Aizuchi: The Noises Japanese Make

[@CHRIS-tv7hf]

0:00 introduction to Aidzuchi 1:59 はい、うん、ええ、ああ 2:46 そうです、そうですよ、そうですね 3:53 そうなんです(よ/ね/か） 6:13 へえー 7:47 ふーん 8:07 ああ、そう、あっそ 8:25 ほう 8:48 はあ。、は？ 10:07 ええ(very polite)、え(surprise)？、えええええ(very surprise)？ 10:58 ほんとう(really)、まじ(really)、うそ--- (no way) 11:12 えええ(unwillingness) 12:06 えー(umm)、えーっと、えーっとねえ 12:20 うーん、うーんと、うーんとね 12:57 どうしょうかな、~にしょうかなあ 13:17 決めた(decided) 13:26 そうだ！ 13:55 あ！(remembered something) 14:45 あ~~~~! 15:38 思い出した、わかった 15:50 あ～あ (wishing) 16:30 あ～あ (regrettable emotion) 16:56 あら (realization)、あらあら 17:23 あらあら (something bad happen), etc 18:00 まあ！、あらま！、あら！(surprise) 18:44 あれ？(something ain't right) 19:22 げ！～やばい、～まずい 20:08 うわー　 21:09 あっちゃー、あちゃー 21:32 しまった！ 22:08 おお！、すごい！ 22:25 わあ！ 22:38 やれやれ 23:23 やれやれ、しょうがないな 23:40 もう 24:14 ふん！(angry cute) 24:40 てへ(embarrassed) 24:57 いいなあ! (jealousy) 25:15 まあまあ 25:38 どうどう 26:13 舌打ち 26:43 かなめ劇場

[@fahadmohamed5734]

Big respect 🔥

[@thisisaperson1536]

that second last one probably applies to a bunch of other languages as well cuz i used it quite a bunch for the exact same reason even though i know 0 japanese

[@TheYules]

Thank you!

[@muzkat101]

My Japanese is sooo bad, I need the anglicized written form of Japanese to learn this. Hearing it and seeing the Kanji is great, but without the anglicized Japanese form here, I am just still stuck.

[@BartBVanBockstaele]

@@muzkat101 Learn hiragana and katakana as soon as you can. It can be done in an hour or two, followed by lots of practice, which can be done in numberless places, even in your usual grocery store as many food packages have Japanese texts on them. It is a good way to practice and it is a great way to make grocery shopping fun.

[@CloudDBD]

Half an hour of pure gold for someone who is learning Japanese.

[@chillbro2275]

Yeah, we've heard these but i know ive misunderstood many of them. And others, i just heard about today in this video.

[@xdgmx]

samee

[@yowo6105]

As a linguistics student Aizuchi has always been an interesting topic to me. I once was watching a Japanese interview with my mother in the room. She thought the interviewer was rude because he kept "interrupting" the interviewee with these small remarks. In most Western cultures it's considered polite to not talk when someone else is talking. You can see foreigners speaking Japanese are projecting their mother tongues politeness rules onto their target language, thinking they are polite but not realizing that Japanese might not work the same way. Many people don't realize that politeness and language (mostly pragmatics) are strongly intertwined, and that when speaking a target language you shouldn't just follow that languages grammatical and lexical rules, but also other rules such as politeness. In return, this can be seen with Japanese speakers trying to speak English, oftentimes projecting Japanese politeness rules on English, when English has a completely different politeness system. Politeness theory is extremely fascinating and an underrated part of linguistics!

[@bmac4]

As a native English speaker who, due partially to my own ADHD, has a hard time speaking face to face with people, I often insert a lot of filler acknowledgement words like "right." "Gotcha." "Mhmm." To communicate these sorts of things. The idea of people finding it rude is almost weird to me.

[@999a0s]

i grew up learning both english and japanese in my early childhood and now i use aizuchi...when speaking English! lol. i never noticed it until someone pointed it out to me.

[@sirphantoon6731]

​@@999a0s I personally don't mind it when Japanese overuse it in a foreign language but it might look like they are more interested in the topic than they actually are lol

[@edwardiftody591]

Aizuchi are ‘rejoinders’ in English. Uh huh, … terrific! … Oh, that’s too bad! English speakers don’t wait to use most rejoinders either.

