke, and this upward stroke is easy to tell in various typefaces and in writing. The floating strokes are angled less, and don't go steeper than 45 degrees, and their upward stroke doesn't reach as high since the character is meant to be wide as opposed to narrow. So knowing those key distinctions, you can look at that line and read it as "tsu, shi, n, and so". I thought hiragana and katakana were beautiful, so I studied Japanese writing for many months before I even began to learn Japanese, lol, so I came to know the nuances and characteristics of each character, which helped a lot when I started learning the actual language, lol.
It's a piece of cake -- shi and tsu look alike, but tsu looks like it's going to flow up and to the right, which resembles the hiragana; つ while shi looks like it flows downwards to the left, also like the hiragana し, so that's how I avoid getting them mixed up in my head. The n consonant is also pretty straightforward if you again compare it to ん since it has the same kind of rhythm in the way it's written. The katakana for so doesn't have any obvious connection to そ, but even if my brain is having a slow day and I draw a blank I can figure it out by process of deduction.
Actually, there's a way to visualize this: If you can draw a "V" or a ">" in the largest space between the long single stroke and the short double strokes, you can see the difference.
the 2 strokes above tsu (ツ) are aligned to the upper stroke of its hiragana counterpart (つ) while shi (シ) is aligned to the left side stroke of its counterpart (し). Now for n (ン) and so (ソ), the upper stroke of so (ソ) is aligned to the upper part of the right side stroke. N (ン), the top stroke of it is more aligned to the left side of its lower stroke.
Japanese is the hardest popular language in the world full stop. It is legitimately a massive hurdle, and unless you’re having a lot of fun now I would suggest trying out a romanic/germanic language first assuming English is your first language if you’re feeling overwhelmed. Wouldn’t want you to be turned off by other languages as a whole
Great video! Thanks to you and Hiromi, you two did great! I, as a Japanese learner, I could identify many basic points of my first days of learning and see precious tips to begginers, like the origin of Kanas and why is difficult read a text fully written in kana! Good job! Continue! What I love in japanese is the variety of writing forms and the agglutinative nature.
Living in Japan now and THIS is the video they should show every American day one. I never studied Japanese in school. The distilled gramatical fundamentals presented here are EXACTLY what I have been searching for for two months. Thank you sir!!!
The example of accent of "Hashi" used for the bridge and the chopsticks are swapped, or used Kansai accent. In Tokyo accent, 端 (edge) and 橋 (bridge) has same accent pattern (Low-High) when not pronouncing particles. And 箸 (chopsticks) is High-Low pattern. I do believe that the example accent was the one of Osaka. There are thousands of words that accents are opposite in Tokyo and Osaka. I find it very interesting. And I'm trying to make a list of major words. :)
interesting, when I was a kid I learned to say hashi with the low-high pattern, but I always hear westerners say it with high-low. I thought this was just westerners all pronouncing it wrong, good to know this isn't (always) the case.
One of the most informative and well done videos on the subject I've seen! I've been casually studying Japanese for awhile and still learned a ton from this. Subscribed.
Alexandro Sánchez if he made this while I still had Japanese class, I might have got a D- (that's not offending him, I'm saying I have no clue when it comes to these kooky non-European features in a language)
Working on a Linguistics assignment. I understands it more clearly watching this video and then reading my textbook. Your video gives more background to the language that I need. Thank you!
many people do not know that many important japanese words are also from ainu language. for example the word for gods is in japanese: kami, the original word in ainu is kamui. but recent researches showed that japanese is somewhat related to ainu langauge and to ancient southern languages(maybe austroasiatic and austronesian)
Well done! As a resident of Japan for 30+ years, and user of Japanese at work and at home, this video is spot on, well-researched, and clearly explained. I especially appreciated the pitch accent explanation. Having lived in the Kansai (Osaka-Kyoto-Kobe) region, the pitch accent tends to be the opposite of standard Tokyo dialect. For example あめがふる can mean "it's raining" 雨が降る or "it's raining candies" 飴が降る depending on where the pitch accent is placed. The latter of course makes no sense, but the Japanese ear hears it so if the pitch accent is misplaced. Learners of Japanese also struggle with short vs. long vowels as in the names Ogawa 小川 and 大川 Ōgawa. This takes practice but well worth getting Tōkyō 東京、Kyōto 京都、and Ōsaka 大阪 correctly pronounced. Finally, this video didn't get into honorifics, keigo 敬語、kenjogo 謙譲語 which for me, is the most difficult part of Japanese. It is so far removed from English notions of language that it takes years and years of practice and is difficult even for Japanese - to wit, the many self-help books teaching native Japanese speakers how to use them properly sold at bookstores all across Japan.
確かめる (kunyomi with okuriganas) 達する (onyomi with okuriganas) 受付 (kunyomi whithout okuriganas) 確認 (onyomi whithout okuriganas) 場所 (half kunyomi, half onyomi) And that's the moment you realise there's no absolute rule for which one of the kunyomi or the onyomi you should use, always exceptions and you begin to become crazy. xD
There might be some rules, but actively learning them is kind of a waste of time. Since the more kanji and more kanji vocabulary you learn, you passively acquire a sense of which reading should be used. (And often you don't even realize which one is the native one and which one is chinese)
Here’s a fun etymology: カラオケ (karaoke) カラ (空) empty, as in 「空いてる」or “I don’t have any plans” or “nothing is inside” + オケ, a short form of オーケストラ which is the katakanafication (I think I just made that word up) of the English “orchestra.” Some other fun modern Japanese words: エモい (emoi: having the qualities of an emoji) ヤバい (yabai: countless meanings in modern spoken Japanese, ranging from intensely good to extremely dangerous) セフレ (sefure: a shortened katakanafication of “sex friend”) ソフレ (sofure: a shortened katakanafication of “soft sex friend” . . . I think) ガラ携 (garakei: a cell phone used only in Japan made up of gala, as in “Galapagos” and “kei” the first morpheme of “keitai” Japanese word for cell phone) These words all combine either hiragana and katakana or katakana and kanji. Incidentally, I’ve never formally studied Japanese but I speak it fluently and can read and write it with no difficulty . It’s a fun language and dynamic language. And much, much easier to learn to speak than most foreign languages.
Just some food for thought: When I studied Japanese in Japan and was learning agglutination, instead of looking at 怒る as okor-u, we were taught to look at it as oko-ru. This is because when written in Japanese you aren't taking る (ru) and dropping the -u but instead are replacing ru entirely. Very well researched video by the way. For full context, I studied the language intensively for 2 years at a language school in Japan and then studied Japanese linguistics at University in Japan for 4 years! Oh, and that part about how reading a sentence entirely in kana being harder than reading one that contains kanji hit real hard, lol. I had a friend who would constantly send me sentences entirely in hiragana asking if it was correct and my only reply was, "I can't read that".
I knew nothing about Japanese before seeing this video, other than knowing the writing system is difficult. I thought the spoken language itself would be simple to learn because of the consonant+vowel pronunciation. I had no clue that there is complex grammar behind that easy pronunciation. It's now clear to me that Japanese is very, very foreign compared to Indo-European languages.
Japanese grammar is not actually that difficult once you get used to it. It is like German in the sense that there are many rules to learn at the start, but once you know them, there are few exceptions and they generally follow common patterns. Unlike in say English, if you learn how to say the negative past tense for one word in Japanese, you can pretty much do it for all words.
Yeah, they say that Japanese has much harder grammar than Chinese. But I've also read that Japanese grammar is basically simplified Turkish. But Turkish grammar doesn't seem too hard to me: Ben ona kitabı okudum. (I he/she/it-to book-the read-past-I)
I can speak the Kyoto and Osaka dialects of Japanese and I can speak the Okinawa dialect as well because I'm from Okinawa! Of course I'm able to speak Standard Japanese too! There are elements from a lot of dialects that are similar to Korean language as well! Great video Paul! 😊
How much do those dialects differ. 'Cause I've been watching a lot of anime for some years now and haven't noticed changes in the basic phrases and words I know. Words like "watashi", "watakushi", "ite"...
I envy you. I'm trying to learn Osaka-ben with a minor in Kyoto. I did a historical tour in 2017 from Asuka to Heian-kyo (Highly recommend the hall of cultural assets in Asuka!)and want to go back to see everything I missed on the first trip.
Learning japanese is indeed very rewarding and when it clicks you can't help coming back looking for more. I've been learning by myself for almost 5 months now and I got really excited after I memorized every hiragana, then I learned katakana much quicker and started to learn some kanjis and understand complete sentences. It's a very good feeling of accomplishment because, as a complete illiterate in a language I couldn't even understand by ear, I thought I would have to spend a huge deal of time to be able to even start learning some words. But it's not like that at all and I'm really impressed. Kanjis are still intimidating, but I saw a video showing actual japanese people not remembering how to write them by memory, so I understand that seeing and recognizing them while reading is what matters most and it comes with practice and exposition.
Oh, hello my gopnik friend! I did not expect my fellow gopniki to hang around here at Langfocus. I wonder if Boris speaks Japanese. Anyway, stay #cheekibreeki!
I think Mr.Paul is really a genious. For me, Japanese, it is unbelievable that he explains the features of the Japanese language very briefly and exactly only within 23minutes.
Excellent video, Mr. Paul, I have to say that even though Japanese has intimidated me more than once, you made it look so easy that I feel like trying to learn it. Thank you very much.
Woo!,the awaited video, and this time in English. I was awaiting so much for your next upload. Great quality educational resources and entertaining are scarce.