[@thorbergson]

As linguistic theories go, there's an interesting one, the communicative layer theory. It considers this layer of spoken speech as separate from what it calls the nominative layer, where the semantics live. Communicative layer is made up of the expressions of the speakers' attitude towards each other and the situation being discussed. So you can express the same facts about someone doing something, but with different communicative aspects like "it's beneficial to you but not to me", "I dislike it", "you are completely unaware of this, but lemme inform you", "as should've been expected", all of which are not expressed in words, at least not the dictionary meaning of the words used. They've cataloged a fascinating number of things like sentence intonation, word order, choice of demonstrative pronouns, repetitions, usage of particles, etc for Russian, and it's more interesting still how this layer varies in different languages.

[@ericpug9154]

This topic seems particularly important. That was a good point about"は”. ”は” sounds like English "huh?". Huh? is so common and it's just what people say when there is something confusing and unexpected. So it would be easy to let English style 'huh?' reaction slide into a Japanese conversation. And this would lead to unintended meanings.

[@benjamingoller6267]

This is actually also my major takeaway. I didn’t know about that one and it happens easily.

[@zecuse]

Also when you want someone to repeat what they said simply because you didn't hear it but you know they said something. I guess that technically qualifies as a form of confusion, but confusion often conveys that someone didn't understand what was said after they heard it.

[@Rolando_Cueva]

But ha usually sounds like wa 😅

[@vampyresmiles713]

​@@Rolando_Cueva は is only pronounced like "wa" as the particle は. Other times it's still pronounced as "ha".

[@orien1331]

@@Rolando_Cueva I think what they really mean is “は？”

[@Zerachael1337]

Aizuchi and honorifics are the biggest hurdles for a beginner learning to speak Japanese as a native English speaker. This has to be the most succinct and comprehensive explanation of Aizuchi I've found yet.

[@lordnatu]

It's hard to find explanations for the specifics, too!! My teacher just said like "you should use へえ、わあ、and ふう、but never explained when to use them. Very helpful video!!

[@coffee-is-power]

No other channel has this kind of content that really teaches you japanese and doesnt make you waste time, it's really japanese for the impatient

[@thecamillarose9806]

I love his channel he teaches so well it's mind blowing he deserves many more followers

[@m93227]

As a Japanese, it is amazing that you describe so well how Japanese people actually use aizuchi!

[@chillbro2275]

That's awesome. As an English speaker, I am impressed by how well he knows the English. Those things are not likely taught formally. "What are you talking about?!" And "Yeah right"

[@iampingthepenguin]

love how in japanese へえ-- means "I see!" while in german we have "hä" which is pronounced almost identical and basically translates to "wtf are you talking about"

[@ilmarinen79]

We Finns also use "hä?" / "häh?" or "täh?" in the very same manner. One would probably say "mitä?" in a more polite or formal conversation.

[@makanimike]

I was actually going to comment that a lot of the German sounds and noises are used in a very similar way. Hä? (as in "häää? Wahnsinn!") ne? (as in "nicht wahr?") mm mm (un un). Achso! I guess the limitation is whether you do it in a nice or in an antagonistic way in German. Because Japanese does not really do it in the not-nice way. Now if we could get Japanese people to adopt the "ja genau" it'll match perfectly.

[@helixxia9320]

we use ‘’hæ?’’ that way in norwegian too

[@helixxia9320]

or also ‘’hæ?’’ could mean that they didn’t quite hear what you said, but if you prolong it like ‘’hææ?’’ or like a sharp ‘’hø?’’ (huh?) then it would seem like they don’t know wtf you’re on about

[@starpeep5769]

へえ kinda sounds like ええ though

[@KayuraYukishiro]

Japanese language never ceases to amaze me... Thank you for another great lesson!

[@iamsoupi]

We do the same in English

[@freakdeath1020]

It's just interjections, nothing too unique. We also use that.

[@baibac6065]

@@freakdeath1020 English doesn't really have aizuchi.

[@DaVince21]

I was at a local dentist (I live in the Netherlands) and the assistant was annoyed that a room we were supposed to go into was already occupied. She did a genuine 舌打ち tsk right there. First time I ever encountered it and it somehow really made me crack up internally because it's such a damn harsh expression!

[@0x4e6f31]

That has nothing to do with the Japanese aizuchi, its something called Tjoerie, > nl.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tjoerie you need to translate the page to read it

[@DaVince21]

@@0x4e6f31 Perhaps it's not strictly an aizuchi, but the same thing _is_ mentioned in this video, after all. Seems to be the exact same concept to me. Learned something new about the fact that there's a Dutch word for it though!

[@omena2757]

@@0x4e6f31 isnt it called tongue click in english?, but yeah, tongue click is almost an universal sign for annoyment and stuff. Also it is an aizuchi in my opinion, you use it like any other aizuchi and japanese people call it an aizuchi.

[@dpayO2]

Tut@@omena2757

[@JK-nh6jp]

Often called "backchanneling" in linguistics. Your material is great and thoughtful Kaname! Thanks man.

[@fabiencazeau1506]

Well I've been living in Japan for 17 years and I'm now discovering that I'm not a French guy but a sophisticated lady... (by the way your videos are wonderful)

[@chillbro2275]

Hahahah

[@MarkyTeriyaki]

As a fellow teacher I actually appreciate how you don’t drag the time out too much. Sure in a classroom setting it makes sense, but here where it’s possible to pause and replay it’s nice that you just do example, explanation and leave the exercise part to the viewer

[@clara_cross]

I love how you put so much focus on elaborating the NUANCES of the Japanese language on your channel. Really subtle nuances are such a pitfall trap for language learners of all languages all over the world because language teachers almost never talk about them. They can be very difficult to even consciously become AWARE of them in one's own language let alone EXPLAIN them to learners using ANOTHER language, so students of all sorts of languages seldom end up learning about them. But you casually and very effectively teach very, very subtle nuance distinctions in video after video, with helpful examples that are very cute and entertaining while also remaining practical and informative. You do such a good job of translating the emotional spirit of a Japanese word or phrase's intention into English in a way that's relatable, approachable, and understandable, while also putting in that effort to very clearly and unambiguously separate it from its nuanced counterparts that have very slight or barely perceivable differences in either meaning or articulation that are actually hugely important, and you do it in a way that breaks down those little-yet-big differences, turning them from something very subtle in Japanese into something very distinct in English without compromising the integrity of the original subtlety. Good damn job. ♥

[@umbreoniteUwU]

We definitely have this in english, but not everyone uses it. Things like, "hmmm," "oooh, okay," "right, right," "mhmm," just small reactions to show you understand what the persons talking about and youre actively listening.

[@baibac6065]

It's the same thing. Those are interjections or reactions. Aizuchi is on a whole other level done as an etiquette.

[@niallmunday9115]

Don't forget "innit" :D

[@markosz22]

Lot of languages do, these are pretty basic sounds and because of that I would have never thought they can have different "meanings" or uses in other languages. With Japanese having so many short words, basic sounds and noises I guess it can easily lead to misunderstanding or confusion with foreigners, because we use them without thinking about them as words or part of the sentence.

[@takodaisuki115kei]

日本人として、英語で日本語を解説する動画をいっぱい見てきましたが、かなめさんの動画はレベルが2段階くらい上に感じます。相槌を意識して話すことは普段ないですが難しいコンテンツなんですね……''勉強になります''☺

[@Azoox]

All those cultural differences are amazing. When I test ESL students' speaking skills, I always take the time to separate their linguistic skills from their potentially limited cultural competency. Many supralinguistic components in their speaking sound awkward to a native American ear, the main reason being those speakers have never really paid attention to the minutia of how people communicate not only in different languages but also cultures. In that sense, even British speakers may surprise us here in the US because their "mannerisms" are deeply culturally determined, and British culture is certainly very different from US culture. Excellent content! Looking forward to more coming. Greetings from an American beginning learner of the Japanese language 🙂

[@FENomadtrooper]

Weird. I'm watching this video thinking "Wait, doesn't everyone do this everywhere?" Maybe it's more regional then I thought. I've literally been in the car with my parents growing up with my mom talking to my dad, and him doing the whole "yes," "mhm," etc, to which my mom stopped him asking what he was doing, and he outright stated "I'm letting you know that I'm paying attention to what you're saying." Heck, it's even a part of psychology called "Active Listening." Taken from some psych website: "Verbal cues are responses a listener may express to show they understand what's being shared. This includes what Wharton professor Maurice Schweitzer considers “minimal encouragers,” such as replying “yes, I see” or “mmhmm” or “I understand.” These are often used alongside gestures and expressions, such as smiling or nodding."

[@Bonpu]

The difference between learning Japanese sentences and learning Japanese. Important content beautifully presented! Looking forward to a lot more.

[@yoichi6758]

I noticed that 99% of your videos are GOLD! You should get 1M subscribers, Kaname Naito

[@sundayman99]

28 minutes and 38 seconds of pure gold! Can't find anything like this anywhere else - in books or on KZbin. Really well done and sooo helpful! And the ending 🤣!

[@JackkayFrost]

In Australia, 'Huh' with a raised intonation is used to show that did you didn't hear someone. I now realise why certain Japanese language exchange partners have given me strange looks hahaha.

[@animeAJproductions]

Less than 4 mins in and I'm really liking the way this guy explains conversational Japanese. Brilliant!