I didn't realize that those loanwords weren't from English, and were in fact Dutch in origin! Dutch and English are so similar that you can hardly tell the difference when its pronounced by a third party
@ꅏꍟꍏꌚꍟ꒒ Isn't it strange that English uses dog when every other Germanic language uses a word similar to hund?It is like English speakers are trying to differentiate themselves from other Germanic people for some reason.
One of the things about Japanese I like is that it's got some of the same rules as my mother tongue, Hungarian. Makes it just a little bit easier to learn.
As a Finnish speaker, I only find it easy to learn Japanese pronounciation. It is pretty similar to Finnish and there are no tones to care of. Otherwise, it's probably the hardest language I can imagine. I've learned some Mandarin, and it's hard as hell too, but at least the grammar is VERY simple compared to European languages.
I started learning Japanese 4 months ago, and love it. I know it will be a never ending struggle - but such fun. I have a small advantage with 2 yrs of Chinese ....though sometimes that is more of a distracter with kanji!! This video is so clear about the different forms of writing, why each script is used and when, and basic Japanese sentence structure. Brilliant. And thank you for the native speaker contributions 👌🏼👌🏼🥰
Awesome video. All your videos are awesome though! I never been into Japanese culture or language, but your passion for it makes it pretty interesting. All your videos make me want to learn more about different cultures. I'm a linguistic hobbyist, so your videos are extremely, extremely interesting. I subscribed back when you had less than 20k subscribers. I'm so happy that you're getting more subs, because your videos actually teach us something! In addition, you're thorough and I can tell you do tireless research in each of your videos- especially earning the praises of a native speakers in each video!
One thing I found easier about learning Japanese than other languages l(ike French or Spanish--or even English) is that there are no irregular verbs. Once you learn the rule for past tense, for exmple, you can apply it to all verbs without memorizing numerous exceptions.
Yes, spoken everyday Japanese doesn’t seem too bad. And as someone who doesn’t intend to actually live in Japan, that is what I would like to learn the most
Hey langfocus! Great job on your language videos. I'm waiting for the Indian language videos. You've covered European, middle eastern, Scandinavian, African, Slavic and south east Asian languages. There are a few Indian languages other than Hindi such as Sanskrit, Telugu, Kannada, Malayalam, Tamil etc... with literature works since early AD years and are spoken by a significant population of the subcontinent. I wish you'd shed some light on these languages with your analysis.
I’m Japanese and I often have opportunity to teach Japanese to my friends who are English speakers. This video is really helpful for that. Actually I had been confused “mores” and “syllables”. People tend to mispronounce like “GaKo” instead of “Gakkou”. I always try to teach them with clapping my hands. Now, I’m thinking how I teach them moras and syllables at same time…
I'm really interested in learning Japanese and this video was a great introduction for what I am to expect, so thank you!! I must say, I thought the language would feel like a whole another world, but the grammatical structure of it seems so similar to Turkish (I'm from Turkey). Especially the sentence and question structure was the same but with different words? I'm excited for sure :)
@@Madhattersinjeans Bro, Hiragana and Katakana are not hard. I've learned that shit 3 to 4 years ago and haven't forgotten any of them. They're literally an Alphabet with just a second letter.
Oh... this is why in Spirited Away Yubaba took some letters from Chihiro signature and she suddenly became a.. Sen! This was so unexpected: I thought she could be named Chi or Hi or Ro... but Sen??? :D Now i get it, thank you!
Many Japanese words of Portuguese origin entered the Japanese languagewhen Portuguese Jesuit priests introduced Christian ideas, Western science, technology and new products to the Japanese during the Muromachi period(15th and 16th centuries). The Portuguese were the first Europeans to reach Japan and the first to establish direct trade between Japan and Europe, in 1542. During the 16th and 17th century, Portuguese Jesuits had undertaken a great work of Catechism, that ended only with religious persecution in the early Edo period (Tokugawa Shogunate). The Portuguese were the first to translate Japanese to a Western language, in the Nippo Jisho dictionary (日葡辞書, literally the "Japanese-Portuguese Dictionary") or "Vocabulario da Lingoa de Iapam" compiled by Portuguese Jesuit João Rodrigues, and published in Nagasaki in 1603, who also wrote a grammar "Arte da Lingoa de Iapam" (日本大文典, nihon daibunten). The dictionary of Japanese-Portuguese explained 32,000 Japanese words translated into Portuguese. Most of these words refer to the products and customs that first came to Japan via the Portuguese traders. Battera,Bīdama, bīdoro, birōdo, bōro, botan, buranko, charumera, Chokki, Furasuko, igirisu, jōro, jiban, Kabocha, Kanekin, kappa, Karuta, koppu, karameru, Manto, marumero, mīra, oranda, orugan, pan, saboten, shabon, zesu, tempura, tabako These words are some japanese words of portuguese origin.
I have been studying 日本語 for about 9 months now, and I have just barley scratched the surface (if you can even say that). The language is so fascinating, this video really helped me to have a better understanding of what I have been learning. I should show this to my Japanese teacher!
@@quadeevans6484 It's really not, because it comes from the verb "arigatai", "to thank", which has an older origin. Being a Brazilian, I've already researched about that - but words such as "carta" and "castela" definitely come from Portuguese ;)
@@quadeevans6484 I think it is originally supposed to be pronounced somewhat as "ari-nga-to" but modern pronunciation is "ari-ga-to" with a soft G. That's what I've understood so far, plz correct me if I'm wrong. I'm not sure of the use of the "ng" sound in Portuguese.
Ohayo Hiromi and Paul. I really enjoy the Langfocus videos. We were fortunate to live in Japan on two different occasions and learned some basic Nihongo.
Paul, thank you so much for your outstanding videos, the effort you put into making them is clearly visible and they keep getting better and better in every way possible. You should be really proud of your work :)
Paul, I will second that. I have been on the fence for years about which language(s) to learn, but your channel has helped me focus down to French, Spanish, and now Japanese! It is a beautiful country.
I studied Japanese for six years, have been living in Japan for eight, I have JPLT N1... Why am I watching this? 😂 Anyhow, this was very well made and so interesting that I watched it all despite already knowing all this stuff. Good job!
I have been studying Japanese seriously for about a year and I totally agree that it is very rewarding. You discover something new every day and see connections to many other aspects of the language you previously didn't know about. At this point I know about half of the commonly used Kanji and I am comfortable with every day situations. But there is still a long way to go :D This was truely a great video. Well done.
this; it's genuinely been really rewarding because I'm at a point now where I'm starting to understand a lot more nuances of the language and as someone who loves linguistics, it's one of the most rewarding things ever (and I can nerd out with my friends by analysing texts and stuff :D)
@@raven.petrichor Do you have any advice for someone curious? I’ve never learned a second language but Japanese is a fascinating one. I have so much interest in learning different languages just because I have a pretty broad friendship group online, and personal interests, that I’d benefit from so many. Japanese seems so challenging and curious, plus I love the food, and music, and playing games online certainly opens me up to potentially joining Japanese servers, investigating in Japanese communities and meeting new people. Right now I’m sort of going through the basics of what linguistics actually is so that I can have a better understanding of removing my own English-biases of seeing how language works, trying to deconstruct and put some deep thinking into that right now, but I would love to hear about resources that are helping you learn?
@first last I started off by using duolingo, which is where I learned grammar and the kana (and some kanji); I highly recommend using resources that let you practise writing, since it will help you remember also, immerse yourself in the language; I watch videos in japanese and turn on jp subs, and I also changed the language of my favourite game to have jp voiceover (surprisingly, I managed to pick up quite a few words that way). talk to people as well; I use hellotalk (an app), but it's rather limited if you don't wanna spend on in-app purchases. if you have friends who know the language, even better; you'll feel less intimidated to talk to them, and less ashamed to make mistakes (plus, you all know each other so you have better conversation topics) also, I like to read; my japanese dictionary app (it's called "japanese") has really fun example sentences and many features to help you look up words you don't know. also, there is a site called nhk easy news, which has furigana (that is the kana reading of kanji) so can learn to read many kanji. I like having my dictionary app on hand to look up kanji I don't know. another thing I do is learn songs in japanese; my favourite artist, mafumafu, happens to be japanese, so by learning to sing many of his songs I am inadvertently picking up more and more of the language. singing along to karaoke videos (make sure to look them up in japanese if you want to practise your jp reading (those will use furigana and not romaji)) is both fun and a good exercise to test my reading and speaking (though be wary of odd rhythms in music, since they may stretch or compress words too much to be easily recognisable at first listen) there are also a lot of youtubers out there who teach japanese; I like to watch yuta, japanese ammo with misa, and tomo sensei for bite sized videos; but there are others I watch when I have more time to spare. if you don't mind having a limited site, nativshark seems to be pretty nice so far; I've already picked up a lot of useful tidbits that have helped me in real life. also, study the culture; you'd be surprised how many things suddenly make sense in a language if you familiarise yourself with the culture behind it. also, it makes for moments where you understand something in another language that cannot be translated, which is really cool and rewarding in itself but my biggest tip of all is to make learning the language fun; not only will you be more motivated to continue it, but you'll also remember it better because your brain will see it as something to enjoy, rather than as a chore. that is why so many of the things I do are tied to my interests and hobbies; I already know I will remember nothing if I don't make it engaging I sincerely wish you the best of luck on your journey, and I hope this helps. have a good day, and take care o7
Diego Briones I started to get serious and learn japanese a month or two ago but I'm still trying to remember the hiragana characters but so far I'm doing good with remembering it :) what about you?