[@tamiwithani]

This is so good! I have unconsciously started adapting this in my Japanese learning over the year; it really makes a difference.

[@AnMComm]

Psychologists have adopted the concept as "active listening" specifically to encourage the client to speak more about his troubles. This cultural meme is extremely useful and it's quite interesting that it evolved specifically in the shy Japanese society.

[@93lozfan]

And now I can follow a casual conversation in a Japanese drama... Maybe

[@EricaInTokyo]

I’ve been living in Japan for 4 months and I’ve heard every single one of these, and I’ve had no idea what people were saying. Thank you so much!!

[@zuhachan]

i'm glad to have discovered your channel while i'm just beginning my japanese language journey. spent the last couple of days memorizing hiragana and katakana and now i'm starting to seriously learn the language (classes start next week). ありがとうございます！

[@billbarthel5224]

Congrats on learning the kana! I'd recommend starting to grind out kanji asap. As awesome as learning the kana is, you'll be interacting with kanji everywhere. I gotta plug wanikani. I wish I started grinding out kanji there way sooner than I did. Good luck and have fun learning!

[@Xetttt]

@@billbarthel5224 I disagree, verb conjugation and general vocabulary is more important than kanji while starting learning. If you just dive right into kanji, its a massive burden and kills motivation. Once you learn vocabulary and verb conjugation it is easier to move into learning kanji. Japanese children don't just learn kana and jump right into kanji, they learn grammar and vocab, and then move into kanji at a pace that is bearable.

[@zuhachan]

@@billbarthel5224 thanks bill! and thank you both for your input 😀 i'm thinking of setting little goals memorize 1 kanji a day then gradually increase as time goes by. i'm trying to read lyrics of japanese songs that i listen to and the kanji is throwing me off, so yeah for sure i can imagine i gotta start learning it soon 🥲 so far i recognize 日本語 and 私 since i see these so often so i'm starting to see a pattern in some sentences :) i'll keep both of your input in mind!

[@bitfreakazoid]

@@Xetttt I think a mix of kanji and general vocabulary would be how to do it. Learning the kanji really helps to see what is going on when doing things like conjugation.

[@bmedve3427]

@bulgogi king: In case you do move to WaniKani, continue with a limited kanji number per day, as you mentioned you would. After an over-eager start up till level 9, I reached app burnout through the crazy amount of reviews I got. Several months later, I restarted from zero, only doing 5 to 10 items a day. I am in level 5 now and have plateaued on reviews only to retain the Kanji already covered, and no new lessons for 2 months. I find it's a marathon thing, not a short-distance run 😊

[@noyaV_]

The final compilation was so well done hahah

[@christiancmota]

What a incredible lesson. Always doing an amazing job making the learning journey easier in a real context. Thank you very much .

[@39822]

I grew up in Hawaii and never realized it until this video but some of these aizuchi (usually just the simple ones) have made their way into Hawaiian Pidgin and the “proper” English that people speak there too.

[@trawrtster6097]

What are some examples?

[@Spagettigeist]

Are those really japanese Aizuchi or can it be that hawaiian pidgin and the lokal english just have their own "aizuchi" unrelated to the japanese one? Like... I speak german and there are definitelly such interjections during a conversation here too... although I find them hard to name because they come so naturally to me. To me it seems logical that multiple cultures develope somthing like that on their own.

[@kailynrudd7937]

​@@Spagettigeist While true, there are specifically strong ties between Hawaii and Japan. Japanese is the second largest ethnic group in Hawaii (at one point in the early 1900s they made up nearly half the population) and Hawaiian pidgin takes many loan words from Japanese. All things considered, it makes a lot of sense that there might be cultural and linguistic carryovers.

[@Spagettigeist]

@@kailynrudd7937 Interesting. Thank you for the information ^.^

[@tempaccount7024]

Yup, saw some similarities with Indian languages too, we have 'あれ' (a-re) in Hindi/Urdu and it usually means the same exact thing.

[@イクミ-l5l]

はじめまして！偶然このチャンネルに出会って一気に見ています。 日本語の相槌が英語でどう表現されるのかがわかって非常に興味深いです。 それにしても…かなめさん凄すぎますよ… 取り上げる会話も説明の仕方もこれだけナチュラルなのは見たことがありません…凄い これからも更新楽しみに待っています!

[@999Giustina]

I had many Japanese roommates because I worked in a Japanese owned store in Canada and they employed many foreign workers. I'm surprised how much I picked up by hearing it in the situation many times over. However, there really are many nuances. Very good video!

[@Kaiziak]

This channel is like deep explanations for immersion learners, it’s perfect. The amount of examples and the wrap up at the end really makes it comprehensible.

[@armourup4876]

I lived in Japan about 23 yrs ago, and I appreciate how you articulate so clearly what I learnt about the language organically, but you put it into words and explained it so well! Great Video!

[@kovanova9409]

I've been using as many channels as possible to learn and relearn parts of Japanese and it's been making it feel more and more natural

[@F.S.H.O.]

The script at the end using all the elements was really great! Thank you for making these, and all your other videos, they are very helpful.

[@thomaskolb8785]

Kaname-san might be the best Japanese teacher I have ever encountered. These things are not often taught, impossible to learn except without total immersion, and often collide with other pre-learnt, similar, non-verbal vocal expressions, often meaning other things. That is why it is so easy for a westener in Japan to sound like a complete moron. Or a pirate.

[@LeoJohnGalt]

So here's the tricky part. Do you have any tips for reading the air better? I mean, I imagine Japanese people still use aizuchi to look polite even if they don't care about a conversation. The same we use "Damn" or "That's crazy" in English to try and skip through the conversation. I imagine you kinda gauge their reaction by how sincere the aizuchi seems, but it feels like the "Kyoto compliment" dilemma where you can't tell if they're polite or if they're trying to tell you something in between the lines. Alternatively, how do you more sincerely use aizuchi?

[@butter-biscuit2248]

あんたを日本語上手‼︎

[@LeoJohnGalt]

@@butter-biscuit2248 いえ、日本語がへたでる.. もとべんきょうふつよです。。

[@blasianking4827]

It's something that comes with practice. I'm half-Japanese, but my Japanese isn't perfect; despite that I grew up with my mother speaking Japanese to me so I have an intuitive grasp on the manners of speech which make my spoken Japanese sound more 'authentic' than it would if I had no prior knowledge and learned on my own. My aizuchi is not that varied because I'm not used to using a lot of them but I never have to think about exactly which one to use. It's hard to develop this kind of understanding without practicing speaking a lot, because before you have a lot of experience you're inevitably going to be stuck thinking about exactly which one to use. In terms of aizuchi coming off as insincere, it can if you show in other ways that you aren't interested in the conversation but I'm telling you most Japanese people are very good at being or at least pretending to be interested in what you're saying and a big part of that is the aizuchi. So I don't think it's a matter of using it more sincerely, it's using it at all is the main point.

[@kozuta8858]

you mean the “damn that’s crazy bro, but did I ask?” xD

[@Ice_2228]

Just practice by speaking with native Japanese speakers on a regular basis, you will pick up on neaunces naturally from them

[@JerseyGirlMom]

Hah! That conversation at the end was hilarious! I loved hearing it because it reminded me of my mother and so many of the things she said to me that i instinctively understood, but never had any real translation for me to use as an adult. Thank you so much for the instructing and the memories of my mother that you have brought back to me!

[@PierceArner]

I think this is one of those important things that you start to intuitively understand when you get better at a Japanese, but because it's not _technically_ specific vocabulary, it's difficult to articulate how much better it allows you to understand and engage in conversation. Having a video that expands explicitly on all of them is unbelievably helpful!!

[@simona2391]

This is a really fascinating topic. I might be wrong, but I think the reason why most foreigners rarely use Aizuchi is embarrassment. These sounds just don't come naturally to most of us and it feels somewhat "fake" when we're doing them. I'd also be scared to get weird looks if I used them inappropriately.

[@lordnatu]

I can't speak for others but to me it kinda felt weird to start making sounds while someone else is talking, rather than just different forms of hmm and mhm. Initially when I tried doing it we would always end up laughing because it felt kinda silly. Still, it's important to keep practicing these!!

[@laxminarayanbhandari855]

it's just a cultural thing. like here in India, most people do it, if they are at least acquainted with the other person.

[@Tardisntimbits]

Our equivalent to Aizuchi in English are verbal fillers. They add interest and push conversation along in the same way, just with different (but some similar) sounds. I guess for a lot of English speakers in Japan, our use of "huh??" in response to something we don't understand, possible surprise, indicating acceptance of an idea, or as an indicator of a questioning of the previous statement might get them in a bit of trouble. Using a "huh?" with a tonal shift up is pretty common (most teachers in schools tended to discourage it's use when I went), and some folks can find it annoying, but it is still generally acceptable. Having heard a lot of these sounds watching live streams from Japanese game developers, and now having a basic understanding of their function, it does make the flow of the conversations easier to follow, even if I don't understand all of the words.