I'm getting the hang of hiragana. I try not to use romaji to better help me memorize it. I still haven't memorized Katakana though. I study by learning phrases from a book and it rarely uses katakana. I do have a cheat sheet at my desk ready. So far, Japanese is hard one week in but I need to learn it because I'll move to Japan to work in a few years.
Japanese grammar is far easier to learn if you use hiragana. Also, your pronunciation will be better if you use hiragana rather than romaji. Pitch accent is covered in great detail by Dogen on UA-cam and Patreon.
19:30 今日（kyou）isn't kango（chinese word or compound）it is Yamato-kotoba（native japanese words）. Past time it was けふ（kefu or keu）. け＝this or this time ／ ふ＝day. And now days it turned to "kyou". If you want to read it in chinese "konnichi" will be correct answer.
Hi everyone! 🚩 If you're learning Japanese, visit JapanesePod101 ► bit.ly/japanese-pod-101 ◄ - one of the best ways to learn Japanese.
🚩 For 33 other languages, check out my review! ► langfocus.com/innovative-language-podcasts/ ◄
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!)
Will you a video on Malayalam.?
Pppp
おもろかったで
@@masnem1111 は何ですか
ひろみさんの声は音楽と同じくらい素晴らしくて美しいです
Mrs. Hiromi's voice is great and as beautiful as the music
صوت السيدة هيرومي رائع وجميل مثل الموسيقى
Dude, its even hard to imagine how much you have to study before you make any video. Respect.
Faisal Umai
He had a head start on Japanese, since he lives there.
666th like
very educational
dus sucke
Can you imagine if the English language functioned the same way as Japanese. You would have to switch between the greek and latin alphabets in the same sentence. Also throw in a couple Nordic runes into the mix because why not.
MrMathew And gothic characters because of German loanwords, then kanji, because of Japanese imported words, then cyrillic because of Russian words and so on
Sounds like a nightmare
this does not act as an appropriate analogy because the greek and latin alphabets are entirely similar in function and using both would offer no greater utility than using just one of them.
Alessandro Pedretti japanese doesnt do all of that though... its just chinese characters, kana, and latin alphabet. for example they dont use the cyrillic alphabet if they write a russian word. they just write it in katakana probably
this is actually a really good way of describing it. it's a little easier than it sounds though -- hiragana/katakana are *extremely* stable in pronunciation.
Kanji is an absolute dumpster fire though.
lolol I see all these comments saying " I am Japanese, and I speak it fluently; however when I think about it, it's all kind of confusing."
How encouraging :D
Hannah Young
I’m Japanese and I feel exactly how you described it 😂
I don’t even try to think of how it all works but I think about Japanese words when I’m speaking with elder person because some words may change completely depending on who are you talking to.
I assume your native language is English? You could probably say the same thing about that, right? I think it’s a testament to the ability of the human mind to process and intuit complex patterns through simple exposure (and trial and error)
Bella
That’s so interesting! Do you have any examples off the top of your head?
I imagine this is the case with a word like
「お前」where it can be incredibly rude in certain situations but just the way to talk in others? Is it usually about the level of humbleness or politeness, formality va informality, the status of the people talking relative to each other, that kind of thing? Or are there a bunch of other reasons as well?
@@littlefishbigmountain - I think Bella is referring to honorifics(敬語) in general, which is very difficult to master in its fullest. It's common for many Japanese to make errors, and sometimes their intellectual levels and upbringings are questioned (behind their backs) if not used properly.
Age and social status of the person you are talking to or talking about can determine which nouns, pronouns (in your case of using お前, which would not be used to an older person or a person of higher social standing), verb to use and the associated agglutination. Sometimes the proper use comes out without thinking too much, almost subconsciously because you've been taught since you were small, and other times by paying close attention to what you are saying. It's similar to an English native speaker stating "it just sounds right" when asked why they spoke or wrote in a particular way.
GYYYO
I realize all of that already. I wanted a native speaker’s input on the matter, as I’ve heard plenty of 外人 try to explain it. Thanks for trying to help tho; you didn’t have to do that
I'm Japanese and I've been learning English and Italian. It is hard for me to learn these language but watching this video makes me feel that both English and Italian are very kind languages. I respect and appreciate those who study Japanese.
Forza, non mollare! L'italiano è molto difficile e c'è tanto da imparare a memoria, ma personalmente lo ritengo molto elegante 😊
@@Abeturk well done kanka
As someone learning your language. I'm just going to say " Oh I've seen this level of pain before in my own tongue ". Where a native language inherited another language's words, but except it is through kanji. So I am always having to get creative on memorizing it. English is a Germanic language with Norse Words, Germanic spellings and Latin spellings slammed left, right, and center. If Learn English, go immedately to French not Italian. Why? You will deal with where a lot of the latin came from English. French has the non-phonetic writing problem, but responsible for that issue in English.
Ty! I appreciate you too!
@@Abeturk who asked though
I learned so much more about the japanese language from this 24 minute video compared to the 8 hour long online course
I love comments like this. It lets me know that the huge amount of time I put into these videos isn’t wasted.
I've been using duolingo for almost two months and, ignoring vocabulary, I have learned far more about grammar and writing from this video than the entire course I've taken so far.
Which is why I say, videos like the ones Langfocus makes, along with blogs like maggiesensei are the way to go for learning a language. Courses generally take you on a long useless journey of crap you don't need. Exposure teaches you most of what courses do, naturally.
Udit Karode
Except short videos and blogs basically give no exposure at all. Courses are only useless if you don’t take them seriously. When learning a language there is no such thing as useless stuff you don’t need. You need to know all of it.
Yeah, bookmarked for future reference cause this guy is good.
Russian: "I'm so simple. I always follow the same rules."
English: "I usually just do whatever feels right"
Japanese: "Here's a compass. Use your imagination."
Haha yeah
It seems like that only because the way we teach Japanese is simply wrong. If you understand the rule of Japanese grammar - not how Japanese is translated to fit English grammar - Japanese become one of the most logical language with almost no exceptions. The only language that is more logical with its grammar is Esperanto. And for sure it is not English. English makes no sense at all. Grammar is irrational and not regular and spelling system is just random - I do not see how Japanese writing system is less rational from English one. I would claim opposite (kanji helps you a lot when you learn Japanese - English spelling is just a pain).
@@toridori9473 I back that up, Japanese is very logical in its grammar and syntax, and its strength is that, if the context allows it or is obvious to the speakers, you can skip entire parts of the sentences and still be understood. The fact that the translations from Japanese to English are widely different just reflects the immense difference between the two languages. Among the 4 languages I speak decently, Japanese is the one I had the least time to put effort into to reach a decent level (I still have ways to go in vocabulary assimilation though).
@@toridori9473 i disagree with the almost no exceptions part. "Ok, all kanji by themselves are kunyomi, except numbers, except 4 and 7"
@@furretar6484 I meant grammar. Writing system I more complex but I would claim it is still better than English. Kanji are more natura for your brain than phonetic writing.
Once you get used to it reading is quicker and easier than English and it is far easier to read.
You can compare Korea which drop their hanja and Japanese which kept kanji. Japan have very high functional literacy where Korea have low. Meaning that kanji make it easier to read complicated text (it is hard to blame it on anything else since both country are similar in their relationship to education). In fact Japan have it higher than USA by a lot.
Funny enough people say that Korean writing is the most logical and Japanese the least. But an insertion that you brain is a logical machines is simple wrong.
Even when you read English you brain is trying to convert what you see into ideographs. Thats why you can randomly change order of the letter in the word (keeping first and last intact) and you will not even notice it if you are proficient. Your brain is looking for shape that represents an idea not for pronunciation. This is why you can find foreigner who can read and understand but they can not read out loud. I was like that for about a year and still there are word I understand in reading but have to look up in dictionary to know pronunciation - and I never do it since it does not effect my understanding so I do not care. I
I am a native Japanese speaker.
I was so surprised that what a complex language we speak...
Chineses are the culprit
@@naquatre lmao
Blame China
writing system is complicated too...
平假名，片假名，汉字……
That's honestly true for most languages. Native speakers learn from childhood through immersion rather than textbook grammar. So most native speakers don't understand the complex theory and details of their language at all, simply because it's not necessary. When you can already speak and write it fluently, there's no incentive to really learn WHY something is said or written the way it is, you just KNOW that it is for a fact. My mother tongue (Estonian- land of Baruto) is also one of the most difficult languages in the world to learn, not quite as hard as Japanese, but close. And I swear to god I have no fucking clue how or why the grammar is the way it is or what rules are used, or how I would go about teaching the language to anyone else. I'm completely clueless. Yet I can speak and write it fluently. The complexity of the language just never comes up in everyday life.
標準の日本語発音だと、端 Low-High、橋 Low-High、箸 High-Lowです。また「ガラス(glass)」は「ガ」が強調(High-Low-Low)されていますが、3つとも平坦に発音しています。あえて言うならLow-Low-Lowでしょうか。関西の方言のほうがアクセントのある単語が多く、東京以北は平坦な発音が多くなるような印象があります。
とはいえ日本人自身でもあまり考えたことなく使っていた「は」と「が」の違いなど目から鱗でした。とてもわかりやすくて勉強になりました。ありがとうございます！
What I love about Langfocus is that every video of his is so high quality that it can easily be rewatched multiple times. It's clear how much work Paul puts into this channel.
Thank you!
When I watch their videos I always wonder how many languages Paul can speak.
I bet a dozen, at least.
@@Langfocus Thank you for making these videos Paul! I've rewatched most of them twice now. They're pretty much like Breaking Bad episodes-the quality goes up the more I watch them.
although his videos are quite helpful, I feel like he tends to put too much info into the video; and for people watching to actually learn the language, it can't get rather confusing and discouraging. However, since he is just trying to help people learn a little bit more overall; then I think he is quite effective at it.
I'm Japanese and was just amazed by the amount of research you did here. Your presentation is superb and I couldn't stop watching it even though I obviously knew the language.
Thank you for making this video.
こんにちは、ところで俺がサウジアラビアからです。実は私がもうやめた。その言語、とても難しい。ごめんなさい🙏
@@vapzo6919 日本語難しいですよね。
日本人の私でも難しいです。
@@sakura_7629 お前は日本人ですか？
@@vapzo6919 そうですよ！日本人です。😌
Your presentations are designed to simplify as is possible some very difficult languages. Your methodology has me readily digesting languages I thought impossible for my linear brain to process. Learning Russian was a cake walk compared to this stuff. You are sharp, polished, never bore and were made for this kind of work. I enjoy every minute
Thank you! What a comment! 🙂👍
Yes he is very polished , very distinguished, well put together , i learned alot, from just one vedio.
I got an Asian studies minor in college with an emphasis in Japanese, 4 total years of 2 classes a semester and man it kicked my butt so hard. I studied for hours a day, spoke all day, wrote all day ( filled up four 300 page notebooks JUST to practice writing), and managed to get a perfect grade in the class every semester... but man it took a lot of work to get all the kanji, stroke orders, vocabulary, grammar, meanings and readings down to memory because they can get incredibly complicated. I grew up knowing Mexican Spanish and learned English later on, but Japanese makes those two languages seem like baby-stuff.
I'm also currently binge watching all your videos. They're so interesting and informative, even when they're about languages I already speak. The Mexican Spanish video was was very cool, and I even learned something as a native speaker!
El español tampoco es fácil. Soy tu compatriota y estudio japonés en la ENALT
yoo i wanna do the same! and i also have mexican spanish as my background so it doesnt make japanese as hard compared to an english mother tongue speaker
aye, fellow mexican spanish speaker!
@@morsol8491 sí; mi amiga está estudiando español en la escuela y muchas veces me anda preguntando ayuda porque tampoco no es tan facil el español; pero aunquesea no tenemos tres sistemas para escribir jajajsxjsn
As a Polish native speaker learning Japanese for three months now I think I may be a hidden masochist.
hej i jak Ci idzie ? co cię zainspirowało ? 😉
Bruh polish is hard
Congratulation you just agreed to a question 👌
Ja też
저리가 no, I can understand it even without learning it
It always takes me twice as long to watch your videos because they're so densely packed with information - detailed graphics, grammatical concepts in rapid-fire succession, audio pronunciations, interesting bits of history to look up. Inevitably I'm pausing, hitting repeat, going back to certain parts, searching the web. Just goes to show how thorough and quality these videos are. Like mini-language crash courses. Can't even imagine the time you put into these.
Thanks for recognizing that! You're right that it's a lot of work. As a viewer, I'm sure it's a little bit like drinking from a fire hose, but I expect that different things will stick with different people, and then they can look more into the language on their own.
I’m Japanese. Almost all Japanese people distinguish は(wa) and が(ga) intuitively and don’t take much notice of them. I am one of them and have always found it difficult to explain the difference. The explanation in this video makes sense. Especially I’m convinced of the idea that ga is a focus marker. When we say “something ga”, we often allude to “not other things but the thing” or “especially the thing.”
In colloquial situations, wa and ga are omitted more often than not.
One thing I cannot overlook is that the explanation in this video about the difference between the pitches of 端(hashi)(edge), 橋(hashi)(bridge), and 箸(hashi)(chopsticks) at about 10:45 is not correct. The pitches pronounced in this video are closer to Kansai dialect (although not perfectly accurate), which is the most popular dialect in Japan used in Kyoto, Osaka and so forth, rather than to Standard Japanese.
In Kansai dialect, the three words are pronounced differently as follows:
端(edge): ha and shi are pronounced in the same pitch.
橋(bridge): the pitch of ha is higher than that of shi.
箸(chopsticks): shi is pronounced in the higher pitch.
Whereas, in Standard Japanese, they are pronounced like this:
端(edge): the pitch of shi is slightly higher than that of ha.
橋(bridge): shi is higher than ha.
箸(chopsticks) ha is higher than shi.
Reminds me a bit of trying to explain The and A in English but harder. There's a clinical difference but you'd have to stop and think about how to explain it on the spot. Or the difference between Lately and Recently. I guess. I've never been able effectively use or explain が so I just feel my way through it and hope for the best lol
But in chopsticks this Ohashi, like no one says jus Hashi lol. And pronunciation problems are frankly inevitable without a native speaker. I’m half japanese, but I always speak Japanese to my mom and I go to japan in the summer usually. My grandparents say I don’t have an American accent, but I speak like a little kid, which makes sense cuz when I went to school I felt sooooo dumb.
@@noayamaguchi9021 I think an easy way to explain the difference is that an indefinite article means just that, it could be any number of things (a book, which one?). Whereas a definite article refers to something that is definite and certain (the book, that one!). The same with the indefinite particle "は" (Watashi-wa or I am /As for me... ) and "が" (Watashi-ga or I (certainly) am ... ). It appears subtle, but the distinction is quite clear.
OH, NEVER MIND!!! JUST SPEAK ENGLISH.
I noticed the same, 10:45 is definitely wrong but then i just realized that is probably the correct pitch accent for Kansai dialect instead. I guess the girl was reading those Japanese on this video is from west side of japan.
That was maybe the best video I've ever seen
Ciao Brian. Bello trovare per caso un tuo commento 😅
Paul è un maestro nel condensare le informazioni.
I'm Japanese and even native Japanese often get confused about kanji reading.
There is a Japanese family name called "Yamanashi(phonetically means : no mountain, yama=mountain, nashi=doesn't exist)" and it is written in kanji like "月見里(moon viewing village, 月=the moon, 見=look, watch, 里=small village)". If we read the kanji "月見里" normally, then it should be read like "Tsukimisato(kun yomi)" or "Gekkenri(on yomi)" but it is "Yamanashi" as a family name, because "you can see the moon clearly from your village if there is no mountain"!
There are some more playful family names like this...
小鳥遊(little birds playing)=Takanashi(No hawks)
一(one)=Ninomae(before two)
四月一日(April first)=Watanuki(removing cotton(from futons))
Wow!!! Complicated but pretty lol
that no hawks kill me
That's very cute actually haha
One(befofe two)
Two(after one)
@@netyimeni169 二=いちのあと
Greek: If you can write a word, you can always read it, and if you can read it, you can most likely write it with few exceptions
English: If you can read or write a word, then maybe you can do the other too. Sometimes.
Japanese:Good luck. If you can read or write a word, then well done, you've spent years of hard work. Have a cookie.
Let me fix that.
Japanese: _Nihongo jouzu._
@SNES Nes 😂😂😂 totally true. Gotta love them all though for being honest to themselves 😉
@JustAMotobug true, but my point still holds 😂
@SNES Nes Not at all. Their hard work and innovation are probably some of the only things left that are keeping their economy as the third largest in the world. Of course there are circumstances where it goes overboard but that is often highly exaggerated by western media.
If some of the more wealthy European countries had larger populations and less lax work attitudes (not saying a more relaxed outlook towards work is bad), several of them probably would have overtaken Japan in gdp a while ago. Regardless, that's more likely than not going to happen in the very near future due to population decline.
Polish: If you can write a word, you can always read it[*], and if you can read it, you can most likely write it[**]
[*] - there are some exceptions to this rule.
[**] - not quite, you see, there might be "few" more exceptions[***]
[***] - some exceptions require more exceptions to fully explain a given exception.[***********...
Note: Around 14:10 I used the wrong kanji for "okoru". I used 起こる which means "to happen" rather than "怒る" which means "to get angry", but both are pronounced ”okoru". A silly mistake!
11:01 You got the pitch accents wrong for the three "hashi" :
箸(が)(chopstick) should be High-Low-Low
橋(が) (bridge) should be Low-High-Low
端(が) (edge) should be Low-High-High
If you consider Standard Japanese at least.
ありがとうございます! I am going to Japan next month and this video couldn't have had better timing! I have been studying Japanese for a year and it's amazing and I am so excited to see this wonderful country. It has been such a life changing rewarding experience. Thanks for the video Paul. 貴方のすごい！:D
Why did you say immigrants emigrants
Gogeography ! An emigrant is a person who leaves a country while an Immigrant is a person who comes to a country
Nathaniel Roe yep
Man... here i'm discorying that treasure in 2024. VERY nice video!! I have just started to learn Japanese, as a Portuguese speaker, and this is one more content that 'keeps the flame burning' on that loooooooooooooooong journey that i'll be running. You finished the video saying exactly what i've been figuring out studying 日本語: 'Japanese is a very rewarding language to learn...'! This is absolutely TRUE! Has been 4 months of pure joy, and now i finded a good teacher with more 'modern' approach on teaching, so that i avoid getting bored or overwhelmed in the course of learning.
Great job, and GREAT job, ひろみさん！！
I am Japanese but I didn't know the grammatical system of Japanese. This is a great video!