[@Grondhammar]

This is content every Japanese learning needs to know, but is never taught by textbooks or schools except as sidebars. Love your teaching style, please keep up the wonderful work!✨

[@adrianwittenberg378]

These are the coolest Japanese lessons on the internet! Thank you

[@andrew4635]

This video is gold! It fills in so many blanks for me when I watch shows in Japanese; I can better understand the subtext and nuances between different characters’ reactions during conversations! Thank you so much for this! The conversation example at the end using all the different forms of aizuchi is 👌🏽

[@minamy]

Really appreciate the algorithm for introducing me to this gem of a channel

[@UzumakiHarutoJP]

9:15 In other words, make a Minecraft villager noise, not English "huh?", and you'll be alright 🤝

[@BabyBat14]

This concept was so fascinating to me when I begun watching jpop and kpop interviews. Being Brazilian, I thought interviewers were terribly rude to idols, since they kept "interrupting" them. I soon realized it was a cultural thing. Nowadays I'm so immersed in these cultures that my brazilian friends often get annoyed or confused when they talk to me and I make these noises 😂 I find its a great communication technique, especially since I'm autistic and avoid eye contact, it's a easy way to show a person that I'm interested and listening. :)

[@NicholayN]

Are you me? 🥲 boa sorte minha amiga

[@ismonnnn]

é foda, eu me sinto muito pressionada em conversas quando tenho q demonstrar q estou ouvindo, pq tem certas reações esperadas(tipo de surpresa ou incredulidade) e fico c medo de n me expressar direito😔 Mas q bom q vc encontrou uma forma confortável pra se comunicar😊

[@BabyBat14]

@@ismonnnn o segredo é se cercar de amigos neurodivergentes ou "estranhos", que entendem sua forma de comunicação. Parece difícil de primeira, mas isso acaba acontecendo naturalmente. Não sei se vc tmb é ND, mas nós neurodivergentes tendemos a criar círculos sociais com outros NDs ao longo da vida, e tem várias pesquisas que comprovam isso. Pode levar um tempo, mas buscar amizades em torno de interesses especiais é um ótimo atalho. Boa sorte na sua jornada! Não é fácil, mas não é impossível :)

[@ismonnnn]

@@BabyBat14 muito obrigada pela dica😊. Minha psicóloga disse pra eu procurar um diagnóstico, por enquanto estou tratando depressão e ansiedade mas percebi q so isso n é o suficiente, tem coisas diferentes a lidar do q so c remedio pra depressão:/ Talvez por isso eu e minha irmã sempre fomos muito próximas hehe

[@r0ald_]

Amazing video. I watch a lot of anime, so I can intuitively understand a lot of these aizuchi, but hearing them all explained clearly like this is really nice and it's like some puzzle pieces falling in place in my brain.

[@muffledpotat0245]

That little ending conversataion was absolutely amazing my guy, Thank you very very much for the lesson!

[@tommyfletcher1357]

Thank you for this, your videos have been so helpful! I moved to Japan in November and recently started dating a Japanese girl that doesn't know any English (my native language). My Japanese isn't that great, but I can hold enough of a conversation that she was interested in dating at least. She's really nice and patient with me while I'm learning so I want to try as hard as I can to improve my Japanese and your videos have been a great study tool!

[@mdmajunge]

this is an incredible lesson, i love your teaching style - your examples and explanations are always great :) thank you!

[@XavierP333]

Sensei, all your videos are indeed helpful. Every video you upload, I take notes to add to my vocabulary, one day i will comment on your videos in fluent Japanese. Muchas Gracias

[@darthzayexeet3653]

I totally get why Aizuchi is useful. Whenever I’m speaking to someone and they have zero reaction to any of what I’m saying, I also get the feeling that they don’t want to listen to what I have to say and feel discouraged to continue. I think more shy/introverted people like me can relate very good to this

[@salexo9]

My sister and I grew up near Düsseldorf, which has a large Japanese community and some of our close friends are Japanese (plus my sister works in a Japanese company) and we've slowly adopted this practice without noticing.

[@SebastianSeanCrow]

0:10 oh so this is what you meant with the title! Honestly… doesn’t everyone do something similar?? In English we do the same thing tbh. Always “mhmm” “uhuh” “oh yeah” nodding head, “what?!” Etc

[@youssefbencheikh8637]

It's waaay more prevalent in Japanese culture where if you aren't constantly making those noises in response to whatever the speaker is saying, it's considered rude and a sign that you aren't actually listening/interested in the conversation.