It's totally normal, I don't even know grammer existed in my everyday expression lol
I don't go that deep into grammar. I just learn the simple structure and memorize all sentences that feel useful to me. It's actually easier then learning and applying complicated rules.
It's because you just grew up with it. You just picked it up while listening, and probably if you thought about grammar rules, you would be confused.
@@lucinae8512 agreed. Trying to learn grammar rules for learning a language is not a good idea, from my experience.
This happens to everybody ! Nobody knows these notions before we go to school 😂
Many thanks to Hiromi for her audio samples. They really help a lot. Greetings from Germany :-)
I’m living in Japan and studying the language now. This is very informative and helps explain many confusing things! Thank you!
I started learning Japanese exactly 6 months ago and it feels as rewarding as Paul says. Knowing most of the stuff in the video encouraged me to keep going. Good job Paul!
After 6 months, do you think you could communicate with Japanese speakers to a certain level?
How are your skills now?
I'm a native speaker of Japanese who has been watching your videos for a year and finally a video on Japanese!!
I'm grad that you mentioned wasei-kango.
I'm very proud of the fact that they invented wasei-kango which uses Chinese characters to represent western concepts. When Japan opened its doors to the outside world in mid 19th century, they had no idea what "democracy", "economics" or "telephone" means and didn't know how to call these in Japanese. So they decided to use kanjis to represent those concepts. For example, Japanese word for "telephone" is 電話(でんわ denwa) and these two kanjis literally means "electricity talk". I think this way of translating foreign concepts helped to keep Japanese vocaburalies less foregn and feels more natural to the natives.
Although kanjis are literally characters from China, many of these wasei-kango words are also adopted in Chinese language. Chinese word for "telephone" is 電話(dian hua) and this is a Chinese word that derives from a Japanese word which uses Chinese characters to represent western concepts.
Sad thing is, we don't make wasei-kango words anymore. Japanese word for "Internet" is インターネット(inta-netto). Today, when we encounter a new western words like "Internet", we simply use katakana to phonetically represent it and don't make any effort to think which kanjis would suit the concept the best. But in Chinese it's 網路（wang lu）or "net route" so they are still making new chinese vocabralies with Chinese characters.
I feel that Japanese language is changing a little bit too fast. I hope more Japanese people would respect the originality of their language.
盲亀浮木 hi, HKer here. I agree that wasei kango are beautiful. Thanks for inventing them which added many vocabularies to Chinese. I've also been to your country once. Very nice sceneries and people.
As a Portuguese, I'm very glad to see signs of our language in Japonese. Kopu (カップ) and Karuta (歌留多), for exemple, is literally how we say, respectively, cup and card in portuguese (Copo and Carta). Not only in language but in other culture aspects like food. Tempura, for exemple, it's a very old portuguese cooking. We are the first ocidental country to meet Japan (1543) and we are very proud! Sorry for the fire weapons, but you were very interested in them and it was a very good Trade Object for us. For the good and bad, it helped to unify Japan... :)
The same for Indian languages. We have Sanskrit. Sanskrit has many affixes, suffixes, prefixes, inflexions, declensions etc to make new words. These words are fit for Hindi, Bengali, Marathi, Telugu and other Indian and South-Asian languages. dūrabhāṣ (दूरभाष) telephone, saṁgaṇitra (संगणित्र) computer, antarjāl (अन्तर्जाल) internet, vidyutpreṣ (विद्युत्प्रेष) email, tantrāṁś (तन्त्रांश) software, yantrāṁś (यन्त्रांश) hardware. But peoole prefer English loanwords like ṭelīphon, kampyūṭar, iṁṭarneṭ, īmel, sāphṭvair, hārḍvair.
Yeah i know Joel Araujo, but our friend paul find that it wasn't that important to include the Portuguese origin of the most often japanese words, such as Arigato, Pan, Tempura and many more.
Being the First Whites (Europeans) to meet the Great Japan is not nothing after all
Its time to tell him that Portuguese influences had an impact on Japanese culture.
Help me remind him what important element he forget
Viva Portugal!
盲亀浮木 in mainland China,internet is called 网络,which means the net which is karamariatta(sorry but i forgot how to say it in english).in my opinion,after the war2 japanese goverment thought that english is more popular than chinese,so they begann to import words only to use katakana.waseikanngos are great to describe things and concepts,such as 経済，自由.these words are created for hundred years but you japanese give them new means which can accurately explain the meaning of gairaogo.according to the rule of waseikanngo,we chinese created a lot of new words,which makes the language more enegetic.I respect you japanese for the talent of creating waseikanngo but i dont know why the process stopped suddenly.this is really a pity.
I've watched a number of your language videos and I am just amazed at the amount of research you did on so many languages. I just wanted to express my admiration.
Thank you 🙂👍🏻
@@Langfocus who voiced the part at 8:11? you or a voice actor?
@alyanahzoe I don't know what you mean. There are only two voices in the video, mine and my wife's. If it's a male voice, it's mine.
@@Langfocus does your wife know every language? i just revealed her voice!
She knows Japanese and English.
日本人だから日本語について気にしてなかったけど、
他言語話者の意見を聞くと「なるほど〜」となってしまう笑
非常に興味深いものでした。
はい！それは私が日本語を勉強して英語についてとても学んだのと同様に驚くべきことです！
誰か和訳してw
我々ようこんなわけわからん言葉しゃべっとるわって思った笑
普段、文法を意識する事はないよね！^^
Certainly, we are not usually conscious of any grammars.
｢は｣｢が｣は確かにややこしいよなー、、と思う。
Kudos to you and Hiromi for the amount of work you did on this video. It answered a few questions and was very informative! Arigato gozaimasu!
僕は日本語を勉強している韓国の中学生です僕がなりたい職業は日本語通訳士ですまだ学ぶべきこと漢字も単語も沢山ありますががんばろうと思います！
永遠のぼっち系 UA-camr 韓国語と日本語は点を打つ方が少し違うと知っているので、少し勉強して、実践するようにしますね。
ふぁっ？！韓国の中学生すごスギィ！ンアッー！
淫夢好きのSCP-173とか怖すぎる
천승훈 応援してます!
日本語上手ですね！
中学生でそんなに日本語ができるなんて、尊敬します！日本語通訳士の勉強頑張ってください！
It's crazy how are your videos are soooo helpful. I have been struggling for so long. Thank you.
日本人でも難しいんで、日本語を勉強される外国の方は本当に尊敬します！勉強になりました
Even Japanese people have difficulty, so I really respect foreigners who study Japanese! I learned a lot
Ughhhh Thank you so so so so much for making this video!
I'm a Japanese living in Spain. Quite a bit of people around me are curious about Japanese language especially because of manga & anime, for which I'm so grateful and proud of. But the problem is I always have trouble in explaining how Japanese language works actually!
For example:
People ask me like "What does 'Japanese word written in alphabet' mean!? "
Me "Well I can't tell what this exactly means without kanjis which have meanings."
People "?? How could it possible??"
I would recommend this video to anyone who is interested in Japanese. This video explains everything about my language way better than me only in half an hour!! 😂
Some say otherwise but having learnt Cantonese as my first language have given me quite a head start in learning Japanese, which also made kanji ironically the easiest part of learning Japanese, suck it my fellow Japanese learners!!!!
damn
Funny thing is that, I used to brand my channel as “Tony” and the word from it is derived from “Anthony” cool thing is that- it’s my real name
for me it's backwards; studying kanji has helped me understand written chinese >:D
@@raven.petrichor same
"you don't need to know all the 2000+ kanji"
Yes, yes I do.
Go for it! :)
PFFF-
easy!!
"A journey of a thousand miles starts with a single step."
I hope you overcome your challenge.
You do if you want to be fluent.
You deserve a medal Sir. Those explanations about は and が were useful even for people that already are learning japanese. I have trouble with the accent I didn't knew about it jajaja thanks a lot for this pretty well made video
Japanese is my third language and now working on Spanish as the fourth language. It is weird how I feel Japanese and Spanish share the same pronounciation in some circumstances.
it does, as a spanish speaker, japanese pronunciation has been the easiest thing because it's almost the same
There are only some differences to pronunciaton, for example letter J, japanese J is similar to english and spanish J is like a strong english H, also japanese H is like english H meanwhile spanish H is mute in most cases
people often criticize Japanese as being a-tonal. and maybe to an untrained ear it might appear so,
in reality though, Japanese is very sing-song like similar to Italian and Spanish
In portuguese it is even more similar !
Italian has similar pronunciation to Japanese.
Japan is an island by the sea, filled with volcanoes, and its *BEAUTIFUL*.
Lemuel Ogabang yeah but just an island? Did you take geography classes? It's a very big archipelago with beautiful landscape.
Dude, what?
He means there are several islands
Tal Sheynkman fml
Did anyone even get the reference?
I like that since it was first founded Japan's basically been a sponge for soaking up culture. And now, after absorbing practically every culture for the last 21 centuries, it's quite possibility one of the most unique and confusingly original cultures in existance
Also yes Japan (nihon) literally called itself 'sunrise land'
「は」と「が」の使い分けとか日本人だと感覚でやってるので、説明しろと言われるといまいち説明できない
勉強になった
@@HaydenWR こんちわ！
Shark puppet And Friends Hi l’m also Japanese. Where do yo live?
Shark puppet And Friends Ok
ばん 草
よく分からないけど使い分けができてるよなw
I study Japanese in university and we recently went to see the school's collection of ancient Japanese manuscripts. It was super interesting to see the really old stuff that was just Chinese! They also had some old copies of the Tale of Genji, the first novel ever written (in the world!), that was also super influential in creating the combined Chinese-Japanese writing system they have today. Great video!
Well actually they are native Japanese written with Chinese characters, and some hybrid ones.
This video has amazed me a lot, very good explained in details about Japanese, sometimes citing historical events in Japan. Great! One thing which should be pointed to; others might have already referred to, but here's some errors in the examples of pitch accent for "Hashi". The accent for "bridge" is Low-High, and for "chopsticks", High-Low. These are of course very famous examples in an explanation for the Japanese accents, so those errors should be corrected ASAP. Thanks for your attention.
I'm just learning katakana and the fact that the differences between ツ,シ,ン and ソ makes me think that the Japanese are sadists.
Then I watched this video and now I'm more terrified than ever.
頑張ります
The differences are simple between those characters. "Tsu" and "So" are angled with a narrow downward stroke, keyword is downward, which is evident in many typefaces and in writing. These floating strokes are angled toward the bottom of the character, whereas "Shi" and "N" are slanted with a wide upward stroke, and this upward stroke is easy to tell in various typefaces and in writing. The floating strokes are angled less, and don't go steeper than 45 degrees, and their upward stroke doesn't reach as high since the character is meant to be wide as opposed to narrow.
So knowing those key distinctions, you can look at that line and read it as "tsu, shi, n, and so". I thought hiragana and katakana were beautiful, so I studied Japanese writing for many months before I even began to learn Japanese, lol, so I came to know the nuances and characteristics of each character, which helped a lot when I started learning the actual language, lol.
It's a piece of cake -- shi and tsu look alike, but tsu looks like it's going to flow up and to the right, which resembles the hiragana; つ while shi looks like it flows downwards to the left, also like the hiragana し, so that's how I avoid getting them mixed up in my head. The n consonant is also pretty straightforward if you again compare it to ん since it has the same kind of rhythm in the way it's written. The katakana for so doesn't have any obvious connection to そ, but even if my brain is having a slow day and I draw a blank I can figure it out by process of deduction.
Actually, there's a way to visualize this: If you can draw a "V" or a ">" in the largest space between the long single stroke and the short double strokes, you can see the difference.
the 2 strokes above tsu (ツ) are aligned to the upper stroke of its hiragana counterpart (つ) while shi (シ) is aligned to the left side stroke of its counterpart (し). Now for n (ン) and so (ソ), the upper stroke of so (ソ) is aligned to the upper part of the right side stroke. N (ン), the top stroke of it is more aligned to the left side of its lower stroke.
Japanese is the hardest popular language in the world full stop. It is legitimately a massive hurdle, and unless you’re having a lot of fun now I would suggest trying out a romanic/germanic language first assuming English is your first language if you’re feeling overwhelmed. Wouldn’t want you to be turned off by other languages as a whole
Great video! Thanks to you and Hiromi, you two did great! I, as a Japanese learner, I could identify many basic points of my first days of learning and see precious tips to begginers, like the origin of Kanas and why is difficult read a text fully written in kana! Good job! Continue! What I love in japanese is the variety of writing forms and the agglutinative nature.
Living in Japan now and THIS is the video they should show every American day one. I never studied Japanese in school. The distilled gramatical fundamentals presented here are EXACTLY what I have been searching for for two months. Thank you sir!!!
The example of accent of "Hashi" used for the bridge and the chopsticks are swapped, or used Kansai accent. In Tokyo accent, 端 (edge) and 橋 (bridge) has same accent pattern (Low-High) when not pronouncing particles. And 箸 (chopsticks) is High-Low pattern.
I do believe that the example accent was the one of Osaka. There are thousands of words that accents are opposite in Tokyo and Osaka. I find it very interesting. And I'm trying to make a list of major words. :)
Yes, it definitely Kansai pitch accent. My girlfriend did the audio samples, and she speaks a Kansai dialect.
interesting, when I was a kid I learned to say hashi with the low-high pattern, but I always hear westerners say it with high-low. I thought this was just westerners all pronouncing it wrong, good to know this isn't (always) the case.
Aikawa perhaps?
Is pitch accent similar to stressed vs. unstressed syllables?
No, pitch accent is all same strength in all syllabes. Imagine to sing a song, "DO MI MI" or "MI DO DO" .
One of the most informative and well done videos on the subject I've seen! I've been casually studying Japanese for awhile and still learned a ton from this. Subscribed.
Oh, God. I have been waiting for this one for so long...
Alexandro Sánchez if he made this while I still had Japanese class, I might have got a D- (that's not offending him, I'm saying I have no clue when it comes to these kooky non-European features in a language)
Working on a Linguistics assignment. I understands it more clearly watching this video and then reading my textbook. Your video gives more background to the language that I need. Thank you!
I’m glad to hear it!
Omae wa mou shindeiru
No, sir.
NANI !? 何 ！？
@@destinee2052 it's famous Japanese manga line.This means you're already dead.
@@halca1708 I know
what's up with the @ before the user tags?
many people do not know that many important japanese words are also from ainu language. for example the word for gods is in japanese: kami, the original word in ainu is kamui.
but recent researches showed that japanese is somewhat related to ainu langauge and to ancient southern languages(maybe austroasiatic and austronesian)
Lol. My Japanese tutor didn't know how to explain the difference between "wa" and "ga". You just did.
When was that? I still struggle with it, lol
Well done! As a resident of Japan for 30+ years, and user of Japanese at work and at home, this video is spot on, well-researched, and clearly explained.
I especially appreciated the pitch accent explanation. Having lived in the Kansai (Osaka-Kyoto-Kobe) region, the pitch accent tends to be the opposite of standard Tokyo dialect. For example あめがふる can mean "it's raining" 雨が降る or "it's raining candies" 飴が降る depending on where the pitch accent is placed. The latter of course makes no sense, but the Japanese ear hears it so if the pitch accent is misplaced.
Learners of Japanese also struggle with short vs. long vowels as in the names Ogawa 小川 and 大川 Ōgawa. This takes practice but well worth getting Tōkyō 東京、Kyōto 京都、and Ōsaka 大阪 correctly pronounced.
Finally, this video didn't get into honorifics, keigo 敬語、kenjogo 謙譲語 which for me, is the most difficult part of Japanese. It is so far removed from English notions of language that it takes years and years of practice and is difficult even for Japanese - to wit, the many self-help books teaching native Japanese speakers how to use them properly sold at bookstores all across Japan.
確かめる (kunyomi with okuriganas)
達する (onyomi with okuriganas)
受付 (kunyomi whithout okuriganas)
確認 (onyomi whithout okuriganas)
場所 (half kunyomi, half onyomi)
And that's the moment you realise there's no absolute rule for which one of the kunyomi or the onyomi you should use, always exceptions and you begin to become crazy. xD
You mean hiragana(?)
The okuriganas disappeared in a glorius morning of 1900.
There might be some rules, but actively learning them is kind of a waste of time. Since the more kanji and more kanji vocabulary you learn, you passively acquire a sense of which reading should be used. (And often you don't even realize which one is the native one and which one is chinese)
It's, it's just Kanji😢😂😂
Here’s a fun etymology:
カラオケ (karaoke)
カラ (空) empty, as in 「空いてる」or “I don’t have any plans” or “nothing is inside” + オケ, a short form of オーケストラ which is the katakanafication (I think I just made that word up) of the English “orchestra.”
Some other fun modern Japanese words:
エモい (emoi: having the qualities of an emoji)
ヤバい (yabai: countless meanings in modern spoken Japanese, ranging from intensely good to extremely dangerous)
セフレ (sefure: a shortened katakanafication of “sex friend”)
ソフレ (sofure: a shortened katakanafication of “soft sex friend” . . . I think)
ガラ携 (garakei: a cell phone used only in Japan made up of gala, as in “Galapagos” and “kei” the first morpheme of “keitai” Japanese word for cell phone)
These words all combine either hiragana and katakana or katakana and kanji.
Incidentally, I’ve never formally studied Japanese but I speak it fluently and can read and write it with no difficulty
. It’s a fun language and dynamic language. And much, much easier to learn to speak than most foreign languages.
Would you ever consider making a video on sign language(s)??
that's a great idea.Sign languages are fascinating!
WhateverArts Indeed, sign languages are very happy.
Nice idea! :)
Second this! Sign languages deserve more public recognition as languages in their own right
I agree, as a signer of asl and relative of Deaf individuals :)
or should I say...
I AGREE WHY? 1) I SIGN ASL AGENT 2) MY FAMILY SOME DEAF
As someone learning Japanese, this is very useful. Thanks for making such a good video!
Just some food for thought: When I studied Japanese in Japan and was learning agglutination, instead of looking at 怒る as okor-u, we were taught to look at it as oko-ru. This is because when written in Japanese you aren't taking る (ru) and dropping the -u but instead are replacing ru entirely.
Very well researched video by the way. For full context, I studied the language intensively for 2 years at a language school in Japan and then studied Japanese linguistics at University in Japan for 4 years!
Oh, and that part about how reading a sentence entirely in kana being harder than reading one that contains kanji hit real hard, lol. I had a friend who would constantly send me sentences entirely in hiragana asking if it was correct and my only reply was, "I can't read that".
I knew nothing about Japanese before seeing this video, other than knowing the writing system is difficult. I thought the spoken language itself would be simple to learn because of the consonant+vowel pronunciation. I had no clue that there is complex grammar behind that easy pronunciation. It's now clear to me that Japanese is very, very foreign compared to Indo-European languages.