[@hollingharris659]

this is one of those things in japanese that i honestly really appreciate, maybe i just care too much about if the person im talking to is actually listening or not, but i usually find myself ending most sentances with a rhetorical "yeah?" or "you know?" to make sure the other person actually heard and understood what i said

[@forevera5241]

I love this, I feel like we have something similar in SA but I have no idea if it has a specific title like how the Japanese do. It's just something we do when speaking in one of our African languages and/ or Afrikaans. It really does make you feel like the other person is actively involved in the conversation and you're eager to continue it. It adds to the natural flow of a conversation instead of it feeling like a monologue.

[@FrogsForBreakfast]

This is great advice for good conversation in general. It just has to be tailored for each language and culture. Aidzuchi-type talk isn't expected in English, but people will think you are a more engaged listener and better conversationlist if you drop in a few "hmm" "yeah" "uh-huh" "woah" "that's awful" or whatever is appropriate while listening. In India, head nodding is sorta used this way too, to mean anything from "I'm listening" "I understand" to "thank you" or "yes." An unenthusiastic head nod can mean "i don't know" or "maybe." So the nods have to be interpreted a bit 😆 but regardless they show that the listener is paying attention to the speaker.

[@API-Beast]

I don't speak a word of Japanese but I still find your content very useful. The way it is structured, explaining things in English but with fluent examples of Japanese, might give me enough information that I can start understanding enough words from Japanese dialogue to connect the dots and be able to understand other words from context. It is a very slow process, but better than this seemingly impenetrable barrier of starting to learn Japanese proper.

[@onomatopeira]

Fantastic explanation! I'm starting to self-study Japanese and quickly realized the variety of "Aizuchi" in the spoken language. I find them fascinating and funny, but I was having a lot of trouble finding material on the subject, especially because I didn't know that this set of sounds and idiomatic expressions was called "Aizuchi". This video is an excellent compilation, extensive, integrated, contextualized and very well acted by the performing skills of our Kaname Naito. I recently discovered the videos of this channel which are magnificent in their analysis of Japanese language and linguistic. The analyzes have a philosophical character, in a kind of philosophy of language that I like a lot and that sheds light on fundamental aspects of the soul of the Japanese language. I'm waiting also for videos that also explain grammar rules in a more systematic way, like verb conjugations, i-adjectives, na-adjectives, particles and that kind of grammatical stuff. If this channel manages to unite the philosophy of the language with the grammatical explanation, it will be the only and definitive channel that anyone will need to learn Japanese. Many congratulations and 頑張れ 【がんばれ】。

[@geelianng2590]

I have been watching your videos (recent and past) and they are really helpful, bringing the cultural insights of the Japanese (language). I really feel textbooks fail us haha. Thank you so much and please keep producing such practical videos. I now realize some of my mistakes that I made when speaking in Japan and how to express myself better that makes sense to Japanese. Thank you so much!

[@TavernBrawler]

The most useful Japanese language channel I’ve ever watched, because these are entirely practical in practice. Amazing work.

[@veevsu]

I unironically use these for conversations with germans/westerners. xD;; It does work sometimes, people tend to just think I have a weird way of expressing that I am listening, but most get that it's a way of showing that I am following the conversation. It's perfect for introverted people like me, who just want to encourage the person in front of me to keep talking, because I am not that good at leading the conversation most of the time, haha.

[@gjm1203]

Bro your channel is like a hidden gem amongst the japanese learning channel, I sincerely wish you get more popular in the future

[@StephanieCollado]

Great content! We need more of this. 勉強になりました！

[@just_pudding]

This has been one of the most valuable videos I’ve watched while living in Japan. It really helps to be part of the people you are with by expressing fellow feeling. Thank you so much 🙏

[@blueyonder1233]

Masterfully done. Understanding the nuances of both languages makes for better teaching.

[@Phoca_Vitulina]

Wow this was awesome! I love how you give like real life sentences people would say naturally and it's super helpful

[@evasossnitza]

This is by far the best explanation of aizuchi I ever heard! Very useful! Thanks a lot!

[@ciaranmacgillivray]

Dude, what an amazing video! Huge amount of content, tons of specific examples, written pronunciation, etc. Great job! This is super helpful.

[@kilvrecht]

This is the most useful lesson for communication in everyday speech that I have seen so far.

[@f3rnando_440]

I love your videos sm. This is the kind of information I would actually want to find in a textbook! And formatted in a similar way. But everything aspect of your explanations are much higher quality than any textbook I've looked at, and the audio component really helps make the information more comprehensible. thank you :D

[@wojsphone201]

I agree. Kaname-san’s explanations are awesome! He knows exactly what we need to know about the Japanese language. He is especially good for those of us who have spent time in Japan and spoke the language but never learned some of the nuances. I have “liked “ you and of course have subscribed. My only regret is that, after 25 years in Japan, I have now retired to the USA but your site is keeping your language alive in me and my brain very active!