The Altaic language family isn't real.
Japanese grammar is not actually that difficult once you get used to it. It is like German in the sense that there are many rules to learn at the start, but once you know them, there are few exceptions and they generally follow common patterns.
Unlike in say English, if you learn how to say the negative past tense for one word in Japanese, you can pretty much do it for all words.
Once you figure it out, their grammatical structure is pretty simple, and a lot more consistent than English.
Yeah, they say that Japanese has much harder grammar than Chinese. But I've also read that Japanese grammar is basically simplified Turkish. But Turkish grammar doesn't seem too hard to me:
Ben ona kitabı okudum. (I he/she/it-to book-the read-past-I)
Although when learning it you may be surprised by some certain unexpected but nonetheless coincidental similarities.
I like the Japanese they’re so nice, from Saudi Arabia
I can speak the Kyoto and Osaka dialects of Japanese and I can speak the Okinawa dialect as well because I'm from Okinawa! Of course I'm able to speak Standard Japanese too! There are elements from a lot of dialects that are similar to Korean language as well! Great video Paul! 😊
Miyu Yamazato Awesome!
still a beginner here 😊
How much do those dialects differ. 'Cause I've been watching a lot of anime for some years now and haven't noticed changes in the basic phrases and words I know. Words like "watashi", "watakushi", "ite"...
What is Okinawa dialect? You mean Uchinaaguchi?
I envy you. I'm trying to learn Osaka-ben with a minor in Kyoto.
I did a historical tour in 2017 from Asuka to Heian-kyo (Highly recommend the hall of cultural assets in Asuka!)and want to go back to see everything I missed on the first trip.
Learning japanese is indeed very rewarding and when it clicks you can't help coming back looking for more. I've been learning by myself for almost 5 months now and I got really excited after I memorized every hiragana, then I learned katakana much quicker and started to learn some kanjis and understand complete sentences. It's a very good feeling of accomplishment because, as a complete illiterate in a language I couldn't even understand by ear, I thought I would have to spend a huge deal of time to be able to even start learning some words. But it's not like that at all and I'm really impressed. Kanjis are still intimidating, but I saw a video showing actual japanese people not remembering how to write them by memory, so I understand that seeing and recognizing them while reading is what matters most and it comes with practice and exposition.
逆に英語をこのくらい話せるようになりたいです。
On the contrary, I want to be able to speak English this much.
Good Luck! 👍
Good luck
You can do it!
がんばって !!
There are two choices: You can or you can.
I'm so early they are still speaking proto indo European here
But the Japanese weren't !
Oh, hello my gopnik friend! I did not expect my fellow gopniki to hang around here at Langfocus. I wonder if Boris speaks Japanese. Anyway, stay #cheekibreeki!
Squatting Latvian Tupus Latviešu good squat 8/10 hope heels reach ground but can't confirm
Squatting Latvian Tupus Latviešu nobody c.... I mean, linguists gonna shit their pants.
YE━━━━━━ d(゜∀゜)b ━━━━━━S
私はトルコ人です 私は日本とその人々が大好きです私は日本語を勉強していますそして本当に難しい
漢字 :( トルコからのご挨拶 ♥ !
頑張ってね！
いつか日本でお会いできたら楽しいでしょうね！
İyi çalışmalar kardeş
卂.K 普通に分かります！凄い！
Ok with my current japanese level (2 weeks studying) all I could identify was "watashi wa" and the word Japan (nihon) thrown over there xD
im in learning process. and i only can understand u say that kanji is hard 😂
I think Mr.Paul is really a genious. For me, Japanese, it is unbelievable that he explains the features of the Japanese language very briefly and exactly only within 23minutes.
Excellent video, Mr. Paul, I have to say that even though Japanese has intimidated me more than once, you made it look so easy that I feel like trying to learn it. Thank you very much.
Woo!,the awaited video, and this time in English. I was awaiting so much for your next upload. Great quality educational resources and entertaining are scarce.
I didn't realize that those loanwords weren't from English, and were in fact Dutch in origin! Dutch and English are so similar that you can hardly tell the difference when its pronounced by a third party
@ꅏꍟꍏꌚꍟ꒒ Isn't it strange that English uses dog when every other Germanic language uses a word similar to hund?It is like English speakers are trying to differentiate themselves from other Germanic people for some reason.
@@myk1137 im pretty sure hund comes from "hound", while dog comes from "docga" a word of unknown origin but is suggested to mean strength or muscular
@@fakename2336 But my point still stands. It is like they are trying to separate themselves.
@@myk1137 That's because while English is considered a "germanic" language, it's heavily influenced by other languages including French
@@myk1137 nobody wants to be associated with germans
海外の方が一生懸命日本語を勉強してくれてるんだと思うと英語の勉強頑張れる
今度誰か僕の母語を勉強してくれてる人がいるといいなぁ。
@@furumototoku-oi7kk では、お母語は…？
@@romanr.301 ヘブライ語ですね。
ヨーロッパで、いつも頑張ろう :D
@@mudkip_btw ヨーロッパ？ヘブライ語だってこと？
アラビア語にまあまあ似ているで。同じ語族。
This is so good - I'm learning Japanese.
Trying with 誠実に(honestly)is important with you☺️👋 Good luck 💪✨
(I’m japanease)
Samee
Not even close
@@Outlaw_j84 ?
Me too
One of the things about Japanese I like is that it's got some of the same rules as my mother tongue, Hungarian. Makes it just a little bit easier to learn.
As a Finnish speaker, I only find it easy to learn Japanese pronounciation. It is pretty similar to Finnish and there are no tones to care of. Otherwise, it's probably the hardest language I can imagine. I've learned some Mandarin, and it's hard as hell too, but at least the grammar is VERY simple compared to European languages.
I'm Turkish and I think Finnish and Japanese accent is so easy for me, I was so suprised when I find I was able to spell like a native
Some dialects of Japanese do have elements of tones
@@UnoriginallyOriginal Tones or Pitch-Accent? Like the Hungarian Long and Short Vowels?
Yes finnish language is also Altaic language family. Our grammar is so similar i think😊
I started learning Japanese 4 months ago, and love it. I know it will be a never ending struggle - but such fun.
I have a small advantage with 2 yrs of Chinese ....though sometimes that is more of a distracter with kanji!!
This video is so clear about the different forms of writing, why each script is used and when, and basic Japanese sentence structure. Brilliant.
And thank you for the native speaker contributions 👌🏼👌🏼🥰
Excellent. I've lived in Japan for 30 years and speak it reasonably well. Your description is very very good. Thank you.
Awesome video. All your videos are awesome though!
I never been into Japanese culture or language, but your passion for it makes it pretty interesting. All your videos make me want to learn more about different cultures.
I'm a linguistic hobbyist, so your videos are extremely, extremely interesting. I subscribed back when you had less than 20k subscribers. I'm so happy that you're getting more subs, because your videos actually teach us something!
In addition, you're thorough and I can tell you do tireless research in each of your videos- especially earning the praises of a native speakers in each video!
Thanks! And thanks for being a viewer since the early days! I appreciate it!
As a Polish person, I have no problem in speaking/saying any words in Japanese, which I like very much, and learning it atm : )
Same here. But just a few words. Grertings from Hungary. :)
same as the Portuguese person
One thing I found easier about learning Japanese than other languages l(ike French or Spanish--or even English) is that there are no irregular verbs. Once you learn the rule for past tense, for exmple, you can apply it to all verbs without memorizing numerous exceptions.
橋と箸のアクセントが逆です。映像のアクセントは静岡周辺での言い方です。
Translation
The Japanese bridge and chopsticks accents are opposite. It will be said in Shizuoka area as it is.
確かにそうですね。でも静岡周辺では発音が違うのは知りませんでした！
なるほどね！
その辺のイントネーションは地方で違うので文脈で判断するのが一番っすね
そうだら？
Japanese language is Japanese even difficult.
But speaking Japanese is fun.
YOU CAN DO IT!!!
Thank you!
Yes, spoken everyday Japanese doesn’t seem too bad. And as someone who doesn’t intend to actually live in Japan, that is what I would like to learn the most
Dekiru kedo daga kaitereranai!! Romanji wa dekiru kedo mattaku
"Japanese language is difficult even for Japanese people" のほうがいいです
Hey langfocus! Great job on your language videos. I'm waiting for the Indian language videos. You've covered European, middle eastern, Scandinavian, African, Slavic and south east Asian languages. There are a few Indian languages other than Hindi such as Sanskrit, Telugu, Kannada, Malayalam, Tamil etc... with literature works since early AD years and are spoken by a significant population of the subcontinent. I wish you'd shed some light on these languages with your analysis.
SreeTeja Simha Gemaraju don’t forget Bengali, it’s the second most spoken one (and my native language)
oh yeah btw Sanskrit is like Latin (dead language only used in religious contexts)
I’m Japanese and I often have opportunity to teach Japanese to my friends who are English speakers. This video is really helpful for that. Actually I had been confused “mores” and “syllables”. People tend to mispronounce like “GaKo” instead of “Gakkou”. I always try to teach them with clapping my hands. Now, I’m thinking how I teach them moras and syllables at same time…
when you said to say hi to Hiromi, I turned my head to my wife (she's also Hiromi) and she said "not me!"
Shout out to your Hiromi as well ! :D
「こんにちわ」を彼女へ俺から言って下さい!
I'm learning Japanese. This is an outstanding video.
｢は｣と｢が｣の違いなんて説明を聞いてるだけじゃチンプンカンプンなのに、我々日本人は普段の日常会話の中では苦労する事無く正しく使い分けしてるんだもんなぁ...。
言葉って不思議やな笑
確かに。
説明できないけど我々日本人は難なく使いこなせてる。
やっぱ慣れってやつなんだろうか…
自転車の原理を知らなくても自転車は乗れる、原理だけ知ってても自転車は乗れない
monoris2008 なんかいい例えやな
I'm really interested in learning Japanese and this video was a great introduction for what I am to expect, so thank you!! I must say, I thought the language would feel like a whole another world, but the grammatical structure of it seems so similar to Turkish (I'm from Turkey). Especially the sentence and question structure was the same but with different words? I'm excited for sure :)
@@Madhattersinjeans Bro, Hiragana and Katakana are not hard. I've learned that shit 3 to 4 years ago and haven't forgotten any of them. They're literally an Alphabet with just a second letter.
Oh... this is why in Spirited Away Yubaba took some letters from Chihiro signature and she suddenly became a.. Sen! This was so unexpected: I thought she could be named Chi or Hi or Ro... but Sen??? :D Now i get it, thank you!
ZupTepi ah i didn't think about that because i'm a native Japanese speaker.
yeppers,
千尋 = ちひろ
千 = せん
日本人だけど、この動画見て日本語の複雑さに改めて気付かされました。
それに比べると英語ってシンプルだから世界共通語になった理由がなんとなくわかりました。
もし世界共通語が日本語だって考えたら恐ろしいですよねw
日本人でも漢字とか正しい敬語を使うのって難しいですからねww
Respect! Excellent and comprehensible introduction into japanese language. Your personal instructor is a genius. Greetings from Germany.
Shockingly good breakdown of the Japanese language, its history, and even of somewhat complex grammatical concepts like は and が.
Many Japanese words of Portuguese origin entered the Japanese languagewhen Portuguese Jesuit priests introduced Christian ideas, Western science, technology and new products to the Japanese during the Muromachi period(15th and 16th centuries).
The Portuguese were the first Europeans to reach Japan and the first to establish direct trade between Japan and Europe, in 1542. During the 16th and 17th century, Portuguese Jesuits had undertaken a great work of Catechism, that ended only with religious persecution in the early Edo period (Tokugawa Shogunate). The Portuguese were the first to translate Japanese to a Western language, in the Nippo Jisho dictionary (日葡辞書, literally the "Japanese-Portuguese Dictionary") or "Vocabulario da Lingoa de Iapam" compiled by Portuguese Jesuit João Rodrigues, and published in Nagasaki in 1603, who also wrote a grammar "Arte da Lingoa de Iapam" (日本大文典, nihon daibunten). The dictionary of Japanese-Portuguese explained 32,000 Japanese words translated into Portuguese. Most of these words refer to the products and customs that first came to Japan via the Portuguese traders.
Battera,Bīdama, bīdoro, birōdo, bōro, botan, buranko, charumera, Chokki, Furasuko, igirisu, jōro, jiban, Kabocha, Kanekin, kappa, Karuta, koppu, karameru, Manto, marumero, mīra, oranda, orugan, pan, saboten, shabon, zesu, tempura, tabako
These words are some japanese words of portuguese origin.
Interesting, thanks
I wonder whether the Japanese would also take the word "papist" in their vocabulary...
I have been studying 日本語 for about 9 months now, and I have just barley scratched the surface (if you can even say that). The language is so fascinating, this video really helped me to have a better understanding of what I have been learning. I should show this to my Japanese teacher!
Wow, I had no idea some Japanese words came from Dutch.
It is beleived that arigato actually came from portugese
@@quadeevans6484 It's really not, because it comes from the verb "arigatai", "to thank", which has an older origin. Being a Brazilian, I've already researched about that - but words such as "carta" and "castela" definitely come from Portuguese ;)
@@cz2301 thank you for correcting me on that apologies for any misinformation
@@quadeevans6484 I think it is originally supposed to be pronounced somewhat as "ari-nga-to" but modern pronunciation is "ari-ga-to" with a soft G. That's what I've understood so far, plz correct me if I'm wrong. I'm not sure of the use of the "ng" sound in Portuguese.
@@MentalRaptors yea thats kinda what i was thinking
Ohayo Hiromi and Paul. I really enjoy the Langfocus videos. We were fortunate to live in Japan on two different occasions and learned some basic Nihongo.
Paul, thank you so much for your outstanding videos, the effort you put into making them is clearly visible and they keep getting better and better in every way possible. You should be really proud of your work :)
Thank you!
Paul, I will second that. I have been on the fence for years about which language(s) to learn, but your channel has helped me focus down to French, Spanish, and now Japanese! It is a beautiful country.
I studied Japanese for six years, have been living in Japan for eight, I have JPLT N1... Why am I watching this? 😂
Anyhow, this was very well made and so interesting that I watched it all despite already knowing all this stuff. Good job!
Im surprised you didnt also mention Portuguese language that also made his way into the Japanese vocabulary , still pretty cool :)
I have been studying Japanese seriously for about a year and I totally agree that it is very rewarding. You discover something new every day and see connections to many other aspects of the language you previously didn't know about. At this point I know about half of the commonly used Kanji and I am comfortable with every day situations. But there is still a long way to go :D This was truely a great video. Well done.
this; it's genuinely been really rewarding because I'm at a point now where I'm starting to understand a lot more nuances of the language and as someone who loves linguistics, it's one of the most rewarding things ever (and I can nerd out with my friends by analysing texts and stuff :D)
@@raven.petrichor Do you have any advice for someone curious? I’ve never learned a second language but Japanese is a fascinating one. I have so much interest in learning different languages just because I have a pretty broad friendship group online, and personal interests, that I’d benefit from so many. Japanese seems so challenging and curious, plus I love the food, and music, and playing games online certainly opens me up to potentially joining Japanese servers, investigating in Japanese communities and meeting new people.
Right now I’m sort of going through the basics of what linguistics actually is so that I can have a better understanding of removing my own English-biases of seeing how language works, trying to deconstruct and put some deep thinking into that right now, but I would love to hear about resources that are helping you learn?
@first last I started off by using duolingo, which is where I learned grammar and the kana (and some kanji); I highly recommend using resources that let you practise writing, since it will help you remember
also, immerse yourself in the language; I watch videos in japanese and turn on jp subs, and I also changed the language of my favourite game to have jp voiceover (surprisingly, I managed to pick up quite a few words that way).
talk to people as well; I use hellotalk (an app), but it's rather limited if you don't wanna spend on in-app purchases. if you have friends who know the language, even better; you'll feel less intimidated to talk to them, and less ashamed to make mistakes (plus, you all know each other so you have better conversation topics)
also, I like to read; my japanese dictionary app (it's called "japanese") has really fun example sentences and many features to help you look up words you don't know. also, there is a site called nhk easy news, which has furigana (that is the kana reading of kanji) so can learn to read many kanji. I like having my dictionary app on hand to look up kanji I don't know.
another thing I do is learn songs in japanese; my favourite artist, mafumafu, happens to be japanese, so by learning to sing many of his songs I am inadvertently picking up more and more of the language. singing along to karaoke videos (make sure to look them up in japanese if you want to practise your jp reading (those will use furigana and not romaji)) is both fun and a good exercise to test my reading and speaking (though be wary of odd rhythms in music, since they may stretch or compress words too much to be easily recognisable at first listen)
there are also a lot of youtubers out there who teach japanese; I like to watch yuta, japanese ammo with misa, and tomo sensei for bite sized videos; but there are others I watch when I have more time to spare.
if you don't mind having a limited site, nativshark seems to be pretty nice so far; I've already picked up a lot of useful tidbits that have helped me in real life.
also, study the culture; you'd be surprised how many things suddenly make sense in a language if you familiarise yourself with the culture behind it. also, it makes for moments where you understand something in another language that cannot be translated, which is really cool and rewarding in itself
but my biggest tip of all is to make learning the language fun; not only will you be more motivated to continue it, but you'll also remember it better because your brain will see it as something to enjoy, rather than as a chore. that is why so many of the things I do are tied to my interests and hobbies; I already know I will remember nothing if I don't make it engaging
I sincerely wish you the best of luck on your journey, and I hope this helps. have a good day, and take care o7
What a coincidence! I just started learning Japanese last week. Good Timing!
Diego Briones うれしいです。がんばってください^ - ^
Diego Briones I started to get serious and learn japanese a month or two ago but I'm still trying to remember the hiragana characters but so far I'm doing good with remembering it :) what about you?
I'm getting the hang of hiragana. I try not to use romaji to better help me memorize it. I still haven't memorized Katakana though. I study by learning phrases from a book and it rarely uses katakana. I do have a cheat sheet at my desk ready. So far, Japanese is hard one week in but I need to learn it because I'll move to Japan to work in a few years.
Japanese grammar is far easier to learn if you use hiragana. Also, your pronunciation will be better if you use hiragana rather than romaji. Pitch accent is covered in great detail by Dogen on UA-cam and Patreon.
What up Hiromi
ty a sup dawg
teh cealing
nah
teh sky brah
19:30 今日（kyou）isn't kango（chinese word or compound）it is Yamato-kotoba（native japanese words）.
Past time it was けふ（kefu or keu）.
け＝this or this time ／ ふ＝day.
And now days it turned to "kyou".
If you want to read it in chinese "konnichi" will be correct answer.