[@celilgok7210]

Your videos are pure gold, thank you so much

[@robinblue9105]

24:25 The way you describe that expression is so funny that I can't stop laughing

[@Mioumi]

8:25 TIL that DIO is even more snobbish than he already is Haven't gotten through the whole vid yet but thank you for teaching us about this topic!! I'm really interested in this one

[@Book-bz8ns]

This just cleared up so much of my confusion! Thank you!

[@Kray83]

This is excellent! I re-watch this all the time. The aizuchi - "は" or "Haa?" is frequently used by my Japanese wife when she gets mad and thanks to your video I finally understood what it means exactly (FYI I am from India and "Haa?" is also a way of saying "What??" though not so impolite.

[@kaicho3178]

I really love your videos!!! You're the best japanese teacher on youtube, I swear

[@Poniksei]

It will take me some time to learn these and put them into practice, but this was very helpful. I had heard little bits of this in shows and conversations, but didn't know what it was, and just thought it was like a speech quirk that some characters had. I will definitely be practicing this for better speech.

[@alexvargas1007]

Kaname-san's videos are not something you watch once, but something to add to a list and study to understand Japanese culture and language more deeply. Domo arigato goizaimasu!

[@macurvello]

Dude, this video is AMAZING. It's amazing how detailed the explanations are to many aidzuchi even most Japanese people wouldn't be able to explain due to them being used so naturally in every day life. Thanks so much!

[@macurvello]

Oh, and the examples are fabulous!

[@rwsilva32]

Kaname san always brings lots of excellent and fresh contents. どもありがとうございます！

[@disusage]

The ending was a lot of fun! These are sounds I've been hearing for all my life but now I know the exact meaning.... following the tone of the conversation from the aizuchi was a real treat!

[@deadlyshizzno]

That ending was so fantastic 🤣 amazing video, thank you so much for the information and insights! Languages are so damn cool and Japanese is no exception. I love all the little intricate details, like the difference between はあ and は for communicating a lack of understanding. Won't be forgetting that!

[@jbo_yt]

You are excellent. Your content is top-notch and you are explaining concepts that are extremely hard to grasp in traditional learning formats. Well done, and I look forward to listening to all of your videos

[@pascalcampbell7453]

i only found your channel yesterday but it's been so so helpful to me as a learner, ありがとうございます 🫶🏻

[@ifritld4411]

Merci! J’adore ta pédagogie! C’est original, intéressant, et surtout passionnant!

[@kotokrad]

The best channel about Japanese I've seen so far.

[@robertocalvo934]

Utterly brilliant. Your level of detail is amazing. Subscribed and hooked

[@livingtokyochannel]

Favourite Japanese learning channel! The explanations and plenty of examples are so useful~ thank you!

[@GlitchmanVGM]

Wow what an amazing video!! This is one of the most helpful videos on learning natural sounding Japanese in conversations! Awesome job! Some of the various example sentences and conversations were also very funny! 😄

[@alburr6019]

Thank you so much for this information!! This is the kind of stuff that I don't learn from a Japanese course, so im so greatful that you cover it! You have really helped me in my journey to learn Japanese, your guides are amazing!

[@murkyhaze]

Thank you soo much for making these videos! your explanations are incredibly practical and straightforward, super useful and in-depth communication-focused lessons

[@paulamartinrial8686]

Super interesting and perfectly explained content . So happy that I've discovered this channel 👏 All of the videos help you learn Japanese and give you a lot of context about Japanese culture at the same time, this is the perfect mix to get the language right

[@smileyp4535]

4:43 lol that's funny, my friends and I will say something like that if we agree with someone very much, but we say "that's what I'm saying!!" (Even if we weren't talking about that) it's the first thing I thought of, like no obviously I'm not saying that right now (unless you literally are and someone beats you to it, which sometimes happens to and it works there obviously as well) but it's more like "that's what I've been thinking/saying in general/lately" again even if it's not nessisrarily 100% true, it just means "I REALLY agree" lol

[@zagrych]

this lesson had better plot and more interesting than some tv shows ❤

[@harukilol727]

I love this channel, he uploads a lot of things that really helps with japanese and the examples are also simple to understand and fun enough to not get bored. 24:42 sus

[@dinzyy_flow]

This video conversation example is so hilarious, it made me watch till the end, and make my japanese converasation skill leveled up. Thankss, ありがとうございます！！！

[@slotty84]

Can't believe how absolutely interesting and helpful this video is. Amazing!